Tag Archives: online travel
May 6, 2013

What Are Travel Auctions?

If you are someone who loves to travel and you have never ever heard of online travel auction then you are going to also love the concept of the travel auction. The travel auction fun way to grab an exotic and inexpensive last minute vacation.

 

A travel auction works like any other auction. You browse the open auctions online, select one you like and then bid. You then monitor the bid and rebid on the vacation package. If you win you are obligated to pay for what you have one.

 

How do so many resort packages, cruises, five star destinations and exotic adventures end up on a virtual auction block?  Travel companies use auctions to sell holidays that, for a variety of reasons, may be difficult to sell using the traditional methods. They often choose to get rid of so-called ‘distressed stock’ in this way. The reason it is preferable to do put up these vacation packages on travel auctions is because offering discounts through travel agents can diminish the travel outfit’s ability to sell anything at full price.

 

However not all packages are put up on virtual auctions because they need to be offloaded. Sometimes this is a way for a company to promote or introduce a new type of vacation package and encourage people to take advantage of it and then tell their friends what a good time they had. Putting up a vacation for auction is a way of generating good word of mouth about your hotel, cruise or travel agency.

 

There are not that many sites on the Internet that run travel auctions. The three big companies that dominate the travel auction scene are eBay, Skyauction and LuxuryLink.  There is also Priceline, which also offers vacation packages, but it is not a true auction. Instead you offer the price you want to pay for a trip or vacation and see if it can be offered. There are some priceline coupons at CouponKid.com

 

On eBay travel is just one more category on its massive roster of products and services up for auction. As the name implies LuxuryLink is intended for high rollers when it comes to bidding. Skyauction offers the cheapest deals.

 

Although eBay is one of the pioneer sites when it comes to offering vacation package deals up for auction it is not necessarily the most specialized ones. Unlike the travel auctions offered on eBay, the vacation packages and destinations on Skyauction and LuxuryLink are exclusive to the travel industry.

April 28, 2013

The Benefits of Using Online Travel Auctions

Flexibility is the keyword when it comes to online travel. Most services up for bid may be used only during specific times, typically off-season dates that travel suppliers have had difficulty selling through traditional means. This leads to on the average, sixty percent in savings off of a trip and even more. Entire package vacations have been known to go for a bid of two dollars on the Internet especially on Skyauction.com where the minimum bid is only a buck. If you are the highest bidder on Skyauction then the vacation package provider must eat the loss. Higher minimum bids are set on other auction sites.

 

Participating in an online travel auction is not that different that participating in any auction on eBay. In fact one of the biggest sources of online travel auction is eBay itself. If you are not familiar with how online auctions work in general there is plenty of information about it in the next chapter in this book.  You can also usually find tons of information about these sites in their Help and FAQ sections

 

For people who have no particular destination or date in mind, and for those who want to try to get lucky with cheap accommodations for a planned trip, auction sites are a great choice.

 

One of the nicest things about online travel auctions is that you don’t have to be the victim of any high-pressure sales tactics. There is no pushy travel agent sitting there in person warning you that a great deal is about to pass you by. Instead you will be watching bids over a set number of days, so you know exactly when that good deal on a vacation is about to expire.

 

Also you can search for deals on vacations any time of the day or night by visiting a popular site such as Skyauctions.  You don’t have to jump on the first deal that you see because when it comes to travel auctions, there are always going to be more deals surfacing online.  Another thing to remember is that many deals repeat themselves as auctions in a seasonal matter so if you miss that hot deal this year you can usually bid on it or a similar deal the following season.

 

Online travel auctions are also unique because they can provide a spark of inspiration. Many people enjoy surfing the sites do get ideas about where they would like to go next or to see just how cheap certain destination vacations can be had using this unique form of bidding. If you like to surf online and have a true love of the unpredictable as well as a flexible schedule then purchasing your vacation this way is an ideal option for you.