Rooney

We booked our vacation through itravel2000 (and SUNQUEST)to Costa Rica about 2 months ago - just after Christmas.

I checked Thursday night to see if the was a FARE difference- if we would have waited to book - the same Ocean room and same flight we would have SAVED...

$706 per person = $1412.00!!!!!!!

I thought that was a significant and unjust difference. my Wife spent all day Friday trying to get some sort of rebate from either party - they gave us ZERO.

When they tell you to book in advance - NEVER DO IT!

It wont ruin our vacation but I wanted you to know.

IXLR8

The same goes for flights out of this country.

The next time I'll take my flight from just across the border and save big...like 65% in savings. The passenger sitting next to me, his wife and two kids were from Belleville but flew out of Buffalo. Another smart consumer!

Christien

We always fly from buffalo. Not only is it cheaper, but clearing customs in the car is WAY easier and faster than at the airport. Even worse, last time we flee from Pearson, it was to Orlando, and we had to clear security (yes, security) getting OFF the plane, as well as on! WTF?

IXLR8

I wonder why the huge price differences in airline fares.

Imo000

Yup, that's nothing new. It's an art to book at the right time. Before and after, this magical date, the prices are alway significantly higher.

TrackdayRSA.

I believe that Pearson has the world's highest landing fees which contributes to the inflated fares we pay. My last trip to New York City cost $1000 for four people return from Buffalo; from Toronto it would have cost $1600.

Rooney

I still dont understand why I am paying $1500 more out of the same airport??

Penalise me for booking late......................not early.

It's BS and how they treated my wife was BS. They could care less how we feel about our money.

Turbodan

some travel companies will guarantee if rate goes lower they cover you. I think expedia does this. the advantage to booking ahead is knowing the date and time of flights (especially if you have bvacation days at work or school)...sometimes the prices go up.
just a travel fyi: I booked a rental suv through hotwire and saved half price and got the car in terminal from Budget turned out to be a hummer h3 2 weeks for under $500.
if you are not picky about specific location last minute is the way to go!

John 996 TT Cab

The "Tour" companies book and are charged for both the airplane seats and the hotel rooms in advance. They prebuy to get the lower than normal airfare and hotel rates for the consumer.

Closer to the time they often discount as otherwise the seats would go empty and they would get no recovery at all on them. Downside of waiting until last minute is there might not be those empty seat/hotel positions.

Not in that business but have had clients in the business so understand how it works.

John in Vancouver

Rooney

My wife is climbing the ladder with less response.

Targatoo

Sorry for your 'loss', Rooney.

For the record, here is how you book a southern vacation:

Most Canadian cities only have a handful of destinations/resorts that you can get to. (Toronto and Montreal have many more, so the strategy must be different). Those same resorts will generally be offered throughout the winter season but may change from year to year. Figure out what they are and do some quick research to eliminate some from the list.

The best time to get a fantastic deal during the winter is the first three weeks of December or the last three weeks of January. February and March becomes spring break season and, although there may be deals, you leave a lot to chance.

I recommend shopping last-minute prices in December to get a sense of the discounts. Getting a cheap vacation and getting a deal are two different things. Find the vacation you would pick if you were flying in December, then check the price listed for mid January. Identify 6-12 other resorts that are listed for about that same price, so that you can compare value. In Rooney's case, he needed to find about a dozen that were advertised in that $1400-$1600 range including the 'early booking discount'.

Next, book at the last minute. I guarantee that one of those twelve will be discounted very heavily at the last minute, or more likely a few of them will be. The ones that are nearly full will remain at the 'regular' price (no one ever pays the full amount listed in the brochure). The others will come down to $750-$900, plus fees generally.

Rooney just happened to pick one of the resorts that didn't fill up for whatever reason. If you have your mind set on one particular resort, you can't use this strategy because there is a likelihood that it will sell out.

Torontoworker

Rooney: You are not alone. We too have had a run in with itravel2000 way back a few years ago - only the other group involved was Nolitours out of PQ. I won't go into it here but the bottom line was we didn't get what we paid for and could prove it and each group pointed fingers at each other and wouldn't fix it. The best we could get was an offer of $100 per ticket off the next vacation booking with both groups. So the scam was I had to book a vacation that included both these companies so I give them more of my money. Not happening. I wrote back to each of them and told them to please take offence at what I am about to say to both of you: "Please shove this offer up your a$$es. Thank you."

1. Don't get mad - get even. Tell everyone you know, (as you are here) what a crappy group itravel2000 is and post your experiances on travel forums. I figure I have cost both these companies thousands upon thousands of dollars. Noilitours is a complete f**k up and not worth my time. Stay away from them and the National(ized) Airline of Quebec - Air Transat if you can. My first pick is West Jet.

2. Book all your travel with a bricks and morter operations. Non-Ontario websites are NOT covered by Ontario's travel insurance laws. (TICO)

While itravel2000 is a member of TICO - other then the company going under - no other travel issues are covered. From the Q&A on the TICO website:The problem with the online groups is there is no one to scream at. Thats why we travel through bricks and morter operations. What we do however is show up with a print out of the best deal we found online and after getting the best deal out of the travel agent we are sitting across from - we whip out the print out and ask them to match or beat the price. Generally they do better on the 'frills' such as an upgrade on the rental car or room or if I'm going golfing they get me a discount on green fees and the like.

When we find a good agent we stay with them and when you show them loyalty - they show loyalty as they want your return business. The online groups could care less - your just another number to them or mouse click. When you start making your case to them... 'click' they hang up or refuse to respond to emails.

The only way to game the system is to use the online groups for last minute sell off's of airline flights ONLY - not holiday packages where way too much can go wrong for these clowns.

The horror stories about online trips booked for Mexico (and other places - but Mexico is number 1 for issues lately) are all over the place. They don't go and check resorts anymore - it would get in the way of profits if they spent money you know. They deal with local advisors now who for a fee, give resorts a rating. This rating goes up or down depending on the going rate for kickbacks from the resorts to the local travel advisor is my view.

You have more power to get something fixed by going to these people and getting in their face and telling them the s**t will hit the fan when I get home - 'I'll personally mention YOUR name..." (It's a bogus threat as we know the online groups could care less - but it seems to work at the local level)

But don't wait until the trip is over, get your resort changed on the spot or a new room or what ever the issue is setted where you are. Don't wait until you get home as the itravell2000's of the world really don't want to hear it. We've changed resorts numerous times - mainly because of minor stuff like an electrical fire in the room the day before we got there, outbreak of food poisioning, pool looked like a gigantic petri dish etc. Central American, South American and Caribbean 5 star ratings cannot be used as a guide. A 5 star rating for these regions would be a 2 or 3 in Central Europe.

As far as losing the price decrease vacation loto Rooney? I hate to say it but - sucks to be you mode. But I like your view of not letting it affect your vacation. Have a drink or two for me and let me know how Costa Rica was when you get back as I've never been there.

Cheers.

atr911

I believe that if you booked with a gold visa cars you have trip cancelation insurance. Cancel the trip and rebook.

Not 100% sure but I believe it's the case.

petee_c

I recently booked a trip to Colorado.

1. When I booked it, I was happy with the price. No one forced me to click the "pay Now" button with my Credit Card. for the airfare. It was infact 20% cheaper than the same flight the previous year.

2. There was a seat sale later with the said airline. It was there policy to apply a credit (1 yr expiry) on sales if requested. I did. My wife and kids are now going to Florida in March using up the credit.

3. While I like a deal, I did agree to pay a certain price when I 1st made the reservation..... What if you did work someone, and then they decided that they didn't want to pay you the agreed upon price?

4. Now let's talk about the $1.35/L premium I just put in my car......

Sultan

well look at the bright side, by booking early, you probably saved the $10 surcharge that Air Canada just decided to slap on their flights.....