Virgin holiday price changes

[bunts]

Thank you everyone for your comments went with virgin the last time we went (3 years ago) and found them good, but maybe it is time to look at other companies more closely. I’ll keep going on and checking out to see if I’m lucky enough to catch a deal. 😁

[Conno]

Originally Posted by KeithOP

so yeah, unfortunately if you want the best out of VH now, it's a balancing game between waiting and watching v missing out

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This is exactly why I don't understand people who book with VH (or other high street TAs). People are literally creating spread sheets and wasting a week of their life tracking prices because VH's offering is so volatile.

Sounds like a great company to book with. Not!

I always tend to book w/ one of the agents at TravelCounsellors who always offer their best price - and 9/10 times, I can't beat it even DYI.

[thatdavieguy]

The only issue i have booking via agents is that more often than not, they'll book you and then rebook you if the price drops which can in turn cause issues.

We see many times on here when people book seats and then lose them, 9/10 it's because they've booked through an agent who has decided to rebook because the price has dropped and they see an opportunity to make a bigger profit margin and the customer is left scrambling to try and get their money back from pre-booked seats or faced with losing them because an agent has re-booked, not told them for weeks and their seats have since been taken.

Each side of the coin has it's pluses and minuses, each to their own and all that

[cornishfrogboy]

I look at Virgin Holidays in this way.
1. They do not own their own airline like TUI, TC, BA and others. They have just a 20% share in Virgin Atlantic with Delta (49%) and Air france/KLM (31%) owning the rest. They therefore have no great control over seat pricing... In fact, I have flown Virgin Atl on several recent USA vacations with Delta selling me the tickets considerably cheaper than anybody else.
2. They do not own the Hotel, Villa or Condo that they sell you time in. They rent blocks etc of accommodation availability like any other TA and then sell it on. Clearly they can get good prices with the economy of scale.
3. They have a great reputation with many and are almost synonymous with Disney/Orlando vacations. I believe that much of this comes from many years ago when Virgin bought Orlando into the reach of many that had previously believed it unaffordable.
4. Many people would not consider booking through anybody else.
5. When things go wrong, they seem no more capable of achieving customer satisfaction than anybody else.

I have booked with Virgin Holidays before and would very happily book with them again.. if the price is right and they are able to beat some other, very worthy competitors in the market on price. I most certainly would not pay a premium as I do not regard them as in any way a premium product. In recent years when I have both purchased for myself and researched for others, they have not even been in the ballpark.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Derbydave4

KeithOP is right I have always booked DIY until this year I could not get anywhere near the VH price 12 days Royal Pacific club level direct flights with free seat booking and V room in Aug school holidays for 5k 2 adults 2 children within weeks it was up to 6.5K You just have to be lucky and keep checking and jump on it as soon as you see a price your happy with take it

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That does sound a really great price.. and Club Level is a real saver if you use it wisely along with your Express pass benefits.. I would have snapped their hands off!

[youre-nicked]

I was really lucky, wasn't planning on going to florida but one bored day had a look on the VH website and they had a good price (5k for 5 of us) so booked it without checking with the wife or work!

The price since has never been cheaper than 7k and last week was close to 10k

I don't mind spending ages looking for a good price and did it a lot for my last trip that was diy, think VH are generally overpriced but sometimes you can get a good deal.

All but one time I've gone with VH and I do like them but for my next booking as usual it will come down to getting a good deal and I will shop around.

[bunts]

After a bit of back and forth on virgin chat they came up with a good deal then phoned me with a few extra details. Thank you all for your thoughts and advice I’m now the proud owner of an official countdown got the dates I wanted for the original price I seen of £3980 instead of £8000. One happy bunny. 😊 let the rest of the planning begin.

[dietcokebreak]

We’ve just returned from a (brilliant fantastic) package holiday with VH. We didn’t book until March, but i had been monitoring prices etc for ages. When we booked, the total holiday was cheaper than the same holiday with Disney direct when they had the free dining (we chose to pay for dining) hope this makes sense, blame the jet lag lol but keep checking and book when you are happy with the price. Also, check at odd times during the day. I noted prices went up during popular times (early to late evening, weekend etc) i found my “bargain” at 3pm one Wednesday afternoon 🙂