Canadian Packages to Hedo

[we2are469]

Question for Canadians.
We are currently booked for April next year with one of the standard Hedo friendly states side Travel Agents. While booking air at Westjet, I discovered their package deal (air and resort), same dates, would have cost me $475 dollars less for 14 days. Air Canada was similar but not as good. BUT, and here's the question, how do you take advantage of the 14/3 deal.
I called Westjet and they said can't be done unless air and resort are book separately, thus losing the discount. My local TA tried the same thing with her contacts at Westjet, and they said it should be possible, but no one can make it happen in the system.
Yet I'm sure I read somewhere on this forum, that somebody made it work. They delayed their return by 3 days and called the resort and booked those three days themselves.

Any ideas.

Oh and you can spare me the tales about the advantages of travel with a group TA, been there done that, got the t-shirt. I'm not a Hedo virgin

Ray

[Newfie Screech]

I'll defer to Ms. Screech (and ask her to post here as she made all the arrangements) but we just did it with Air Canada Vacations. I believe we contacted the resort first to ensure there were rooms available for the three extra days, and once that was confirmed, we called ACV to book. We asked for a return date three days later than the week-long package. I think there may have been some back and forth getting it done, but they accommodated the later return date, and I don't believe we paid anything extra.

Note, we did the 7+3 as we were there for 7 in February, but I suspect the 14+3 would be the same process.

If the info here is incorrect, or needs more clarification, I'm sure the missus will post.

I know this doesn't help your Westjet situation, but we don't have Westjet as an option so have to fly Air Canada. But I would assume if Air Canada can figure it out, Westjet should be able to do the same.

[Newfie Screech]

Ray, Mr. Screech got it right. I contacted the resort, asked if those three days were available and that I'd be booking within the day or so. Once I made the booking with AC vacations I emailed the resort again and was told as soon as they received the 7 day reservation confirmation the 3 free days would be applied. Within a few days I recieved a confirmation from the resort. It was roughly the same price as I was getting online and also included transportation both ways even though I was deviating from the standard package. I called Westjet as well but like you said since it was no longer a package it was very expensive and transportation was no longer included. I actually just added a day to the beginning of our stay for $360 Canadian which seems like a good deal for the hotel and flight change.

[sunbabes]

Question for Canadians.
We are currently booked for April next year with one of the standard Hedo friendly states side Travel Agents. While booking air at Westjet, I discovered their package deal (air and resort), same dates, would have cost me $475 dollars less for 14 days. Air Canada was similar but not as good. BUT, and here's the question, how do you take advantage of the 14/3 deal.
I called Westjet and they said can't be done unless air and resort are book separately, thus losing the discount. My local TA tried the same thing with her contacts at Westjet, and they said it should be possible, but no one can make it happen in the system.
Yet I'm sure I read somewhere on this forum, that somebody made it work. They delayed their return by 3 days and called the resort and booked those three days themselves.

Any ideas.

Oh and you can spare me the tales about the advantages of travel with a group TA, been there done that, got the t-shirt. I'm not a Hedo virgin

Ray

For Canadians, the American TA's and groups have been more expensive than Canadian providers.
This is because in Canada, the TA's do whats called FIT pricing.. or bundled pricing.

We always go this route and in over 40 trips we have never encountered an American TA that could match the pricing of our Canadian ones.

Its a little like prescription drugs... it just works better in Canada

[sunbabes]

Question for Canadians.
We are currently booked for April next year with one of the standard Hedo friendly states side Travel Agents. While booking air at Westjet, I discovered their package deal (air and resort), same dates, would have cost me $475 dollars less for 14 days. Air Canada was similar but not as good. BUT, and here's the question, how do you take advantage of the 14/3 deal.
I called Westjet and they said can't be done unless air and resort are book separately, thus losing the discount. My local TA tried the same thing with her contacts at Westjet, and they said it should be possible, but no one can make it happen in the system.
Yet I'm sure I read somewhere on this forum, that somebody made it work. They delayed their return by 3 days and called the resort and booked those three days themselves.

Any ideas.

Oh and you can spare me the tales about the advantages of travel with a group TA, been there done that, got the t-shirt. I'm not a Hedo virgin

Ray

As for the 14+3 promotion you mention... stay 14 nights and get 3 nights free within the calendar year.. .we have used this promotion many times and will be using it again on this upcoming trip

[PNK]

We always book a package out of Toronto. It is easy for your TA to book (say) a week(or two) at Hedo but have you return a few days later. We did that when we had a Hedo coupon for four extra days. No problem. Even with the packages (Sunwing, WestJet vacations, AirCanada vacations etc.) the hotel and air are (in fact) booked separately. That' how we are able to pick the late afternoon rather than early morning flights. Talk to a good TA and tell him/her what YOU want. And save big bucks over working with a US agency -- and pay in C$1.

By the way: you have to book your Hedo coupon days through the Hedo front office. That is quite easy to do and only requies a couple of phone calls and exchanged emails. The Hedo front office knows the routine and can 'hold' a room for the few hours it takes to confirm you flight details etc. Really -- no problem

Yes it can be done

PNK
Hedo Sept 11 - 17, 2015

[Cdn_cpl]

We've booked through westjet vacations several times and adjusted our flight dates with no problem and no major price change. We sometimes do a week at Hedo and then another week somewhere else in Negril. What you need to do is not book on their website but over the phone and ask for what they call a deviation on the return flight. They will book you on a package like normal but adjust the flight home to whatever date you want. You'll pay whatever the cost is for the flight on that date but it won't be dramatically different that what you would have paid normally, if any at all. Don't book a package online and then call in later to try and have it changed, we found out the hard way it's very difficult to get them to do this.

I've always warned people on this site when I see they are Canadians and asking about groups and have gotten some heat from the group leaders who are of course looking to recruit new members. Back when the Canadian dollar was at par it was fine but with the big difference now its a huge difference in cost.

[sunbabes]

We've booked through westjet vacations several times and adjusted our flight dates with no problem and no major price change. We sometimes do a week at Hedo and then another week somewhere else in Negril. What you need to do is not book on their website but over the phone and ask for what they call a deviation on the return flight. They will book you on a package like normal but adjust the flight home to whatever date you want. You'll pay whatever the cost is for the flight on that date but it won't be dramatically different that what you would have paid normally, if any at all.

I've always warned people on this site when I see they are Canadians and asking about groups and have gotten some heat from the group leaders who are of course looking to recruit new members. Back when the Canadian dollar was at par it was fine but with the big difference now its a huge difference in cost.

Partly the reason for the price spread is that the Canadian TA companies hedge on forex. This means we Canadians can book a trip now that the TA bought when the CAD was higher... so they can pass on the lower cost from that to customers.

[we2are469]

Thanks for all the good info. I sent it to my TA as proof it can be done.
So, what I'm hearing is that you CAN book a package vacation with WJ or AC, then move the return date back 3 days, at only a slight deviation charge. I'm talking a pre packaged WS vacation here, not flight and resort booking at the same time, but an actual package deal.
HOWEVER, I did call Westjet about a month ago, and asked this specific question and the response from the rep was "If you want to change the return date, I'll have to book the resort and the flight separate, no package deal, even if your not booking those extra days with us".
This was confirmed by my local TA with Westjet, a few days ago.
My TA is still working on it, but for now we are booked for the last 17 days of April 2016, because the US TA gave us a "Before you leave the resort" offer when we were there last April.
But because of the falling Canuck buck we are looking elswhere for options. Yesterdays price differance was $475 in favour of a Canadian solution, but it's the 3 days that are the issue.

So at this point we've paid $475 for three more nights at Hedo (for two)

Ray

[Cdn_cpl]

When I did the math for our March trip the price difference was $518 pp between booking with Toms Trips and buying the flight separately or booking the whole package with Westjet Vacations in Canadian dollars. And that's when the exchange was around $1.20, it's much worse now.

Yes you can definitely do what you're wanting to do, we've done it twice. Maybe it's a case of just getting the right person on the other end of the phone that wants to help you out. Westjet is generally very easy to do business with so I'm surprised you're having issues. Good luck to you.

[we2are469]

Thanks again for all the info, but Westjet isn't playing ball.
I called again today, and spoke with a very friendly WestJet rep who was trying very much to please me, and was even waving fees, but I couldn't get the 14 day "Package" changed to 17 days between flights and 14 days accommodation.

Now she did assemble a "à la carte" that included air and resort, for 14 days, but they would have both been booked as separate items, so no discount. BUT she could then change the return date to three days later for only $45.00 or so.
The "à la carte" price for 14 days was $1266.88 MORE than the "Package" price for the same date and time. The "à la carte" price is MORE than I'm currently paying for a WS flight and a Go Classy reservation.
The "Package" price is the best price, but doesn't include the three free days.

Just so we are on the same page, my understanding of "Package" is Westjet puts together a package of air and resort and you simply say yes or no and there are no changes. à la carte, as in my communication here on the forum, is I pick the flights and the resort, and the length of stay (7 or 14 days), and Westjet assembles the items for me.

Here on the West coast we tend to get screwed by the airlines because everything has to go thru TO.
I also talked with my TA today, and she said the same thing happened to her when she tried to book a 14/3 package with WS.
The “package” price as of today was $6863.00 CDN for 14 days , (per couple Garden Prude), NO changes allowed.
The a-la-carte price as of today (deviations allowed) was $8129.88 / 14 days (plus $45.00 for changes)(per couple Garden Prude).
Westjet had a sale going that had lowered the package price by about $300.00, but that’s now over.
Love the Westjet sales, AND the low price guarantee.

Ray

[Newfie Screech]

Ray - have you tried Air Canada Vacations? I'd be interested to know how the price compares (by speaking to an agent and getting the extra days added). As we've mentioned, Air Canada is the more convenient option for us, but we've also had the same experience with Westjet, in that they didn't seem to have the flexibility (although Cdn_cpl has gotten Westjet to accommodate this with no issues, so someone at Westjet must be able to do this).

[sunbabes]

Thanks again for all the info, but Westjet isn't playing ball.
I called again today, and spoke with a very friendly WestJet rep who was trying very much to please me, and was even waving fees, but I couldn't get the 14 day "Package" changed to 17 days between flights and 14 days accommodation.

Now she did assemble a "à la carte" that included air and resort, for 14 days, but they would have both been booked as separate items, so no discount. BUT she could then change the return date to three days later for only $45.00 or so.
The "à la carte" price for 14 days was $1266.88 MORE than the "Package" price for the same date and time. The "à la carte" price is MORE than I'm currently paying for a WS flight and a Go Classy reservation.
The "Package" price is the best price, but doesn't include the three free days.

Just so we are on the same page, my understanding of "Package" is Westjet puts together a package of air and resort and you simply say yes or no and there are no changes. à la carte, as in my communication here on the forum, is I pick the flights and the resort, and the length of stay (7 or 14 days), and Westjet assembles the items for me.

Here on the West coast we tend to get screwed by the airlines because everything has to go thru TO.
I also talked with my TA today, and she said the same thing happened to her when she tried to book a 14/3 package with WS.
The “package” price as of today was $6863.00 CDN for 14 days , (per couple Garden Prude), NO changes allowed.
The a-la-carte price as of today (deviations allowed) was $8129.88 / 14 days (plus $45.00 for changes)(per couple Garden Prude).
Westjet had a sale going that had lowered the package price by about $300.00, but that’s now over.
Love the Westjet sales, AND the low price guarantee.

Ray

Ray... we just booked a deviation for our upcoming trip with WestJet Vacations and are returning 6 nights after the original return.

This is often the best way to present it to WJ/AC ... you only want to have the deviation on the return flight.
THe hotel nights remain the same and the hotel will voucher for the free nights to be used at the end of the trip.


While I do see that when they do a deviation the price does increase it should not be that large a change.

[double D's]

Sunbabes is spot on, we travel to Jamaica 6 times a year, always `package' deals and have many times asked for a deviation on the return flight, some administration charge and very few times a difference in the return fare. We've done it with Sunwing, AC vacations & WestJet. Actually we find WestJet the easiest to deal with as they run the 2 flights a day out of T.O. on weekends...maybe the fact we book out of T.O. has something to do with it, more flights, more competition.
DD'sss

[Cdn_cpl]

Wow, so sorry you're having problems. This has been a very simple procedure for us in the past. As mentioned the key is to speak the right lingo and ask for a "Deviation", return flight only, everything else stays the same. We do it out of Winnipeg so it's not a Toronto only thing.