Fly2Where

?? I felt this is little rude.

In fact, there were some promotions, happen from time to time, which will include free transfer on some HK or China travel agent's sites. However, it's only available to Chinese citizen (on their disclaimer), so I even called the hotel asked them to match the deal, was told I had to book thru them in order to get those promotion, so it's not available on hilton.com or even hotel direct booking. And since this was a package, BRG won't apply. The rate include half board or full board (hotel don't offer full board when book direct, I was told they never offer full board, but somehow, travel agent booking can make it happens) option, "free airport transfer" included, etc.... Obviously, the price was cheaper than hotel alone when booked direct... they even offer 2 days BV, 2 days WV

You don't know what you don't know......

MaldivesFreak

Travel agents in mainland China are just ripoff artists, through and through. You are right, they are all package deals because Chinese like having everything arranged for them and the price of the seaplane is built into those packages, it's not free!

And the wiki states clearly that the seaplane service is a third party service and is not run by Conrad Maldives. Let's be realistic. No property is going to comp a $1120 seaplane ride for two.

MaldivesFreak

You'll have to wait for the Conrad to open a casino. A buy-in of $50K and turnover of 10 times that might get you the transfer comped.....

Carl Christensen

It appear there continues to be a line in the sand of 1/9/2019 which beyond that point point availability is not being opened up yet. Has this happened in prior years?

MaldivesFreak

NAFAIK.

Fly2Where

first i do not agree TA in china are all ripoff. There are big major TA doing business for years! And dont think chinese are all too stupid not "know the trick", but I agree they tend to buy in package deal just like UK,.who probably has most package deal in thr world.
while i agree it may not be "free", its still cheaper when I book room and seaplane separately on days I looked. Difference is more than seaplane ticket for sure. Thats why i call hotel to book, but fail. And i have to say, i am not that stupid, not able to calculate a simple math. Ymmv.

Fly2Where

Maybe i should share my experience for the benefit of everyone.
When i was checking the price in oct 2017 for aug 2018 trip. There was a promotion, 3wv + 2bv, half board and seaplane transfer, tax and service fee included, total cost 17800 cny pp. At that time was around 2700USD pp, total 5400USD. If I book direct with hilton, BV was 650per night, WV was 950 per night, so room charge alone was around 4150 plus tax and service around 5100. But The half board in atoll cost 95++ppx2 per night! I dont count for those without gold or diamond also get free breakfast on half board.
you can say seaplane was not free, you can say they provide almost free half board, or you can say they upgrade certain room type. But in math, the seaplane seems almost free to me.

oh, btw, st regis also having similar type of arrange but cost is 27000 cny pp. A lot higher than conrad, which you cant booked direct with hotel.

And of course this was a major TA from HK. A friend of mine tried to book for me, but they said hotel will require to see chinese citizenship at check in or they will charge me rack room, and I dont want to risk it.

forgot to mention, some major TA buy hotel rooms in block, ie gurantee how many room will book thru them to negotiate a preferred price, regular customer cannot get directly to hotel. However, due to BRG, they cannot offer room only, it has to be a package to hide the true room cost. While we are paying $600 for BV, they might only pay $300 or less, and add on the seaplane fare, etc...also if they cant fulfill their guaranteed room purchase, they will discount further in order to attract customer and secure next year contract with hotel
lastly, $1120 may sounds a lot, but when they are charging 500+per night, all of sudden, thats about cost to provide to an empty/unsold room. Another major income is dining expense, not just room rate itself. Last time, I booked 5 nights with points, ends up spending $6800 (including seaplane transfer). This is not at all uncommon to economics.
Btw, the casino example is also off, but not going to argue since thats way OT.

gnomey

I think it is well known in the travel industry that TA often times gets diff rates vs the general public who pay the rack rates. Presumably, they can get that due to their TA status and/or volume of sales they provide to the said hotel. Or willing to get block of rooms, like what the poster above said. Same concept applies for safari outfitters in certain Africa countries, where some would tend to push certain lodge / camp to you just bc they can get better rate or higher commission or need to meet their sales volume goal to get better commission. Similar concept also applies to contractor or interior designer who can buy building supplies/furnitures at a cheaper rate than what you would pay as regular customer.

Whether what is "free", is another question. In any case, from the marketing standpoint, they would say XXX is free, or YYY is free, to attract intrigue and attention. Of course in reality, all costs are already been factored in in offering you a bundle package. One thing for sure is in business, you dont offer deals without making a profit. So I see it as a win-win situation, if the package deal makes sense to you as a consumer (and this is something you cannot get unless you purchase via a TA), then why wouldnt you sign up for it? Keep an open mind and consider all options, is what I would say

So if the Chinese Conrad Maldives package is something I am eligible for and make financial sense, and if i am willing to forgo earning HH points (which i suspect could be the case when purchasing via TA since it's a diff rate package), then I dont see any problems doing that. Well, it makes the deal sweeter if I could earn the HH points along the way, but maybe that's asking too much :P

MaldivesFreak

Hmmm. Let's assume that what you've quoted are 30% off the BARs for each category. Throughout the year (low, shoulder, high and festive seasons) the BAR for a WV is only $250 more than for that of a BV so that $950 sticks out like a sore thumb. Something strange going on there. After any 30% promo discount is applied, the difference is always $175, so $300 is $125 more than usual.

Second, if BAR was $1000 for a BV then $650 makes it 35% off. Last year they were doing promos for a good couple of months where they had a 45% discount. Let's say that the timing was the same (I'd have to check that) and we applied the 45% discount to all those figures; WV @ $805+++ ($3011.28 incl.) and BV @ $550+++ ($1379.20 incl.) = $4390.48 all up. That is about $800 less than the $5172.80 ($3547.20 + $1625.60) for the 35% off deal. So they could've been hitting you for $125++ more per night for the WVs ($375++), another $800++ for the difference between the promos and we have, coincidentally, approxmiately $1175++.....which is only $55 before taxes more than the seaplane ride for two. Coincidental? I doubt it. As for HB, they would take the hit at Atoll Market anyway - it's a buffet, 2 extra mouths to feed isn't gonna break the bank as they don't lose much as far as food goes as half of it goes to waste anyway. That and most guests would take one or possibly two nights to do a beach dinner, Ufaa or other outlet/restaurant and they'd only get the bad deal of $75 incl. at other outlets for their HB 'credit'. The resort wouldn't be losing that much. Maybe a few tens of dollars a day at most when you work it all out.

MaldivesFreak

Rangali has an almost constant 97-98%+ occupancy rate (and often 100%) so they don't have to worry about rooms going empty, that's for sure.

Definitely can't earn points. You must book through the Hilton system, either directly with the hotel or online.

saaveraward

Let's get back to the facts.

Will Conrad give you a complimentary seaplane transfer for staying with them? No. They will not. End of sentence.

Fly2Where

Hi,

Just fyi, the lowest for BV was only 452 ++ which was happen in Dec 2017 booking for Aug 2018 date..., however, when i wanted to book it was indeed $650. No need to challenge my data. If I have a crystal ball.....
As I mentioned in a previous post, I booked the retreat water villa, if I know HH point can use for water villa, I would never booked the RWV, but rather use points to book WV. However, I want to go, I pay for certainty, and I am cheap, I booked the non refundable rate, and I accepted the risk. And I agree on the occupy rate, last time I went, I wanted to upgrade to WV, was told they were all sold out, or I have to pay over thousands to upgrade to sunset villa, and I passed.
again, you can say it's free on buffet or free on airplane, reduced room rate, the hotel get the same amount of money, that's no need to argue. To each your own how you value things. I need to eat anyway, I am not going to bring cup noodles when stay in such a nice resort, thus $75, or $95 pp credit for 5 days is a real savings for me.

Lastly, MF, I always valued our helpful advise, so I will shut up for good. Thank You for your help in the past (and future too). Maybe not direct response to me, but your response to others did indeed help me big time.

To saaveraward, is this a FREE plane? we all know it's built in price, but somehow, as long as it's save money than rack money, doesn't matter how you call it.

(stealing from Geico's commercial), "scientist found out there could be snow on MARS!" Go figure.

Fly2Where

oh btw, I just went to Conrad Macau in Nov, while it's exact same price booking thru conrad.com or sandsmacao.com, Sandsmacao.com offered round trip speedboat transfer (from HK), and $1 dollar buffet. which will cost approximately 360HKDx2 + 298HKDx2. guess how much was the hotel room price, Lowest price was 1048 HKD per night (same price on conrad.com) on a sun (sat is 21xxHKD), no min stay requirement.

Sometimes, what you see, is not what you see. they will make money somewhere, just not "only" the hotel room. While seaplane booked via third party, are you sure they pay $560, do you think they might have a discounted rate (or kick back) if they guaranteed certain customers?

Also, forgot to mention, you only talked about seaplane transfer, there are TA giving free air transfer from China (singapore airlines) if booked thru them. Price is exactly the same if you booked thru conrad.com. Compare to this, seaplane transfer is nothing....

I know it's OT, but just want everyone know there are more than one way to book hotel, if your goal is to save money. just don't trust the official website Best rate guaranteed.

toocool17

Looks like award nights have finally opened up for 2019. :-)

Carl Christensen