LDS Trip Pricing Out of Sight

[leadweight]

My LDS sent me an email advertising a trip to a dedicated dive resort in Central America. The price was $2650 for one week including r/t air from Houston. IMO, that is rather a lot for a week of land based diving in that region.

On the resort's web site the price for a week at that date was $1550. Air on continental, plus a puddle hopper flite to get out there would be $670 for a total of $2220. If you did not notice it costs $430 more than what an individual can book it for.

My guess is they have covered the cost of the group leader out of the first $2220 with discounts and the difference is profit.

Anyway, I think I know why I have not bought a rip from a dive shop in a while.

 

[Doc]

Some folks, for whatever reason, are more comfortable with a trip leader. The math here would show that if they get 6 paying, they get their trip leader paid for.

In olden days, you got 1 in 8 comped for ground (rooms/diving) and 1 in 10 for the air portion. This fee that you note may be in addition to any negotiated freebies.

Other shops tie these in with their own "non-referral" program. Instead of sending their trainees off to paradise for the open water portion in nice, clear warm water to pay more money to hire an instructor to finish the certification, they send an instructor along.

Some just run them to sell all the shiny new gear that you'll be needing for this or that specific destination.

Get what you need, need what you pay for.

 

[cowjazz]

I usually find that my LDS prices trips around $200 higher. In the end it is worth it to me. First, there are some advantages to diving/traveling with a group from your LDS. We did get some deals on off resort trips since we had a large group of people, and special trips became available to us because we had no problem rounding up enough divers to make the minimum diver requirements for the trip. A trip that was only offered once a week was made available again later in the week. Again, because we had the numbers for the operator to justify it. So, you have less of a chance missing a special trip due to not enough interest.

Second, since we booked through our LDS, we had trip leaders (who paid their way at a reduced rate) that addressed any problems customers had with the resort.

Third, the trip leaders were also instructors who provided AOW and specialty courses instruction on the trip. The LDS offered deals (up to 50% off) for taking AOW or a specialty on the trip.

Fourth, our LDS provides each customer with A DVD of the dives and topside activities from the trip. A nice momento from your trip.

Finally, you will meet divers in your area. We made several friends we'll keep for life as a result of our LDS trip. They have not just become dive friends, but people we enjoying seeing on a regular basis outside of diving. We now have a network of diving enthusiasts from our area, who's skills and experience are familiar to us, and we have no problem finding buddies that are compatable with our experience and skill levels for future trips.

So to me, an extra $200 was worth it. Now, if the stuff I rambled about above means nothing to you, then book on your own, and use the extra $$$ to pay your bar tab.

 

[RonFrank]

Maybe your LDS is not filling their trips! Generally they can work out deals and get group rates that are hundreds less than an individual will pay. They then add a couple hundred on the a somewhat OK price, pay for a leader or two, or give some deep discounts for the instructors, and the difference between booking with them vs. finding a deal is not so much.

I would not call the deals at the LDS I use great, but I would not call them poor either. Kinda middle of the road, but bonus! You get a group leader, and are diving with some cool people from your area, so there are definately some perks.

 

[BSea]

The $400 + seems like it might be a little on the high side. But generally you are going to pay a premium if you book it through your LDS. I recently went on a trip to the bahamas, and our trip price was about $200 over the actual cost if we booked the trip ourseleves. But the cost was about half of the cost of your trip, so I guess it falls inline.

But there are advantages that others have already pointed out. Other benefits of using your LDS

You usually have a guide that has been there before. Sometimes this is almost useless, but other times it comes in handy. Plus, if they have been there before, then you can more than likely be assured that you know what you are getting before you actually arrive.

You usually get a pre-trip briefing that reminds you to bring this, and not bring that. Our LDS usually does this as a small party. Not a huge benefit, but they usually are at least somewhat entertaining.

I guess I'm one of those peple who think that my LDS should actually be able to make a living in this business.

I do know 1 thing. If I were a trip leader (which I never will be), the "FREE" trip would not be worth some of the horror stories I've heard of having to babysit the adults that found out they weren't staying on a floating Holiday Inn. Most divers are fine, but there is usually 1 or 2 on most trips.

 

[RocketMan]

My LDS sent me an email advertising a trip to a dedicated dive resort in Central America. The price was $2650 for one week including r/t air from Houston. IMO, that is rather a lot for a week of land based diving in that region.

On the resort's web site the price for a week at that date was $1550. Air on continental, plus a puddle hopper flite to get out there would be $670 for a total of $2220. If you did not notice it costs $430 more than what an individual can book it for.

My guess is they have covered the cost of the group leader out of the first $2220 with discounts and the difference is profit.

Does the $1550 include taxes and all fees? These can amount to a several hundred dollars. The LDS price usually includes all fees and taxes that an individual forgets to take into account. I expect the LDS to make something for their effort.

 

[scubawife]

My LDS sent me an email advertising a trip to a dedicated dive resort in Central America. The price was $2650 for one week including r/t air from Houston. IMO, that is rather a lot for a week of land based diving in that region.

On the resort's web site the price for a week at that date was $1550. Air on continental, plus a puddle hopper flite to get out there would be $670 for a total of $2220. If you did not notice it costs $430 more than what an individual can book it for.

I would very politely ask the owner or trip organizer for a breakdown of the price. Tell them that the trip looked like something you might be interested in so you looked into the resort, etc to get more info and noticed that their price is over $400 more then the trip would cost you booking it on your own. See what they say.

Getting a group organized and actually getting people signed up, paid, all the group wrangling en route, dealing with the inevitable few whiners along the way... I wouldn't object to them adding a few bucks. Good travel agents tend to charge fees these days too.

If you are nice about it I don't think they should have an issue with giving you an answer. It may even be helpful to them. If one person is raising the questions then others are likely thinking about it.

 

[scubapolly]

Another thing to keep in mind is that airfare might have been higher when the shop booked the airfare.

I am getting ready to lead a trip for my dive shop to Bimini.
In most cases you can go cheaper if you book on your own, but most LDS's provide some "extras".

Co-ordinating transfers from the airport to the boat. I'm doing AOW check out dives for a couple of people on the trip- which essentially saves them $250 over what the boat would have charged them. We are able to fill the whole boat, rather than having the wild cards that you would have if you booked the boat by yourself. We have a pool session available for those going on the trip so that they can check out their gear prior to the trip, and do a refresher free of charge if needed.
Not to mention everyone gets a free trip shirt!

 

[scubawife]

scubapolly, I forgot all about the transfers. That's often not included if you book direct with a resort. Depending on the destination, proximity of the hotel to the airport, etc., it's often not as cheap as people think.

I work in travel marketing and spent about 4 yrs creating travel packages for a group of 450 agencies. It's important for whomever is selling the trip to let their potential clients know what's included in the price. Otherwise they will go out and do their own research (which everyone should do) and be comparing apples to oranges. It will never add up.

 

[leadweight]

Believe me, I have the math right. The example I gave was not the worst one that I have seen. Last year when I returned from fantasy Island I saw the same trip priced for $1595. It had cost me about $1150 including everything except parking at the airport. When I politely mentioned this to the owner of the LDS, at the same time that I was buying something for about $400, he kind of fubbed around and avoided giving any kind of real answer.

OK, they might throw in a pre/post trip party, but that should not be worth more than $50 for both.

I could see paying more from the point of view of a new diver, especially the the one looking to make their qualifying open water dives, but I am way past that.

Personally, I see this as one more symptom of a sick industry that makes a great activity a bit less enjoyable.