Booking Advice Please

[D&KTenn]

Hi everyone, the wife and I are looking to book a week at the Pearl (first time at Desire) for June 2016. Any thoughts on whether it's best to book directly with the resort, or reserve it through one of the sites like Expedia and take out the travel insurance, etc.? I've seen on the forum that USA Transfers seems to be the best choice for transportation, but I just wanted to make sure I go the right route on getting the best price & service for the resort booking. Thanks in advance for your help!

Darren

[CokeMann]

The best price you will see for a long time was the Black Friday /Cyber Monday promo which is now just over

Depending on where you live, package deals(airfare & resort combined, ie Expedia/Orbitz) may save you a little overall.
However do not expect any real level of service from any of the online agencies(ie Expedia/Orbitz, etc) - they are not like a travel agent that is working for you the customer. They deal in mass/volume transactions and if there are issues with the package you contract for(flights/resort) expect to spend considerable time on the phone/email with them in trying to resolve any issues.

If you are a savvy traveler, you can often beat the package prices by booking air and resort separately ( booking the resort when a new promo becomes available and waiting for a great airline seat sale to come up)

[fishNkitt]

If you are a savvy traveler, you can often beat the package prices by booking air and resort separately ( booking the resort when a new promo becomes available and waiting for a great airline seat sale to come up)

This is what we did.

[SJCrazy]

There are three ways to get the best price.

1) Watch for sales direct from the resort here. As Wayne said, a very good one just ended

2) Package bookings on the big travel sites. Problems aren't too common, but Wayne is right; if something goes wrong they won't be much help!

3) Use a coupon code. I update a thread here with orbitz coupons. Some of them are quite good, giving as much as 20% off the otherwise regular room rate. There is also usually a coupon applicable to package bookings for a flat $50-150 discount if you check the relevant orbitz page. In the last 3-4 months there haven't been many good coupons, but December-June seems to be when the best ones show up, so stay tuned.

[Twohere4some]

We have used a company called "Resort Vacations To Go" a number of times to book vacations and have found them to be the best in most cases. You do need to give their site an email address to get search results but they don't send junk mail. Only get an email or two a month on their specials. We usually find what we want on the site including flights but then book through one of their agents over the phone. Carolyn has been great if she is still there. Is also nice to have someone to call if there are any issues.

[puffer]

The black Friday sale was a good price however you don't know which resort you will be sent to until two weeks out. If either resort worked for you it was a good deal but we didn't jump on it because our preference is Pearl.

[D&KTenn]

Thanks for all of the feedback, friends!

I just about pulled the trigger on that Cyber Monday deal, but we had decided to try Pearl for our first Desire trip, so the lack of room class & property confirmation was a deal-breaker this time.

I'll take this advice and get it booked now, though!

Best,
Darren

[22truckie]

Very good! You will love the place. We did the cyber sale but booked it when the other resort had a take over and was booked to ensure we got Pearl. May want to wait a little till after the holidays as some better sales may come up. Don't think you will have a problem getting a room then. If this will be your first trip to Pearl, check out our Post Trip Report on our first trip last November. May help you out. We are heading back first week in May. Like all of us with a trip to DP coming up, let the count down begin!!!!

[Hot00couple]

Do you think any Black Friday or cyber Monday specials will be offered this year?

[Explorer79]

Pretty sure they already announced one.

[Workhardplayhard]

Sale comes this weekend.

http://desiresecretsale.com/?affiliate= ... hMwQpwrLRZ