How far ahead should I book?

ladyinthewhitedress · March 2015

How far ahead are you booking your honeymoon?

jenna8984 · March 2015

Really depends where you are going. Some places offer better deals at better times of year. Others get more expensive the closer you wait. I always book international travel 6-9 months in advance, and domestic travel about 3-4 months in advance.

Last year I brought DH to NYC for his birthday. I booked in March and the hotel was $900 total (not nightly). Right before our trip in August, I was curious if it had come down at all so I went on the hotel's website as if I were a new customer booking it, and it was $1300.

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226 · March 2015

We plan to go in November and our travel agent told us to try to book by June

amelisha · March 2015

It depends on where you're going and when it is.

If you'll be travelling over a holiday or a peak time (around spring break for the Caribbean, anytime kids are out of school for popular family destinations, Christmas or Thanksgiving for just about anywhere, etc.) you will need to book earlier than you would otherwise for good rates. If it's a sell-out kinda time, prices get sky-high because people are willing to spend whatever.

ladyinthewhitedress · March 2015

We're getting married September of next year. I've actually never booked a vacation before (not a major one, we usually road trip and play it by ear with hotels). But it looks like if I wait until December or January to book I'll be okay? We're thinking somewhere warm.

lyndausvi · March 2015

Like others said it depends. We decided to go on safari at a small exclusive place in South Africa. They only had 10 rooms. So we had to booked the lodge early. I'm thinking we booked in Feb for our Sept wedding?

We didn't get our flights until May or so. While picking our flights we found we could stay in Amsterdam and Paris for a few nights with not extra costs. So after the flights we booked those hotels. It might have even been a few weeks after we booked the flights we booked those.

NowIamMrsKlein · March 2015

We're doing Paris for our honeymoon right after our September wedding.

We were planning on booking in late April, but we signed up for alerts, and there was a Europe sale on the other week so we booked early and saved a couple hundred dollars.

Since it's an overseas trip we wanted to book 6 months in advance. If we were doing something closer to home we probably would have waited until the summer/

klk111415 · March 2015

We booked our flights for our December honeymoon last week. But we were using reward miles so the reward flights were running out. We haven't booked out hotel yet, though. That's our next step which we will do in April.

jenna8984 · March 2015

shlasher said:
We're getting married September of next year. I've actually never booked a vacation before (not a major one, we usually road trip and play it by ear with hotels). But it looks like if I wait until December or January to book I'll be okay? We're thinking somewhere warm.

Yes that will definitely be fine. Most airlines don't even let you book flights more than a year out.

amelisha · March 2015

shlasher said:
We're getting married September of next year. I've actually never booked a vacation before (not a major one, we usually road trip and play it by ear with hotels). But it looks like if I wait until December or January to book I'll be okay? We're thinking somewhere warm.

Not only can you wait until January, you can wait until June or July if you want, unless you're planning something very exclusive or boutique-y like previously mentioned. But your average Caribbean all-inclusive or Hawaii package or whatever doesn't need to be booked more than a couple months out.

It's a bit different if you're booking something with only a few spots available (like that safari hotel, or something like a Windjammer cruise, for example) or it's a super peak time, but September isn't high season pretty much anywhere you'd be likely to go, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

ladyinthewhitedress · March 2015

Thanks all! Not sure why I'm getting myself all worked up about everything all of a sudden (not that I haven't been pinteresting like a feign for months but suddenly I feel like a maniac) I'm feeling like I have to have everything nailed down...rehearsal dinner, honeymoon, flowers. I made it very clear to FH this afternoon that his job from here on out is to help me contain any/all bridezilla potential, especially from my parents who are paying for the wedding and his parents who are paying for the rehearsal dinner. Not that I have permission to totally freak out all over FH, but I need to be able to panic a little without everything getting passed on to our parents who are beign so generous.

amelisha · March 2015

As you are an inexperienced traveller, I'd really recommend going to see a travel agent at an actual agency for this. It won't cost you anything more (as the agent is paid on commission from the travel operator, not by you) and he or she can make sure you get what you want for the best price, make suggestions you might not have considered, and inform you of all the other things you might not know about, like tourist visas, ground transportation, etc. It will make this a lot easier for you.

madamerwin · March 2015

As PPs have said, it definitely depends on where you're going and time of year. We're going to Mexico in the end of June, and we booked the resort a month (maybe two?) ago. We had been keeping an eye on flights since then, and they have stayed pretty steady up until this week when we saw prices start to rise. So we booked our flights today, exactly three months from the day we leave!

If it were me, I would set up fare alerts on Kayak or some similar site, and/or sign up for emails from some airlines. Often they will have special sales a few times a year, during which you're almost guaranteed to get the best rates. As for resorts, it again depends on where you want to go.

Or do what @amelisha said - Travel agents are great if you don't have experience booking vacations, and they shouldn't cost you anything. I also hear great things about Costco Travel - some people I know swear they have the lowest package rates for flights+hotels for certain destinations, like Mexico.

kvruns · March 2015

We booked our June 1 honeymoon on Cyber Monday because they had sales going on that weekend. We had booked a similar trip the year before at the same time because we knew prices would be good. Looked at our same package just for fun a week or so ago and it was $400 per person more than what we paid. So definitely watch for sales if you know where you want to go

climbingsingle · March 2015

I think we booked in May for our honeymoon in September.

nicemarmot · April 2015

We've booked it one year in advance. In fact, as soon as the flights were available. It gives us more time to pay it off as well, which is a bonus.

DaniP15 · April 2015

I heard somewhere that you need to book at least:

8 months for domestic

13 month for international

How true that is, IDK. I want to play it on the safe side and do it at least 10 months in advance. Like @nicemarmot said, it gives you time to pay it off!!!

amelisha · April 2015

DaniP15 said:
I heard somewhere that you need to book at least:

8 months for domestic

13 month for international

How true that is, IDK. I want to play it on the safe side and do it at least 10 months in advance. Like @nicemarmot said, it gives you time to pay it off!!!

That is way, way further ahead than anyone needs to book. Most airlines don't even offer fares more than a year out, even for international.

I don't know where you read that, but I can assure you it's not the slightest bit true.

nicemarmot · April 2015

Well, that's what I booked. We're travelling on March 3rd 2016 and have our reservations already, with BA.

amelisha · April 2015

nicemarmot said:
Well, that's what I booked. We're travelling on March 3rd 2016 and have our reservations already, with BA.

You can do whatever you want, obviously, but as a former travel professional I'm just saying that there is no reason on the travel provider side to have to do it so early if you don't want to. That's just...really, really early, especially for flights. I suppose having come from the industry I'm pretty laid back about travel in some ways, but I'd never book more than three months ahead unless it was peak Christmas or something and seats were already selling out. Fares drop and schedules change and so do my plans.

nicemarmot · April 2015

@amelisha that's a good point. I am a project manager, so planning ahead is what I do. I am not ashamed to admit I have a project plan in place for all the related activities: when to book the shows, when to make dinner reservations, when to make my holiday payments.

To me, there is no such thing as planning anything too early or too much. I forget not everybody is the same.

How far ahead should I book?

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