Fab at Fifty – How to book a holiday with confidence

Holidays take a great deal of planning and you almost feel like you need another one after sorting the current one out! Arranging the accommodation, the transport, the activities, what you’re going to pack…it can all be pretty stressful stuff.

This is why it is so important to avoid any additional stress by making the wrong choices when booking your holiday. 

Once you’ve chosen the perfect location from which to relax and unwind, you could be forgiven for excitedly rushing into the booking process. However, this excitement can turn into a nightmare if you don’t do your research into the travel agent, and any associated third parties they might use.

Here are our top three tips to help avoid your holiday dreams turning into the stuff of nightmares:

Do your research

By checking online reviews about your travel agent. you can make sure you are fully aware of the ones who are offering best packages, as well as the ones who may be offering ‘scam’ breaks – enticing people to part with their hard-earned cash with false holiday promises, or worse still, no real holiday at all.  You should always be travel scam alert when booking a holiday!

Free Vacation Scams

The general rule is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

If you receive a phone call or a post card telling you that you’ve won a free vacation, use your head – it’s a scam! You’ll be asked to call a premium rate number and then provide your credit card details to take a small service charge. The next step will see your credit card charged hundreds of dollars – you’ve been scammed!

Book with a credit card

The safest way to get protection when booking travel arrangements is to use your credit card.  As long as the transaction bears the name of the company you are booking with (for example the airline) your credit card issuer should refund any losses in the unfortunate event of a holiday scam or any fraudulent activity.

This article was written by Kathryn Thompson.  Kathryn is an experienced travel blogger who has covered topics from celebrity cruises to holiday scams.