[Tip #3] – What if my price goes down?

What to do if your price goes down

We get lots of questions here at Best All Inclusive. Obviously, 1st place goes to COVID questions, – but 2nd place is – “If the price of vacation goes down, can I get the lower price?”

There are 2 prices that can change, the Hotel price and the Airfare price.

If Your Resort or Hotel price goes down

If you identify a price drop within 24 hours of purchasing, most resorts or travel resellers will honor the lower rate.

If a resort or reseller discounts their price after 24 hours of your purchase and won’t honor their lower price for you, then you have 2 choices.

1. Wail, screech, gnash your teeth, and throw yourself to the ground causing bodily injury. Then ask to speak to a Supervisor.
2. Cancel and rebook using your spouse or travel partner’s name.

Wherever you’ve found the lower price, do this:

1. Take a screenshot of the lower hotel price
2. Be sure it is for the same room type and dates of travel
3. Email it to whomever you booked with (a travel agent or the hotel directly) and ask them to review it

In order to qualify for a price-match, you need to be looking at apples-to-apples, in other words identical travel dates and room category.

**many times a hotel will offer a big discount but it will be in the more expensive categories or have restrictions. So read each deal carefully**

The bottom line is if you bought a refrigerator or Peloton – and the price went down – would the seller refund you the difference?

Nope.

You may see things like “64% Off”.   But typically they jack up the price 90% – and then give 64% off.

So much like stocks, bonds, and real estate…don’t try to time the market.

Check around until you find a price you can live with and buy it.

Next, What if the airfare price goes down?

Airfare is a different animal.

Once you purchase your air ticket, you own it, regardless of who you purchased it from.

These are airlines’ rules, travel agents have no control over the airlines or their rules.

There is no refund … only a credit … Unless you purchased a fully-refundable ticket (which is more expensive) – or – have purchased CFAR (Cancel for Any Reason Check Pricestrip insurance).

BUT, you may get a credit to be used at a later date.

There are restrictions on the airline ‘credit’:

• Basic Economy fares do not allow credit – you’ll lose whatever you paid.
• For other fares you will have to pay a $100-$200 ‘change’ fee and any difference in the price (which in most cases is higher). The only exception is Southwest Airlines, at this time they do not charge a ‘change’ fee, just the difference in airfare, if any.

I have nothing against the airlines. They are great partners.

BUT, they have very rigid rules. So don’t expect them to bend much, if at all.

Tips for getting the best prices

There are options.

• Get on the Resort mailing list.  [News Flash]…..Resorts are offering their best deals to their list. They are on a mission to convince consumers to book directly with them.  It saves them about 20% to 40%.
• Check international websites.  Resorts will sometimes give deeply discount prices to parts of the world where they want to grow their business. (Think Europe/China)
• Travel in October or November.  It does not work as well as it used to.  The Boomers have caught on.
• Watch for EBB’s (early booking bonus).  Those are usually the lowest rates of the year.
• Black Friday – They offered some smokin’ deals this past Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

I have seen wailing, screeching, and threatening work pre-COVID.  But not so much now.

That is how it looks from the BackSeat.

» ~Jake

Want to read more of Jake’s Tips? » Jake’s Tips