Article: the essential checklist If you're tempted to bypass a tour operator and book a city break yourself, use this guide to weigh up the pros and cons

When planning a short break to Europe, you can either phone your tour operator to talk through hotel and flight options or log onto an airline website to find a cheap flight and then organise your accommodation to fit around it.

More people these days are taking the second option - about half of all city breaks are booked direct rather than through an operator as people become increasingly confident using the internet to find good-value airfares and cut-price hotel deals.

City-break operators are trying to win people back with a variety of deals - "hotel-only" bookings, for example, have been on offer for a while, and some operators will also book "no-frills" flights for customers.

...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!