What website yo find the best all inclusive deal?

[V45 sabre]

Wonder what others would say is the best site to look at as far as prices?

[Ken H]

Red Tag has always been good for my family.

[ORV]

http://www.sundialtravel.com/

based in Calgary. we use them a lot

I find the search function very easy

you can select what country what price & even select certain hotels

saves looking at 200 packages at a time for us.

I found some others very much a pain in the you know what.

plus you can get someone on the phone if you have questions

Orv

[Spidey]

We've gone on quite a few AI's and have used Red Tag, Expedia, iTravel, WestJet Vacations, Air Transat, Sunwing, and Air Canada Vacations


A few considerations, specific to all inclusive packages:

1. It's often better to book a vacation package directly with the carrier (eg. WestJet, Sunwing, Transat). They will be the same price as the third party re-seller (eg. Red Tag, Expedia) but if your plans change and you need to adjust something, it's a lot easier and cheaper if you booked directly with the carrier.

2. If you are leaving from Alberta and flying to somewhere in the Caribbean (Cuba, DR, Cancun) then consider booking with a charter carrier (Sunwing, Transat) as the flight will more than likely be direct and leave at a civilized hour vs. WestJet or Air Canada vacations. They will still get you there, but only via their regular routes - which means you could be connecting or over-nighting in places like Saskatoon, Toronto or New York. On the surface, the packages with connecting flights may look cheaper but you are often on a red eye and have a connection which can cut into your valuable vacation/beach time, as well as take the bloom right off that vacation rose because of a milk run home. We learned this the hard way (there's not a lot to do in the Saskatoon airport between 11:00pm and 6:00am)

3. To date, the charter carriers do not charge for checked bags, where as WestJet and Air Canada do. That means a family of 4 with one checked bag each will pay an additional $200 or more on a round trip flight.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by Spidey

We've gone on quite a few AI's and have used Red Tag, Expedia, iTravel, WestJet Vacations, Air Transat, Sunwing, and Air Canada Vacations


A few considerations, specific to all inclusive packages:

1. It's often better to book a vacation package directly with the carrier (eg. WestJet, Sunwing, Transat). They will be the same price as the third party re-seller (eg. Red Tag, Expedia) but if your plans change and you need to adjust something, it's a lot easier and cheaper if you booked directly with the carrier.

2. If you are leaving from Alberta and flying to somewhere in the Caribbean (Cuba, DR, Cancun) then consider booking with a charter carrier (Sunwing, Transat) as the flight will more than likely be direct and leave at a civilized hour vs. WestJet or Air Canada vacations. They will still get you there, but only via their regular routes - which means you could be connecting or over-nighting in places like Saskatoon, Toronto or New York. On the surface, the packages with connecting flights may look cheaper but you are often on a red eye and have a connection which can cut into your valuable vacation/beach time, as well as take the bloom right off that vacation rose because of a milk run home. We learned this the hard way (there's not a lot to do in the Saskatoon airport between 11:00pm and 6:00am)

3. To date, the charter carriers do not charge for checked bags, where as WestJet and Air Canada do. That means a family of 4 with one checked bag each will pay an additional $200 or more on a round trip flight.

Good post ^^^^

[tbiddy]

This is a good guide:

https://www.yycdeals.com/calgary-to-...nclusive-deals

This is to Los Cabos (he has other examples) but the gist is the same.

From his site:

There are thousands of travel sites out there, all wanting you to believe they have unique or special prices on flights, airfares, hotel packages, or all inclusive vacations. They don't.

They use marketing noise to hide the fact that there is rarely more than 2 or 3 unique sources of prices to everywhere you want to go.

These guides will remove the noise and show you what those sources are, so you can stop wasting so much time when searching for the best deal.

His site is pretty good to centralize good deals

Yycdeals.com
Yegdeals.com

[Okotok]

Originally Posted by tbiddy

This is a good guide:

https://www.yycdeals.com/calgary-to-...nclusive-deals

This is to Los Cabos (he has other examples) but the gist is the same.

From his site:

There are thousands of travel sites out there, all wanting you to believe they have unique or special prices on flights, airfares, hotel packages, or all inclusive vacations. They don't.

They use marketing noise to hide the fact that there is rarely more than 2 or 3 unique sources of prices to everywhere you want to go.

These guides will remove the noise and show you what those sources are, so you can stop wasting so much time when searching for the best deal.

His site is pretty good to centralize good deals

Yycdeals.com
Yegdeals.com

This copy and paste from the link is amusing. "Since there are not really any true all-inclusive resorts in North America (yes, that includes Hawaii), you sometimes see the term 'all inclusive' being used incorrectly to describe vacation packages that really include only the flight and hotel (no meals or drinks) in the price."

They don't consider Mexico part of North America. Heading for Los Cabos again in a couple of weeks. 7 nights was $1750 each at the Riu Palace. I'm told it's decent and we're going with a group. Paid $100 each for 6" of extra legroom on Sunwing. Never travelled with them before so the jury is out. Stayed at Secrets near San Jose last time. Great as far as resorts go but a bit isolated from San Jose or Cabo San Lucas.

[thumper]

I like Westjet vacations because they use their regular scheduled service. That means that you can check their website and custom make your departure/return flights to take advantage of their lowest rates. Also, we find the 7 day packages too short and 14 day packages offered by Air Transat, Sunwing and others too long - so by choosing your dates with Westjet you make your vacation any length you want. Then you just add the resort of your choice that they use (and Westjet Vacations use many different ones), and presto - you've just built your own all-inclusive package for the length, property, and airfare of your choice.

As an example, we wanted to go to Cabo San Jose for the bird photography opportunities where the river estuary flows into the ocean. The best airfares were over an 11 day trip - perfect, and the resort is adjacent to the estuary, making it easy to be there at 'magic hour' for aspiring photographers (dawn). It wasn't a 5-star resort, but clean, on the beach, inexpensive, and perfect for our needs.

I don't use Air Canada - just on principle.

[ORV]

Originally Posted by Okotok

This copy and paste from the link is amusing. "Since there are not really any true all-inclusive resorts in North America (yes, that includes Hawaii), you sometimes see the term 'all inclusive' being used incorrectly to describe vacation packages that really include only the flight and hotel (no meals or drinks) in the price."

They don't consider Mexico part of North America. Heading for Los Cabos again in a couple of weeks. 7 nights was $1750 each at the Riu Palace. I'm told it's decent and we're going with a group. Paid $100 each for 6" of extra legroom on Sunwing. Never travelled with them before so the jury is out. Stayed at Secrets near San Jose last time. Great as far as resorts go but a bit isolated from San Jose or Cabo San Lucas.

you will be glad you paid the extra $100.00 for more legroom
not much in the other seats on sunwing
we head to the rui Vallarta again soon
sunwing has the packages for the rui exclusively
limits your choice but it is only a five hour flight to p.v.
a lot cheaper than booking it separate as we have done both
in the past year
Enjoy! we will.

Orv

[Spidey]

Originally Posted by thumper

I like Westjet vacations because they use their regular scheduled service. That means that you can check their website and custom make your departure/return flights to take advantage of their lowest rates. Also, we find the 7 day packages too short and 14 day packages offered by Air Transat, Sunwing and others too long - so by choosing your dates with Westjet you make your vacation any length you want. Then you just add the resort of your choice that they use (and Westjet Vacations use many different ones), and presto - you've just built your own all-inclusive package for the length, property, and airfare of your choice.

As an example, we wanted to go to Cabo San Jose for the bird photography opportunities where the river estuary flows into the ocean. The best airfares were over an 11 day trip - perfect, and the resort is adjacent to the estuary, making it easy to be there at 'magic hour' for aspiring photographers (dawn). It wasn't a 5-star resort, but clean, on the beach, inexpensive, and perfect for our needs.

I don't use Air Canada - just on principle.

Really good point on the flexibility with WestJet. We did a trip to the Samba Vallarta and by playing with departure dates we got a 10 day AI trip for less than their posted 7 day package. The other added bonus is because we built a custom trip, they supplied a private taxi to take us to and from the resort because it didn't line up with their coaches taking the bulk of people who bought the posted package.

That said, I'm not a fan of how WestJet gets you to the Caribbean from Edmonton or Calgary with their connecting flights. There aren't that many direct flights.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Spidey

We've gone on quite a few AI's and have used Red Tag, Expedia, iTravel, WestJet Vacations, Air Transat, Sunwing, and Air Canada Vacations


A few considerations, specific to all inclusive packages:

1. It's often better to book a vacation package directly with the carrier (eg. WestJet, Sunwing, Transat). They will be the same price as the third party re-seller (eg. Red Tag, Expedia) but if your plans change and you need to adjust something, it's a lot easier and cheaper if you booked directly with the carrier.

2. If you are leaving from Alberta and flying to somewhere in the Caribbean (Cuba, DR, Cancun) then consider booking with a charter carrier (Sunwing, Transat) as the flight will more than likely be direct and leave at a civilized hour vs. WestJet or Air Canada vacations. They will still get you there, but only via their regular routes - which means you could be connecting or over-nighting in places like Saskatoon, Toronto or New York. On the surface, the packages with connecting flights may look cheaper but you are often on a red eye and have a connection which can cut into your valuable vacation/beach time, as well as take the bloom right off that vacation rose because of a milk run home. We learned this the hard way (there's not a lot to do in the Saskatoon airport between 11:00pm and 6:00am)

3. To date, the charter carriers do not charge for checked bags, where as WestJet and Air Canada do. That means a family of 4 with one checked bag each will pay an additional $200 or more on a round trip flight.

Excellent post!

I will add, if you call the hotel or resort direct you can often get a better price and/or upgrades, free breakfast etc thrown in that beat Expedia and the other travel sites prices. The hotel has to pay the travel service anywhere from 10% to 30% of the room or package rate so use that to your advantage when talking to the hotel.

Rental car pricing can vary by a huge amount. Try never to book pickup at an airport location to avoid the airport tax. Check rental car rates for nearby locations. One example, car rental in Vegas is half what it is in Arizona. It is also usually cheaper to fly into Vegas than Phoenix and has more non-stop flights. You can save a lot flying into Vegas and then driving to Phoenix.

If you want to use Aeroplan air miles to travel you need to book direct. You can save $35 bucks by doing it online and that option works fine for simple flights. If it is a complicated flight, has stay overs of a few days to weeks in places etc, much better to use the phone service. They also seem to be able to find more flights, particularly First Class, than what show up on the website for choices.

Make sure to print out and take with you all confirmations no matter who you book with.

[thumper]

I've had it happen twice now, where on road trips I've looked for a hotel to overnight in, on-line, and when I walked up to the front desk was given a higher price. When I showed them the lower on-line rate on my phone, I was told that room rate was only available if booked on-line. If I sat in their lobby, and booked the room on my phone, then approached the desk, I could get the lower rate. But the front desk clerk wasn't authorized to give the on-line price to off-the-street customers. Twice.



So hotel pricing doesn't make sense!

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by thumper

I've had it happen twice now, where on road trips I've looked for a hotel to overnight in, on-line, and when I walked up to the front desk was given a higher price. When I showed them the lower on-line rate on my phone, I was told that room rate was only available if booked on-line. If I sat in their lobby, and booked the room on my phone, then approached the desk, I could get the lower rate. But the front desk clerk wasn't authorized to give the on-line price to off-the-street customers. Twice.

So hotel pricing doesn't make sense!

True, walkins get a higher rate and the front desk clerk is almost never authorised to give a discount. Booking direct for a better price only works if you call the hotels direct booking line, even if it is the same day you want the room.