Interesting. I was reading something in travel section (can’t remember which) about a family who went to a center parcs style holiday resort in Belgium during half term. And because they didn’t have a school half term in Belgium the same time as UK it all worked out £400 cheaper.

Darren, glad you got your rss sorted out

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I posted this earlier but my comments seem to have been removed.

Anyway, the reason why holidays are more expensive when the school holidays are on is down to simple laws of supply and demand.

There is more demand for holidays at certain times of year and this therefore commands a higher price. October half term is one of the periods of highest demand.

Paul

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No worries on the spam front…

And yes… if there’s an excess in demand, then the justification is there IMO. It might not be what we all want (since it’s a time when many of us want to travel) but it’s just a law of business. If some people out there weren’t willing to pay double, then they wouldn’t charge it! Companies are, at the end of the day, largely there to make profits.

“The supply and demand model describes the interaction in the market for a certain good between producers and consumers, in relation to the price and sales of the good. It is the fundamental model of microeconomics, and is used to explain a variety of microeconomic scenarios, as well as as a building block for many other economic models and theories. It was originally described by Antoine Augustin Cournot, and was popularized by Alfred Marshall.

The model predicts that in a competitive free market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand

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Travel companies are – unfortunately – not doing what they do for love, Darren. They have to make profits, as Paul rightly points out in his excellent post, and with many large travel now under dark shadow of private equity (Sabre, Travelport, Opodo) there is a suspicion that now there will be an even stronger need to maximise returns.

When volumes are high (during school holidays), it is incumbent on a company that anwers to shareholders that it ensures yields are also high.

It’s not very nice for Mr and Mrs Consumer, but that’s business.

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Im with Dazza.

Schools fine £100 and you have to pay that, or pay an extra amount like his sister of £150 – wheres the fairness in that.

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Darren,

One thing Paul did not point out is holiday sold in low season are mostly sold at a loss. This means Travel companies have to recoup the loss at busier times of the year. It does not honestly cost ryanair 1p to put a flight on. The OFT look into this recently and decide that travel companies did not charge excess amounts.

A small bit of advertising Triton aim to sell lower price trips during the school holidays. They do this by adding the cheapest flight to the hotel etc. Triton is a group of Travel agents that trade under the Worldchoice, Advantage and Global banners. To get the lowest price you need to book early.

Other hint and tips to get cheaper prices.

Be flexible on your dates and departure airports

Speak to an independent agent about using there cheap hotel rates and booking flights separately. (This will not be covered by an ATOL)

Choose more than one destination. (If demand is high so is the price)

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Darren, I think fair trading goes out of the window when it comes to the simply law of supply and demand.

On the subject of which, we thought it would be a good idea to buy our toddler a DVD of Disney’s Jungle Book. So we looked on Amazon, our first port of call. How much would you say it was?

£85

The reason is because it’s out of print, so some people are commanding stupid prices. I understand it will be reissued this month, so of course we’ll wait.

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nobody would suggest it is fair, Darren – it is just economics, unfortunately…

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You should’nt really get me started on this discussion. As a parent I am incensed when looking for a holiday and find the prices double during the school holidays. It is outragious and I am glad you brought it to peoples attention Darren.

Can I say I lived in France for 4 years with my children attending an American International school and the country would come to a stand still if the travel companies there ever thought about increasing prices during the school holidays.

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It’s because more people purchase travel tickets during school holidays to visit children and family. So travel agents are making use of that fact to make more money. I mean…would u charge more for off peak travel? Of course not, cuz then no one will buy any tickets or book at any of those hotels that charge extra for off peak seasons.

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I wish there was one decent holiday company out there that would not hike their prices during school breaks. There is no way my grandchildren can go to some of the places advertised.

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A good time to go away with children is end of May, when they get a week off school anyway, half term: take them out about 3-4 days before half term, go away for 2 weeks, so you fly home a day or 2 after half term! This way you get cheap flights and when you’re a family of 5 like us…the reduced flight cost makes a big difference! The school can fine you but you can refuse to pay the fine. The Education dept can then take you to court but NOT for non-payment of fine, only for your child’s non-attendance at school…and they can only take you to court if your child has had in excess of 10 days unauthorised absence that TERM! I checked it all out as my children’s school refused to authorise the “4 days” off i’ve requested even though their attendance is 100%!
aA tip for August..last 2 weeks nearly always the cheapest..work it so you fly back the day before they return to school!
But, saying this, i obviously agree that the travel industry is a rip off and very badly regulated!

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