But what about waiting for the Last-Minute Deals ?

So ran a headline in yesterday’s Sunday Times Travel Section written by no less than Chris Haslam, the editor. He describes looking for a deal this year as a barrel scrapping exercise and outlines how most holiday companies, Amro Worldwide included, have honed their stock-management skills from the art of guesstimate to that of laser sharp precision to ensure minimal unsold holidays which are sold off at a discount.

Irritatingly, he continues, the best way to get a deal now is to book early and with some 2011 holiday offers due to expire by 31 August – that’s tomorrow – he’s probably right. But you don’t really have to book that early with Amro Worldwide to secure a good priced deal.

Book 8 - 12 weeks out – that’s now for November - and you should find plenty of choice at a fair price. Look for September and there’s not much left although we do have some space at the all-gay male Beach Boys or Tenesoya in Gran Canaria on 18 September with flights for around £400 each. But it is not going to get any cheaper !!

It’s difficult in the current economic climate to plan far ahead but just a few more weeks planning ahead for your holiday could save you a lot of money.

Another travel company goes out of business

That’s the third medium sized company to fail in the past month after the much publicised Goldtrail and the less publicised Sun 4 U. So what is going on in the travel industry this summer and how can you be sure that both your money and holiday are safe ?

The former is easy – book an ATOL protected holiday that includes not just the flights but accommodation, transfers and anything else – in other words, a traditional holiday package. Breaking it up into individual elements can leave you financially exposed if any one element fails.

But getting your money back is little consolation if you loose your holiday. Travel companies succeed by mixing the number of holidays they sell with the margin they make on each holiday. Get this mix wrong and there can be problems.

Most of the recent failures have been mid-sized companies where the margins are small and the number of holidays sold is less than expected. So stick with the smaller specialist companies such as Amro Worldwide for the gay and lesbian traveller where volumes are less critical. Or book with the big two who pile it high and sell it cheap and go for volume. They also have the financial strength to survive a difficult year. And of these two options, Amro Worldwide gives both security with its ATOL Protection and service with its wide product knowledge and promptly answered phones - a comforting combination in these difficult times.

Beware of Fake Breaks

I was browsing the computer magazine ComputerActive over the weekend and a picture of a sandy beach and the headline Beware of Fake Breaks caught my eye.

It seems that ABTA and an organisation called Get Safe Online have carried out research that shows that travel buyers are ignoring basic online crime prevention measures. They get caught up in the excitement of a bargain dream holiday and caution goes out of the window, making them prime targets for fraudsters.

One in three fail to check the authenticity of travel providers by looking for contact information such as landline phone numbers or street addresses, let alone checking for the company name rather than brand name from whom they are buying.

One in five don’t check that the payment website is secure with an https:// URL. It is easy to put the secure padlock logo on an unsecure website misleading the buyer into thinking their card information is encrypted when it is really open for all to see.

Everyone wants a bargain but do check these simple things first as there seem to be fraudsters out in cyberspace. I am pleased that Amro Worldwide is up there with the best in transparency for our online bookings and if you search, you can even find a photo of Andrew !