mcnyc

Do you think one can do better on your own? Or do you think those rates are comparable? I know it consists mostly of chains...

And has anyone tried go-today.com? I was trying to search, but for some odd reason, came up with nothing. I remembered something vaguely a long time ago, when I was a mere lurker...

ltr

I do not have experience with the Expedia/Travelocity packages, but I have used airline packages a couple of times. I booked my Paris trip last year that way and it was a great deal, but this year I found it less expensive to book the airfare and hotel seperately.

Weezie

I have used both Expedia and Travelocity and they have both been fine. For me it has depended on whether a package has provided exactly what I was looking for. For example, we booked a package on Expedia to Bermuda and got a significantly better deal at a boutique hotel that we could not have afforded otherwise. Other times I have booked everything separeately. It just depends on what is being offered at the time.

WillTravel

It's not always the case, but often these packages push hotels that are nice enough, but not in convenient locations. If you see a package you like, it should be easy enough to break down the constituent parts and calculate the separate costs.

jody

I've only done it once with a trip to Rome from Expedia..got an excellent hotel, the Valadier, nr Pza de Spagna and Pza de Popolo, and airfare for much less than I would have paid seperately. We were most pleased. But I would check out each item seperately on my own before booking.

tuscanlifeedit

Jody

Did you like the Valadier? I see it sometimes for packages and other "deals" and wonder about it. The location wouldn't be my first choice, but still seems decent. I would love to know what you thought.

MCNYC

It is your thread, after all ;-) so I must get back to your topic. Everytime I look at packages for major European cities, it always plays out that I can get the same or better price with a MUCH BETTER LOCATED hotel on my own, by booking separately.

Now, there is a caveat: I travel with my DH, and if we each pay what Expedia, Travelocity, or go-today.com charges, then it is MORE than we would pay for 2 airfares and a hotel when booking on our own. But if you are traveling alone, it might be a much better deal to buy a package. Do check hotel locations, because it always seems to me that in Europe, package deals don't put one in the preferred locations.

mcnyc

Thanks for all your replies. I've always done my flights and hotels separately, and was wondering if I could plan better by using packages.

I guess I'll continue checking both doing my own homework and pricing out packages online and seeing what works out best then. Thanks again.

RufusTFirefly

Sometimes the packages are excellent deals. Other times not so much. As suggested, you really need to do some comparing.

ellenem

Sometimes the packages include other options beyond air and hotel that make them appealing or a better bargain, like airport transfers and/or a half-day city tour. Having these arranged might appeal to some.

I've traveled using both independent arrangements and airline packages. My experience with packages: My traveling companions who were first-time travelers enjoyed paying one price and having all the arrangments made (getting certain benefits of a tour without having all your time structured for you). However, as others have stated, the lower-cost hotel locations are usually not very central. I wouldn't book a package without checking each hotel's location first. Get their addresses and check them online.

Christina

I'm not that familiar with the pricing of those, but I have seen some good deals on packages elsewhere (go-today, tourcrafter, 1800flyeurope, offpeaktraveler, etc.). I just haven't seen any great deals on Expedia and Travelocity, but I haven't looked at them that much. Sometimes they are really better than you can do yourself, although most of the time I think they are about the same as if you put it together yourself, except you don't have as much choice of hotels as when doing it yourself. The packages I've seen on go-today, etc., have a variety of hotel room choices so you can pick your location if you do a little homework.

go-today is around, I just viewed their website yesterday.
//go-today.com/site_gtweb/index.asp

tcreath

I have taken booked several air/hotel packages, most recently to Rome last December. The price was very good, about the same price as the airfare alone. However, as WillTravel mentions, the hotel was not in the most convenient location. It was convenient to a metro stop, but about 20 minutes by train to Termini as it was in a residential area. Still, the hotel was more than adequate, and I researched the hotel before I booked so I knew exactly where it was and read the reviews.

Definitely do price comparisons though. We came very close to purchasing a air/car/hotel package to Ireland. I compared everything and determined that we would have spend an extra couple hundred of dollars had we went with the package deal. Sometimes they are a great deal, sometimes not.

Tracy

RufusTFirefly

The one package we did take advantage of (about 10 years ago) was a great deal. We basically got 3 and 4 star hotels for $50 a night after subtracting airfare and transportation between cities.

Locations--in Venice we had a corner room overlooking the Grand Canal. Florence--5 minute walk from the Duomo. Sorrento--don't know the town very well, but we had a great view and were a 10-minute walk from the center of town. Rome was the most distant from the center of things of all our hotels--on the edge of Parioli. But we loved the neighborhood and wasn't impossibly far from the action.

almcd

The key thing to remember is that, if you are travelling as a couple, you are paying for the hotel room twice with a package. This will be significant if your stay is more than a week, but obviously less so if it is not.

Christina

That doeesn't make sense. You are not "paying for the hotel room twice" if a couple. The price is based on assuming double occupancy, and the price thus includes payments for half of a double room. That is why single rate occupancies for packages will be higher, because you are paying for the entire room yourself.

cf5657

You can sometimes get decent deals with aavacations.com as well. I've used all of the travel sites packages and I've found they are best for last minute trips or if they have a major sale. You just have to do your homework and see if it's cheaper to do a package or buy it seperate.

Mary2Go

I book travel for our company employees and I use Expedia most of the time, but I always compare my options. There have been several occasions when I booked air/hotel packages and wound up getting a room for only a few dollars! I kept thinking there would be some catch when I went to finalize the booking but it was fine. I just gon an e-mail from Expedia that gave me a $150.00 coupon towards any domestic air/hotel package I book between now and the end of March! I didn't know I had booked anything that entitled me to the coupon but now I want to find somewhere to go!

Nikki

I have used gotoday.com twice for trips to Europe and would do so again. I picked the hotels carefully from the list of choices they had available. Both trips were good value for me because they each included stays in two cities and the transportation between cities. It seemed this was done at a better rate than I could have managed myself; at the very least it wasn't significantly more expensive than prices I would have found myself.

The only negative was the lack of control over flight arrangements. You can't pick your own flights and you don't know what flights will be picked for you until you have committed to the package. On one of the trips, flights were very convenient; on the other trip, they were less so.

mcnyc

Thanks for all the comments! Keep 'em coming!

I've been doing price checks using my usual separate hotel/air booking and comparing with the packages available. I guess it's the locale, but when I did it for Amsterdam, I did get a better rate using expedia, where I could better control my flight times, etc.

This time, choosing Paris, it's a little harder (mid-March though end of March). I'm also checking out my options with an apartment (we may be staying a week in Paris), but my computer must be acting up as I'm having a hard time searching. ARGH.

Thanks for that comment on go-today Nikki. I was wondering how the flights were for those kinds of packages. They do seem very cheap, but after taxes and fees, it may not be the most economical. My travel companion suddenly wants to go elsewhere on this trip, which is why I started searching for packages and started wondering aloud.