Top 3 Components for Establishing Your Vacation Budget

Coming up with a vacation budget is easy to do when you consider the relationship between three important components – COST, QUALITY and TIME. The three can be assessed with the vacation budget triangle shown below. Here’s how it works.



COST

This is considered the dollar amount you have established for your vacation. Your cost should not be a set amount but a range that is acceptable and enables you to be flexible when searching your vacation options. For example, establishing a set budget of $4,000 gives you far less flexibility with choices versus knowing you are able to spend between $5,000 and $6,000.

QUALITY

This refers to a variety of things that are important to you when taking your vacation. These would include such things as the type of hotel including its location and amenities; the level of service you expect from your vacation venue; the age and popularity of the venue. Quality can also pertain to how much you want to do on your own and how much you want to rely on experts. For example, one of the areas of quality that travel agents provide is being able to save you significant time searching and researching vacation venues and options as well as having vetted resorts, venues, tour companies, cruise lines and other related vacation services.

TIME

This refers to a couple of important elements that contribute to cost. The first is time of year when you want to travel. For example, the high season for Mexico tends to be the months of March, April and May. Therefore, you can expect the cost of airfare and resorts or cruises to be higher in those months while the summer months of July and August may be less.  The second is how far in advance you are able to book your desired vacation. You may find some good deals by waiting until the last minute to book a vacation but you will have to settle for the available dates, flights, hotels, or cruise cabins, which may not be your best choices.

Now that you know the three components, you will need to have some give and take between the three to come up with an acceptable budget for your desired vacation. Listed below are examples for COST, QUALITY and TIME.

COST Example

If COST is your number one priority and you cannot go above a certain dollar amount then you will need to be flexible with the QUALITY and TIME components. That is, you may have to select a 3-star hotel (i.e. QUALITY) during the off-season for the location of your vacation (i.e. TIME).

QUALITY Example

If it’s QUALITY that is essential for having a dream vacation, you will want to find resorts, cruise ships and land tours that are highly rated in such things as style, food, entertainment, and of course overall service and attention to details. QUALITY also needs to be considered in relation to when you book, which means booking your vacation well in advance gives you many more choices to ensure you get the QUALITY you desire. When QUALITY is your primary consideration then you know your cost is going to be higher and you will need to budget accordingly.

TIME Example

When it comes to TIME, you have to consider in-season and off-season as well as your desire and ability to plan and book your vacation months in advance. It stands to reason that booking your vacation during in-season months will be higher cost while off-season will enable you to use a smaller budget. If you want to get the best selections of flights, resorts, tours and cruises it’s absolutely essential to book your vacation as far in advance as possible, which means TIME is the critical component when budgeting for your vacation.

Some people consider TIME to be the most difficult to decide upon because they are concerned that a better deal will be offered after they make the reservations. That is certainly a possibility but any deals that are offered will be based on variables such as the popularity of the venue or itinerary and current economic conditions. The more likely situation is that booking early will save you money because prices will continuously rise for air fare, resort rates, and cruise fares. For example, you make a reservation for a cruise and a couple months later you see the cruise line offering a special $100 onboard credit for the cabin category you had booked. You call your travel agent to find out if you can get the onboard credit. The answer would likely be that you can but you need to cancel your current reservation and rebook to get the new promotion. The problem is that the current fare is $200 more than you paid, which means you need to spend $200 to get the $100 onboard credit. You were better off with your original booking.

Assessing the relationship between COST, QUALITY and TIME will help you establish a reasonable budget for the specific expectations you have. It helps eliminate any surprises when you research, plan and book your dream vacation.

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Gerry and Margaret Waller combine their years of travel experience and passion for dream vacations to help clients get the most out of theirs. They provide thoughtfulness, patience, and careful attention to details in planning and accomplishing every client’s needs and desires for new and exciting vacation opportunities. Whether it is a luxurious cruise, relaxing resort and spa, or an adventurous escape from day-to-day lives, Gerry and Margaret go above and beyond to help turn your vacation dreams into dream vacations.