Why Reservations So Far In Advance??

If you've listened to this radio show very often or have read our blogs on our website, then you know that my mantra has always been, “book early” for the best rates. It is never more so than today!!!

A good example is my Alaska cruise in July; our 23rd time to take a group to that fantastic location right here in the United States. I called last week for a couple who is interested in going with us and they wanted a port (left) side room on the ship. This is for a cruise/tour that begins on July 3, 5 months away. The only balcony space they had was two rooms on the starboard (right) side.

Another example is our Rhine River cruise in November. Of course that ship only has 90 rooms, but it has been sold out for over 2 months. We have 19 of those rooms and they were all confirmed and paid for by last April!!!

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line reported last week that their advance bookings for 2017 were “robust”. The CEO attributed it to the value-add promotion that they have been running through this past month. In addition, about the middle of last year they established a policy of letting cabins sail empty rather than slashing pricing at the last minute just to fill a departure. They called that policy “pricing integrity”.

I know it is working because we have some first-hand experience. Last October I reserved our “Rudy Cruise” booking for this coming September, and they gave me a good group price. When someone wants to go on a cruise on that September 10th date, I call and ask for the best rate available today for that date. Last Friday, the RCCL agent said, “your group rate is better than anything we have at this time...by about $300”. That tells me that when I made that reservation 11 months out, they gave me the best rate at that time, but since, they have been creeping the rates upward, so that by April or May, that ship will have reached their break-even mark and the rest is gravy for them. That strategy essentially eliminates the impulse buyers, especially if they are looking for a reasonable price. So before they take my group inventory away, now is the time to get those reservations made for that trip.

The Carnival Corporation which has a bunch of cruise lines under their umbrella also remarked that they too are rolling out their state-of-the-art revenue management system across all six brands and hopefully will have it completed by 2018.

It's important to remember that pricing and promotions can go away at any moment, so again my mantra is “Book Early”!!!

The same holds true for the land packages, especially those all-inclusive promotions. Recently Funjet Vacations has had a promotion that reduced the rate a little if we were able to make reservations on charter flights from DFW to Mexico. The charter carrier is Sun Country and we have flown on that carrier many times with excellent service; the best part is getting to Cancun in 2 hours and 15 minutes. You can leave early at DFW and be on the beach after lunch!!! Get those reservations made today!!

Talking about cruising and going on an all-inclusive vacation gets me all excited about going somewhere, or planning one of those trips for someone else and I'll vicariously enjoy the experience. Give Doug, Donna, or me a call today and let us help you manufacture that vacation of your dreams, and we'll be available from the time you make those reservations until the time you return. Find us at The Travel Factory at 4150 Southwest Drive, or call at 698-1421; toll-free 800-760-4040.