Monday, June 14, 2010

Points To Consider When Booking Gold Coast Holiday Accommodation

By Carly Whitmore

Are you on the lookout for Gold Coast holiday accommodation? Prior to making a decision, my experience suggests that you should ask four important questions :

Question One : Are you of the opinion that staying in the right holiday accommodation of your preference will often make your time away with family or friends more enjoyable?

Question Two: Do you worry about arriving at your holiday destination only to discover that you absolutely detest the apartment that has been allocated to you?

Question 3: Would you like to choose the specific holiday apartment or home that will meet your requirements before you leave home?

Question 4 : Would you also like the convenience of being able to check its availability and price in your own time and the capability to book it online?

If your answer is "Yes " to these questions, then you'll find that, sadly, the majority of holiday accommodation suppliers fail in reaching your expectations on most counts.

In a typical situation when you get to their internet site or phone them, you will most likely be given a price for your requested accommodation (a hotel room, an apartment, etc). And if you're fortunate, you might be able to check online the availability of the accommodation you want on the dates you need. If it's your absolute fortunate day, you could even be in a position to book it online.

But what you will struggle to get in the majority of cases is the power to book a specific room or apartment, or even to be assured that you are going to, for example, stay on a high floor or have sea perspectives.

The typical reaction to such requests is : "We shall do all we can to accommodate your request, but we won't guarantee that because it is always subject to availability on the date of your arrival. "

In reality you are actually buying your holiday accommodation in advance knowing only the name of the hotel or apartment building in which you will be staying, and some limited information about the room or apartment that'll be allotted to you when you arrive- subject to availability.

The reason for this procedure is that the accommodation providers try to maximize the occupancy rate of their hotel or apartment building (i.e. their profit ). They do that by making absolutely certain that there are minimal unoccupied openings between bookings and that all of their rooms or apartments (even the inferior ones) get booked.

And the easiest method to do that is to put off the allocation of rooms or apartments until guests arrive, and to give guests with specialrequests the old, "We shall do all we are able to ....." In fact, there is only a limited number of high floors and sea views, so who's going to stay in that second floor flat overlooking the highway!!!

Admittedly, one or two truthful operators do have a split pricing list and will inform you in advance that if you need a high floor with ocean view then you'll need to pay more than that second floor overlooking the highway. This way you know in advance what you are getting at the time of making your booking.

Only a few operators go all of the way and actually list their individual properties on their internet sites, with full description, images, floor plans and virtual tours. This is actually giving the buyer the liberty to select. Incredibly, the prices of these places are comparable with what you get with the, "We shall do all we can....." merchants.

Business commentators argue that in order to thrive in business, businesses must find how to give the customers what they desire for the price they want to pay for it. But most critical of all, companies must be truthful with their customers and tell them up-front what they are actually purchasing and for what cost.

Accommodation suppliers on Australia's Gold Coast, and indeed around Australia, can learn a thing or two from these types of providers about the best way to treat your customers with honesty and respect.

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