Question re Canadians Booking by June 30

[Sun Kissed]

Hi there

I called my travel agent to get a rate on Couples Tower Isle for April 2012 as we would like to take advantage of the discounted rate and resort credit that I have seen on the website. The agent quoted me a rate for the 'Fall in love 2012 Canada" package but this made no mention of the $300.00 resort credit? Just wondering if the Resort Credit only applies when booking directly with Couples or if for some reason the "Fall in Love 2012 Canada" package does not include a resort credit? Also, the nightly rate given to me by my agent was the same rates as if I were booking with Couples direct. I would like to book by June 30th and have no concerns booking with Couples direct, I only wanted to book with my agent (which is through my credit card company) as I earn a considerable amount of "Travel dollars" when doing so....

Any thoughts fellow Canadians? Have any of you booked with an agent in Canada for this package and did it include the resort credit?

Cheers,
K

[Cyrenne]

I was actually wondering the same thing....I booked the Canada Fall in Love package and recently saw on here the 300$ credit with 7 nights or more....I do not remember seeing that anywhere when I booked. But I am going this July and will find out for you and let you know. You can be sure I will ask/demand it if not...lol.

[grayturtless]

We booked our upcoming trip through a agent, but I found the same as you, in that there was no resort credit for 2012. We booked through Couples directly for the first time for 2012. This way we just had to put the 400 deposit down. When we book with a agent, we have to pay the entire stay upfront. Hope this helps.

[Marnies]

We always book with at TA. I would call 2 travel agents and have them price it for you.

[jamaicamecrazy]

For our first trip we booked a Transat package through a TA. Next time we booked directly through Couples by calling, then booked our own air through Seattle and saved a fortune over flying out of Canada. It worked out to be much cheaper for us. We got the resort credits each time (CTI and CSS) and enjoyed that we only had to put the $400 down and could cancel and get that refunded until relatively close to the date, and that we could call up and put any amount against our balance at any time to reduce the Visa shock, lol.
A lot depends on the dollar, as well as your departure city, but it's good to compare booking a package, vs. booking separate pieces (and through Couples directly for the resort part), and whether in US dollars with the resort credit, or CAD without (so it seems). Whether or not you do this yourself or with the help of a TA seems irrelevant to me.

[jamaicamecrazy]

I was curious and did some comparing. Unfortunately I don't know what the Canadian Couples rates are, as they weren't in the booking engine on the Couples sites, so I just compared booking through Couples vs. booking a package.
I used the same resort (CTI), same room cat, over the same week in early Jan.and from YVR. The results were ridiculous!!! It would cost us $2200 more to book a package over booking through Couples and air from YVR. For one week! oh, and don't forget no resort credit with the package, so add another $300 to make it $2500 more with the package. That's INSANE!
I realize this may not be the case from Toronto, but just a note to do your research Canadians!

[randijean46]

Cyrenne,
Where do you find rates specifically for Canada? All I see is US rates and Europe rates. Is there such a thing? lol

[Sun Kissed]

Hi all

My husband and I have visted all four Couples resorts and are in the process of booking our 4th trip. We have never booked a package as I have always been able to do much better doing things seperately. Plus, it allows for more flexibility if you want to switch resorts. I have booked my accomodation and airfare with my agent but she will always match whatever price I can find so it's never been an issue. I shop HARD for travel prices but it has always paid off. What I have been surprised by however is that although the price is the same as Couples, no Canadian agents that I've spoken to has included the $300.00 resort credit. The name of the promo is the same, the room rate is the same, but no credit? Needless to say, I am not going to give money away so will definately book with couples, I was just surprised by this and wondered if others had found the same.

As for our airfare, we live about an hour north of Toronto which has direct flights to Montego Bay every day of the week so we have always flown out of Toronto. I have heard of good prices to fly out of Buffalo but by the time I pay the fuel to fly there, park my car, get a hotel for the night, it's kind of a wash so we've always flown out of Toronto.

Anyway, thanks for the information!

Cheers,
K

[soglad]

I'm having the same problems regarding the spa credit. It makes me wonder if Canadians don't merit the same incentives as others.
Randy, what gives?

[randymon]

Eh?

Canadians are entitled to the same $300 resort credit for stays of seven nights or longer in 2012. Rate code given to all Canadian Operators is C12A. YOUR booking must be made by August 19, however, don't wait as I am thinking about changing that to an earlier "book by" date.

:-)

[BettyinToronto]

Randymon: I booked with a travel agent here in Toronto for a week in Sept 2011 and then on March 14th for the same week in 2012 as I thought the special was disappearing then. I have my confirmation on Couples letterhead but there is no mention of the $300 resort credit. Should it be mentioned there?

Betty

[Ruminiscing]

Last year we looked into Couples Sans Souci through WJV in Canada and they were unable to give us any resort credit or the Couplicious Wednesday Specials. We ended up getting a great price to go our favourite resort in Mexico and did; however, we were still drawn to Jamaica so we just booked for the first time through an online travel company by "creating our own vacation " with direct flight (A.C.) included instead of a prepacked vacation on the same site. About $1100.00 cheaper than the lowest prepackaged vacation on the same site and our TA's lowest price when booking the resort and the same flight separately. Our TA's and other Candian online prepackaged vacations were substantially higher yet so we booked. After we received the confirmation number from the travel agency we called Couples to politely ask if we would be eligible for the credit. They confirmed our reservation at the resort (this put our minds at ease due to fist time with an online travel company) and that we will receive the $300.00 resort credit since we booked before June 30th. The credit put the icing on the cake for us.

The lady who answered the Couples Customer Service phone was knowledgeable and great to deal with. Fantastic service from Couples and we have not even arrived in paradise yet.
Thanks Couples..2012 can't come fast enough!

PS. Canadians have to be careful when looking at vacation prices from a US online TA as sometimes their discounts don't apply to Canadians flying out of the US, like Buffalo (great airport but few, if any, direct flights to the Caribbean). Some sites state in small print that Candians must use their sister site that has a .ca extension instead of a .com website extension. Just check before you book.

[Rose_dave]

I booked our February Trip with ACV in May based on a direct flight out of Edmonton. 3 weeks later they cancelled the direct flight and had us Red Eye to Toronto then a 4 hour layover and they decided not to charge me the extra $150.00/passenger for be re-routed! Love AC! I cancelled the vacation when they would not give me the $300. credit. I did even manage to get my $500.00 deposit back! WJV does not release their direct flights till mid to end of July for the Fall2011/Winter 2012 season.

I have re-booked our vacation with another Vacation Company and have save $1200.00 and got the $300.00 resort credit and to add to it I have a DIRECT FLIGHT! The company was unaware of the $300.00 credit but when I asked they did some research and advised I was eligible and I would receive the credit. We have booked for 2 weeks.

[Marnies]

We went to CSA and CSS this past January from Toronto. My TA booked our flight with westjet and the rooms through Holiday House which is the main travel provider in Canada. We got the 500 credit at each resort with no problems at all.

[REH]

We booked our trip for last Dec. and again for this Dec. through our Travel Agent - no problem getting the resort credits. It shows up on the confirmation she emailed us.

We just book our airfare separately (still through her) with Westjet - wish their friggin prices would drop for Dec.