All Inclusive Holiday Booking Timing

[Leahjz]

Just wondering if anyone had any tips regarding when to book an all-inclusive trip to Cuba from Calgary...

I found the trip I thought I wanted to go on (4* Barcelo resort in Santa Clara for $1800 for 2 weeks) but didn't book it right away. Now it has gone up to $1950 per person and it says the "early booking bonus" is over Oct. 31. Do these usually keep going up as it gets closer? Should I book it now and eat the 150 a person or is it probable it will get really cheap if I wait it out?

It just kinda burns me paying an extra 300 for the same trip as I could have booked 3 days ago!

[misstara08]

Depends. How popular the resort is. I just booked for the Breezes last Friday. To leave this Friday. Thank god I didnt wait longer. I checked today and the price went up 300$ per person.

[boyoflondon]

As the above poster said, it all depends on how busy the resort/hotel are.

If the place is not busy, and there are plenty of empty rooms, the price will go down.

At the same time, if the company (ie. Sunwing), doesn't have its plane full, it will also drop prices in order to fill that plane.

[Pete_Coach]

This is a situation where you can outsmart yourself. Buy now because the deal looks great, wait until the deal gets better, buy because they raised the prices and then be p'd off because they couldn't sell at the vacations and last minute club members get the same trip for half price.
I think you have to resign yourself to the fact that unless you are luck, you are going to pay more than someone else.
It seems Cuba is the place to go, perhaps because Mexico was having problems with tourists getting hurt or worse? There was whole section in the paper on cheap Mexican trips.

[commie]

With these all-inclusive packages, I found in the past that there is a threshold where the prices will go down..then when it hits that period it will go back up...its almost like a parabole(one of those math shapes??)...

3-4 months and beyond the prices of the package will be high
starting about 2-3 months, the prices start dropping until it reaches the bottom
1-2 weeks before departure, the prices will start going back up..

Of course this also depends on where you are flying from/to, the resort and how populate it is...

All the travel companies(air/hotel,etc...) uses a yield management software that tries to predict this pattern based on past trends and current books..

Places where there are lots of resort options, the cheapest last minute deal would be to book it around 2 weeks prior to departure...Like places in Cancun..
Places where there are not many options, then you better book it as soon as possible for the 'busy' season. Like Barbados...The nice places have been sold-out during the xmas season for a while now...
but for Cancun, for the xmas week, there are still lots of options, and tend to go down until around dec14th week....

[wirebound]

If I knew the resort and was set on it, then I'd book earlier knowing that there is a good chance that its not available later on. Then I'd resolve not to look at the prices :)

Usually though, we book 2 weeks in advance, and we're not fussy on where we go.

[nalababe]

During key travel times, there is a sweet spot around a week before the trip departs. After that, the prices start to creep up again...as there is an expectation that people will want to go very last minute..

[Leahjz]

I failed to mention I want to travel in January...

Thanks for all the tips - It sounds like the best idea is just to book it at the current price and be done with it.

[Psubs]

Either book really early or last minute. Within 2 months the prices seem to go up. The best deals I've gotten are booking 2-3 months in advance (actually a friend got a crazy deal 6 months in advance. :lol: Then if it's not full, within the last 2 weeks the price drops to fill the chartered flight and hotel.

[dragongirl_76]

i myself just booked an AI for Cuba a few weeks ago.
i did my reseach in advance and then just started watching all the sites to see if it was going to go down in the weeks preceeding my vacation dates.
it actually went UP in price and i booked it right away to avoid paying any more.
i still keep looking to see if it comes up cheaper and it hasn't.
i leave on sunday! woot!