It is not a silly question at all, especially after the failure of XL. There is a huge difference between having one contract, protected by the ATOL system, which means if the tour operator fails you either get a full refund or they arrange to pay for the rest of your holiday and bring you home on the day you expected or having two entirely separate contracts, either one of which can disappear if one supplier fails.

XL owned a bed bank, a source of rooms, that offered absolutely no financial protection at all. Those that booked rooms are left with flights with other operators and nowhere to stay. Equally a lot of people booked flights with XL which have diaappeared but the accommodation was booked elsewhere and I see on Travel Republics website that they admit if you cancel the accommodation within 10 days of departure, there are no refunds at all. So why would anyone buy 2 instead of 1 contract? The truth is it may be cheaper, generally in peak season two contracts are cheaper than one but out of season if tour operators have contracted flights and accommodation which they have to sell, a single 'proper package' may be cheaper. You may save money or you may not. Nothing may go wrong or as some people have found in the last 7 days, you end up paying for something that is only half what you thought it was!

hi, just wanted some information about the benefits of booking flight and accommodation seperately.

my friend and i booked a 10 night package holiday to marrakech for late oct/early nov with travelrepublic for £320

we now have two other friends that are interested in going with us. i went on the travelrepublic website, they have the flights but the hotel doesnt come up so im assuming theres no availability. i've been trying to contact travelrepublic to see whether we can add two more people on.

having looked at the hotelclub.com website, i can book the hotel for cheaper than what i've paid. plus i'd only book for 7 nights as we expect to spend 3 nights out of marrakech anyway. but my query is, with the holiday market the way it is, is it safe to book hotel and flights seperately?

having never booked a holiday or been abroad, apologies if this sounds like a daft question. it just feels safer to book everything with one agency.