Do you book flights or villa first?

patr · Post by **patr** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:58 pm

Always in a quandary as to which to nail down first, air or accomodations.

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:05 pm

I booked the villa first because I wasn't sure if I could get a reservation for a villa I wanted to match a random airline ticket date. It's much easier, IMHO, to get your villa set up and then get airline tix to match!

Diana2 · Post by **Diana2** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:17 pm

I book the villa first and then the air. We usually end up going down a day or two earlier then the villa arrival date and then stay at Estate Lindholm until we can get into the villa.

If you're not set on one particular villa you can do the air first and put your tickets on hold for a week or two and then decide on the villa based on your flights.

susan & herb · Post by **susan & herb** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:25 pm

I think it depends also on the time of year you are going. We head down to the caribbean after April 15th when the prices drop. We use frequent flyer miles and fly first class,our yearly extravagence, and so far have not had a problem getting seats. We get our villa first, because the popular ones get booked a year in advance we have found.

RockyMtHi · Post by **RockyMtHi** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:29 pm

After 8 trips to St John we have found over time coming out of Denver that booking air is first priority. We always have been able to book accomodations somewhere somehow. For us it is just being able to be there no matter what it takes.

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:30 am

Because we typically use FF miles we book the air tickets first and then find a villa that meets our needs & dates. We usually plan about 10 months to over a year out so its not ever been a problem.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:33 am

We tend the book the villa a year out. Getting decent airfare is rather a stalk for us. For November, we got $450 rt out of Washington/Dulles about 5 months after we booked the villa. Over 24 people (we are bringing the full herd for Thankgiving) the savings were significant.

Cheers, RickG

Coden · Post by **Coden** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:09 am

This, being our first trip to fly in, we booked the air first and then the villa. We'll probably do that the next time as it worked out well.

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:20 pm

We usually do FF so we book air about 10 months out (Jan/Feb for November). We then book accomodations shortly after.

It's always worked out fine this way.

janet

Bluwater · Post by **Bluwater** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:58 pm

I book carefully coordinate so that I am booking both at the same time - usually working around the best villa deals and then trying to match that with decent airfare. The villa deal will trump airfare becuase the villa is much more expensive of the two and I can save much more by working out a great villa deal.

snorkelgirl · Post by **snorkelgirl** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:00 pm

Accommodations first, then we stalk the airlines to try and get a good deal.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:14 pm

We book villa first and then wait for the airfare. It drives me crazy, but John likes to try and find that deal. 2005's trip it worked out great--we got airfare for $249/RT with a stop in Philly. This past trip I balked and made him get the tickets for around $400 r/t through Charlotte.

I think it is amazing that we actually pay less for airfare than some areas of the US that are closer to the USVIs. My aunt and unlce sold their timeshare at Coconut Coast a couple of years ago because the flights from Florida (where they now live) to STT are (according to their account) so outrageous--way more than ours from Boston.

patr · Post by **patr** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:12 pm

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

This is a huge dilema for me.

My husband gets crazy if I book the villa first and do not have air. I prefer to do both at the same time, so there is no question or problems.

This year, I booked a villa on Virgin Gorda first, watched air prices until I felt they were reasonable, then after securing air, booked the villa for the second week on St John.

In the past, depending on availability, I have waited until the last minute and got a last-minute discount for the villa rental.

I am surprised at how many of you book the villa first. I would have thought it would have been the other way around.

89 days 'til wheels up!

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:36 pm

I think the difference is really if you are using frequent flier miles which can be testy to line up OR if you are just hunting for a cheap flight. The one year we weren't using FF miles we did book the house first.

Genral · Post by **Genral** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:30 pm

Villa first. To us, it's more important to get the villa we want. Doesn't matter as much which airline we take.

usvi-on-line