Whilst I agree and think it is long overdue, it does not tackle the supplements that keep being added on for under occupancy.

It would be very simple to price holidays in a transparent way - just needs the willpower - if not then there will be legislation.

Slowly the loopholes are being closed.

fwh

I agree FWH but at least its starter, and hope it stops all these hidden charges we all confront when booking a holiday. You can go on eg: fly zb.com, Jet2.com and numerous other flight only websites with a very attractive price only to be let down with a final price of taxes taxes taxes which can double the price. The under occupancy thing is another way of making fast money, and I hope it does include this within the flouting rules. Cheers Jayjan

i heard this mentioned on the radio a few months back and i think its an excellent idea , it really does drive me crazy when i get what i think is a good price only to find about 3-4 different charges are added on top and different companies charge different charges some of the time, the only thing i dont mind is the meal supplement as not everyone wants plane meals

Did any one watch the B*** S**** detective on BBC 3? He saw a holiday for 99.00, so he went in and said he wanted to book it, when all the extras were added on, it came to much more, - It showed him sitting there for over an hour arguing that he wanted the holiday for the price, it was advertised at ,and he wasn't backing down! - eventually after much discussion, they offered him it for 103.00! . He still refused - quiet entertaining it was!

Whilst I agree and think it is long overdue, it does not tackle the supplements that keep being added on for under occupancy.

A couple of years ago I started a thread on this subject after I had returned from holiday.

On the back of the accommodation door was the room tariff priced at say £40 per room per night. The room slept 4 people ie 2 bed settee's as well as 2 beds. The tour operators must have been raking it in when they charge for eg. 2 people say £30 each per room per night then have the cheek to add on under occupancy for the 2 bed settee's. But I suppose this is where they make their profit. However, this is also why a lot of people are now doing DIY.

This is definitely why I always do DIY when self-catering. I often go away with a friend and whilst we are good friends one of the reasons why we do enjoy our holidays together is that we do like a bit of privacy and being able to escape each other. A DIY on a 2 bed-apartment always works out cheaper than paying the extortionate under-occupancy supplements with TOs who seem to think that they ought to be able to cram 6 people in and charge you a fortune if you don't want to!

SM

Whilst this change is very much welcomed (no more £ 0.01 flights to Amsterdam anymore ), it is not going to change the fact that most, if not all, holidays are charged based on xxx people occupying a piece of accommodation.

If that xxx number of people is not reached, there is no other way but to charge extra for this. Similar to when the xxx is overreached, a discount is usally given for the overoccupancy.

And what happens to weekend flights that are quite often surcharged? Is that going to stop? What about those extras that consumers want, such as upgraded flights, meals, transfers?

The Which quote

it is saying the price you see must now be the price you pay

might be easier said than achieved.

Mark

There is far more to a holiday than how much the TO is paying for the accommodation.

The fact you may feel short changed when you find out the price they are paying is only part of it. If they contract and pay to use a place for x weeks and only achieve 50% utilisation then they do need to make up the shortfall in income.

They do have an infrastructure that needs to be paid for. Yes I know that many of you are not happy with the reps, customer relations etc but that is poor management on their behalf. If they got their act together they could make more profit. But the problem is because it works and they are making money they become blind to the real possibilities.

I have worked for companies that have not been making money. My job often was to turn that round so I looked for where things were failing and tried to rectify them. All too often having turned it round I also ran into the problem that management became complacent and would not go that step further. There are more than the TOs wh cannot get their act together.

Greater transparency and simpler pricing policies would resolve many of the problems they are now having. It is not the price you pay that is the problem; it is the way that they go about it. Recent examples of 2 adults and 2 kids costing more than 4 adults in the same accommodation only demonstrate the lack of understanding of the KISS principle - Keep It Simple Stupid.

Yes we know we have to pay taxes that they have no control over, and we accept that.

Advertising and charging you £100 for something is one thing. Advertising it at £25 and adding £75 in taxes when you book it is wrong. Far better that they advertise and charge you £100 and then use the fact that they could do it for £25 if it was not for the taxes would be a far better ploy.

The result is the same but if they put a positive spin on it then the blame can be shifted to where it belongs.

fwh

Actually I wonder if travel agents and operators might not welcome the move if everyone has to to abide by the pricing rule than its creating a level playing field. Before if one company was just advertising the headline price without any taxes supplements etc the others would just have to follow suit in order not to appear more expensive.

At least now they won't have to overcome the barrier of justifying the cost of the taxes service charges fuel supplements etc. to a customer when they come to giving a final price as they are already in the advertised price.

Hi
I think that the extras that you have no control over e.g. fuel suuplement, air passenger duty, airport taxes etc should be shown as part of the advertised price.

When advertising studios or apartments, I think it's slightly different as the price will differ depending on the party size - I'm not getting into the rights or wrongs of Tour Operators charging per person here.

Maybe advertisers could quote a price per person based on 4 sharing and 2 sharing - but still including those unavoidable extras.

Polly

If you consider that an apartment/studio/villa is rented at a fixed sum then it is simple to achieve a price based from one up to the maximum occupancy.

There is nothing stopping you from renting a house or a car that accommodates more than one person. When it comes to paying then it is a simple matter to share the cost between the people who occupy that space. Yes a very simplistic idea but valid.

If a TO advertises a property then a base price could be shown including fares and other charges.

Let us say the property price is £100 for a week. Fares and other charges are another £100.- Servicing is included in the original price but could be extra say £10 for each additional person. The holiday could be sold at £200 for one and an additional £110 for each extra person. It is simple to do so why they have to make it complicated I cannot understand.

The property price is fixed. The fares and incidentals are fixed. The additional service costs are fixed. Decent profits can be built in to each element without any problems.

The result would be more business because of the transparency.

It is really case of willpower on behalf of the TOs. The example I give applies in the DIY market so why do they not emulate it.

When I was in business if I came across a good idea I adopted it. The fact it was a competitor who came up with it originally did not matter.

fwh

Hi All
One thing which annoys me is the fact that we always have to pay a supplement to fly from say Manchester than if we were going from Gatwick. Is this another way of profiteering from the consumer or do the airlines have to pay more to the airport authorities in Manchester than Gatwick.

Another point is regarding underoccupancy supplements. I think it is probably a way of subsidising famillies who are getting free child places. Fine when our children were young but not now we are just a couple!!!!
(Sorry famillies!) Actually we could not aford to go abroad when our children were young.

Regards, Jean

TC are currently advertisinh holidays for 39 pounds yet when I price it up it works out at about 200 each! I agree that the compulsary charges should be added to the price. Thomson appear to be the only company that show the real price upfront

I've just received a promotional leaflet from Co-op Travel which shows a price for Majorca 7 nights £169 per person and it goes on to say 'PLUS NO HIDDEN EXTRAS. ALL PRICES INCLUDE CHARGES SUCH AS FUEL SURCHARGES & AIRPORT DEPARTURE TAX.'
This is with Thomas Cook.

It doesn't say anything about under occupancy charges - but it's still a big step forward.

Polly

Many years ago I was asked by my then MD to set up a car hire operation.

My only experience was renting one for myself.

I spent several weeks doing research to fins out what was involved. I then put forward a business plan and slogan. The Price You see Is The Price You Pay. Everybody else quoted a basic price to which taxes and extras were added.

I made a lot of money and when the opposition realised that my policy worked better than theirs they adopted it.

The holiday business is the same. We go with a small TO who publishes a price. The only extra is the transfer and that is made clear - Bold Print.

When I did my research everyone said they wanted to know up front what it was going to cost. They did not want to small print.

Holidaymakers are the same.

fwh

First Choice and Eclipse online always give the total cost for the whole party it's an easy to use site, I have booked many holidays with them because of their pricing method, easy and no added costs

chazy

Chazy
whilst I agree that these sites do give you the final price for the whole of your party, I think the main point of this thread is that the prices initally quoted on the websites and Travel Agent shops are NOT the final price you pay.

For example, First Choice are advertising 2 weeks in Cozumel FROM £569 per person based on 2 sharing.
You may expect to pay £1138.
However, when you work through the site, choosing that particular accommodation for 2 people, the final price total is £1325.20 - which is £187.20 more than the original advertised price.

This is exactly what High Street Travel Agents do when advertising holidays, then when you get into the shop you find that there are additional costs for fuel surcharge, air passenger duty etc.

Polly

I, too, am sick and tired of only getting the final price on the last page, with the taxes etc. frequently being more than the lead price. Even more annoying in my view is when they try to charge for meals which are actually provided free. I fly frequently to Tunisia from Stansted, and the only flights on this route are with Nouvelair Tunisie which provides meals, however, Airtours, My Travel and Panorama, who use this airline try to charge £12 for meals. They also kindly offer a transfer for an exorbitant sum, whereas you can get a taxi for considerably less than £10!

Best one of these I found was a holiday for one in a room described on the site as a room sleeping a maximum of one person. The final price then included an under-occupancy supplement.

Is it me? Or has the world gone mad?

And don't get me started on MyTravel's website which gives different prices for exactly the same holiday with the same company...