Holiday Accommodations for £2 per Night – No Way!
If you know where to look, you can get cheap holidays with the many holiday firms scrambling to bring in consumers for the upcoming summer holidays. Many firms are offering cheap package deals in which you have unbelievable deals in accommodations, which when you combine with sales on airline flights can give you a holiday in an exotic destination for far less than you would expect to pay.
Thomas Cook currently has an accommodation only deal to Turkey in which you pay only £2 per night, per person. This is just one example of companies that have tons of unsold holiday packages available and now are trying to fill the rooms. With the recession in full swing, most people in the UK are fine tuning their holiday plans for less expensive venues and firms are recognizing that most of these people are planning to stay at home this summer. Thus the firms have no choice but to slash prices in order to make the travel options viable and affordable for travellers.
In the past, consumers tended to make their holiday reservations up to six or eight weeks in advance. Now, this has been reduced to three weeks as more and more people look for better deals. With the currency exchange rate affecting the British pound, many people have decided to stay home this year because they would not be able to get a good rate on the pound on the continent or in the US or Canada. The drop in the value of the pound makes it more expensive to travel outside the UK.
According to Julia Lo Bue-Said, commercial director at Advantage travel agents, at this time of the year almost 80% of the travel packages would have been sold. This year, the percentage is down to 65% sold. There’s still a lot of capacity and availability out there. We need to have a strong summer,” she said.
This coming week is a crucial one for holiday firms, according to Alan Bowen, of the Association of Atol Companies, because of the unsold packages and customers waiting until later to book their holiday plans.
Barry Moxley, of the Association of Independent Tour Operators Specialist Travel Agents, says that unless these firms make a lot of sales in a short period of time, they could be facing financial hardship and many will have to close their doors.
He said, “The next ten weeks are critical. The late sales period of June, July and August will be key markets for most of us, and will probably define the financial situation for travel agents and tour operators for the rest of this year. If people stay in the UK and don’t spend their money, then we’re going to have a big commercial problem.”
Of the 184 people who responded to a recent poll conducted by travelweekly.co.uk, over half reported slow or non-existent sales for holiday packages. The chairman of Elite Travel Group, Wayne Darrock, said that the sales revenues for his organization were down by 8% for the 2009 season and that while his business is suffering, there are others who are much worse off.
He said, “Come the end of the year, there could be a bit of a bloodbath, with businesses unable to carry on,” predicting that there will be fewer companies in business by this time next year.
If you start looking now, you will see that the best deals are available for the month of October. One example or such a deal being advertised by Thomas Cook is 14 nights bed and breakfast at the three- star Balkaya Hotel in Ovacik, Turkey, at £20.32 per head. That is equivalent to just £1.38 per person per night.
Tags: cheap holiday accommodation, director at Advantage travel agents, cheap holidays, chairman, Julia Lo, cheap hotels, big commercial problem, Association of Independent Tour Operators Specialist Travel Agents
