Blumie

The money I save with Harper's e-auctions more than compensate for the cost of the subscription. Although non-subscribers are ineligible to bid, anyone can see what's up for auction:

http://www.andrewharpertravel.com/ah...deawayAuctions

767-322ETOPS

Has anyone here subscribed to the medical evacuation service that Harper's promotes?

Kagehitokiri

Bruiser, do you know how the Q rates compare to FHR and Virtuoso?

eutow

I've found that even though NB does do destination reviews, the hotel reviews are reasonably detailed, and as useful as GG's (albeit with less photos). They do, however, also focus on higher end suites rather than standard rooms, like GG.

insideinfo2

I want to amend my comment above. At the time it was written I was not aware that the newest subscription renewals now required a bundled deal: Q Club plus the newsletter or some other combination that was even more expensive. A few days after writing my original comment the new renewal terms and conditions came in the mail. I will no longer subscribe. Harper used to be reasonably good, even with the defects. Now, it appears that a consultancy has given advice on how to slice and dice every possible service that could be added (vacation homes, yachts, hotel reservations, etc. etc.) and then provide expensively bundled combinations that require one to take products neither wanted nor used, all at higher prices.

On the few times I have been able to compare Virtuoso rates and amenities with Harper (since we did not subscribe to Q Club and used the resources of friends who did) I thought they were pretty close. In other words, if you have a Virtuoso agent you don't need Q Club, or it is only of marginal value compared to not having Virtuoso. It would appear the Q Club gains not only member fees but commissions directly from the property, although I do not know that of my own knowlege.

We originally subscribed either before, or in the infancy of, the internet. There are quite a few alternative sources (including this forum) that I did not know about or did not exist when I first subscribed. The bundling caused a re-examination of the value with the forced purchases and it was found wanting in our family.

We just recently canceled because we felt we were being played as suckers. I can see how a subscriber who wanted/needed the Q Club could feel differently, however. The problem is that there is no longer an a la carte subscription to the newsletter.

Kagehitokiri

thanks for the inside info, insideinfo2

are there any properties that actually approach the upper limit of 40% off cited on their website?

insideinfo2

Anytime a seller quotes "FORTY PERCENT OFF!!!!" without specifying both the starting point and the ending point of the calculation, I start exploring the math. I think, but do not know, that the "percent off" has to be from rack rate or some other comparatively high starting point. I feel reasonably sure it cannot be anywhere close to that high a percentage off a Virtuoso rate.

The distribution channels for any high-end property are policed quite constantly, by the property. In the end, the results for any given constant date should be fairly close for each channel, provided one eliminates those channels that rely on ignorance of the buyer.

We finally decided that there is a finite limit to the number of resources we were willing to pay comparatively top dollar to receive. The Andrew Harper Report seems to have self-selected itself out by refusing to price the services separately as it has in the past. And I completely understand why someone else would disagree with that statement. It's a value perception.

Kagehitokiri

what about the confirmed upgrades?

Bruiser

I really can't say as I have never used either of these; the only thing I can say is that we feel comfortable with all the hotels etc. recommended by Harper - and find that we are treated very well by their recommended places.

In response to another posting, I believe the only time Harper receives commissions from hotels is when you use their travel service and they book for you, the same as a travel agent would. However, I have noticed lately that some of the hotels have said we could not get the Harper Q Club rate unless their travel service booked it for us, which was not usually the case. So I don't know what is going on there or if it is just an individual hotel thing. We used to be able to just give the hotel our Q Club number to receive the discount.

I think in order to get anything out of the Harper costs/discounts one must travel quite a bit and stay in upscale places -

rfrost

I recently booked a couple of stays at US hotels through Harper after checking both their and the FHR rates (one of the hotels is not a Virtuoso property, and I was too busy the day I was doing it to check on the other). In both cases, Harper was substantially cheaper, but if I'd factored in the FHR Continental breakfast for two (there's only one of me and I'm not big on carbs), the disparity would have been much smaller.

CMV

I'm with Blumie here. We joined after winning an eAuction and saved enough to cover several years' membership fees.

There is enough variety in the auctions to appeal to a variety of tastes and if you win one or two auctions a year, you've very likely paid for your membership and still come out ahead.

paul2

The Andrew Harper readers awards are in. Oh, theres a suprise as The San Regis Paris makes the top 20 international but the FS George V doesnt!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/6WJODK...d5a4bc6e/1/r:t

vuittonsofstyle

Were there any FS hotels?

BLG

Yes, the service you are referring to is Medjet (http://www.medjetassist.com/), and fortunately I've never had to use it, but I do think it's well worth having. They will evacuate you from a hospital anywhere in the world to any hospital you want to go to. It's far superior to AMEX or Travel Guard in that you can simply chose to go to your home hospital, as opposed to being taken to the nearest hospital that THEY deem acceptable.

As far as the Harper services are concerned, I was a member for many years and I dropped my membership -- didn't feel like I was getting much that I couldn't find for myself online, and I was not a fan of their in-house travel agency -- they were all about sending you to the "usual suspects." They weren't bad, but they weren't particularly helpful in introducing us to ideas we didn't already have.

I kind of feel like those services have been somewhat obsoleted by the plethora of great internet sites -- this being a prime example.

patricksw

Well, it does say 75 or fewer rooms... so the George V wouldn't qualify.