Cairns Holiday Specialists BlogCHS Blog

Cairns Accommodation – Look Out for Flashy Holiday Deal Sites

Cairns Accommodation – Look Out for Flashy Holiday Deal Sites

Do you constantly see those advertisements on television, in the newspapers and on the internet sprouting about HUGE discounts on holiday accommodation up to a whopping 40 – 50 – 70 percent off?

Then please do not be fooled. These are not the real percentage discounts off those hotel and resort deals at all. If it were true the hotels and resorts would be going broke with only a 60 to 30 percent margin for themselves!

Let us show you how the travel industry works from those type of companies perspectives. First of all when you spot a “bargain holiday deal” check the fine print below the highly publicised advertisements at the bottom of their advertising page. They need to disclose how they actually come to those outrageous percentage discount prices.

You will see that they calculate the hotel or resort accommodation discount off what the hotel and accommodation industry calls the “rack rate” or the “bar rate”

This is a rate that is made up in a hotel budget as the “highest achievable selling rate’ based on their star rating of the hotel or resort. This rate is never published in any of the hotels holiday packages as it is just a rate that was made up as the ‘ceiling rate” for budgeting purposes and one they would dearly love to charge guests should the hotel be in a 99.9% sold out basis. On average hotels in regional areas such as Cairns would only be in a full occupancy status 2 – 5 nights of the year so this rate is hardly ever actually charged or ever actually achieved? So really it is a false room rate and these websites advertising these huge discounts off the room rates are actually quoting questionable discounts don’t you think?.

And to be even more accurate even major city hotels in Australia cannot mostly run on total 100% percent occupancy rates even during special event periods nor charge the “rack rate” or the “bar rate” as they have varying rates for the various types of travellers like corporate business travellers, leisure guests, inbound guests and of course flight crews and these rates are all pre-contracted at different percentage level discounts. Then you also have the situation of rooms that are out of order – unsaleable

The best way to show the customer the real discount they are receiving would be to calculate the discounted rate from the hotel or resorts yearly average room rate and then discount off that.

This is the simplest and truest formula that would show the actual special discounted rates that the Cairns accommodation provider is spruiking

In the hotel environment you have a “peak season” like school holidays or a special event period and this is where the peak season room rates are charged (not rack or bar rates)

Hotels and resorts also have a “mid-season’ rate that is as it says mid-season great weather but not all market segments can travel at this time so we cannot charge you the same as we would over the holiday seasons

Hotels also have a low season rate and that is where you find the greatest bargain discounts on your Cairns holiday accommodation

The main reason it is classified as low season is because it falls outside school holidays or it may be a bit colder than the peak season times or there may be a chance off more rainfall but at the end of the day the experiences that you will have will not alter and the availability will be better and the price you pay will be much better than those prices you see on the flashy sales deals

These flashy holiday discounts usually only apply or are offered for travel over the “low season” periods of the hotels and resorts that are being advertised thus then showing an even greater percentage discount on your holiday accommodation to make your eyes light up thinking you have discovered a great bargain holiday price for your Cairns accommodation

Please check the terms and conditions on the bottom of these advertisements to ensure you are not being fooled into thinking these are the best rates and best deals on the internet because when you look a little closer you will see there may just be better holiday accommodation deals around. Also take a peek at our guest reviews and see what our guests say about the prices they find on the Cairns Holiday Specialists websites.

Author: Christina James