Pros & Cons of Booking Your Spring Break With an Online Travel Company ⁰

 

Is it Better to Book Your Spring Break Direct With a Hotel or use an Online Travel Company?

There’s no question about it… your Spring Break is a big deal.

Actually, it’s kinda HUGE. You know, like, Arnold in the 80s big…

So you want to make sure you get it right, and have a LEGENDARY Spring Break experience you can tell your kids all about (when they’re old enough of course).

So what’s the BEST way to book your Spring Break vacation, and make sure it lives up to (heck, exceeds) your expectations?

Well that’s a little trickier – since it depends on YOUR personal preferences about cost/convenience/value for money etc.

Reading this article will help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of booking with online travel companies, and help you get a better understanding of your own priorities.

 

Spring Break Travel Companies – Pros & Cons

There’s no shortage of online booking sites out there who package everything up for you in a nice neat bundle, and for a little extra cost– they will probably even put a pretty little bow on top.

Convenience

OK, if you’re just looking for a ‘quick-fix” and don’t really have a lot of time to do your own research, then this is a check-one-and-done solution. Or, if your group is kinda lazy, and somehow (although you’re not quite sure how it happened) you ended up in charge of planning everyone’s Spring Break, then this might seem like a pretty tempting solution.

 

Package Deals

It’s not uncommon for online booking agents to partner with a small selection bars / restaurants / clubs / stores and other places you might not otherwise hear about. By booking with one of these Travel Companies, you might get offered “exclusive” discounts/free entry into some these places, and end up trying something you might not have otherwise done.

Expensive

Let’s say you finally found a package that looks good, AND fits your budget – you’re all set, right? Kind of… Remember that a Spring Break Travel Company is ultimately a middle-man. Not only is the hotel/bar/attraction making money – the tour operator isn’t doing it out of the goodness of their heart. You need to accept that they are taking a cut too. (It is worth mentioning that they may get cheaper rates by booking in bulk – but are you sure those cheaper rates being passed on to you?) Double-check by contacting businesses directly and asking for their prices for the same dates / group size etc. (Most will have a website and/or free-phone number).

TIP: Make sure you watch out for any sneaky hidden fees, booking fees, cleaning fees, nonrefundable deposits, etc. If you EVER see an asterisk (*) be sure to see what it’s all about! Hidden fees like these can add up quick, and when it’s all over with wind up costing you more than if you had just booked direct.

 

Limited Selection

Spring Break Travel Companies typically only have access to a limited number of partners in destinations they work with. It’s worth taking a little time to do some research about those places before you book. After all, they might not be the best options at that destination. For example, imaginary tour operator ‘Super-Star-Tours’ offers free entry all week into ‘Club-Super-Duper’ for everyone that books their Spring Break package through them… Sounds great right? Yeah, so long as ‘Club-Super-Duper’ isn’t actually super crappy.

Experts? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Experts

It’s inevitable… Someone in your group will probably have a specific question about your hotel, or even a general question about the destination. Chances are, when you contact your online Travel Company, you’re talking to someone in a call center (likely out of state, and possibly even out of the country) who simply doesn’t have the answers to your questions (a ‘Peggy’). Booking direct with a hotel on the other hand, guarantees you will speak to someone who works there, lives there, and will be able to give you some helpful, local insight.

 

Uh Oh! Problems…

Hopefully the only ‘problems’ you have on Spring Break are deciding who to flirt with, and how cold your beer is. BUT as we all know, life-happens and you might run into a problem with your room size / type / view etc. There’s any number of things that could potentially go wrong. If you booked with an online Travel Company then good luck in having your concerns heard by the hotel. You will have to contact the company you made the booking through, and hope they can resolve the issue for you. Which could be more frustrating than realizing the chick you’ve been talking to for the past half hour has been sat next to her boyfriend the entire time.

 

The Alternative

Luckily for you, the alternative is just as simple, and only requires one skill… One, which you’re probably an expert at already… Google.

Yep, it’s really that simple! All you need to do is search for whatever you’re looking for, kinda like…

Spring Break Hotels on the beach with a Bar

Or whatever – and check it out for yourself. It won’t take you long – and it’s not hard. It’s gonna be SOOOO much more fun spending an hour or so planning the Spring Break trip of a lifetime, than an hour sat in a boring lecture.

 

So, What Did We Learn?

The choice between booking your Spring Break with an online Travel Company, and doing some research yourself really boils down to your priorities. If you want a quick-fix, simple solution, and have a little extra money to throw around and not worry too much about getting the biggest bang for your buck – Online Travel Agents can seem like an attractive option.

If you have a little more time to plan your Spring Break, then you might prefer doing some research to find out where the best places to stay, eat, party, shop etc. are. Plus, if you think getting value for money is cool, and enjoy having extra cash in your pockets (so you can do more fun stuff), as well as avoiding any hassles when you arrive, then booking direct with a hotel is the way to go.

 

Something To Think About…

Spring Break is about so much more than just shopping around for the cheapest price.  Spring Break is, by its very nature, an EPIC experience. With so many things that could go wrong with a booking, you might want to stick with the “tried and true” (booking direct) and make sure you get what you bargained for.