Strategies for Family Travel: Booking Early, Part 1

It’s time to start planning your summer vacation.  No, not this summer, next summer.  Yes, that’s right.   As a travel planner with a focus on family adventure travel, I get asked all the time how to save money on family vacations.  As any parent knows, kids are expensive.  Depending on how many you have, they can double easily double or triple the cost of your vacation.  So how can you afford to go amazing places as a family?  My answer: Book Early.  I booked our family’s July 2019 summer vacation in June of 2018.  Perhaps that seems a little over the top.  I’m a hyper planner and like having our calendar planned out far in advance, but even if this isn’t your personal style, planning early can save you thousands of dollars on your vacation.   

But first, let me say a word about last minute travel.  This seems to be a popular strategy.  There are a lot of misconceptions out there about last-minute deals, especially when it comes to plane tickets and cruises.  I’ll be brief here because myth busting last-minute deals could easily take over this post, but I’ll just say this:  Is it possible to score a great deal on a last minute vacation?  Yes.  Is it likely?  No.  Even most deals that are touted as last minute aren’t true last minute deals.  (You’ll see an example of this below).  Let’s say you do find a truly great deal on one aspect of your vacation.  That’s great, but a lot of moving parts have to come together for the “deal” to be worth it.  For example, a family of four would still need to purchase four plane tickets.  The extra cost of purchasing tickets so close to travel usually negates the discount on the vacation. 

On the air line side, our family is often tempted to take advantage of last-minute flash sales to Europe.  As tempting as these are, we pass.  Even with a good deal on tickets, we still need a place to stay and things to do.  If you are flexible with your accommodations and what you do, this might work for you.  Singles and couples can often take advantage of these deals.  For us, it can be difficult to find hotels in Europe that accommodate four people in a room.  Our children are young enough that we don’t feel too crowded sharing a room with them yet, so to save money, we all stay in the same room.  This might change when they are teenagers, but for now, sharing is caring.  I’m in the midst of sketching out a plan for our summer vacation next year (there I go again, planning far in advance).  We haven’t set it in stone yet, but we are thinking about hopping across the pond to Ireland.  If we do, we want to stay in B&Bs and local hotels.  Many of the places where we want to stay only have one family room on the entire premises and we want to be able to nab it early.  Of course, we can get two rooms, but that will cost us more.  Hence, we must plan in advance. 

So let’s take a look at some hard numbers to demonstrate how planning in advance can save you money.  This summer we are taking our kids to Costa Rica with Adventures by Disney.  Adventures by Disney is the family touring arm of Disney Destinations LLC, the same company that oversees the theme parks, resorts, and Disney Cruise Line.  However, unlike those experiences, you won’t see any major Disney branding or character appearances.  What you will get is Disney service and an experience that caters to families.  According to Adventures by Disney, its Adventure Guides and local experts “immerse you in the customs, traditions and daily life of the people, places and cultures you visit.” 

So here is the part about saving money.  I’m going to break down for you the cost we paid for the trip and compare it to pricing as of April 2019.  We are on the July 20 departure.  If you are a procrastinator, perhaps you are just now looking at your family’s summer vacation.  Take a look at the chart below:

	Adult Price Per Person	Child Price Per Person	Total Price for Two Adults/Two Children
Price Paid                  (June 2018)	$2,999	$2,819	$11,636
Current Pricing        (April 2019)	$3,849	$3,639	$14,976
Total Savings			$3,340

Right now, select tours are being advertised as saving $250 per person, including the July 20, 2019 departure.  The current pricing above reflects this “last-minute deal.”  Prices often get reduced after the final payment date if the tour isn’t sold out.  As you can see, there is a last-minute deal that could potentially save a family of four $1,000, but it’s not anywhere near the early booking pricing advantage.  I put the deposit down on our tour in June of 2018, shortly after Disney announced its 2020 touring dates.  Many tour operators run early booking savings for several weeks after dates are announced.  Adventures by Disney was offering $250 off per person on select 2020 bookings made before July 6, 2018.  (I shared this deal on the Travel Adventures by Amanda Facebook page, so make sure to “like” my business page if you haven’t already).  Sure enough, on July 7, 2018 the price went up $250 per person and it only continued to rise.  Sometimes, a tour operator will announce that it is extending its early booker window, but I wouldn’t depend on it, especially for popular itineraries and destinations. As of April 2019 prices for the July 20,2019 Costa Rica Adventure are up $850 per adult and $820 per child compared to the June 2018 prices.

Now let’s talk plane tickets.  Even if you aren’t planning on a tour and just want to travel independently, you should still plan in advance.  So let’s look at the plane ticket break down for our flights to and from Costa Rica.  Delta is our preferred airline.  It opens dates for booking 331 days in advance of travel.  Most of the other major airlines are in this window, give or take 30 days.  I’ll mention Southwest because many families like to fly them and we used them to book our return leg on this particular vacation.  Southwest, like many of the other low cost carriers, doesn’t release its flight schedules on a precise date.  It publishes its itineraries every couple of months and you can usually book about eight to nine months in advance.  As soon as our dates were open for booking, I checked rates.  Delta had a great one-way rate from Memphis (MEM) to San Jose (SJO).  Delta and the other major airlines had high rates on one-way tickets returning from Liberia (LIR) and multi-city itineraries going into SJO and out of LIR.  I booked us one-way tickets from MEM to SJO on Delta.  I patiently waited until early fall when Southwest released its schedule for July flights from LIR.  Southwest’s prices beat all the other major air lines by half.  Southwest didn’t have a flight out of LIR on the day our tour ended, so we decided to extend our stay at our resort for one night and booked a Southwest flight from LIR to MEM the following day.  Here’s how the pricing on those flights breaks down:

	Delta MEM to SJO Per Ticket	Southwest LIR to MEM Per Ticket	Total For Four Tickets
Price paid	$286.10	$301.11	$2,348.84
Current price	$443.70	$593.00*	$4,146.80
Total Savings			$1,797.96

         

*Wanna Getaway fares for this flight are sold out as of April 2019.  Business Select fares are priced at $593.

If a family of four wanted to book this vacation today, it would cost $19,122.80.  That’s a big sticker price for a lot of families.  With some planning and foresight, the exact same vacation costs $13,984.00.   

Three months in advance doesn’t seem last-minute for many families.  I talk to families all the time that don’t have summer plans yet.  That’s perfectly fine.  Last summer, we took a trip to the Rocky Mountains mere weeks in advance (that’s practically on a whim for me), but if you want to take a bigger trip, especially one that involves air travel for several people, early planning is essential to saving money.  This is a big trip for our family.  We have been saving for it for a while, but even if the trip you want to take isn’t The Big One, you can enjoy substantial savings by working with a travel planner to find the right trip for your family and booking it as early as possible.

Do you have your eye on a trip?  Call me to schedule a planning meeting.  I’m currently working with a client on a budget-friendly trip to Portugal for Fall 2020.  I’m watching the tour she wants and will give her a call when booking dates are released so she can jump on an early booker rate.  Thinking about a cruise, but you keep thinking the rate might go down?  No need to worry.  Did you know that I put a CruiseFare Watch on all of my cruise bookings?  If the price of your cruise goes down, I work with the cruise line to rebook you or get you an onboard credit or upgrade.  If the price goes up, have the peace of mind that your rate is locked in.  Last month, I booked a family of four on a cruise for January 2020.  When I was reviewing my fare watches recently, I noticed that their cabin had gone up in price by $543.  Give me a call and let’s talk about how we can save you money on your family’s next Dream Vacation.          

 

Amanda is the owner of Travel Adventures by Amanda, powered by Dream Vacations, specializing in cruises, tours, treks, and custom independent travel adventures for individuals, families, and groups.  For help planning your next adventure, contact Amanda at (901) 901-800-6091 or abiggerstaff@dreamvacations.com.