Our Top Five Reasons to Book Travel Now

Our clients are asking us when is a good time to book travel for later this year or next year. We are encouraging our clients to travel only when they feel comfortable doing so. However now is a great time to book travel for the future. Here are our top five reasons to book future travel now which apply to both international and domestic travel.

Pricing

There are some great travel deals out there. These deals include special pricing on flights, cruises, hotels, and tours. There is also good pricing currently available on hotel/flight packages.

Not only are there well priced options out there, but there are deals with incentives. Some cruise lines that used to charge extra for beverage packages, are now throwing them and other perks in at no additional charge. Some are waiving or reducing single supplements and allowing kids to sail free. Hotels are also offering incentives such as spa/resort credits or meals.

It is likely that prices will increase (and perhaps significantly) later this year when the yearn to travel increases and concerns decrease.

Availability

Trips are available now that would often be sold out or otherwise unavailable. One example is cruises to top destinations on the most popular or luxury cruise lines. Another example is vacation rentals. There are excellent vacation rentals available for later this year and next year that are often sold out months or longer in advance.

For those of you who like to use miles for flights, there are more and better options than usual. For example, we were able to find round trip business class flights from southern California to South Africa on top rated Qatar Airlines for November/December of this year for a total of 150,000 American Airline miles and less than $140 in taxes/fees!

Flexibility If You Book Travel Now

Another reason to consider booking now is the great flexibility that airlines, cruise lines, hotels, vacation rentals and other tour operators are providing. Airlines virtually across the board are offering no change fees and are issuing refunds if they cancel the flight. Cruise lines are offering cruise with confidence plans where you can choose to put off your cruise in some cases up till two days before departure.  Hotels and vacation rentals that usually have strict cancellation policies have been changing them to accommodate the needs of travelers during a pandemic. Therefore, your risk in choosing to book travel now is less than usual.

With that said, we still strongly recommend that clients purchase travel/interruption/medical insurance. We also recommend that our clients consider a cancel for any reason (CFAR) policy. Because most hotels are offering refundable rates, we are discouraging booking non-refundable rates at this time. It is also important to understand that mainstream tour and cruise operators can and typically do provide greater flexibility than LGBT+ charter companies who are contract bound. Nonetheless, many of the LGBT charter companies we work with went out of their way to provide travelers with flexibility despite the financial hit they took.

Safety Protocols

Hotels, cruise lines and other tour operators have researched and implemented protocols to try to ensure the safety of all. They have used technology and innovation to make impressive improvements. They have made significant changes in cleaning techniques, social distancing and other safety initiatives. Of course, any travel including just leaving one’s home still creates some risk. Nonetheless, the new safety protocols combined with the progress in vaccine distribution should provide many with reassurance.

To Book Travel Now Feels Good

So many of us have experienced some level of feeling stir crazy as the pandemic has continued. Booking a trip for later this year or sometime in 2022 gives you something to look forward to and plan. This could be an international bucket list trip or a car trip to various places in the U.S. Half of the fun of traveling is in planning and booking the trip.

Ready to book travel now or have any questions about options, please contact us. We would be happy to help.

Purple Light Vacations provides you with the knowledge, insight and personalized service to make your vacation all you want it to be at no additional cost. We help you travel in the know wherever you go. To get started, fill out this quick form or call 619.324.1444 (ext. 3).