Today I want to touch on a topic that interests many - early booking of tours. Many tourists often ask the question: What’s better - buy a tour in advance or wait until the last minute and get a last minute ticket?

In my experience, in many cases, purchasing tours in advance is more profitable than waiting until the last minute. And I can at least name 5 reasons why you should take advantage of the promotion early booking .

When is it better to think about vacation in advance?

So, let's figure out in what cases it makes sense to buy tours with an early booking promotion.

When vacation is strictly by the hour

Firstly, this is definitely suitable for those tourists who can travel only on strictly defined dates. For example, you know for sure that you will have a vacation on certain dates in June - for example, from the 15th to the 30th. And the chances of catching a last minute tour on these dates, to be honest, are not great - it is in the summer that most people with school-age children go on vacation. So you should definitely look for tours in advance.

When we go on holidays

The same is true with holiday dates. D You know, you’re the only one who doesn’t want to spend these 4 weekends in May (November) in your native city, which is a little tired of you? Therefore, if your trip is already planned and tied to certain holidays, it makes sense to book a tour and make an advance payment.

When we book something specific

Purchasing a tour through early booking is also convenient for those who are used to to a certain level (conditions) of rest. If you are looking for a vacation in a specific hotel , then it would be more profitable and practical to take a tour there with an early booking promotion, which offers prices 25-35% lower than the price at the height of the season. And sometimes (and quite often!) those who come to buy a tour 2-3 weeks before the start of the trip are surprised to discover that they liked the one they liked so much according to descriptions on the Internet or from last year’s vacation the hotel is already at the "stop" on required dates . That is, the hotel is on the “stop list” - this means that there are no available rooms for the selected dates.

The same thing can happen if you intend to rest in a very popular hotel . And some hotels that are especially popular among tourists are put on the “stop list” a month, a month and a half, or two months before the start of the season! This popularity of the hotel is based primarily on a reasonable price-quality ratio, as well as on such important “little things” as location of this hotel regarding the sea/slope/attractions, the attentiveness of the staff, the quality and quantity of dishes in the restaurant, the level of animation programs...

That's why the probability of purchasing a tour to a decent hotel at a good price shortly before departure is practically zero(not counting random last-minute offers that arise in the event of someone’s refusal, etc.). That is why experienced tourists who know a lot about travel use early booking services.

When exchange rates rise

The early booking service is also beneficial in that by using it you can don't worry about currency fluctuations. As a rule, the rate rises throughout the high season). Once you have paid for the tour in full, any changes in the foreign exchange market no longer affect the cost of the tour. You will not need to make any additional payments if prices for hotels and air flights increase.

In my experience, only due to the increase in the exchange rate, hotels can rise in price by 5-10% in 1.5-2 months. And it’s always very unpleasant for me to see how the hotel that I selected for tourists last week with a budget of up to 100 thousand rubles began to cost 108-110 thousand this week.

Track by yourself prices online from different tour operators The most convenient way is on aggregator sites.

For example, here: Selection of tours online

So, if you find an acceptable option, go for it!

When we travel in a large group

Well important information for those tourists who have 2-3 children and those who are used to going on vacation in large groups. After all, in hotels the number of spacious family rooms is usually limited. And the rooms themselves in some hotels, especially in Europe, are not so many. And if your company doesn't want to end up in different hotels, then you also need to take care of purchasing a tour in advance. In addition to guaranteed accommodation in the selected room stock, in this case you will also receive bonuses in the form of a discount for early booking.

Why early booking prices are better

Probably, many people have asked the question: why in general in the travel industry are prices so tied to the date of booking? How can the price for the same hotel with and without an early booking promotion differ by 30-50%?

The specifics of business dictate their own rules. The fact is that it is much more convenient for hoteliers (hotel owners and managers) to timely plan the occupancy of the room stock and receive in advance the money that is necessary for the normal operation of the hotel.

Therefore, it is more profitable for them to give a significant discount to tour operators for early bookings and distribute most of the rooms between them than to solve the problem of unfilled rooms during the peak season, or allow “overbooking” (when, by mistake, in a hurry or due to the carelessness of the manager, the same rooms are sold different tour operators).

When booking early, it is also easier for the hotel to analyze which countries the bulk of tourists will come from, which means which menu to choose, which animators to invite for the summer season.

The cost of the flight is another important factor influencing the size of the discount that the tour operator gives on the tour. It is very important for tour operators to calculate the required number of charter flights for the season, which is why they encourage early bookings with lower airfare prices.

An additional, albeit small, discount for tourists is sometimes added by the final sellers of tours - travel agents themselves, interested in attracting tourists and increasing sales before the onset of the season. Because I, as a travel agent, also like it when tourists come with their wishes in advance, and I have time to calmly choose for them a good option tour, and not frantically poke around the websites of tour operators, catching the last seats on flights and choosing something not very terrible from those hotels that are not yet in the “stop”.

So, as you can see, there are more than enough reasons to buy a tour with the early booking promotion.

Have a nice holiday and see you on the blog, friends!

What is early booking and does it really help you save? What are the pros and cons of early booking? Who benefits from it? In this article I will tell you everything in detail and give advice.

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age

Have you already turned 18?

Early booking of travel packages is gaining more and more popularity every year. Travel agencies offer tourists to book in winter summer tour, and in the summer book a trip to New Year and promise huge discounts. Everyone wants to have a good vacation, but no one wants to overpay for their vacation, and this is quite logical.

What is early booking and who benefits from it?

Early booking is booking a tour at least 21 days before departure (usually this is not particularly popular destinations). This special offer with an attractive price and the ability to pay for the tour in several stages. In the tourism business, like any other, everything depends on demand: high demand - high price, low demand — low price. The “winter season” is considered a “low season” in tourism; after the “New Year’s boom,” the tourism market freezes. Of course, tourists are relaxing all year round, many go to warm up, others ski or fly to sales in Europe. But still, February and March are months when there is no huge tourist flow. What should be done to “invigorate” the tourism market?

Let's first remember what a tourist package (tour) consists of. The cost of the tour consists of the cost of the accommodation facility (the main part of the tour), air travel, transfer and health insurance. Many Mediterranean hotels operate in the red in winter, and, naturally, they need funds. Where can I get them? It's simple: hoteliers give good discounts to tour operators, subject to receipt Money Here and now. Accordingly, the tour operator has the opportunity to reduce the price, the tourist will book a tour and pay part of it now at a “low » season. Everything is quite simple.

Everyone benefits from early booking, starting with hoteliers who can “survive” the winter: in any case, they will not work at a loss, because there is a “high season” ahead, during which they will earn very good money. The tourism operator is also satisfied; even during the low season, he has the opportunity to earn money and be confident that there will be income. And the tourist gets his discount.

And now about the most important thing: is it really worth running to a travel agency or tour operator in February-March and booking a tour for the summer? Below are the pros and disadvantages of early booking for tourists.

Advantages of early booking

1. Choosing a convenient flight.During the “high season”, there are often several flights per day to the most popular destinations. By booking a tour in advance, you can choose a flight and departure airport that is convenient for you (in most cases you will have to pay extra to specify the flight). But during the season, mostly charter flights fly, which means that even if you have specified the flight, the flight may be rescheduled.

Advice! If you are dependent on departure times, book tickets for regular flights - this will help avoid unpleasant surprises, but regular flights are always more expensive than charter flights.

2. Wide choose accommodation facilities.By booking your tour in advance, you have the opportunity to choose exactly the hotel you need. This is the main advantage, because the choice is huge, you can choose among thousands of hotels, apartments and villas. You can choose the required room category - this is important when vacationing in a large group or with children. Some tourists prefer to vacation in the same hotel year after year. If choosing an accommodation is a priority for you, then early booking is for you. After all, during the “high season” there may simply not be room in the hotel.

3. Tour cost and tour payment.The cost of early booking is lower than in the season (of course, last minute tours “nobody canceled, but they may or may not be, and remember that a “last minute tour” is almost always leftovers that could not be sold). The cost of an early booking tour is fixed in currency (dollar, euro) and is paid at the tour operator’s rate on the day of payment. This means that the cost of the tour will change only depending on changes in exchange rates. Tour operators pay for the tour in different ways, but most often you first need to pay 50% of the tour cost, then you can pay in installments, and 2 weeks before the start of the tour, payment must be 100%

4. Planning.Many tourists like to plan everything in advance and know that they will fly on vacation on a certain day, to a certain hotel. We booked a tour in February and relaxed until August. During this time, you can plan, for example, excursions of interest. Or if you are flying with the same company, but from different cities, then it is very important that the whole company vacations in one place at the same time. Many vacations take place on fixed dates, and if you don’t take care of the tour in advance, then there may simply be no seats on the flight that day.

Disadvantages of early booking

1. Cancellation.Many tour operators apply very strict penalties for tour cancellations. And some even fine you for making changes to the application, for example, changing your last name. Or, let’s say, you decide to remove/add a tourist to your application. Although every year tourist operators are becoming more loyal. In any case, carefully read the service agreement, especially the clause with the terms of fines.

2. Last Minute Tours. TO As I wrote above, this is most often what is left, for example, a plane flies, and 70 seats are purchased from tour operators, and 68 are sold, money is paid for the seats, and the tour operator gives it back at “cost”, accordingly, the price is reduced. The same goes for rooms in accommodation facilities. But good tours sometimes they also burn, but again, this is a matter of luck.

3. Exchange Rates. The question is ambiguous. The cost of the tour is fixed in foreign currency, and the exchange rate is not always stable. For example, tourists who booked tours for the New Year in the summer of 2014 did not save money, but rather overpaid, because the exchange rate more than doubled in the fall of 2014. This happens infrequently, but nevertheless we are not immune from it. In any case, most often the tourist immediately pays 30-50% of the tour cost, and recalculation is carried out for the remaining amount.

1.Tourism is a business, and no one will engage in charity and “give” vacations to the detriment of their business. Therefore, when you are promised discounts of up to 50%, this is nothing more than a marketing ploy. Yes, you can really save money by booking early, but not much.

2.Buy early booking tours only from a trusted travel agency.

3.Check the tour operator, go to the Rostourism website, make sure that the tour operator really exists and conducts tourism activities. In principle, good travel agencies do not work with unreliable tour operators. Alas, not a single tourist operator is immune from bankruptcy, and we have clearly seen this over the past few years.

4.Carefully, no, very carefully read the terms of the contract.

5.Service agreement tourism services and keep all payment documents until you return to home, so that in case of unpleasant situations, for example, checking into the wrong room, you will have evidence in court.

In any case, it is up to you to decide what is best for you. Early booking is really beneficial, but is it really reliable in the conditions modern economy? We need to rest in any case, because traveling helps us take a break from everyday life, see the world and get incredible emotions.

You need to prepare for your summer vacation in winter. Everyone knows about this, but few use this advice. IN European countries has been popular for a long time, so this method of purchasing tickets to interesting places Almost everything is used. In our country, this practice has not yet gained sufficient popularity.

What is early booking: how to find and book a tour in advance?

Early booking for a holiday is a promotion carried out by tour operators together with hotel owners and airline management.

This type of booking is beneficial not only to clients, but also to all parties to the agreement. Preparing for the high season requires careful calculation of the necessary resources. Knowing the exact number of reserved seats on an airplane and hotel, their owners can correctly implement the expenses intended for organizing a vacation. Early booking of tours for the summer also shows the level of congestion in the coming season of transport and accommodation, which allows you to correctly assess the popularity of the product, as well as guarantee benefits from its distribution. The leaders among reliable tour operators offer tours with the possibility of early booking: - which is a good indication of the relevance of a pre-planned vacation.

Benefits of early booking

Early booking in 2019 will benefit not only those who offer to purchase trips to anywhere in the world or provide transfers. First of all, this service is beneficial to the clients themselves:

Early booking of sea tours in Russia and abroad

Preparing for a vacation should not take place in a short time. This approach is favored by helping everyone choose the time and place of rest.

Booking tours requires careful consideration. Much depends on the geography of your holiday. Many people prefer to travel to bright May days or during the period, to the seashore in the southern part of the country and in the Crimea - in the summer. However, it is worth booking these tours several months before the trip.

When ordering an early booking of a holiday in or Egypt, it is not necessary to adhere to special requirements for the season. Turkey, Greece and other hot countries are ready to provide high-quality service to their guests almost all year round. All you have to do is book a hotel and get ready for a great vacation.

Early booking of tours for holidays

If you want to spend your holidays at sea, take advantage of early booking of tours from Moscow or any other city in the country. Even a trip to Crimea, early booking these days will make it more comfortable. Remember, the closer the holiday, the fewer flight tickets remain at the box office. Take care of your convenience in advance!

On this moment Among tourists planning their trip, early booking of tours is becoming very popular. What is it? The answer to this question will be found in this article.

Early booking of tours means booking a travel package at least 21 days before departure on vacation. Most often, early booking promotions for summer resorts begin in March and end in April. For some sightseeing tours You can book your trip even a year before departure. But the exact date of these proposals needs to be clarified with.

Benefits of booking a tour in advance

The most important advantage of buying tours early is saving money. These tour operator offers can help you save from 10% to 40% of the cost of the trip. Closer to the tourist season, hotel prices and fuel surcharges increase, but this will not affect those who bought a tour in advance.

Another advantage of early booking is that you can choose any hotel you like and the room there will probably not be occupied. But when buying a ticket at the height of the season, you will only be able to choose from the remaining rooms, but they will most likely be much worse.

Disadvantages of early booking

Such shares also have their drawbacks. The most significant of them is the risk of impossibility of departure. After all, it is impossible to predict how your life will turn out over these few months. Circumstances may arise that you will not be able to fly anywhere on the holiday dates specified in your travel voucher. In this case, You can lose 90%, or even 100% of the cost of the tour. Travel cancellation insurance early tours most often it only applies to cases of hospitalization, death of a close relative, summons to a court hearing, or military conscription.

Another disadvantage is that if you want to change your last name or departure dates, the operator will most likely recalculate the cost of the trip, and you will have to pay a larger amount than was agreed upon in advance. In addition, many foreign hotels If you make any changes to an already purchased voucher, you will be required to pay a fine.

What is more profitable – early booking or last minute travel packages?

They represent a promotion from travel agencies for travel packages a few days before departure. Such tours also usually have a low cost. So which is more profitable?

The only clear advantage of last-minute tours is their price. But it is worth noting that sometimes it can be even higher than the cost of early booking. When booking early, you can choose the hotel in which you will live during your vacation, but you cannot do this on hot packages. Also, in a short period of time, you may not have time to apply for a visa, and your last minute trip may disappear.

Based on all this, we can conclude that early booking of a trip is more profitable than buying last-minute tours.

Important information

1. Many people think that when booking a trip in advance, you need to immediately pay only part of the cost of the tour. But in reality this is not the case at all. When purchasing a tour in advance, you must pay the entire cost of the tour within three days after booking. Therefore, when looking for such a tour, be prepared to pay the full price right away.
2. In addition, if you cancel early booking tours, you may face penalties. Therefore, if you are not sure that you will definitely be able to go on vacation, it is better to take out travel insurance. It will give you the opportunity to get your money back if you encounter unforeseen circumstances. The list of circumstances for which insurance will be valid must be clarified when drawing up the contract.

Even experienced travelers regularly ask the same questions. Should I buy a vacation package now or wait until it becomes last minute? What if the tour I want is sold out for my dates? What if they don’t sell out, and closer to the departure date you can buy it at half the price? What if they sell out? (at this point the circle closes). How to answer these questions for yourself is in our life hack.

Ellin Tolstov, co-founder and technical director of the company selling online tours Level.Travel, talks about the peculiarities of pricing.

Prices for tours at the start of the trip may either increase or decrease. It all depends on the availability of seats on the charter flight and the demand for a particular resort. “If the operator sees that the plane is filling up quickly and there are few seats left, the price may rise,” says Ellin Tolstov. “At the same time, if the flight is due in a few days, and the plane is still not full, then so-called “last minute tours” appear "They are often sold below cost only so that the tour operator does not lose the money spent on buying back seats on the plane and hotel."

Risk factor

The decision at what point to buy a tour is influenced by many factors: the composition of vacationers, the country, and the time of year in which tourists plan to go on vacation. It is obvious that those traveling with children or a large group with the intention of staying in a room for several people should not delay in choosing a tour. Such tours rarely become cheaper closer to the travel date. On the contrary, there is a risk of not finding a worthy offer at all. It makes sense to purchase tours in advance for those people who cannot reschedule their vacation days at the last moment.
“Employees of large companies, as a rule, have very strict vacation dates, and it may be impossible to change them,” says Ellin Tolstov. “In such cases, it is better not to take risks and book a trip in advance - and the sooner the better. In this case, the tour operator will have There is enough time to confirm seats and tickets, and tourists will not have any unwanted surprises."
But couples who are ready to postpone their vacation date by a few days at the very last moment have the opportunity to save significantly. Double rooms tend to fall in price the most. And there is a chance to redeem very cheap offers with departure literally in a day.

Comfort discount

Expensive hotels, oddly enough, do not lack guests. They can be busy even in the off season. And this is understandable - otherwise they would have to reduce prices, but tourists are ready to pay for comfort and attentive service at any time of the year. Therefore, you should not hope that an expensive hotel will lower its prices at the last moment and you will be able to relax in a five-star hotel for the price of three rubles. However, you can get a discount per room increased comfort in a mid-price hotel. Luxury offers in such hotels may wait for guests until the last moment, and then their price may drop, if not to the level of a double standard, then at least close to its cost.

Seasonal variations

During the high season, there are practically no last-minute offers. Therefore, it is better to buy tours for the summer months in advance. Prices may increase by the date of travel. “The cost of “package” offers changes in real time,” says Ellin Tolstov. “Someone bought a tour - and the price increased. Tours in European cities. There is no seasonality, hotel prices are strictly regulated, and they hardly change throughout the year. But on beach destinations, price fluctuations can be significant. Hotels on the coasts, as a rule, operate on specific dates and they have a price schedule - for low, high and super high seasons. Therefore, the cost of tours is on the same beach resorts will always vary depending on the dates."

At the same time, on such routes prices always decrease after long holidays or children's holidays. A classic example in this sense is Egypt. The resorts of this country welcome tourists all year round. Charters fly there all the time, and thanks to this you can track that the cost of tours there in the low season is guaranteed to drop.

Force Majeure

It is a misconception that you can buy a tour at a bargain price to a resort where a natural disaster or tragic event has just occurred - such as the flood in Sochi or the terrorist attack in Tunisia. The cost of the tour, if it decreases, will be very small. At the same time, in competitive directions, demand will increase – and, accordingly, prices. For example, tourist interest in Montenegro, Bulgaria, Turkey and Egypt has now increased, but Sochi and Tunisia are showing a decline. The cost of the trip is also affected by the exchange rate. For example, as soon as the ruble stabilized against the euro, tours to Europe began to be sold more actively. And their prices went up.

Rest longer - more economical

A significant part of the cost of any tour is the flight. For a tour operator, the cost of a place on a charter stays the same – the trip takes three days or two weeks. Therefore, the longer a tourist spends at the resort, the cheaper each day of stay costs him. Thus, a three-day vacation at a resort based on the cost of one day will always be more expensive week's vacation. Sometimes the total price of three and seven days turns out to be comparable. At the same time, on some days the plane may be slightly full, and it is on these dates that tour operators create last-minute offers to justify the cost of the flight. They usually appear at the very last moment.

Tourist preferences

According to statistics from Level.Travel, most tours are sold exactly one month before the expected travel date. A little less of them are booked two weeks before departure and the same number are booked 11 days in advance. At the same time, Russians continue to actively book trips almost until the day of departure.

In June, a significant portion of decisions regarding vacation arrangements were made on the second and penultimate days of the work week—Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tours were purchased least often on weekends.