we have finally decided that we will be vacationing in provo this june! we are very excited! any suggestions about to how to book the vacation? should we purchase the flight seperately from the hotel? should we book through a travel agent and combine the flight and hotel?

thanks!

We've done it ourselves (our 1st trip to Provo) and thru Liberty Travel (our 2nd trip to Provo).
It was easier using Liberty. We told them exactly what we wanted, after we did our research and they made all the arrangements - in a word simple.
I booked our 1st trip with AA Vacations but we much preferred our 2nd trip as we traveled thru Charlotte on US Air thus avoiding the nightmare that Miami Airport is.
The only problem now is that US Air is on the ropes and who knows how long they will be flying.
If we go again we will fly Delta thru Atlanta, again to avoid Miami.
By the way we have stayed at Ocean Club West and The Sands. Both are very nice properties we just happened to prefer The Sands.
Enjoy Provo!

I have read that you can sometimes get a better deal with the hotel if you book yourself rather than a TA if you go during the offseason. Does anyone know if this is true? Hubby and I would like to go in Sept.

We booked our first trip last November ourselves. I emailed the resort, RWI, and then purchased airline tickets on line. RWI had a special of 1 night free if you booked directly with them. I just booked our 2nd trip for April, and we recieved a repeat visitor discount by booking directly with the resort.
Sandy

For the most part, travel agencies can get you no better of a deal if you did it yourself... remember, they have to make money so there is a commission/fee on top of the price they give you. (for the most part).... I've booked all the vacations myself... I've shopped the net for airfare and book the best deal whether its expedia or direct throught he airline site... and, shop around for hotels... a lot of times you can get a better deal phone the hotel directly becuase if you go through a 3rd party website the hotels don't make as much money as they need to pay a certain percentage to Expedia, for example. In this day, it is safe & easy to make your own arrangement over the net... if you enjoy doing the research you like it, but if you don't want the hassle of searching the web for the best airfare and hotels, then use a travel agent...

Have a great vacation!

Lori

I've tried it both ways and have always gotten the better rate with a TA. Maybe I'm just lucky and have hooked up with a GOOD TA but they have done more research than I would have done myself and came up with good deals. FYI..you do NOT pay a commission to the TA so that does not factor into the bottom line.

Also, by using a TA we usually get a few extra perks thrown in and if problems come up (and they have) one call from the hotel or airport to my TA and things got resolved.