Book with the 2011 special or wait?

[staceykoz]

For our 10th anniversary Sept 2011, we wanted to do something special. I scoured the net for places to go and finally decided that CSA sounds perfect.

Once I saw the 2011 special listed on this site, I called a travel agent to book the special. She recommends waiting. She says we will most likely get a better deal since airfare rates have not come out yet and a package deal would probably be better priced.

So I wanted to come on here and ask you experts...what do you think? Should we wait?

[dandj]

I doubt you'll get a better deal on the Hotel price. If they happen to run a Wednesday special at some point that would suit you better then they will let you change at no cost.

[Ron & Rosa 25]

For our 10th anniversary Sept 2011, we wanted to do something special. I scoured the net for places to go and finally decided that CSA sounds perfect.

Once I saw the 2011 special listed on this site, I called a travel agent to book the special. She recommends waiting. She says we will most likely get a better deal since airfare rates have not come out yet and a package deal would probably be better priced.

So I wanted to come on here and ask you experts...what do you think? Should we wait?

Perhaps you can split the difference. Why not book the resort only, then worry about the flight part of it later on down the road? I'm sure your TA would have no problems with that.

The vets in here can probably better advise of this, but I've been hanging on this board for well over a year now and IMO that 2011 deal is about as good as it's going to get.

[Coloradojuli]

Book the hotel now! The rate for the hotel will not get any lower. Then you can book the airfare separately. Randymon has already stated that pricing will be going up on April 16th.

[Vee]

Book now. You won't get a better rate later... especially with the $500 credit. We book early (and often.) and book the airfare separately anyway.
V

[Firebrand]

Buy now.

watch airfare later. you can book now with no penalty if you cancel! So if there is ever a better deal offered, you can switch (at least that's my understanding).

I booked our wedding a year in advance and have watched the prices since and they have NEVER gone down. If I tried to book now, I'd be losing the great discount AND 500$ credit we got for early booking...

for me, it's a no brainer. Book now, I assume the offer is still the same that you can cancel up to 30 days before your vacation without penalty. If so, I don't see how you can go wrong. Later, when airfare is available, start looking at packages. Dont' forget to factor in the credit you'll get for early booking.

I bet you won't end up finding a better price, we sure didn't.

[mrs2cool]

Book the hotel (Here online) on the love away plan. The $500.00 credit is the deal breaker for me.If some better package comes along between now and 45 days out, cancel here, get your money back, and book the better package. I personally doubt you will get a better Hotel deal and even if you pay a little more for air, you've got $500.00 worth of Couples amenities to make up for it. I'm just sayin'.

[staceykoz]

So there is no penalty for canceling and taking another offer if it becomes available? If so, you're right, sounds like a no-brainer.

Why on earth would my agent try to entice me to wait????

[Dave-n-Tammy]

Book now, we did! Wanted to make certain the resort had availability. CSA has a way of filling up. We've been to CSA twice and just returned from CTI. We are returning to CSA.

[hillystyles]

2011 will be our third year in a row! Last year we didn't book early and missed out on a Spa credit and the prices went up. A $500 room credit is very worth it. You can charge all your purchases from the gift shops and Spa services to your room. They also have a cigar and jewelry vendor that visit certain nights and that all gets charged to your room as your well. My husband and I love to smoke cigars and the gifts in the shop are very nice...so we are going to take advantage of the credit. We spoke to our travel agent and she said to wait on the airfare for sure that it is pretty high right now. I say go for it!!

[jc]

Our travel agent basically told us the same thing..book now, watch for flight deals later. She also said that if anything comes cheaper between now and 45 days from the trip then we can cancel and take the cheaper price but to keep in mind that we would lose the $500 credit. It would have to be quite a bit better when you play that into it.

[Francine]

can we book for CSA and then change to sans souci if we decide to ? -- also will couples let us add the airfare portion of the trip on down the line when flights and pricing become available????? we are lookng to go april 19th or so for 2011... thank you for your reply

[Vee]

@stacey - there is no penalty if you book with Couples.... we can't speak for what penalties your TA will charge if you book and cancel. That's one of the reasons we book direct... Many of the online sites will have penalties at any time if you book and cancel. Additionally, if you have to adjust your dates even by a few days, they will charge you. We book through Couples to lock in the early savings rates, and then sometimes we have to adjust dates by a day or two here or there. No problem, mon. Couples direct is not cancelling and rebooking like your TA may do.

Also, Couples matches prices, so how much better can it get?

[Steve & Cindy]

Just booked this morning for 14 days starting Jan 1, 2011. Shopped it around for 3 weeks. Suggest shopping it around, I received 5 quotes, plus couples direct, over $600 difference in the quotes. Just make sure if you go with a TA that its a reputable one that will most liely still be in business in a year, and once you get your confirmation I call couples direct to verify they have the reservation. There have been cases where the TA never forwarded the reservation or money.

This is our 8th trip, and actually the first time I shopped the trip so much. Because of this we are getting an extra 3 days for only about $400 more than we paid last year for 11 days.

I never book air fair with them as I always us FFM to get down there, in stead I have to schedule my couples vacation around days I can get the flights.

[schwieso]

Agreed with book now, I also booked for September, 2011 - Atrium Room. I paid less for my room for this trip then I paid for my late August, 2009 trip and got the resort credit. Like someone stated, Couples has price guarantee, if rate goes down, you can get it at the lower rate. Get airfare later on. We are going September 11- 18, 2011!

[Mestralle]

First of all, I would say a lot depends on from where you're traveling. We live in Michigan, and I've never really found travel agents to be able to do much for me monetarily (although there is a huge convenience aspect). Having said that, I grew up with my mother working for American Airlines and consider a lot of the "hassle" to be rather second nature.

I would definitely vote with the book-now people. If you're at all worried, you could purchase insurance, but I really doubt you're going to find a better deal, and the credit is a REALLY nice perk.

We're actually right now trying to figure out how to book both our 2010 vacation and our 2011 vacation so as not to miss out on the early-booking perks. Our main problem is that I just had a bit of a dental issue and had to come up with $1,500 to fix some things (big discount for paying in cash at time of service).

In any event, we've always booked ourselves (not through a travel agent), and we've always booked our flight separately (because our airport wasn't even included in Couples booking until recently), and we've never had a problem. We've been doing this for years, and I've also followed the boards and the pricing, and in my experience, when Randymon says the price is going to go up, you can take that to the bank.

Happy anniversary!

[Amy]

Book now! Couples has a Best Deal Guarantee, so if the price does drop, they will automatically give you the better deal. Book your flights separately.

We always book the hotel about 12 months in advance, but for us, the flights are cheaper 4 months in advance.

Not sure why your TA would want you to wait. Maybe she gets a better deal on her end if you book a package? We book direct with Couples and Continental though so I'm not sure.

[spice505]

Hi Stacey,

My husband & I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary in 09/2011. We too are staying @ CTI. We have already booked. The down side to waiting is you will be able to take part in the promotion of getting the $500 resort credit and that's important to us. We just booked the hotel now and will the airfare later. In my personal opinion I don't think you should wait. The room rates will increase and u will not b able to get the resort credit. She gets a better commission if u book a package. (smile)

[ironranger]

We are already book for Dec 2011, you can't be the prices or the deals, if the price goes down, they will give it to you........book now!