Latest posts for the topic "Travel companies offers come to late for some families."

Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:56:26 GMT

I am so annoyed about the discounts the travel companies are offering now for Christmas and the rest of the season, some slashing their prices by GBP600 per person per week.
If they offered a better deal in the beginning of the season then people would no doubt book, don't they realize that most people families especially have made other arrangements for Christmas now only to find out if they had held back they could have afforded it. :evil:

No wonder people don't book their skiing early.

(This hasn't affected me, but sure it has a lot of families).

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:57:57 GMT

I usually wait until the last minute for 1 trip per season. Its great when you turn up in a chalet and everyone tells you how much they paid for their holiday, and you announce you paid 1/3 of what they did.....

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:00:46 GMT

If you need to plan and prepare you need to pay full price, simple. Those who could 'not afford' a ski holiday weren't trying hard enough if they were looking at something so expensive that it could be cut by GBP600 pppw.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:01:09 GMT

Yes I do the same but its down to greed by the companies

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:19:30 GMT

Hardly call it greed when TO's don't exactly make bumper profits!
It you have to go on peak dates and want a choice of where to go and where to stay, you'll pay the fuller price. Simple.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:29:46 GMT

daleroberts wrote:Yes I do the same but its down to greed by the companies

I think its called trying to make a profit running a business. People try to think of it as a basic mark up, but you have to think the TO's buy up accommodation and packages in bulk and if they have not sold for what they thought they could get, they will always drop the price to close off availability.
Remember, the deals you see are normally the last few seats on a flight or the last couple of rooms in a hotel, and not the whole set of holidays for that week.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:36:33 GMT

Tony_H wrote:

daleroberts wrote:Yes I do the same but its down to greed by the companies

I think its called trying to make a profit running a business. People try to think of it as a basic mark up, but you have to think the TO's buy up accommodation and packages in bulk and if they have not sold for what they thought they could get, they will always drop the price to close off availability.
Remember, the deals you see are normally the last few seats on a flight or the last couple of rooms in a hotel, and not the whole set of holidays for that week.

Well good luck to them I always book my own flights and separate accommodation for my main ski holidays then take a cheap one off the greedy ones at short notice. :lol:

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:41:02 GMT

Tony_H wrote:I usually wait until the last minute for 1 trip per season. Its great when you turn up in a chalet and everyone tells you how much they paid for their holiday, and you announce you paid 1/3 of what they did.....

Thats 1 thing i dont/could never do announce what i had paid... just doesnt seem right to me but i suppose were all different.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 21:01:39 GMT

mfc wrote:

Tony_H wrote:I usually wait until the last minute for 1 trip per season. Its great when you turn up in a chalet and everyone tells you how much they paid for their holiday, and you announce you paid 1/3 of what they did.....

Thats 1 thing i dont/could never do announce what i had paid... just doesnt seem right to me but i suppose were all different.

I couldn't either. It would really p*** me off if I paid full price and I found someone had paid hundreds less.

Just think it's not fair to broadcast

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 21:43:22 GMT

Dids1 wrote:

mfc wrote:

Tony_H wrote:I usually wait until the last minute for 1 trip per season. Its great when you turn up in a chalet and everyone tells you how much they paid for their holiday, and you announce you paid 1/3 of what they did.....

Thats 1 thing i dont/could never do announce what i had paid... just doesnt seem right to me but i suppose were all different.

I couldn't either. It would really p*** me off if I paid full price and I found someone had paid hundreds less.

Just think it's not fair to broadcast

Maybe i am strange but i have never understood this. Money does not bother me that way, price is subjective.

I booked my holiday and it has cost me around GBP1300 for a week for three people and to me i think that is worth it. It is worth GBP1300 to me.
If someone pays less then it would not bother me..

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 22:45:10 GMT

Dids1 wrote:

mfc wrote:

Tony_H wrote:I usually wait until the last minute for 1 trip per season. Its great when you turn up in a chalet and everyone tells you how much they paid for their holiday, and you announce you paid 1/3 of what they did.....

Thats 1 thing i dont/could never do announce what i had paid... just doesnt seem right to me but i suppose were all different.

I couldn't either. It would really p*** me off if I paid full price and I found someone had paid hundreds less.

Just think it's not fair to broadcast

Like I said, its great when the other people tell you how much they paid and you then watch their mouths hit the floor when you say "Well I didnt really want to say, but we paid GBP15,000 per person less than yooowwwwww"

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 23:26:52 GMT

I like feeling smug when other people try and book the holiday they want, and it's too late and all the tickets have gone - but I have some because I paid full price and booked early :D :D

Ally

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:45:14 GMT

AllyG wrote:I like feeling smug when other people try and book the holiday they want, and it's too late and all the tickets have gone - but I have some because I paid full price and booked early :D :D

Ally

I agree Ally g

I always book months in advance (for this year I booked before we left) because there are five of us. I always pay top dollar but I think it is worth it to know when and where you are going. In having said that I also booked a last minute deal for xmas week because of the price but that was only because I already knew we were going in feb too. I really had trouble getting flights for that trip from UAE to either Geneva Zurich or Germany :x. I even considered flying to UK and then back to Europe again just to get the flights. I wanted to stay in another resort as we always go to Austria. The chalet was really cheap anywhere but I could not get any flights at all so ended up back in Austria for that week but skiing is skiing so happy to just be there :D

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:59:30 GMT

AllyG wrote:I like feeling smug when other people try and book the holiday they want, and it's too late and all the tickets have gone

Ally

Never happened to me. I am glad you clearly have money to throw around.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:13:48 GMT

I never know if its best to book early and take advantage of early bird bookings discount or wait until a last minute deal comes up? A couple of times I have booked late, got the holiday I wanted but seemed to have the smallest room in the hotel. When I have booked early I seem to get one of the better rooms. Dont know if it works like that or just coincidence.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:28:46 GMT

I've booked early and I've booked last minute, it just depends when I've got the money. Never been in a position on a holiday where we have discussed how much we paid.

I must say that it's not only early, or last minute when you get deals. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed when browsing that there were packages to St Anton for GBP399 (various term time weeks throughout the season). This was exactly the same holiday I paid about GBP700 for a few years ago. A couple of hours later I decided to book it and when I went back to the website it had gone up to GBP769 and some weeks were sold out. :roll:

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:32:10 GMT

RoseR wrote:I never know if its best to book early and take advantage of early bird bookings discount or wait until a last minute deal comes up? A couple of times I have booked late, got the holiday I wanted but seemed to have the smallest room in the hotel. When I have booked early I seem to get one of the better rooms. Dont know if it works like that or just coincidence.

To answer the latter point Rose, in general, not always, the hotelier makes their decision on different factors, one of which is they can identify last minute bookers. I have a number of Alpine hotelier friends. One of them, my age, but nevertheless, a bit of a lad, waits until he sees the guests, before he reaches for the room key.

So, if you are a couple of young ladies......

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:34:31 GMT

snowb4ndit wrote:I've booked early and I've booked last minute, it just depends when I've got the money. Never been in a position on a holiday where we have discussed how much we paid.

I must say that it's not only early, or last minute when you get deals. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed when browsing that there were packages to St Anton for GBP399 (various term time weeks throughout the season). This was exactly the same holiday I paid about GBP700 for a few years ago. A couple of hours later I decided to book it and when I went back to the website it had gone up to GBP769 and some weeks were sold out. :roll:

I've just looked again...all weeks left are now over GBP1000pp

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:52:41 GMT

Living in the outer reaches of the remnants of the Empire, availability of flights is far more important than cost. This is a lesser problem for Southerners.

For many years, my sister worked as a travel agent, and there wa a theory than prices would vary by the number of clicks you had made from your individual computer. I was beginning to believe this, since when I was fixed on a particular project, the price went up by the week. I tested this, and found it to be not true.

We have to accept that there are some well developed marketing programmes. Starting off with an expected sales pattern, then as the timescale develops, the programme modifies the price.

I tracked quite a few places out of interest, and the results varied. Have also backtracked. Could I now buy my holiday cheaper than when I booked. Have not been caught out, so far.

Re:Travel companies offers come to late for some families.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:53:50 GMT

I reduce the price on our holiday cottages during the last fortnight if I don't have any bookings, which is generally out of season, or the shoulder weeks, as they call them.

If I'm feeling a bit desperate I reduce them by 20%, but otherwise only by 10%. I just need to cover the costs of the heating, electricity, free bottle of wine, cleaning materials etc. and the cost of doing the actual cleaning to make it worth my while.

Ally