Hello Everyone,
Group trips do have many advantages:
1. Reduced rates on hotels, airfare, rentals, etc.
2. Our travel agents do all the work for you.
3. When mishaps happen during the trip (miss an airplane, hotels overbooked, etc.) groups have a much faster and higher rate of getting things taken care of than individual people.
4. When my company, Scuba Sciences books a trip, we usually book the whole boat (on liveaboards) or a good portion of a resort so the entire group is coming from the Phoenix area. If your dive buddy isn't in the mood to dive, you have many others to pick from.
5. When we book trips, we work with many travel wholesalers that will comp us spaces for our group leaders on the airfare, hotels and diving. This way the customers do not have to pay a portion for the leaders to go.
6. Groups get certain bonuses that sometimes individuals do not (extra dives, free night dives, reduced or free Nitrox, etc.) because these companies want Scuba Sciences to bring divers back again next year.
7. Certain group trips (at least for Scuba Sciences) divers can earn free specialties while they are on the trip (Deep, Shipwreck, etc.) if that trip is specific to the specialty.
8. This is what I can think of right now.
For our trips, we seem to have a large number of divers that consistently travel with us. These divers have become very good friends and continue to dive and have contact with the people they meet on these trips. Every year they group together and decide where they would like to go with us this year.
I've tried packaging out some trips on an individual basis. It's very close to group pricing, sometimes more. The packages have a lot to do with where you choose to stay maybe a 3 star hotel vs. a 5 star. We try to package our trips with meal packages so there is less money to pay out while you are there.
I guess it is a personal choice, but the important thing is that we enjoy our sport, stay safe, and see what awaits us around the world!
Happy Diving!
Tina
Scuba Sciences, Inc.