 Poster: A snowHead
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Has anyone managed to negotiate a discount over the online price? Ideally without leaving it to the very last minute. If you did, what tactics worked for you? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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FWIW, an exercise I've begun today, co-incidentally, aiming to go in about a months time, so not quite "last minute". Basically targetted a (known) slow moving destination, playing on the "loyalty factor" (which although deserved will probably carry little/no weight) and reasonable flexibility on dates. I've emailed them a price I'd like to pay (actually what I paid for the same deal three & two years back), flts/tfrs/accom/pass/carriage.
Will it work? God knows, never tried before, and I'm not holding me breath, but if you don't ask............
If nothing else, for just ten minutes of potentially wasted time, it's gotta be worth a punt.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Kramer, when i worked for a travel agent the best way to get a significant discount was to call the Operator directly. Sod the Travel Agents
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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admin, That's very good advice. Now.... about this EoSB... 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Kramer, yes when booking direct with someone we had been with before, asked them what they would do to get us to come back next year, think we got a last years prices and free Geneva transfers...
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A few years ago I was pushing 2 companies for the same holiday. Ski McNeill in Belfast and Ski Independence. After several e-mails of haggling the woman from Ski McNeill sent me a cross e-mail back as she had just e-mailed "Gavin" in Ski Independence and realised I was using the two companies to barter the price down.
I'm sorry pet, but that's how it works, so booked with Ski Independence. Ski McNeill was always a rip off anyway.
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Post on chaletsdirect and find out what's on offer.
Once you've found what you wanted, post again, under a different name, stating the price you want to pay which is lower than they offered the first time. But is not lower than the price they offer their January weeks at. Tailor your request to what the chalet you are after offers.
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Then ring 'em and flirt like crazy with the girl on the end of the phone.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Yes, when booking 2 holidays in one season with Ski Beat - we could already get 5% off due to SCGB membership but they agreed to up the more expensive holiday to 10% as we were booking two hols.
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Always haggle! as someone already said, if you dont ask you dont get! even on sale prices, if you get the right person serving you it can pay off! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Managed to get £150 off the reduced price for three people. Which essentially cancelled out the extras that they wanted to charge. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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holidayloverxx,
Yes, as I remember Gavin was very pleasant to deal with. That was 2004 and I still remember his name!
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You know it makes sense.
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The problem I had today was that I couldn't find any competitors at cheaper prices.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Kramer, The boy done good then
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Poster: A snowHead
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holidayloverxx, I'm ok with it, friends are quite pleased as well. It's just frustrating to be in a position where you don't have a bit more leverage.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Kramer wrote: |
| The problem I had today was that I couldn't find any competitors at cheaper prices. |
The TO does not know what other TOs are offering you. It's not like they can call up and ask for the same deal.
First rule of sales - buyers lie. Might as well bend the truth a bit, it's your money after all and it's not like the TO is going to sue you if they find out you've bent the story a bit.
Personally I've found working with a travel agent to be a good way of getting best possible price. I have one contact at one travel agent who organises all my ski trips. He knows what I want, he knows how to get it, and he deals with several TOs so can play them off each other for me. He knows how much holiday A costs against the holiday B I am looking at, and can tell the TO as much. The travel agent gets a discount on top of the group discounts etc that I might be entitled to that they can use to subsidise the cost - I have a simple deal with my guy that it needs to be cheaper than I could possibly get directly with the TO, and he is allowed to make a margin in there with any spare change he can find in the deal.
Simple solution to this - find the cheapest possible holiday that is almost comparable - if you are looking at a 4 star chalet in Val D'Isere, find a 3 star chalet in Courchevel or LDA, which may well be cheaper, tell the TO that if they don't hit the price you're going to go with the cheap option.
Any decent Travel Agent will try and cross sell from a luxury product if you push them on price - they will want to move you to a cheaper product to hit your budget, instead of discounting the more expensive one. Make sure they are aware that you want that particular holiday, but want to pay much less for it.
Use the promise of future deals with the TO. Ask them for a price for your holiday for 2/3 of you, and tell them about the big group trip you are planning for next season. They want to see a route to making their money back if they do a very cheap deal for you now. Most TOs if the pricing gets really aggressive will need to go to their boss, with the smaller TOs that could easily be the MD of the company. The person trying to make a deal happen will need a solid case for why they are selling their product cheap. Give them that information, even if it might be bending the truth a little.
I have an advantage in that I always have a carrot to dangle. My carrot this year was 28 people doing a group trip next season, and the travel agent works hard on my other ski trips to keep me happy because if he does and gets a good price for me, the group trip is more likely to come through him. Low margin is ok for the agent as long as they do lots of revenue and get the early bookings in. I offer him that trade-off.
The above works for me. Others will use different methods to try and get the same result. So far whenever we've let others on the trip try and get a better deal they've come 2nd by a fair distance. Something I am doing is working, and is a significant factor in why I don't DIY - going through a travel agent and TO I get a level of service and don't pay a premium for it. Recent comment from an experienced skiier that just signed up for our trip next year "the price for the chalet sounds good, but how much are the flights and transfers?" - the flights and transfers were included in the price.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Monium, you live and learn. Thanks for the advice, I'll try that next time. I'm still fairly new to negotiating on price, it's not a skill I've had to use in the past. The NHS paid for me to go on a course to learn how to do it last year, but I was a bit lost for a target to negotiate to as I couldn't find anything comparable on any of the clearance websites, everything half board and with flights from brum was more expensive.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Monium wrote: |
| Use the promise of future deals with the TO. Ask them for a price for your holiday for 2/3 of you, and tell them about the big group trip you are planning for next season. |
As a seller (in a completely different industry), allusions to future work from new prospects cut absolutely no ice with me. If they want to extend the scope of the proposed deal now, fine and dandy, we'll talk. If they end up becoming a good customer in one year, we'll talk about a discount for a similar volume of business in the next year. There's only one line of argument that cuts even less ice; that Customer A is so awesomely wonderful, we'll end up getting lots of work from customers B, C and D on the back of A's reputation, so we ought to do A's work at a loss. Er ... no.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| laundryman wrote: |
| Monium wrote: |
| Use the promise of future deals with the TO. Ask them for a price for your holiday for 2/3 of you, and tell them about the big group trip you are planning for next season. |
As a seller (in a completely different industry), allusions to future work from new prospects cut absolutely no ice with me. If they want to extend the scope of the proposed deal now, fine and dandy, we'll talk. If they end up becoming a good customer in one year, we'll talk about a discount for a similar volume of business in the next year. There's only one line of argument that cuts even less ice; that Customer A is so awesomely wonderful, we'll end up getting lots of work from customers B, C and D on the back of A's reputation, so we ought to do A's work at a loss. Er ... no. |
You are operating at a much higher level than most of the TOs and travel agents in my experience. I agree, when selling it doesn't cut any ice with me either, but it does seem to influence that last couple of percent off when closing a deal.
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