Booking today, 3.5 months away it is $15 cheaper to use a referral than trivago. I'm not trying to be a dick, just trying to show that "It's rare that a referral is cheaper than several online booking sites" just hasn't been true for me or anyone I know that has compared the two. I'm sure some people are excellent at checking prices everyday and can come across a killer deal online, but I believe the norm is that Referrals are cheaper.
for (Canadians) Expedia has been cheaper in the past,( when combining flights) but no longer. 15$ cheaper or at par is still a good deal , if you like Crown Royal and good dinner reservations. The separate seating area is segregation and for that reason sucks .
:lotsofmichaelfs:But you don't have to sit in the separate seating area.....who would want to when we all know where all the fun happens!!!!
No, not being a dick at all. Im all for exchanging info and ideas to help save $$$. Why pay $200 when we can pay $150? Thats my goal. hahaha You have to check every day....more than once. Prices can and do often change every 2-3 hours, sometimes drastically. And they may only stay that way for a couple hours. I saw a site 2 days ago where the last week of April was going for $138. I checked back 2 hours later and it was back up to $167. Today it's around $200. Its called a "flash sale". We've been 6 times and have never paid more than $168 a night online. But thats keeping pretty close tabs on it every day. We used a referral in Nov because we booked last minute, and it did save us money. We have friends that went with us last winter who we saved $1000 overall by talking them into booking online rather than a travel agent. They had no idea. Im definitely not opposed to using a referral as long as it saves us $$$. The "perks" mean nothing really to us.
I agree with this. We went last month (the week before Christmas) Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire + even Alpharooms all had prices of around $300/night. We booked a referral from a member and paid only $140/night. The Premier perks were great, we really liked the extra touches. The nice thing is that you pay the resort directly, not the member. And as others have said, you do have to put up with their timeshare sell. For us, it was grueling, the lady did not want to let up! I'm usually very passive + easy-going but after 2 hours of "So what is it about the program that you don't like?" I finally begged to leave the office and go enjoy my vacation! Other than the timeshare presentation, the referral week was a great experience.
