What is more profitable: a package tour or an independent trip

On the pros and cons of ready tours for travels the whole family told us the general director of OZON.travel Dmitry Yakovlev.Photo:Getty imagesThe first thing parents with children need to understand and accept is that vacations will never be the same. These are two different types of travel: individual travel, when you are free to plan whatever you want, and travel with children, when you can, of course, also plan whatever you want, but take into account the needs and desires of the children. And if you previously preferred independent tourism, then, having children, it makes sense to reconsider your beliefs and take a closer look at ready-made tours. Why? There are as many as 5 reasons for this.

Reason 1: save time

Planning a vacation is a real job.You need to find air tickets, think over the route, find a transfer, choose a hotel, find out if it has services for children, a children's menu, what is the situation with family rooms or extra beds for children. All this takes a lot of time and effort, and no one can guarantee that everything will work out exactly as you imagined. Ready-made tours are a package of services. Everything has already been done for you. You already have air tickets, a guaranteed proven transfer, and a hotel with family rooms, which means you will not have to waste time negotiating with the reception about the need to put another crib or sofa, if you have two children. The room will be ready upon your arrival. For parents who both work and raise children, organizing a trip means having to work three shifts. It is better to use the time spent on organizing a transfer for a walk with children.Photo: Getty images

Reason 2: confidence in the quality of services

If you are used to booking on your ownhotels, you probably noticed that the information about them on booking sites is not always complete, and language barriers, unfortunately, do not always allow you to fully familiarize yourself with the entire list of services on the official page of the hotel complex. Choosing a hotel as part of a ready-made tour, you get complete and reliable information about everything. Agree, it will not be very pleasant to come to the hotel with a small child and find that the hotel restaurant does not provide a children's menu, there are no microwaves for heating baby food, there is no children's playground on the territory, and the mini-club is open two hours a day and only for children over 6 years old. Choosing a ready-made tour excludes all this. Some points, the presence of which is mandatory for you, can be indicated during the search, and suitable offers will certainly be found. In addition, all the nuances: the availability of stroller rental, Russian-speaking animators, potties and steps for the bathroom in the hotel - can be clarified with the agent when booking the tour. All this information is often not available when booking a hotel separately, but is open to tour operators.

Reason 3: saving money

It's only when you start traveling with your family,where the child is already over two years old and requires a separate air ticket, you understand that it is expensive. And if there are two children, it is doubly expensive. Of course, you can catch non-refundable tickets six months before the trip and buy them for half price, but this does not work in the case of traveling with children. The child may get sick, he may have an exam, a competition or something else on the day of departure, and you will not get your money back, and you will not get on vacation. Air tickets in a package of a ready-made tour are always cheaper, simply because the company buys tickets in bulk. The same applies to transfers: individual ones cost at least three times more than group ones. And naturally, a hotel in a package of a ready-made tour is also cheaper, because tour operators sell rooms at a different price, and this is a well-known fact.Photo: Getty images

Reason 4: leave guarantee

If you decide to take a vacation during the hot season, thenyou may find yourself unable to book a room in the hotel you like or buy tickets for a charter flight, because they simply don’t exist. They have all already been bought by tour operators. And the dream of a wonderful holiday in a hotel that mothers and children have praised so much will crumble like a house of cards…

Reason 5: Security Guarantee

When going on holiday with children, it is very important to beconfident in the quality and safety of the services provided. In this regard, a ready-made tour, being a complex of transportation and accommodation services, is the best solution. Operators prefer to cooperate only with trusted companies. After all, it is the tour operator who bears full responsibility for the quality of the flight and for the hotel accommodation, and all claims will be made to him, and not to those who directly provided the services. Therefore, the tour operator approaches the choice of contractors very carefully and does not work with unverified companies. In addition, it is also important that the package of the ready-made tour always includes medical insurance, and you can be sure that in the event of an emergency, you will not have to look for the nearest medical center - there is always a hotel doctor who will come to the rescue. And, of course, do not forget about travel cancellation insurance, which can also often be included in the package of the ready-made tour. That is, if a force majeure situation occurs, you will not lose money for your vacation and will simply go on it later.Photo:Getty images Yes, a ready-made tour is a fixed departure and arrival date, and it is not always possible to choose the departure time, however, within the framework of package tours you can always find those that are created specifically for families with children and the departure and arrival times are selected in such a way as to make the trip as comfortable as possible for all participants of the trip. A vacation with children is an exciting adventure, the success of which depends primarily on how well you have prepared for it. A ready-made tour is an opportunity to find exactly what has already been created for families with children, everything has already been planned and thought out for you. All you have to do is pack your suitcase and go enjoy a family vacation. Also interesting: