Time to play the bargain spotting game.
Over the coming months there will be plenty of travel deals to Asia: the trick will be identifying which are the real deals. This article, Deal or No Deal? , although addressed to the US traveller, provides some basic commonsense advice.
In the UK we are now very used to spotting bargains and we like to think we know how to play the game. As ever it is he or she who can hold their nerve the longest will (usually) win. If you are totally flexible about when and where you travel and you can wait, generally speaking, you will probably (but not certainly) pick up the best deal. Although with reduced supply (of air seats if not hotel rooms) you also need to understand the patterns of demand.
For example I would wait longer for a flight bargain for travel in say May than I would in late July/early August. May is a low-season month in most of Asia while the summer school holidays, in my opinion, will still see a peak in traveller numbers despite the economic challenges.
My comments above were peppered with caution because there is still an element of chance involved in this game: there are many factors to consider. Here are some:
- Seasonality. A quiet month in one destination (say Phuket) is a busy month in another (say Bali).
- There will be a limit to how low a hotel will go with its rates (particularly at the upper end) because they know they will have a struggle getting them back up again later.
- Domestic travel is being encouraged and could take up some slack (particularly during local holiday periods e.g. mid April in Thailand and Cambodia).
- There are other opportunistic travellers around playing the same game.
Like the article above concluded do your homework and be ready to strike.
My philosophy is if the price is right for you, take your pick and remember when opportunity knocks you have to decide, Deal or No Deal?
