I have news for you about your vacation budget, I may not follow it! What? Please read on and don’t get offended just yet.
Two Vacation Budget Stories
1) A couple of great clients from Florida wanted to a arrange a special Birthday Celebration on Star Clippers, a mega-yacht cruise line. Star Clippers offers an experience not possible on large, medium, or most other small ships. The couple came to me thinking the price to come in around $5,000 for the cruise. After reserving this great trip and applying the standard plus a bonus discount, their final price was just under $3100 for this cruise which is far below their vacation budget.
2) Another story, a client wanted to go to Punta Cana last year for three nights on a very tight vacation budget and was willing to leave from any of 4 “pseudo-local” airports. For a three night trip to an all-inclusive resort, air will be a large percentage of the trip and largely fixed due to our friends at the airlines. The resort I could fit in the budget was OK but fell short in some key areas. While the grounds were lovely, there were some issues with the service and their room. I booked a property that I was not familiar with and not trained on. Although, the client’s trip was still good, I failed my client by following his budget and not refusing their trip or attempting to sell the value of a slightly better resort.
If presented with another opportunity where I feel I cannot deliver the proper experience within a client’s budget, I will state that upfront and politely direct the client to consider shortening the duration, changing the budget or to book elsewhere if they must stay within their budget and not shorten up the trip.
So what’s in your vacation budget? Did you remember to include:
- transfers from point A to B
- travel insurance
- meals
- parking
- souvenirs
- beverages
- sightseeing tours (you didn’t travel all of the way to your dream location to sit in your room? Or, perhaps you’re at a great all-inclusive resort and you just really wanted to relax.)
- excursions
- gratuities/tips
- Internet/Corporate VPN access
- Cellular voice/data roaming charges
Planning your vacation with Daydream Excursions includes looking over your whole travel experience to provide you with a realistic estimate of the cost to come home from your trip. So, I look at all of the above items when helping you plan your trip to get the most value for your vacation budget.
Call or email today to start planning you next trip!
