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SOME
SECRETS
Prices are all over the map
- why ?
Every time you go on the web, prices are different than yesterday.
Most of that is the changing airfare.
Think of your trip as 2 parts – one is airfare & one is your vacation
Understanding Airfare: Airline seats are like looking at a ladder
with each rung holding just so many
seats. Cheapest seats on a flight are on the lowest rung and you go
up as each lower rung fills. Seats on
each "rung" are higher $$ as you are forced up the ladder
– book airfare early for best price.
About 6 months before travel, Pleasant Holidays commits to hundreds
of airline seats for vacation travel
in the future and receives large discounts from the airlines. The airlines
require these flights be part of
a vacation and can not be sold as airline tickets alone. This is to
avoid competing directly with the retail
fares of the airline. To meet this requirement, all Pleasant online
bookings require either a car rental
or hotel stay (or both) so this is considered a vacation "package".
Some of the "package"
airfares can be very low compaired to a retail airline ticket on the
same flight.
Secret
One - How to get airline tickets at "package" price
Use our AATPA / Pleasant Holidays booking engine. Click on "reservations"
and follow through to
HAWAII choices. Chose the [
air + car ] button. Best is 4-6 months before your travel
date when the
flights are still empty. We know you don't need the car but order it
anyway, however only for a couple
of days, and pick the cheapest that comes up. Your flights, including
the car rental, will be lower than
a regular airline ticket alone, ( see detail below) this is especially
true when several people travel
together and share a car.
Of course the same
applies if a hotel stay is booked in place of the car ( or with it).
West Coast Hawaiian
Secret:
(add a car
short term)
How
do you get these vacation airfares from the booking engine when not
on vacation?
Some local Hawaiian
travelers have known this for years. In the booking engine, chose your
flights and length of stay, then add the
cheapest rental car for 2 days even though you have no use for a car.
Book the package with the car in it. Even
if you don’t ever go get the car, your total package will be lower than
retail air tickets.
East Coast Hawaiian
Secret:
(add a hotel
short term)
For East coast travelers, the booking engine may require a 2 or 3 night
hotel stay instead of a short term car
rental. Try It ! Plug in the cheapest hotel you can find for the shortest
amount of time the booking engine will
allow. The overall package will usually be lower than East Coast airline
tickets at retail.
(and you certainly don't have to use the hotel unless you want to)
Secret
Two - Change Dates For Better Prices:
An old travel agent trick works in the booking engine too. Travel
agents usually get the lowest prices
for their clients because they don't take the first price they see.
Often you will see a savings of
hundreds of dollars by simply making a date change. If the booking engine
seems high compared
to ads you've seen on TV or in the news, try a different set of travel
dates that avoid weekend
flights. Hawaii hotels are the same prices 7 days a week but weekend
airfare can kill vacation
plans. Try to only take trans Pacific flights on Tues-Thurs. If you
have to fly weekends, make
your booking engine date 5 to 6 months out and watch the price drop.
Understanding Hotels and Cars:
Basic hotel and car prices in Hawaii stay relatively constant
all year. They are a little higher in summer and around the Holidays
but other than that, they
don’t wildly bounce around like airfares do.
Secret Three
- Online Vacation Trick:
( book hotel & car now )
Some of the best hotel deals are often missed because folks tend to
focus too much on airfare.
Online booking of hotels & condos can be done without including flights
or rental cars. To get a
good vacation value online, click on the [ hotel/condo
] button on first page of booking engine
and spend some time looking just at hotel(s) and what they offer for
different room choices.
Take notes! . . . Then restart and rebook with air included – you will
make much better plans.
If you don’t like the airfares you find, don’t book them just book the
hotel, car, etc. Your
vacation will be secure and you can come back at a later date to add
the airfare or simply buy
airfare elsewhere – do what works best for you.
( To add
airfare to existing hotel booking, email
us)
Understanding Options: A
Pleasant Holiday - Hawaii / Amazing Hot Deals / Value Vacations
A
Pleasant Holiday - Hawaii:
The everyday rates and availability are found here – year
in and year out.
Special Note: If you see it in this section, it is available now to
book. If you don’t see something you want,
try another date because the current date is sold out. Sometimes changing
your dates by as little as one day
will provide more choices.
Amazing
Hot Deals - LAX & SFO: What's
this?
Special United
Flights Only:
Pleasant Holidays has an extra special contract with United Airlines
on some ( but not all) of the
direct flights from SFO & LAX to Hawaii. If you are in LAX or SFO your
best chance to get the
lowest prices will be with this option. There is a catch to these lowest
fares and that is they are
instant purchase and usually can not be purchased too many months ahead
of time. Usually about
3 months out is all you can key into the booking engine. If you try
dates too far out the booking
engine will respond with an error that says something like “flights
not available … “ - The flights
are there but hidden and not available at these rates.
Hotel Specials Also Posted:
In addition to the special flights, here is where last minute hotel
specials will also be posted to
the booking engine. You will notice that the hotel list is much shorter
in this section than the
everyday rate section. Also, you may not get the booking engine to accept
a hotel request more
than a couple of months out ( they don’t tell you this)
Amazing
Hot Deals - Nationwide: What's
the difference ?
Not available during
summer
This section is similar to above
for SFO & LAX but uses a different inventory of bulk and
contract airfares on most major carriers. There is a catch to these
seasonal, lower “Deal” fares
in that they are usually instant purchase and can't be booked for summer.
Also, they usually
can't be found too many months ahead of time. (
Like above, a shortened list of hotel specials are here too )
Value
Vacations:
Not always available on the Pleasant Booking
engine, this section applies to advance hotel specials
and uses the same bulk and contract airfares as the Hot Deals - Nationwide
section does. The
hotel list will be short but some the best deals will appear in this
section.
Online Vacation
Trick: Try your booking here and in
the A
Pleasant Holiday - Hawaii
section to check
for best value.
CUSTOMIZE AFTER BOOKING:
Split Hotel Nights
Often you will want to create travel plans that don't key up
the way you want it to in the booking
engine. Say you're going on an inter Island, week long Hawaii cruise
and want the minimum 2 night
hotel room to be one night before and one night after the cruise but
the booking engine will only
do 2 nights in a row - no problem. Book 2 nights together in a row and
then after the booking is
completed, call us (800-975-2992) to split the hotel stay to before
and after.
Split Island Stays
Multi Island hotel stays and car rentals can be
added after booking online however needed
changes to inter Island flights will incur penalties. The best way to
do this is to use booking
engine to get your trans Pacific flights and hotel on first island.
Then call us to provide the
intermediary inter Island flights and addition of multiple hotels. It's
safer that way.
AATPA
Free Flower Lei for Two on Arrival in Hawaii:
We appreciate
every booking folks make online using our AATPA link to the Pleasaant
Holidays
Booking Engine at [ www.BookPleasant.com
] . To show our appreciation, we (AATPA) would like
to treat the first 2 guests on any booking made, via our Pleasant Holidays
link, to a beautiful
Hawaiian flower lei greeting when they 1st arrive in Hawaii . . . So
don't click on the extra
cost for a lei, let us buy it for you ! . . . Just book via our link
and then contact us by email
Requirements to
Order:
1. Your booking should be completed online via our web link
2. Your booking must be under deposit or fully paid
3. Your booking should have a 5 night hotel stay included
4. Free leis are for first 2 guests in each room,
additional guests in a room are extra.
How to Order:
Simply send email
to us with last name and booking number.
You will receive receipt within a day or so
Our email is: equote1@aatpa.com
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Greetings
folks, I am one of the owners of AATPA Inc. and I have been a continual
user