Vacation Booking

[cidley69]

Been staying at home way to long, and finally get to plan a vacation.

Looking to take family friendly vacation in Mayan Riviera area, January or February of 2022.

Like one that has water park, kids activities, etc.

Any suggestions for travel agents, booking sites, or resorts?

[ExtraSlow]

Wj vacations.

[cidley69]

Do WJ buddy passes work for all inclusive vacation deals?

I'm guessing no, but are there any other tricks for better rates?

[adam c]

I could be wrong but passes and vouchers don’t work for WJ vacations, you can use WJ dollars though

[ExtraSlow]

Wj dollars ok. No buddy passes.

[killramos]

Travel bank also doesn’t work for WJ vacations.

[cidley69]

How do you get wj dollars?

Is that what you earn as points with wj credit card?

[killramos]

WJ CC and their frequent flyer programs

[ExtraSlow]

Honestly right now and the next 12 months will be terrible for deals. Best deals will be booking summer 2022 for travel Jan 2023.

[benyl]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Do WJ buddy passes work for all inclusive vacation deals?

I'm guessing no, but are there any other tricks for better rates?

Buddy passes will work for the flight portion. You would have to book the hotel separately.

I've been hearing that flights to Mexico are full. A confirmed seat might be a better choice.

[sabad66]

Maybe sign up for the rbc wj MasterCard. Their welcome bonus is is pretty sweet at the moment with a discounted deductible to use the companion pass. I’m thinking about it myself.

[killramos]

Companion pass is fine for a “trip” for lack of a better descriptor. But doesn’t do you much good on an all in vacation package.

[cidley69]

Thanks for the thoughts on this. Looking into signing up for Wj MC to get the sign up bonus $350 wj dollars.

Does any still use travel agents? Does it cost more to book thru them? Any advantage to using one?

Surprised there are still so many of them in business, people must still be using them.

Interested to hear Beyond's opinion.

[ExtraSlow]

For an individual or one family, rarely a benefit to using a travel agent, and in many cases it does cost more, and is frankly more hassle because you still end up doing all the resarch and legwork, and then you have to explain all that to someone else. Or that's how it's worked for me. I'm really picky about flight times etc.
For businesses, groups or complex trips, there is some value there.

[benyl]

The value of a travel agent is now more for custom itineraries.

AC and WJ have limited Origin and Destinations they can sell directly on their website.

A travel agent or online travel agent can ticket just about anything and can usually get it on the same ticket as long as the airlines you are connecting have an interline agreement.

The only issue is that when you have an issue (flight cancelled or you miss it) you have to deal with the agent and not the airline directly.

So let's say you want to go to Asia and you insist on flying WJ for your domestic legs, only a TA can put that together for you.

[ExtraSlow]

Absolutely correct.

[cidley69]

We have several families going to same resort. Can a TA help get us rooms near each other? Asid from TA, any way to make this happen?

[RX_EVOLV]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Thanks for the thoughts on this. Looking into signing up for Wj MC to get the sign up bonus $350 wj dollars.

Does any still use travel agents? Does it cost more to book thru them? Any advantage to using one?

Surprised there are still so many of them in business, people must still be using them.

Interested to hear Beyond's opinion.

The WJ CC deal is pretty good. We just signed up for it and planning to use it for Hawaii. With the $0 buddy pass the flights end up being $800 for 2, plus the $350 WJ dollar + ~ $120 checked baggage fee saving.

[adam c]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

We have several families going to same resort. Can a TA help get us rooms near each other? Asid from TA, any way to make this happen?

Rooms probably not but they can make all the arrangements happen

[2020]

Booked round trip flights to Montreal for ~$300 this fall. Hopefully strippers will still be open