One of the most common question I am asked is, “How early do I start planning my vacation?”
My answer is always the same, it’s never too early to start to plan your travel. As a good friend once said to me, “If it’s really important then you plan in advance.” When you are looking ahead and planning in advance you find the most options to get the room type, category, and view you want. I wanted to share a timeline of when you should start planning your travel at any phase. Here I plan to cover all of the benefits of planning your travel in advance.
12-18 months in advance: Start dreaming about your travel and decide on a destination.
Begin a discussion with your family about different destination options. So often, clients approach me with travel requests and have a very important detail missing. They don’t know where they want to go. So before you even start getting into the weeds of the planning process, know where you want to go. Also, many destinations have app and accounts that will be required for use while planning travel and once you arrive at the destination. This is a good time to set up accounts for your destination of choice. Regardless of working with a travel advisor these accounts will be useful and necessary. Also, as you are making these initial accounts you will likely come across any health related travel requirements. As time goes on health requirements can and will likely change. It Is better to be prepared in advance so that you can make decisions based on what requirements are best for your family.
6-9 moths in advance: Reserve your resort, lodging, or cruise.
Once you know where you want to go and your family is all in agreement, now is the time to make that first deposit on your vacation. This is important for a few reasons, one being that you will get the best pricing possible the earlier you book. Also, most travel vendors will allow you to apply any future promotions to any package you have booked as long as your package does not already feature a promotion. The beginning of the year is usually known as “Wave Season” in the travel industry. This is the time of year when so many families are looking ahead to their travel plans for their year and the promotions are plentiful. Another benefit to booking early is that if you change your mind you are likely still outside of any penalty window and not have to incur any penalties should you have to cancel your plans.
3-6 months in advance: Make your final changes
Make any final changes or modifications because you will likely owe a balance on your vacation at this point. You want to be locked in with solid plans. Often times, when I am working with a client who is only a few weeks or months before their travel we run into issues with availability. Sometimes we are deciding on a resort or room type and the next thing you know, it’s fully booked, This can be such as disappointment. Depending on your family size, if you are a family of 5 or larger your room category options may be more limited. This is the time to make sure all needed travel documents are in order and most importantly can be easily located. I can’t tell you how many times we as travel agents are in a pickle with clients who have misplaced their passport or they discover the passport is expired. Since the return of travel after the pandemic we have really seen a boom in travel. Every destination is busy and those who did not plan ahead may miss out on some of the enjoyment had they not planned in advance.
1 month – the week of travel: Make any final reservations
I hope by now I have convinced you that planning travel as early as possible is the way to go. If not, fear not, last minute travel is not impossible. I am all for a last minute vacation but, I can’t make any guarantees. One month from travel, your will likely be paid in full on your vacation. This is also the window to have any necessary dining, spa or activity reservations made at your destination. You may even want to get a head start on packing in order to give yourself the opportunity to make any “necessary” shopping trips for resort wear options. Let’s be honest, vacations are a great excuse to shop. At this point, you should be excited and ready to take a much needed family vacation. Planning ahead helps to ease pre-travel anxiety and will allow you to be ready to relax and unplug.
