2013
24
January
Edmonton to Belize | How To Get The Best Deal On Packages
24
January
Guides
The Ydeals Noise-Free Guide To Getting The Best Deal On Flight & Hotel Packages From Edmonton (YEG) to Belize
 | There are thousands of travel sites out there, all wanting you to believe they have unique or special prices on packages to Belize. They don't. They use marketing noise to hide the fact that there is really only one source of unique prices on packages to Belize. This guide will remove the noise and show you what that source is, so you can stop wasting so much time when searching for the best deal. |
What are the unique sources of prices on hotel and flight packages from Edmonton to Belize ?
Unique Source #1 - The Flight & Hotel Combiners
The Flight & Hotel Combiners are sites that simply mash together the latest flight prices from the major airlines with the latest hotel prices in Belize to create a package. They tend to be U.S. based brands (but offer packages from Canada).
Many warm destinations have at least two sources of unique package prices, because of packages offered by the Canadian Tour Operators. But there are not currently any Tour Operators in Canada that offer packages from Edmonton to Belize.
Where should I look to get the best vacation package deal?
This is the noise. The flight price component of the package from the major airlines is identical for every site that offers these types of packages. There may be a slight differences in their source of hotel prices, but for the most part they're all grabbing the latest hotel prices from similar sources, at similar prices.
The result is that the Flight & Hotel combination sellers usually all have very identical vacation package prices to each other, and holiday travellers tend to waste a lot of time thinking they are comparing prices from unique sources against each other, when they're not.
Here are the Flight & Hotel combination outfits that spend the most on advertising, you have likely heard of at least one of them...
| Expedia | Travelocity | Book It | Orbitz | Hotwire |
When should I book my trip to get the best price from the Flight & Hotel Combiners?
Try to remember that at the end of the day, the vacation packages offered by the Flight & Hotel resellers are simply made up of two components:
1) The latest flight prices from the major airlines. The major airlines don't tend to offer great last minute prices, so waiting until the last minute can backfire. I find the major airlines tend to usually offer their most decent prices around 8 weeks before departure.
2) The latest hotel prices. It's more common to see hotels offer discounts at the last minute, but then you have to weigh that against the fact that the flight price component from the major airlines can rise as the date nears, meaning the package price could go up.
So as a whole I'd probably consider the flight price component as being the limiting factor, and suggest that I'd be comfortable watching prices from the Flight & Hotel Combiners up to about 8 weeks before departure. But everyone has a different tolerance for risk.
One strategy can be to look for dates that have cheap flight prices to Belize, and then use those dates when looking for a package. You may want to read the guide How To Get The Best Deal On Flights From Edmonton To Belize.
What about my local travel agency or independent travel agent here in Edmonton?
If it's through a travel agency in Canada, or a Canadian travel agent, they would normally try to sell you on a package from one of the Canadian Tour Operators, but since there are no Tour Operators in Canada that offer packages from Edmonton to Belize, they'd likely just book a package for you that was similar to what is available through the Flight & Hotel Combiner sites. They may or may not charge you a booking fee for their time.
What about booking flight & hotel separately? Is that cheaper or more expensive than a air with hotel package?
People often want to know if booking a travel package to Belize is better or worse than booking flight and hotel separately. The answer is, well, that there is no correct answer. One or the other can be cheaper or more expensive for any given situation, at any given moment. All you can do is try both and compare.
I'd suggest starting with finding the cheapest flight to Belize that you can. You may want to read the flight guide mentioned above.
Then find the cheapest hotel rates you can for your dates. Remember that packages are almost always listed as 'per person' (usually based on 2 people in a room), so you'll need to do some simple math for an accurate comparison.
The easiest thing to do is usually just to take the holiday package price that you see on the typical Flight & Hotel Combiner sites and multiply it by 2. Jot down this number.
Now take the total cost of the flights to Belize you found (2 of them) and add it to the total cost of the hotel (across all nights) that you found on your own. Compare to the number you jotted down above.
Remember that for a fair comparison you should always keep as many variables the same as possible, including the flight quality (number of stopovers, layover time), the number of nights, and the ratings of the hotels involved.
Congratulations, you have essentially become your own Flight & Hotel Combiner, not all that different from what the large travel sites are doing.
What about Belize packages with non-stop flights ?
There are currently no airlines that offer direct flights from Edmonton to Belize, so as a result, there aren't any packages that do either.
What about 'all inclusive' packages from Edmonton to Belize?
Unlike some countries (Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic), where there is an abundance of all inclusive resorts, Belize does not really have many true 'all inclusive' resorts where all meals and drinks are included. When using the Flight & Hotel Combiner sites, you could keep an eye out for hotels that offer a room type of 'all inclusive', but there are very few of them in Belize.
I think I've found a great deal on a vacation package to Belize!
Excellent! Please share it with your fellow travel lovers from Edmonton, they will appreciate it and thank you for it! You can post it in the YEG Deals Facebook group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive), where thousands of people from Edmonton are crowd-sourcing the best deals, and sharing great travel advice.
Or if you prefer, you can always give me a shout through the YEG Deals contact form or on Twitter @YEGdeals or through Google Plus. Great deal finds are always appreciated.
Why should I trust this Edmonton guide to vacationing in Belize?
 | The info in this guide is based on my observations of the travel industry over the years, including all the thousands of websites out there, and where all the different players get their prices from and how they interact with each other. The goal is to remove the noise of travel marketing, so people can stop wasting so much valuable time searching the same prices over and over. |
But, as social proof of it's accuracy, feel free to join the YEG Deals Facebook Group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive) and publicly disagree with any of it, or make a comment below. Critiques are always welcome!
I think I have some info that could help improve this travel guide for Edmontonians!
Great! Please post your info in the Facebook group above, or contact me directly. Suggestions for improvement are always appreciated. Let me know if you see something that seems inaccurate or outdated.
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