Sharpen your pencil!

I was surprised recently when quoting a Tailor-made package for a 6 star Luxury Seabourn client with Business Class flights and 5* hotels that when I quoted the price he asked me to ‘Sharpen my pencil’

Martin Lewis of ‘Money Saving Expert’ recently wrote an article about how to ‘haggle’ with agents to get the best discounts

I believe a lot of clients calling for prices are basing value for money on what discounts are given and what they can save rather than what they are actually getting for their money

Recent years have seen a ‘Culture of Discounting’ from the high street agents, nothing was thought to giving 10, 11 or 12% discounts from commissions earned with the big cruiselines to seal a deal, some online agents still boast pricematch guarantees and will sell with dangerously low margins to get your booking.

2011 saw Carnival attempt to stamp out heavy discounting and therefore ‘de-valueing’ the product, Royal Caribbean and Fred Olsen were quick to follow suit by reducing agency commissions

In simple terms Value for Money is used in reference to something that is well worth the money spent on it which does not necessarily mean always the lowest price when taken into consideration factors like customer service and aftercare from the agency you book with

I do believe that ‘you get what you pay for’,  I’m not saying  that if you pay a cheap price, you’ll get low quality – this isn’t always the case but often the level of customer service is not so great or there may be less staff to handle the calls – you must have encountered this – hanging on the phone for ages trying to get through to after sales, leaving messages and no one gets back to you

Sometimes it may be worth paying just a little more, like choosing big brand named goods or buying from shops and businesses with good reputations, lets face it you wouldn’t choose a Mercedes or shop at John Lewis or Harrods if you were always looking for the cheapest price

What I am trying to say is sometimes it is worth paying a little bit more to get a lot extra, here at Cruise.co.uk we pride ourselves on giving the best possible service and being a ‘1 stop shop’ to answer all of your needs with 1 (free!) phone call, I will always try to offer the best price or best deal but if my quote is a a few pounds more than a competitor I would hope to give you a whole lot better service and experience!