Incentive Travel Certificates - worth the gamble??

[ladyciel]

My parents belong to some organization that as a bonus to its members offers travel certificates through http://www.redeemmyoffer.com, and they've offered us one to use for our honeymoon if we would like it. We've been dreaming of a week or so in Maui, and one of the certificates is good for "7 nights in a 5 star resort". We can't choose the exact resort, and we have to cross our fingers that the dates we want are available. The deal is you pay 30 bucks to activate the certificate, and then the 7 nights costs you $300 bucks. You tell them the city/place (Maui is on the list) and dates you want to travel, and the travel agent places you in one of their participating hotels. Of course, if none of the hotels have those dates, you have to try again. The way they do this, or so I've read, is that hotels typically don't reach capacity, and empty rooms don't earn them anything at all. They basically hand them out through these programs and hope you'll spend money in their restaurants while you're there, return for another trip since you loved the first one, etc.

My question is, has anyone had experience with these things? Good? Really Ugly? Should we take advantage (7 nights ANYWHERE in Maui for $330 bucks is pretty awesome if it's legit) with the gamble that we can get good dates and a nice room? From our research so far, it looks like room availability in September is really good still - it certainly isn't peak season.

I think we're just afraid that this is one of those too good to be true scenarios. It's our honeymoon, and we definitely don't want it to turn into a nightmare. On the other hand, the idea of saving all that money and being able to put it towards nicer restaurants, fun activities, and maybe even a few extra nights at another hotel/resort of our choosing is making it really hard to ignore the idea.

Help!!

 

[surfgirl]

Girl, you answered your own question already! I wouldn''t mess with your h/moon on a certificate that seems too good to be true. You know the old saying, "if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck...it''s a duck!" Seriously, this is your honeymoon. Not some randmom getaway. Dont you want to KNOW what hotel you''re going to be staying at? It''s your honeymoon...wont you be spending a lot of time in your room *cough cough*??? Yeah, save that certificate for some other time. It smells fishy to me.

 

[swingirl]

Maui is beautiful but there are some far away places with hotels not anywhere near the beach. If you up for anything it might be a good place to save money but if you have a specific vision of your honeymoon it could be risky. I''d research all the 5 star hotels on Maui and see if there are any that have undesirable locations. Maybe they are all great!

 

[ladyciel]

The reasons we haven''t just automatically discounted this, though, are that a) I can''t find evidence that this company isn''t legit and doesn''t follow through, b) it''s supposed to be for 5-star accommodations which we otherwise can in NO way afford. Even if it''s actually quite a few stars less than claimed, it''d really just be like what we WOULD get if we try to pay the entire thing ourselves. Yes, we''ll be spending some good quality time in our room, but the bulk of our days will be out on the beach, touring the island, and enjoying the fact that we''re in Hawaii. We''ve lived together for over a year, so, ahem, although we do want good romantic time in our room, it isn''t as if the most magical night of our lives is at stake.

Also, we would probably take the savings and use it to get a secluded cottage in Hana for a couple of nights.

My mom hinted that if we decided we wanted the voucher from them, that they would pick up the costs (all $330 or so) as a gift to us. Part of me is thinking hey, if THEY trust it enough to do that for us, let them and we''ll see what we end up with. If we can''t get somewhere nice when we want it, then call it a lost bet and book something else for the honeymoon.

Oy, I don''t know. We''ve been going in this circle for a month now.

 

[zoebartlett]

Part of me wants to say "try it!" If your parents are going to pick up the (very inexpensive) tab and you get a 7 night visit to one of Maui''s 5 star hotels for free, it seems like you can''t go wrong. I can see what Surfgirl is saying though -- it could be a risk. I just googled "5 star hotels on Maui" and a bunch of links came up. Here are a few. I''ve never been to Hawaii, so I can''t give you any recommendations.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g29220-Maui_Hawaii-Hotels.html
http://www.fivestaralliance.com/luxury_hotels/north_america__united_states_-_hawaii__maui,_hi/index.html
http://www.mauihotels.com/mauilux/mauilux.html

 

[laine]

I had a friend who did something similar for spring break (not sure if it was the same program). They booked an all inclusive beach resort, but had no idea which one it would be. They ended up at Hedonism (look it up if you've never heard of it). Luckily there was a "prude side" in addition to the "nude side" and they had a great time. So how well this works depends on how flexible you are and how much you care about your accommodations. If you really want some specific things, this might not work. If you just want a place to stay at the beach, this could be great.

I'd probably find all the 4 and 5 star resorts on the island, make sure there aren't any that would make me miserable and give it a shot. Even if you end up booking one or two nights at a different resort to get the ocean front view or whatever you're missing, its still probably a better deal.

ETA: I'd also look into what a hotel would cost if I booked it on my own, and see how much the gamble of a potentially less nice hotel/location/room would save me. If I could find a decent deal (but not quite as good) on my own where I knew what I was getting, I'd probably stick with that.

 

[Sabine]

I would say go for it! My reasoning is, if you do the research of all the 5 star hotels and don''t find any shady ones, you know you will at least be getting something reasonable. Plus, if you get there and absolutely can''t stay there, chances are you will be able to find somewhere else you can stay and pay what you originally planned without *too* much trouble.

 

[ladyciel]

Laine, do you know when your friend found out which resort she was at? I know it had to be AFTER she requested the booking, but did she at least find out once the booking was finished? As for savings, it''d be significant. The best prices we''ve found for places we would consider staying are 200 and up a night. The bigger resorts all START at 300-500 and go up.

Sabine, I was also thinking the same thing. If anything, we might even be able to get a deal because places love the chance to fill empty rooms last-minute.

 

[surfgirl]

Sabine, the problem is who''s to say what''s a 5 star and what isn''t? Cant you call them and ask them to give you a list of all the "5 star" hotels that are possibilities? That way you can check them out first. If they cant even tell you which hotels they consider to be in that category, then I wouldn''t even consider doing it because that smells off to me.

 

[bee*]

I''d side with surfgirl. I don''t think that I''d risk this with my honeymoon.

 

[ladyciel]

So, after doing some more reading and research, we''ve decided to try it. The company who handles the certificates has a good BBB record, and everything I can find suggests that the week we want to go isn''t anything near peak time for Maui tourism and hotels. That certainly helps our chances of getting the exact days we want. The list of hotel chains the company works with includes Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott, etc, all with good reps and really nice Maui resorts. We don''t think we''re risking our honeymoon, because even if their definition of 5 star is less than what most people think of, the chances of it being worse than what we would get if we paid our own hotel are slim. That''s because we can''t afford 5 star on our own or anything near it. From that perspective, we aren''t risking our luxury vacation - we''re opening the possibility of having one for way less money than what we originally planned to spend.

I can understand those of you who think it sounds too risky - it''s taken us a while to be comfortable with the idea. However, the worst case seems to be we end up booking something else and spending the same money we would have anyway. Best case, we have a honeymoon experience far exceeding what we could have otherwise hoped for. We''ve decided that, for us, the gamble is worth it. I''ll report back on how it goes!

 

[surfgirl]

Date: 4/27/2008 2:34:05 PM
Author: ladyciel
The list of hotel chains the company works with includes Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott, etc, all with good reps and really nice Maui resorts. We don''t think we''re risking our honeymoon, because even if their definition of 5 star is less than what most people think of, the chances of it being worse than what we would get if we paid our own hotel are slim. That''s because we can''t afford 5 star on our own or anything near it. From that perspective, we aren''t risking our luxury vacation - we''re opening the possibility of having one for way less money than what we originally planned to spend.

Well in that case Lady, it sounds like you cant lose...Please let us know how it pans out. Once you book, will they tell you which hotel you''re at? I''d love to know...Here''s hoping it works out for you...

 

[zoebartlett]

Ladyciel, can you tell me more about the organization your parents belong to and how they get these kind of incentives? I''d be interested in looking into something like it, just to see what it''s all about.

I can''t wait to hear about how your honeymoon goes! I''m glad you''ve decided to try this out.