The January Blues

RECENT research by ATOL, the holiday protection scheme, has found that 5.2 million Brits are set to book their holiday this month.

The price of the getaway is still the number one factor when booking holidays, with over a third of Brits (35 per cent) admitting they are looking to grab a bargain by booking their next holiday early.

Another quarter (26 per cent) say they are looking forward to sunshine and hot weather after such dreary weather this winter.

However, despite a large number of expected holiday bookings in January, seven out of ten (69 per cent) of those surveyed admitted they do not always seek financial protection for their holiday getaways, putting themselves at risk of being out of pocket if their airline or travel company goes out of business.


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Easy Reserve celebrates 10 years in business

EASY Reserve is an online holiday rental company based in Ireland, with support offices in Italy and the United States, that, since its foundation in 2007, has continued to expand and grow.

Today, it offers tens of thousands of vacation rental accommodations all over the globe through its several vacation rental websites, including, www.easyreserve.com, www.italy-villas.com, www.tuscany-villas.it and www.holidayhomesprovence.com, which are translated into multiple languages including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Danish.

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Saturdays busiest booking day of January

THE first Saturday in the New Year is dubbed “Sunshine Saturday” in the UK. It is the busiest day of the year for holiday bookings in Europe. As a recent survey carried out by the world’s largest travel group TUI Group has shown, January has become the busiest month of the year across Europe for the tour operator, with huge spikes in bookings observed each Saturday in January. 

This year, the busiest day for holiday bookings in the UK was January 7 with more than 27,500 TUI customers in the UK booked their annual holiday. Mediterranean beach holidays remain one of the most popular holiday types among British tourists, some top destinations include the Balearics, Corfu and Rhodes. 

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Booking.com announce 2016 guest review awards

Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travellers with the widest choice of incredible places to stay, is honouring its accommodation partners that consistently deliver great guest experiences with a 2016 Guest Review Award.

Based on over 110 million reviews, this year 355,535 properties in 205 countries and territories are being recognised with the following countries taking home the most awards:

Italy (53,005) 

United States (24,761)

France (23,003)

Germany (18,221)

Spain (18,037) 

UK (16,514) 

Austria (12,659) 

Greece (12,439) 

Croatia (12,219)

Poland (10,399) 

In the UK, 16,514 properties, from all types, received the award, with an overall average score of 8.8 in guest reviews. 56 properties achieved a perfect 10 score, demonstrating their dedication to offering an unforgettable stay. Among these, 20 are holiday homes and apartments, reflecting continued global increase in the demand for holiday rentals.

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"Best Time to Book" holiday report from TripAdvisor

TRIPADVISOR has released its "Best Time to Book" Holiday report, revealing the least expensive times to book hotels in popular global destinations for the December and New Year's Eve holidays. Best times to book vary from country to country but here is a sample of what the report found.

• Book U.S. hotels starting in November.

• Travelers should shop for European deals beginning in March but can find consistent value by booking after mid-November.

• Asia sees best savings from September on.

• Caribbean hotel prices remain relatively steady all year.

• Central America rates are flat and climb slightly towards the end of year.

• Middle East hotels prices drop starting in November. 

• Start booking your holiday stays in November for Africa.

• South America values available starting in September until the end of the year. 

• Book South Pacific from mid-July on to the end of December. 

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Picture Credit: ClaraDon www.flickr.com/photos/7267297@N05/4189043929 Ornaments via photopin.com

Travel firms scrap credit card fees

JET2HOLIDAYS and north-east travel agency chain Dawson & Sanderson have scrapped credit card fees.

Jet2holidays and Jet2.com have dropped credit card charges on all flights and holiday bookings, having previously charged 2.5%, while Dawson & Sanderson, which has 20 branches, had charged 2.25%.

Jet2 says that no other airline or tour operator has made the change, and that it is doing it ‘to make booking a holiday or a flight as friendly, convenient, and competitively priced as possible’.

Dawson & Sanderson says the credit card surcharge was unethical and penalized many of its customers. It has ditched the surcharge on all credit card payments except for American Express and business credit cards.

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Paris bookings halve as travel sales shrink by 15%

TRAVEL agents suffered a 50% drop in passenger bookings to #Paris amid a ‘dramatic’ fall in flight bookings in the week following the massacre in the French capital on November 13. 

Latest leisure travel market data from GfK also revealed that total bookings for all destinations in the week to last Saturday were 15% down year-on-year. Mid-haul destinations suffered the sharpest fall, with 26% fewer holidays booked. Egypt and Tunisia accounted for most of the decline.

Industry data analyst ForwardKeys reported airline bookings to Paris down 27% at the start of this week, while cancellations rose 21% year on year in the week to November 21.

ForwardKeys chief executive Oliver Jago said: ‘There were last-minute cancellations of immediate travel plans, predominantly among business travellers. New bookings have also dropped dramatically.’

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/101437384@N06/19273309543">The Louvre, Museum sunset in Paris  (2 of 1)</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">(license)

Try a break in the woods

WOODLAND-BASED lodge breaks for those looking to make the most of the great outdoors has been introduced by domestic holiday specialist Hoseasons.

Available to book now - www.hoseasons.co.uk/lodges - for the start of next year, Wanderwood offers nature escapes at six locations in England and Scotland: Norfolk, Surrey, Somerset, Shropshire, the Lake District, and the Northern Highlands.

The lodges are pet-friendly and come with complimentary binoculars, and umbrellas WiFi is also included, and hot tubs feature at all locations.

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PCs still tops for holiday bookings; mobile use flat

RESEARCH published by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has highlighted a significant increase in the use of tablets to book holidays online. One in four (24%) of online bookers said they secured at least one get-away via a tablet compared to 18% in 2014, while the use of mobile phones remains flat at 16% of online bookers.

But ABTA’s Holiday Habits Report 2015 shows that the PC remains by far the most popular device for booking, with 91% of online bookers using a PC or laptop when booking at least one holiday online in the past 12 months.

The research suggests that people are finding the mobile phone booking experience more difficult than on a PC or tablet. Ease of use is cited as one of the key advantages of using a PC or tablet. 77% of PC users and 58% of tablet users found the booking experience easy, compared to only 41% of mobile phone users.

Victoria Bacon, ABTA head of Brand and Business Development said: ‘Personal computers remain the most popular device for people booking their holidays online, reflecting the fact that buying a holiday is often a more complex and high value transaction compared to other purchases. However, for the last two years we have seen significant growth in the use of tablets, reflecting their increasing importance as a device to book holidays online.

‘While smartphones have a long way to go to catch up with PCs and tablets when it comes to holiday bookings, their popularity among younger age groups suggests they will grow in relevance, so travel companies should continue to develop and grow their mobile sales strategies.’ 

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