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Post by gary2002 on Feb 16, 2017 16:50:57 GMT
The deadline for getting "Early Payment Discounts" should be based on the date the SPECIFIC TOUR BEGINS rather that an arbitrary "one-date-fits-all-tours" (for example, Trafalgar and Insight has EPD of February 28, 2017)
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Post by tiffany on Feb 16, 2017 18:47:51 GMT
Hi Gary, Trafalgar offers three early payment discounts, at least they do in Canada. If you pay in full by January 12, you get 10% off, If you pay in full by February 28, you get 7.5% off, and if you pay if full by March 31 you get 5% off. They do this to encourage people to pay for their trips early in the year, and offering the discount based on when you leave for your trip may not do this.
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Post by gary2002 on Feb 16, 2017 19:14:50 GMT
Tiffany:
In the USA, Trafalgar's EPDs are (January 12, February 28 and April 27th).
In their "Europe and Britain 2017" brochure, the earliest tour starts on March 11, 2017 and the latest tour starts on April 14, 2018. To take advantage of the EPDs, travelers booking the April 14, 2018 tour must pay 11 to 14 MONTHS BEFORE travelers booking the March 11, 2017 tour.
To be "FAIR", the EPDs for travelers booking the April 14, 2018 tour should be in early 2018).
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Post by tiffany on Feb 16, 2017 19:27:30 GMT
If I were booking a tour for 2018, I would wait until September/October of 2017 to book and, and then pay in full in January of 2018 in order to get the 10% discount. I would not book and pay in full now for a trip I was taking in April of 2018.
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Post by californian on Feb 17, 2017 15:56:33 GMT
Tiffany, I think the 10, 7.1/2 , 5 % etc is not longer valid, but I don't have the latest brochures. If you check individual tours they show a certain amount, not necessarily based on a percentage. And some tours have a very small discount, as I found out last year. I always use Costco to book the trips and they do offer 10% discount and 5% on airfares. Not sure about prices in Canada, but in the USA we should see a considerable reduction this year due to the value of the dollar, at least for European tours. Hope you are doing well.
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Post by tiffany on Feb 17, 2017 19:30:23 GMT
Hi Californian, in Canada, they are still offering the early bird discounts of 10%, 7.5% and 5% on most Europe tours, however, they no longer offer them on the cost-saver tours, and they’ve never offered them on tours where they have to contract out to another company, like the Greek and Turkey tours.
Costco in Canada just started offering travel a few years ago, and they do not give the same discounts as they do in the States. My friend is a member, and she looked into it. It’s too bad, because if they did, I would transfer to Costco. I did ask my travel agent to see what she could do for me this year, as I booked three tours, and her Trafalgar representative gave me a $150 birthday discount on my cost-saver tour. He also told her he’d give me optional vouchers for all three tours.
The prices of some of the European tours went down in price this year as well. The Eastern Europe tour I had to cancel last year is about $500 less this year, and, the two Spain tours I’ve booked are about $150 less each. With the 10% early payment discount and 5% return customer discount, I got both tours for a very good price. I just wish air fare would go down more than it has.
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Post by grandma7 on Feb 18, 2017 18:38:49 GMT
Regarding the Early Discount etc., if I was planning on doing a 2018 tour, I would put the $200 deposit down in June of 2017 when the pre - tour prices are published online. That gives you the 2017 price guaranteed and, if that price goes down when the actual 2018 book is published in the autumn, you'll get the difference rebated. But if the price goes up, you have locked in the 2017 price with your $200 deposit. I also pay the cancellation insurance at that time. Then, at the end of January, I pay the balance. As for Travel Agents giving a further discount, mine gives me a further 10% off the book price, in addition to the 5% for being a frequent traveller, as well as the 10% early payment discount. Sometimes my 3 discounts are enough to pay for my airfare! Since we are not supposed to advertise on this board, he is easy to find on the web - from Edmonton and has a website advertising discount Insight and Trafalgar Tours. I have had him book my last 4 tours and he is an excellent, full service Travel Agent. He also offers discounts on some European river cruises.
Happy Travelling!
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Post by tiffany on Feb 22, 2017 12:28:35 GMT
Regarding the Early Discount etc., if I was planning on doing a 2018 tour, I would put the $200 deposit down in June of 2017 when the pre - tour prices are published online. That gives you the 2017 price guaranteed and, if that price goes down when the actual 2018 book is published in the autumn, you'll get the difference rebated. But if the price goes up, you have locked in the 2017 price with your $200 deposit. I also pay the cancellation insurance at that time. Then, at the end of January, I pay the balance. As for Travel Agents giving a further discount, mine gives me a further 10% off the book price, in addition to the 5% for being a frequent traveller, as well as the 10% early payment discount. Sometimes my 3 discounts are enough to pay for my airfare! Since we are not supposed to advertise on this board, he is easy to find on the web - from Edmonton and has a website advertising discount Insight and Trafalgar Tours. I have had him book my last 4 tours and he is an excellent, full service Travel Agent. He also offers discounts on some European river cruises. Happy Travelling! It’s great that your travel agent gives you an extra 10% off the book price. Mine has never given me a discount, although she did give me an Air Miles voucher worth $50 this year, and I’ve been booking tours with her for years. Any discount I get, above the early payment discount and return customer discount, comes from her Trafalgar representative, and she has to ask him what he can do for me. He’s given me various discounts over the years, and the $150 birthday discount this year, but this will be the first time he’s given me an optional voucher. this is something that I will be expecting going forward, given how many tours I’ve booked with Trafalgar or Insight over the years. It’s great that you found such a good travel agent.
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Post by sherrie74 on Jun 24, 2017 15:30:28 GMT
Also in Canada, maybe just in Ontario area .. if you book with Discount Coach Tours you also get an additional 5% off "after" any other discounts that may apply such as the usual early pymt discount and repeat client. We have been using them for a few years now and all they mainly handle are large bus tour companies (Trafalgar / Globus / Insight etc ) and river cruises. Any little extra coming back into our pockets help.
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