which is the hotel Katiesmum?

Opps!! sorry didn`t think of that:

Its Iberostar Paraiso Maya in Mayan Riviera, Mexico

I would look on http://www.theholidayplace.co.uk and see if they do your chosen hotel.We used them a few years ago when we went to Mexico and the price we paid was half what Virgin,Cosmos and Airtours were charging for the same hotel and it included a private transfer.

Thanks, I`ll take a look when I get back in from work, Think I might have checked it though but not 100% sure.

I seem to have looked at loads and loads of sites but none of them seem to do the Iberostar hotels in Mexico, every other you can possibly name but not the one we want.

Last year Thomas Cook did it but now they only do the others on the same complex.

CO-OP travelcare will beat the price, just take the print out with you and say I want to spend x amount and they will try to get to your price you are willing to pay.

Hi,

Tried the Holidayplace.co.uk thanks, nothing at the hotel we want, they don`t seem to do the Iberostar hotels.

Co-Op Travelcare said they would match the Going Places online quote but that was the best they could do, local branch. If I can`t come up with anything else thought about going into Travelcare and saying I want to book the holiday `now` what is the best price. The total price comes to £4400 on First Choice site, (they got £4700 when they went into their booking system) I really want to pay about £4000 ish or am I being really optomistic??

I`m really stuck as I can`t find this hotel on Alpharooms, Expedia or any of these as was thinking of doing it all seperately.

Any more advice or places to check out would be really appreciated.

Thanks all,

Helen

T

You are being optomistic, travelcare would be losing money if they let you have the holiday for £4000, I would try for £100 to £150. Another way of doing it is phone first choice and say co-op travelcare has quoted you £4300 and you want to pay closer to £4200, it might work I have done it a few times. If you have a co-op dividend card the dividends are paid in cash via a cheque.

Travelcares commission is 15% or £645, you should be able to £400 of their commission. Remember they are business who need to make a profit. £4700 take off £400=£4300. you might be able to £500 of their commission but I doubt it maybe the odd £45. With the dividend card you should get a minimum of £42 back.

Hi,

Tried that yesterday rang our First Choice shop and said Travelcare can do it for £4300 and they went bananas, the girl was going to speak to her manager and get her to ring Travelcare and check as they shoudl`nt be doing that and they can`t do this that....... etc she was most horrible! So I thought gone are the days of playing on off against another! I really felt like a criminal when I came off the phone.

Do they actually check with other shops what prices have been offered?
£4200 would be good, its just managing to actually get it without me getting upset. I appreciate they have to make money whilst booking these holidays and arn`t going to give it away but the flexibility of a few years ago seems to have gone.

We don`t even seem to have any independant smaller travel agents around here who used to be able to do good deals.

hi there, the FC or Eclipse price is the best you can get, we can price match our website prices but not beat them as FC or eclipse sites are the prices minus most of the commission, what dates when and how many are
travelling and i will double check for you
oh by the way-we do check what other shops are charging if it's too good to be true!!
let me know

If its a First Choice holiday you are not going to find it cheaper than with a first choice shop/web site or another of their sites such as eclipse or Holiday hypermarket.
The only way you can really save loads is to wait and try to do it as a last minute deal 8-4 weeks before you go.We do this every year and always go somewhere really nice even in school hols there are availabilities.
The last minute deals on FC web site can be amazing bargains.
You could also workout how much it would cost you to DIY it seperatley see if its cheaper and work out how much you are willing to give them as profit if you still want to use the package.
By the way you didnt mention how many where going, if you have some kids sometimes it is cheaper to do them as adults too.Just check it out all ways.

First choice can't stop travelcare from selling a holiday at any price, even at a loss if they wanted to. Go back to travelcare and and say I only have £4300 to spend and if you can do that price I will book it now. You can phone them and do it you could say £4250 and let them come in at £4300 they can get the price down to that level. I got just under 10% discount with travelcare on a thomas cook holiday but with my dividend points its just over 10%. My holiday price was £3653 and with discount £3300 plus divdend points.

No agent will beat FC web price. I now work for Co-op and have worked for FC. They wont give you a cheaper price than the web because they don't have to. You wont get it anywhere else cheaper, so it's either pay that price with the Agent or book it yourself on the web. A general rule is agents have to make at least 5% on the booking or it's not worth their while, but since the general public don't know commission levels it is difficult for consumers to get them down to this.

Good point about the divi points. Ask your local co-op if you can become a member, it only costs a quid and you will get money back in vouchers to put toward your next holiday.

I was talking to a travelcare staff and they said they will earn 15% off most tour ops, travelcare are doing thomsons again because they have moved their commission to 10% from 5%. Not sure what first choice give but I bet its between 12% to 15% I reckon I could get them close to 10% off. On my booking I could of got more off but with the divi points I thought it was a fair price.

Unless you try you won't know.

AgentQ what commission does first choice give agents. If you don't want to give the answer I will find out off a agent. I am pretty sure first choice used to give 15%. Anyway I always use 15% commission for the agent when I am after a discount, aim for 10% because the agent has got to make money.

I got thomas cook to knock 10% off their web before, the manager said she could go anymore even though I tried, but it wasn't a bad deal.

I normally say I will book right now if the price is good and I tell them what price I am after. I don't come up with some silly figure but around 10% less their screen price. They need something to work to, you be surprised how many will come back and say we can do that to get a booking. I am sure they have to work to monthly sales figures and if they want to get their sales up they will do a deal. Maybe agentq can confirm if travelcare work to monthly sales figures or not.

I consider first choice holidays the most expensive now when comparing prices with other toup ops for the same hotel. And first choices flight supplements I don't even what to think about them they are so high. If a different operator does the hotel you want see how much it is with them. What hotel are you after booking and what dates.

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice.

We are looking at Iberostar Paraiso Maya, Mayan Riviera, Mexico - 12 August, 2 weeks, 2 adult and an 11 year old.

Thanks

It looks like first choice are the only ones doing the hotel. Eclipse are £20 cheaper. All I can suggest is to find a agent who will beat the price or you will have to swallow it and pay the money or look for a cheaper hotel.

Just to compare thomson, eclipse, cosmos and airtours for the for titanic beach lara turkey.

Eclipse departing sun 24 aug night flight £4194 and this price will be slightly cheaper than first choice. Thomson sat 23 aug day flight £3286 for 2 adults and 2 children. The resort you want to go to in mexico I reckon you would be able to get a better hotel for the same money with thomsons.

For the 10th aug eclipse everything the same £4841 night flights. Thomson 9th aug day flights £4238. I never book with first choice anymore because of their prices. Cosmos Beats both of them day flight 10th aug £3865. The cheapest £3815 is airtours day flight.

Picked out this hotel because a few tour ops sell it but the difference between the most is expensive eclipse and airtours the cheapest, airtours is a whopping £1026 cheaper than eclipse. Add about £20 on the eclipse price will give the first choice price. And don't forget the flight are night flights and if eclipse flight were day flight it would add £200 to £300 to their price. You can now see eclipse/first choice are very expensive. Their web price is easily beaten by other tour ops web price and with a bit haggling it will be possible to bring the airtours price down a bit more whereas, if agentq is right you won't be able to get a penny off the eclipse/first choice price. If you take into account if the eclipse/first choice flights and haggling a couple of hundred pounds off the airtours price the difference between eclipse/first choice could be as much as £1500.

Edit

I just noticed its only 1 child. and the price on the 12 aug 14nts flying from gatwick 2 adults and 1 child comes to £3748 with first choice, how did you get £4400.

Just had a look on FC and its £4430

Personally I would work the price back then start applying discounts.

£4428.64 + £361.36 = £4790

Now we've got a rough screen price to work with.

First we need to strip out the tax and fuel charges as these are none commissionable.

£4790
-£120 (3x 40 apd)
-£78 (3x 26 mexico dep tax)
-£195 ( 3X 65 fuel sup)
=£4397 net tax price

Now the Commission calc.

£4397 - 15%
=£3737.45 (Thats £659.55 in commisson.)

Now we need to add the agents min profit of £25-£30 per person per booking onto the £3737.45 before we start adding the tax back on.

£3737.45
+£90 (min profit £30 per person )
+£120 (3x 40 apd)
+£78 (3x 26 mexico dep tax)
+£195 ( 3X 65 fuel sup)
=£4220.45

So we know can see the £4220 area is the booking cost floor.

Now the tricky bit, whats the best way to get to the cost floor price.

There's two ways

One way is to target one of the large call centres that is part of TUI. This will be on 15% with another in house TUI company which in this case is First choice.

The call centres work on high volume and the agents need to make at least £6k in bookings per month before they get any extra's. The margins are there to be worked as both the call centre and the agents have booking targets.

The other way is simply to call first choice and say ive been qouted this from a TUI agent can you match it. As long as its not below the core price 9/10 they will.

Wow caz144!! I am amazed how you did that - thankyou so much.

I understand it all apart from the £4428.64 + £4790 (is that the diff between First Choice website and the ordinary high street agents?)

Also the Mexico departure tax does this mean that we don`t have to find extra $$`s at the airport?

Is TUI Thomsons? the local street shops won`t do any kind of First Choice discount at all? so will the call centre? Sorry to be thick, in need of a large glass of wine.

I`ll try anyone if I can get the price down.

Many thanks

Helen x

Thanks Katiesmum for the kind words

Yes your correct on the figures, if you went into any high street shop, that £4790 is what their computers should show as the total hoilday cost before they start discounting.

On the First choice booking page it says "For your convenience, a compulsory departure tax (aprrox 26 pounds) is included in the holiday price". I'm not up to date on all the mexico taxes but at least one of them is included.

Yes Thomson is part of the world of TUI.

Call centres are far easier to get discounts with as they have a differnt approach on how to make profits. They use Volume of sales so they cut price to get Volume to meet their high monthly sales targets. So at the start of the month when agents targets reset, its good time to get the cost price.

The First Resort is always a handy TUI agent to use
http://www.thefirstresort.com/

Their all the same in house group which includes late deals, beach deals, sky travel shop ect..

Enjoy the wine