Confusing redtag.ca (and others) online vacation booking..

[Rayza]

Out of interest I was going through some of the Canadian vacation booking sites like redtag.ca and itravel2000.com. I chose a week at the end of March, flight/car/hotel (Dolphin Resort). The original quote is $1459.00 plus the $220-odd in taxes.

I hit the "buy" button, input my age, province and number of members (solo). When the screen refreshes it says my grand total is $2915. (Still confirmed that this is 1 adult being booked.)

Does anyone know why this price hits the moon all of a sudden when the initial quote was about half of what the grand total is?

I suppose I could call redtag myself but I'll see if anyone here has an explanation.

 

[OntFamily]

I checked redtag.ca's website. On the initial webpage, they state the prices listed are per person, based on double occupancy (emphasis is mine).

ie the room rate shows the cost per person, if two people were staying in the room.


Once you state there is only one person in the room, it shows you the full room rate.

 

[misslissa]

That's the beauty of those types of sites. The rates are too good to be true. I would suggest booking with a TA, or through Disney directly!!!!!!!!

Disney in Canada is rarely discounted, so you are probably not saving much online anyway

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I would suggest pricing everything out separately - we've found that the "packages" can be far more expensive than buying everything separately directly from the airline, car rental place and hotel. Mousesavers.com is a great website to go to to help you save some money - there are often coupons codes for $$ off your car rental, as well as specials for various hotels and these are usually updated frequently on the Mousesavers website.

Bonny

 

[wee-haggis]

I would suggest pricing everything out separately - we've found that the "packages" can be far more expensive than buying everything separately directly from the airline, car rental place and hotel. Mousesavers.com is a great website to go to to help you save some money - there are often coupons codes for $$ off your car rental, as well as specials for various hotels and these are usually updated frequently on the Mousesavers website.

Bonny

Cdn Friends of Pooh is absolutely correct.

For the past 12 years I have booked everything seperately,DIY and in each and every case I have compared it to packages and the seperate booking wins out BIG TIME in every case. Plus you have the flexibility of being able to make changes (if needed) to flights or accomodation without affecting the whole package. There is no need to worry about double occupancy charges because rooms are booked as a nightly rate.
Give it a try. Book flight,accomodations and car rental seperately (using the wealth of information on these boards as well as great site like Moussavers for coupons and codes etc.
Good luck

 

[misslissa]

That's right! The only thing you will want to bundle is your hotel and WDW tickets if you are staying on site at Disney. Also, check CAA for their discounts on WDW hotel/ticket combos.

 

[DutchsMommy]

Another suggestion, depending on where you live, is to check out flight costs from across the Border. We generally fly out of Buffalo (live in Toronto) and the airfare costs are alot cheaper - usually half the price - of flying out of Toronto. Just a thought.

 

[Rayza]

Thanks for the advice!

I guess it's all the advertising that makes you forget about trying to break it down for a deal. I really want to stay at the Swan/Dolphin for a few days, but I might go real cheap-o (2-3 star) for the first few to balance it out.

In any case, I'll consider all my options and not grab any packages. (Mind out of the gutter..)

 

[FayeW]

That's right! The only thing you will want to bundle is your hotel and WDW tickets if you are staying on site at Disney. Also, check CAA for their discounts on WDW hotel/ticket combos.

Don't even do that! You get way better prices on tickets through undercover tourist (using the mousesavers link) than buying them from Disney. If I was ever going to stay onsite it would be room only.

 

[esdras]

Don't even do that! You get way better prices on tickets through undercover tourist (using the mousesavers link) than buying them from Disney. If I was ever going to stay onsite it would be room only.

Once again, as usual, an exception to the above rule is when Disney offers a REALLY good promotion on a package - there are some times when this will save you more. Examples include:

Free Dining
Ticket Upgrade (Base Tickets become Hopper-Water Parks and More)
Ticket Upgrade AND Room Discount (rare, but it happened this year for Jan-Feb stays)
Buy 4 Get 3 Free - EXTREMELY rare, it happened the year after 9/11, but (I think) not since

HOWEVER, discounts such as Free Dining are best if you had planned on getting the Dining Plan anyway, which meant you were looking at a package to begin with. Again, however, even if you weren't considering a package, you will have to pay for food somehow, so Free Dining is always something to consider. Likewise for the ticket upgrades - if you are like us, with kids who aren't swimmers (one WON'T go on a waterslide), Water Parks aren't important.

Essentially, YOU have to do the homework - price out the best deals you can get on the room-only (often Disney does have these discounts, or a CAA discount can be applied), use Undercover Tourist for tickets, etc. Estimate your food expenses (allearsnet.com has menus with prices) to see if a Free Dining offer is worth your while - you can essentially wipe out most of your food expenses minus tips - see how much that would save.

And remember, "You're milage will vary"