Conor Pope's Go Holiday DIY column has shown that by doing it yourself you can save a lot of money - but not in all cases. Over the past six months we've found that arranging a trip DIY-style doesn't always bring the savings you'd expect, and sometimes it's more expensive than using a tour operator.
In one spectacular example, a trip for two to Costa de la Luz, in Spain, Conor discovered that the tour operator saved him €174.20 - a 10 per cent reduction on the DIY cost of €1,729.
Most often, DIY was cheaper by between 5 and 10 per cent - but was it worth spending evenings on the internet to sort it out? A DIY trip to Morocco saved €54 compared with a tour operator's price, but as the trip cost more than €1,800 this was small beans. In the case of Croatia, saving €20 on more than €3,000 certainly wasn't worth the DIY effort.
DIY brought big savings sometimes - more than 25 per cent in the case of holiday for two in Tuscany - but going to the Canaries cost about 15 per cent more when Conor organised it on the web rather than using a tour operator.
Our conclusion? Try the DIY route if you have time, but compare it to a tour operator's price before deciding.
The second bit of news is that this is our final DIY column. From now on Conor will be looking even more deeply on your behalf into many other consumer issues. If you have suggestions for topics he should tackle, e-mail us at go@irish-times.ie or cpope@irish-times.ie.