Calling Properties I'm interested in

[ralokgupta]

Hi everyone, I have been browsing luxury link for several months now and can't believe some of the deals available. I am looking to purchase a vacation for my honeymoon in June and had one big question.

I have seen that I should call the property before bidding to make sure the dates are available. My question is, what number do I call and what do I say? Is the phone number listed on the details of the vacation? And then do I say, "I'm looking at this vacation on luxury link and wanted to know if dates are availabe?" Is the person who picks up the phone aware of luxury link and that their property has a listing on the site?

Thanks so much for your help! I can't wait to get a great deal.

[two2go]

Hi Ralokgupta,
Welcome and congratulations on your upcoming wedding. On the auction page of the property you are interested in look on the left side of your screen, there you will find the properties website. Look under contact to find the hotels telephone number. I call and ask to speak to the person in charge of the Luxury Link Packages. Then I request the dates I need or what they can offer me. They are usually very accommodating. Good luck!
two2go

[kyshel]

All the good things two2go said.
They are usually VERY accommodating at most properties! I've worked with LL pkgs in South Africa, Thailand, Brasil and Czech Republic--all glowing reports for pre-bid info! I have received email replies wishing me luck and giving the contact name IF/WHEN I win the bid--way before the auction ended.
Good luck--and, of course, we hope you'll share your experiences (booking etc) with us.

Message Edited by kyshel on 01-18-2008 02:50 PM

[omegaet]

ralogupta...both two2go and kyshel have given you good advice. We always call the property before we finalize a bid in an auction to establish availability of space. It is better to open lines of communication directly with the property as soon as possible. Depending on the size and organization of the property, you will usually find one individual responsible for coordinating luxury link packages and getting to know them on a first name basis will serve you well. Good luck on your bidding!

[ralokgupta]

Wow! Thank you all so much for your responses. You have definitely clarified things for me. I really hope to find a great location for our honeymoon. If you have any suggestions, I'd be really happy to hear them. We are both students and have about a 7-9 days in June. We would like to go to Europe but it's just too expensive so we're thinking about Latin/South America or the Caribbean (although I grew up in the Caribbean so I would prefer to go somewhere else). If anyone has had any good experiences, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks again!
Alok

[omegaet]

ralokgupta...why don't you tell us your departure city (that will give us some idea of good connections for flights) and let us know if you are looking for an "adventure" or "relaxing" type of trip......many of us have taken advantage of a variety of luxury link vacatons and can share some suggestions....there are some fabulous destinations in Central America as well.

[ralokgupta]

Thanks for your quick response! We'll be leaving from either Columbus, OH or Cleveland, OH. We would like a relaxing vacation but we're not the type of people to sit on a beach all day either. We'd like to go somewhere where there is stuff to see, but where the hotel is nice and we can have a nice romantic time....Thanks for all your help.

[kyshel]

offering some suggestions for LL trip for not-so-sedentary-honeymoon:

We're off to Ariau Towers in Brazil for 4 night, almost-all inclusive LL pkg. Visas are pricey($130 US for Americans)--air can be had on Copa thru Miami+gateway CMH or CLV at somewhat reasonable prices. Includes excursions and could be trip of a lifetime! I'll have results in March!

Many of us have truly enjoyed Costa Rica for spa/zip-lining/cuisine/culture/beach combinations.
There are some similar small inns in Western Mexico near San Miguel.

I would think Argentina could be fabulous--coupled with side trip to Iguazu Falls. Romantic tango and red wines?

For romantic city, Prague is gorgeous (so is Budapest--we have a member going to both this next month) and Eastern Europe isn't as expensive as the west. Paris isn't too outrageous IF you like picnics and eating/traveling like the locals.

There will about a zillion more recommendations coming your way. I'm off to Istanbul for a "quickie" and I'll report back next week--maybe the Sultan's suite at the Dersaadet Hotel?

Message Edited by kyshel on 01-19-2008 06:27 AM

[omegaet]

ralokgupta...if you're thinking Central and South America, you might want to visit the web site for Spirit Airlines:

http://www.spiritair.com/welcome.aspx?pg=routemap Although Spirit does not operate out of Columbus or Cleveland, it still might be worth you while to see if you can get a reasonable r/t with another carrier into FLL to hook up with Spirit....you can get non-stop service into Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and even down to Peru. You can find some interesting auction packages here on LL in most of these countries. If you do a SEARCH for the country names at the bottom of this page, you can find some interesting active threads, regarding trips to these areas taken by other community members. Most of these destinations will offer you great accomodations for your honeymoonat deeply discounted prices and the opportunity to particiapte in various levels of adventure activities.

[claassenam]

With the timeframe you have and the fact that you aren't the type to sit on a beach all day, I would highly recommend a trip to Peru to visit Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu and maybe the Colca Canyon or Lake Titicaca. Maybe not the most typical honeymoon but definitely a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that you will remember forever! (In my opinion, you can always go to Hawaii or some tropical location for a week during your lifetime, a honeymoon is an excellent time to do something truly memorable!) We (and several others here) did the trip through Orient Express and with the fabulous hotels and service, excellent food and of course amazing sights the trip was much more luxurious and romantic than I ever expected Peru to be. It is also relatively easy to fit all of the major sights into a week, something that is difficult with many other countries. Now, Luxury Link hasn't carried the Orient Express package for a while but they do have several options through Inkaterra Peru, a very reputable company with extremely nice hotels and facilities throughout Peru. I don't think you can go wrong with them.

I would, however, highly recommend that you upgrade and take Orient Express's Hiram Bingham train from Cusco to Machu Picchu. It is a phenomenal way to travel those few hours, on a gorgeous train with very few passengers, excellent food, live music and an overall one-of-a-kind experience that is quite fitting for a honeymoon.