Lds dive trip vs. Booking your own

[oly5050user]

I've been on only one dive trip through my LDS and it was more expensive than if I booked it on my own. As a general rule, I think trips are more money when you book them with your LDS since its a way for them to generate revenue. I have my circle of dive buddies now and we usually book vacations by researching on our own and booking everything with websites such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc. and also with the dive operations directly. I've had good results so far.

it is a profit center for LDS..if not why bother? I offer continue education on our sponsored trips.No charge for ow training dives or advance or most specialties-just pick one.
I advise people get their own airfare, I tell them the flight schedule that group is using,or I do it at the store while they are standing in front of me on the stores computer,putting them on same flight schedule as everyone else.
If a person is traveling single and has to pay single rate at the resort when booking themselves alone,then a LDS trip is usually less expensive. Reason is LDS is working on dbl/triple/quad occ. and may add a few dollars on land package to make it profitable,but still less for customer if they were traveling single.
.LDS takes the risk of filling spots and having to get a person to share room with a single traveler who signs up to join group. ..if cannot get a roommate LDS usually makes up the difference.I have 1 older male traveling with us next month on my Bonaire trip(14 people on the trip) and he REQUESTED a condo unit for himself-alone-solo- so he is paying published rate for the resort, about $650. more than anyone else on the group, his choice, LDS is only making standard 10% commission on his booking.
I am placing a single female in a bedroom by herself as we could not get her a roommate and she is NOT being charged any different than anyone else who is sharing a bedroom.Its only fair way to do it.
If traveling with with a few friends then it may be less expensive not to go on a group trip sponsored by the LDS,but they can still book it thru the LDS at published rate and LDS gets a commision from the resort,resort usually does not give commission to individuals booking themselves..
If someone walks into the store and wants to go somewhere on their own I sell it to them the same as if they book it themselves-published rate- and take care of any questions/detail..Does not matter if they are single or dbl occ.The LDS only gets a commission from the resort for booking them for the service..nothing from the airlines.

 

[Sas]

Since getting certified my wife and I have made 2 trips to Mexico and do our local diving by ourselves. We thought it would be nice to plan a trip to Coz and Bonaire with our LDS to get to know divers from our area and enjoy their company when waiting for the next days diving. I wasn't expecting the trip to be less expensive and thought any group discount went to the dive shop for organizing it. I was surprised to find out the LDS trip cost a lot higher than if we did the same trip, same hotel and flight and dive op. Am I missing something here or just being over sensitive due to dropping 50% more on equipment than I would have over the net? Is making money on organizing dive trips a profit center for dive shops also? I honesly thought putting together dive trip was to help build loyalty to the shop. I'll buy my equipment, take classes and support my LDS but I don't like paying money for the priveledge of being around them.

Yea LDS trips cost more. I book my own trips these days.

Forget that building loyalty crap they encourage. By all means be polite to the shop and give them a chance to give you a good deal but don't think that the dive shop is owed anything in return for a good deal. It's a business relationship, which a lot of people forget.

 

[Herk_Man]

Was this a group trip WITH the LDS or did the LDS just act as a travel agent booking the trip for you? My LDS doesn't charge anything extra but they get points that they get to keep towards trips for themselves in the future.

If you are just wanting to book a trip and it isn't a group thing where the LDS will be playing host and entertainment leader for everyone, why not go through a dive agent (e.g. Carradonna, I think that's how they spell it.) Or book it yourself if you feel comfortable doing so.

 

[RJP]

Depends on the trip and the shop really.

My LDS (The Scuba Connection - TSC) does trips that are universally cheaper than you what you could get yourself and/or if they are not, they are the "same price" with options thrown in that the shop was able to negotiate based on volume for the current trip, but also due to the total volume of travel business they do. There are also trips where the logistics are such that having someone with you running the trip is of considerable value - we did Egypt last year for three weeks of land tours, a Nile cruise, a week-long liveaboard, an add-on trip to Alexandria, Mediterranean diving, etc. There were 30 of us. The price was less than I could have done myself, plus the service and management that was required to make the trip even do-able was critical.

TSC does a half-dozen land-based "shop trips" a year plus a liveaboard or two. In addition to shop trips, they are also a large "dive travel agency" so between group travel and other individual trips they do enough volume with most resorts and boats to negotiate good prices or add-ons.

Even when not going on a shop trip (I don't usually go on them anyway) I still use TSC to plan and book my own individual travel. The prices they get for liveaboards - for instance - are always the best published rates/deals available (including specials) plus they can usually get something like Nitrox thrown in, or free airport transfers, or an upgraded cabin, or something.

My buddy and I are doing a Galapagos Island liveaboard this year plus an add-on to Machu-Picchu for a few days on the way back. I gave Syd at TSC a call and within a few days she had the whole itinerary nailed down, with international and domestic flights, hotels in and out, private tour guide in Peru, etc, etc. Boat price was best published deal available, airfare was cheaper than I could find based on her knowledge of international airfares and the whole Ecuador/Peru thing. Better prices at hotels in both countries, plus a private tour guide to Machu-Picchu for less than the cost of us signing up for some "bus package" out of one of the hotels.

 

[BDSC]

I will do both but I won't do a "shop trip" if it is going to cost me more than what I can book it myself. But one of our local dive shops prices their trips very fairly and I have yet to be able to beat them on price. So I don't mind using them if they are going where I want to go and when I want to go there.

But you can get some really great deals if you book yourself and have a good group of core divers you like to travel with. Case in point. I am "leading", if you want to call it that, a group of 16 to Little Cayman in May. What started out as 6 of us quickly grew. So after 10 pay we get a free spot. I take the free spot and discount everyones trip so what was a really good deal to begin with is now an even better deal.

Usually the free spot on a shop trip will go to the "group leader" and I'm cool with that. I understand it, expect it, and that practice costs me nothing while giving a perk to some of the shop staff. As long as the shop doesn't raise the cost so I'm paying for someone else to go I'm fine.

The real win-win on my trip is this. The resort I'll be staying at in LC pays a commission to dive shops who book a trip with them. But they don't pay a commission to individuals even if you come as a group. It has to be through a dive shop and I think that's great because the resort recognizes that the LDS are really their life blood so to speak. So while it is "my trip", I am letting our local shop handle all the paperwork and payment schedules. We go at a really great deal with the free spot built in and the dive shop gets a commission from the whole process. I know times are tough right now for the LDS and I like to do what I can to help support them and this is one way to do it.

 

[johnsona1503]

Was this a group trip WITH the LDS or did the LDS just act as a travel agent booking the trip for you? My LDS doesn't charge anything extra but they get points that they get to keep towards trips for themselves in the future.

If you are just wanting to book a trip and it isn't a group thing where the LDS will be playing host and entertainment leader for everyone, why not go through a dive agent (e.g. Carradonna, I think that's how they spell it.) Or book it yourself if you feel comfortable doing so.

It's a monthly scheduled group trip to Coz for 4 days not including any diving. I have to schedule and pay that seperate. We have made 2 trips to Mx, its not rocket science. When I asked about a night class while there thru the LDS, I was told there is not enough time. We've done a few night dives on our own at home but was not sure about a night drift dive. I'm not sure what you mean by host and entertainment leader other than staying at the same resort and maybe being on the same boat. I know diving is not and inexpensive sport. I just couldn't figure out why anyone would go on a LDS group trip unless its to Egypt or Fiji. Once again SB has educated me.
Thanks

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

A lot depends on the experience of the shop running trips, and their business philosophy.

We run about 25 trips a year, so that has helped us develop a pretty good handle on value and cost-effectiveness.

Nearly every organized group trip offers two revenue sources to the organizing dive shop. First there is usually a commission paid, on a per head basis, by the resort. This is typically in the 10% range. Second is the awarding of complimentary spots, usually based on a number of paid spots in the contract. Shops can either send someone in this spot for free, or sell this spot for additional income. It should be noted that the commission is paid by the resort, and not by the participant, so if you book the spot yourself directly, you will end up paying the same rate the dive shop should be charging you. From here, some shops also choose to jack up the prices and pile on some more profit, but here is where the real risk of alienating your customers comes in.

Now of course the shop needs to cover their costs, however, if the trip leader is comp'd, then the only real costs typically are the group leaders transportation, such as airfare. So you apply a portion of your commission income to cover that, and then from there you actually can start making a profit on a trip.

We base our group sizes for the contracts on making sure that we maximize our number of comp spots and earn enough commission at the minimum to cover our group leader's travel expenses. After that we can make some money - woo hoo!

But more importantly is WHY we organize trips, and why so many. To provide diving opportunities to our clients! They come in our shop, purchase training (profitable), purchase gear (profitable) and the whole purpose for them doing so is to dive. If we provide them cost effective ways to do that, guess what? They come in for more training (more profit) and buy more gear (more profit). Hmmmm....do we need to make a lot of money from our trips? I think not - providing the trips is more of a service to support the bigger picture.

Many shops fail to keep one important business adage in mind - "you can shear your sheep every year, but you can only skin them once". Be fair, be honest, be competitive, and the little bits you make every day add up to big bits over time. There's no need to gouge your customers - you get caught once, and you are done with that customer, as so many of the posters above have related.

So, if you'd like to see some great cost-effective dive travel opportunities, click here!

 

[jmasin]

Like others said, it probably depends a lot.

We go with our dive club (through our LDS) a lot. I have priced it both ways, and it's within the noise for us, so for me and my wife, it is far easier to let them make all the phone calls and arrangements.

One thing to consider, and maybe you have, is how many dives are included through the LDS vs. if you make your own? I know for our LDS they pre-arrange a lot of dives per day. Most places I've parallel priced give you two tanks and then any other dives are extra, so I have to add that cost to begin evening it out.

Also, for me, I know the club members, so that's cool. We'll all get put on a boat together so it's a fun boat (last time I was at AKR I heard some bizarre stories about strangers not getting along on another boat!).

I'll typically do my own airfare unless the shop gets a great rate (they did last time to Roatan).

 

[oreocookie]

when my friend and I were first starting to plan our first (so far) dive trip, we considered a bunch of things and decided to go with Blackbeard's in the Bahamas for budget reasons (and since we're college students the "camping at sea" thing isn't a huge turn off). A little bit of somewhat off-topic searching turned up the fact that our LDS has incentives for booking Blackbeard's trips (and I think Aqua Cat as well) through them. The booking price was the same, and we're getting a 10% store credit for gear, which will be nice if I want to pick up a shorty or some other little goodies before I go (unless the LDS decides to be dumb and only let us use the credit after we return). We've yet to book flights, but we're watching prices dropping.

I haven't done a price comparison on their group trips, but I'm certain I could get cheaper if I looked, especially considering their flights are out of Newark... and we're not in Newark.

 

[ScubaSista]

Fascinating post! I think people hit it on the head when they said that it all depends on what you're looking for. When you go with a shop, it may cost a bit more, but usually, they have already scouted out the area and worked out the kinks. They can better provide you with information as to what to anticipate; they are available for questions and real life experience answers on the spot. Many shops will also provide insight and ideas for the non-diving activities available and hey, it's fun to meet new people in a way that you don't have to put any effort into orchestrating. Going with a dive shop offers you the chance to sign up and then relax and let someone else do the work - that can help your vacation be more of a ...VACATION! As someone who has been a trip leader, let me also assure you that the work leading up to and then conducting the trip is very time-consuming, it is work, and yes, it is rewarding.

That said, we also like to travel alone for more individualized adventures, and just for the joy of changing our minds at the last minute. Both are good; you just have to figure out what's best for you at the moment!