shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro) (05/18/84)
Sender: Reply-To: shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: System Development Corporation, Santa Monica Keywords: I would like to throw out a subject to net.travel. Please send your answers, flames and all, to me and I will consolidate and report on the survey. My wife and I own a travel agency in Los Angeles. So far, I have answered requests for information without revealing the agency's name as I was concerned about the general etiquette of solicitating. I did identity my background only to help the reader calibrate the answer. There are some instances where it is possible to get group discounts for travel that are significant. Since net.travel (in my opinion) constitutes an affinity group these discounts could apply to you. Primarily, these are for cruises. Club Med does not give discounts to groups so the only reason to have a group there is if you love each other. Some tour companies, hotels, and even airlines will have group rates as well. It pretty much is by the each but cruises are clearly the best bet at the moment. As an example, Princess Cruises (the love boat) has a 25% discount on its December 8 and December 15 sailings out of San Juan. Each cruise is 7 days long and includes free air from almost all major US cities. Seattle and Denver are $50 extra but LA, San Fran, San Diego, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Boston, Washington, Dallas just to name a few are free. To get the discount there must be a group of at least 10 people on the same sailing with rooms in categories E through J. Since A & B are suites, C and D are deluxe rooms, and K is the bottom category most of the rooms on the ship are included. An example of normal to discounted rates is as follows: (i) = inside (o) = outside CATEGORY TYPE RACK RATE GROUP RATE E Twin (o) 2009 1507 F Twin (o) 1939 1454 G Twin (o) 1911 1433 I Double (i) 1694 1271 J Double (i) 1589 1192 The above prices are per person. If there is a positive interest in something like the above (after all there is still much to understand such as itinerary of the ship, other expenses such as tipping etc., and how you prevent me from going to Brazil with your money), but first the big question must be answered. Do you care if I make money so that you may get discounts? Also if you approve of the concept but don't care to go on a cruise in December from Puerto Rico then let me know what turns you on. If there is a trend I will check on the group savings and post the info back to you. Bob Shapiro