Wednesday, August 17, 2011

ADVICE: Room Categories

Often when you are searching for prices for an all-inclusive vacation, you come across something like this:


I will be using www.itravel2000.com for an example. This is a very popular Canadian travel site and it's one we use often when we are searching for prices. This info for a seven nights stay gives you the price, taxes, hotel and flight details. As you can see, there is a tab [+] you can open up to view all options. When you click to expand, you will see this:


It gives you the option of different tour operators (which means different possible flight times) and the most important, the room categories. If you are not picky with your room, then you probably don't care about this. If you like to have a room close to the beach with an oceanview or perhaps you would like a swim-up room, you need to either view these options if you use iTravel as your search engine or speak with your travel agent. Most room categories go up starting in increments of $20 and can start you off with the most basic room and go all the way up to the Presidential Suite. The travel agent we use is very good at letting us know what our options are and the price for each category.

Another option is to book at the lowest room category and upgrade when you arrive at the resort. It may be cheaper but with most resorts, it's better to upgrade at the time of your booking. Some resorts will charge anywhere between $20 to $60 per night. Before you book, it might be a good idea to email the resort to see how much they will charge and then weight out your options to see where you will get a better deal.

With the last trip we went on to Now Larimar, we found that many guests were disappointed and even unhappy with the room category they booked. They were under the impression they would be getting a certain room and when they arrived, there was some kind of confusion. I personally don't think it's the resort's fault, I think it's the lack of information provided by the travel agent or when you book online. Remember that if you are particular about your room, please try and find out what your options are by either speaking with your travel agent or booking the right room category online.