Whether you're a Dan Brown or Danielle Steel devotee, we all know that some retailers flog beach reads at massive discounts.

Exactly the same goes for package holidays – many different travel agents sell the SAME tour operator holiday at different prices.

So as we move into the late season for summer, where prices and supply drop, your aim should be to find the right one, find it cheapest, then see if you can haggle down the price and save a further 10%.

Which is cheapest – package holiday or DIY?

These days many people’s opt to do it themselves online, yet don’t discount the good old fashioned travel agent. A package holiday's an all-in-one, where the tour operator provides flights, connections and accommodation for one price. That means they're off-the-peg and best suited for standard breaks of standard length.

As a very rough rule of thumb, for seven, 10 or 14 days away in a traditional holiday destination, packages beat DIY. If you're going away for a different trip length, to a less visited spot, on a city break, or multi-stop holiday, you tend to be better off with a DIY break. Though it’s worth checking both (see moneysavingexpert.com/holidays for full info on DIY).

Do remember the other package holiday boon is they usually have added ATOL and ABTA consumer protection. This means if the holiday company fails, you either get a refund or, if you're away, can complete your trip – you don’t currently get that with DIY bookings.

Late is great

With flights, early bookings are usually cheaper, as when it's late you’re competing with business people willing to pay top whack.

Package holiday prices plummet the later you book. The other way to get discounts, though not as big, is to book early, as much as nine months in advance.

You've missed early for this year, so if you just want it hot 'n' cheap, hold your nerve and book fewer than eight to ten weeks before departure – then it's a bargain bonanza. Choice shrinks too though; if crèche facilities or a specific hotel are a must you may want to forget the extra discount and book asap to ensure availability.

Keep it cheap when you arrive

If you prefer to spend your time in the resort, the holiday price is key – consider an all-inclusive deal or self-cater and buy all your food in supermarkets. Yet if you like to get out, eat out and explore, it’s just as important to consider the price and exchange rate when you get there. The Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer 2011 found that Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria are the best value short-haul destinations this year. In fact, Spanish prices at are a three-year low.

Cut the cost of your package holiday

Remember, tour operators make holidays, travel agents sell 'em, so the same operator's holiday may be sold by many agents.

The aim's to locate a suitable holiday and grab all the details. Try sites like teletextholidays.co.uk or travelsupermarket.co.uk or the classifieds to see lists of late deal specialist agents. Never believe the advertised package price though – this is hype. You must call and check it's actually available.

Once you've found a break you want, within your price range, ensure you write down as much info as you can. That means tour operator details, flight times, hotel destination (or minimum star if it's allocation on arrival), whether transfers, meals and plane meals are included – everything you can get.

Check it's a genuine package A quick word of warning here: brokers sell two types of trip. First there’s the traditional package, where flights, transfers and hotels are all booked with one tour operator, eg, Thomas Cook or Thomson. Then there are holidays which the agent puts together, with separate flights (often Ryanair or Easyjet), hotels and transfers. Giveaway words are ‘dynamic’, ‘tailormade’ and ‘pyramid’ hols.

While agents call these packages, many technically aren’t which means you don’t get the extra ATOL protection – so do ask the agent/broker “Is there a tour operator, or is this a dynamic package?” Ensure you get the tour operators’ name before you book.

Haggle down your holiday price

So now you’ve picked your holiday, it's a game to get exactly the same package cheaper. This is the reason for my teletext bias, as you can simply search its site and scan for phone numbers of all your destination's specialist holiday companies.

Just pick one up, and politely with charm, tell it you've been quoted a holiday price, give it the details and ask if it can beat the price. Try to negotiate in price per person, not total cost, as discounts seem less to them.

Now call a few more, quoting the best price you've got and see who can beat it. Once you've hit the price floor call the tour operator's own direct booking arm. And finally, just to try and be fair, if a travel agent spent a lot of time with you to find the holiday in the first place, why not give it the chance to match – not beat - the price to regain your custom.

To test this, I ran though the process I as I wrote, though tragically only for the sake of research. My destination was a week's self-catering in Barbados, at a three star hotel, for two, leaving in two week's time. The Teletext advertised price was £570 per person, compared to a brochure price of £786pp. After calling, the other costs brought it to £593 including booking fee, transfers and plane meals.

Quickly repeating this process with a few other agents, the price soon dropped to £523 per person. After that no one else would budge. That's a saving of £140 for two, with just a few phone calls. There’s a full step-by-step system at moneysavingexpert.com/packageholidays