Me again, driving myself nuts with Cancun-questions, lol So, leaving from Canada somewhere end October for two weeks and don't mind shopping around a bit to get a good deal. What's the story with packages to Cancun these days - is it still money to save on it or is shopping flight & hotel seperately the best way to go :?:
I have tried both ways............. and it seems you do save more money buying a package (hote/flight) together!
Research it both ways. I'm 50/50. Half my trips I've booked the best price with package, the other half booking separately. A new site that I just got introduced to that has some decent deals is usairwaysvacations. They have the lowest price for the resort I'm planning to stay at next (Gran Caribe)
First off, the assumption here is that you don't have a specific hotel or airline in mind to use/stay-at on your trip, because if you do, it's less likely that you're going to find a package which meets those exact specifications. (If you do, however, as davissummer24 just pointed out, the odds start to fall in favor of the package almost right away.) Outside of that instance - in terms of overall cost, etc - this is a little like the question of buying a car from a dealer vs from a private individual. Consider that with any integrated deal, someone has to have taken time time to perform the integration (which is essentially what good travel agents do for individuals). If the integrator has struck or found a quantity discount deal with the airline and/or hotel in exchange for the integration such that the discount exceeds the cost of integration - and if that savings is passed along to the traveller - then the cost of the integrated package can be lower than the sum of the air and hotel purchased seperately. When working with a reputable travel agent (or package developer), this will many times be the case - UNLESS you have time to spend and watch the markets for air and for hotel and purchase each seperately at the most opportune time - in which case you MAY be able to use market timing to beat the pre-comitted deal. I guess it's obvious, but of course you will ALWAYS get more (some of which would presumably be 'better') choices if you buy the hotel seperately from the flight - but the price of that choice is only likely to beat that of a reputable integrator IF you have the time, the inclination, and the talent required to find (and the courage to execute) those superior choices (in a timely manner). I do integrate my own trips because I can. I always go at the same time each year, so I've been able to collect enough experience to know when to buy the airfare for that time of year. As far as acommodations, I almost always wait until the second last week before my trip to buy someone's unused condo week on one of the condo-trade web sites for at least a 50% discount to market (and many times even less). Alternatively, if you've got the time (and mental endurance), you can also simply opt to trade 5 hours of your time for a time-share pitch (provided you qualify) and save $1000 on (what are ususally nice) acommodations over the course of a week - which is something that will beat the (monetary) price of a package deal and generally won't be available from any package developers. In that instance, of course, you have to be VERY sure that you wont' succumb to the innuendo (of not the outright pleadings and/or demands) of the time-share salespersons - who are generally not shy about using any and every psychological tactic known (including shame, coersion, and many other effective means that might not come readily to mind) to get you to part wth your money. Those aren't all the choices, but hopefully there's enough there to give you better confidence when you do make your choice.
I know here from Ohio before I bought our timeshares, it was always cheaper to go package. But I'm not sure about from Canada. I think I heard in the past that most people from there do do packages. Atleast you have time to shop around.
Leaving from canada I think your best bet is to get a package that way all your transfers and such are included in your package..
*waves to whdream* Theres about 200 CAD to save on last-minute air deals and seeing I am fully flexible 1-3 days around my favoured departure day, I should probably go last-minute and buy flight / hotel piece-meal. Expect 'help me to find a hotel by myself' thread shortly
Hey Dude! :lol: Personally I can't be bothered to book everything seperate. But hey if you are willing to take the time and research and do the pricing game for sure do it seperate..Just rmemeber to make arrangements for your pick upand drop off from the aiport to the hotel
