For those who don’t know me, I am Michael N. Hering, a founder, investor, CEO and President of SkyAuction.com. My background goes way back in the travel industry to my college days when I was posting flyers on College Campus promoting “Europe for the Poor! Just $75.00!” Even back then I was working hard to bring real travel value to all of those struggling students who just needed to get away. I would like to think that in some way I helped them to relax and come back to school and to go on to academic greatness, or at least to have a really good time. Either way, I am still in the game, and I am still doing all I can to bring all of you the best deals I can find for travel and I am still enjoying myself.
SkyAuction.com was conceived in 1998 and launched in February 1999. It’s hard to believe that we are now in our 10th year of business.
SkyAuction’s success is in a large part due to you, our member. You’ve believed in our company, bid on our products, came back again and again and have told your friends and business associates. Skyauction works with a limited marketing budget so telling your friends about us is really important. It doesn’t mean that the bids will be higher, it means we can contract for more and better products to be offered on our site. You can read a little more about our refer-a-friend program on our “Skyauction for Dummies” blog, but I have a little secret to share. I happen to know that we are going to have a little contest coming up for all of you who have been holding out on participating and it is going to be one, special prize for the person who wins. Any way you look at it, you refer, you get paid. Man, that’s easy!
During our tenure we have been fortunate enough to have acquired members who have really diverse tastes in their travel preferences. We heard you loud and clear when you wanted more “close to home” and “lifestyle” offers and now we have many local attractions, theater ticket, dining discounts, spas and more. Some are even classifying us as a lifestyle site these days!
It is because of you and your feedback that we have been able to understand what products you want and for that we are grateful. We’ve created these blogs to increase the communication between our members and our staff so we can continue to grow our product line based on what you want. So please, feel free to give me the good, the bad and if you have to the ugly because I will be listening and if I have to, so does everyone else!
Thank you for your valued business.
Entries (RSS)
March 31st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Instead of all this wording, how about getting the job of approving won vacations. If you look at my Skyauction “history”, I am one of those who started with you in the late 90’s BUT I must say my recent (AND STILL PENDING) won auction without verifcation is turning me off. Over two weeks now, and nice” oh we will take care of that messages” to my inquiries still leave me without a confirmation. While there are other vacations I would like to bid on, I need confirmation of this last one!
March 31st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I am a huge fan of Skyauction. Love those RCI leftovers. However, I have two suggestions:
24/7 phone service - I tried to book a cruise with you and could not reach anyone, big crunch for time. Ended up with another agency.
no more hidden bids or “not met minimum bid” - just tell us the minimum bid so we know if we want to bid.
Thanks!
March 31st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Michael, thanks for starting SkyAuction, and congratulations on your success over the years. I have been a frequent customer for most of those years. My best purchases have been bargain cruises, to include many condos primarily via the “surf and turf” format. Only a couple of times have I had to e-mail enquiries reference purchases, and each was answered within a day or so. Thanks again, Gary
March 31st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Hello Michael,
A former colleague put me onto your company in 2003. I’ve been a
“repeat offender” every since. Is the company planning to go public?
With growth comes growing pains, I know. I do wish there was a
little quicker response from inquiries from customers. You might also
want to consider a dedicated phone line for those who have booked
say a dozen trips or more over a period of time. It’s always nice to
have a voice that speaks good English help with problems.
Food for thought.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I am answering for Michael who has been tied up all day but wanted to respond to your comments. I want to thank you for the 50 auctions you have purchased from us over the years. You comment is near and dear to me as this has been one of our primary service objectives over the past twelve months, “Speed up confirmations for our customers”! It is unfortunately a little more complicated than it seems as we have hundreds of suppliers all over the world, all of whom have a different way of doing things and varying speeds at which they work. I can assure you that we are doing all we can to hurry them along and our system is constructed to constantly follow up on each and every reservation. You already know that our products have value and sometimes you just have to wait to actualize it.
You have our commitment that we will do all we can now and in the future to get you confirmed and on you way as fast as possible.
Thanks again and Regards,
Sal Esposito
COO
March 31st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Hi,
Yeah, I have heard you all loud and clear about the dedicated phone line, particularly when it comes to cruises. As an auction company we never felt the need to set up like a full service travel company but we are looking at this situation as something to be considered for the future.
Thanks for your comments.
Sal Esposito
COO
April 1st, 2008 at 6:40 am
When will you have vacation deals departing from Ottawa and Montreal (in Canada for those that are geographically challenged!)?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:23 am
Congrats on your anniversary from another “fan from the beginning.” I’d like to chime in on the “minimum bid not met” auction. I think you noticed those auctions are getting less and less attention lately. Save everyone’s time (and respect your customers) by showing the starting minimum bid. Obviously we know we won’t win a trip around the world for $1.
And I know a phone line would add expense and staffing costs. Instead please respond to inquiries as quick as you can, answering all questions completely the first time. Maybe provide a phone number for those last minute trips (like “cruise” comment above) so your customer is not left hanging.
You definitely offer a quality, hopefully profitable, and definitely fun service.
Keep it up,
Ianobaby
April 1st, 2008 at 10:53 am
Thank you all for taking some time to write to me.
Al St John - I looked into your pending booking and it looks like you are now all confirmed for the Barcelo Hotel in Puerto Plata. I’m not trying to make excuses for the response time from the hotel but with the Easter Holidays and your check in date being in November perhaps they didn’t feel the urgency in confirming it quickly.
Karen & Ianobaby - We are taking a serious look at changing all reserves out of the system and replacing them with minimum bids (if necessary) to eliminate the “minimum bid not met” auction - I hear ya!
Gary - Thanks for your support over the years!
Tom - We do not have any plans to go public. We actually did file with the SEC in 2000, but when the Internet bubble burst we pulled the offering as the timing was not right. We’ve have thought about having a special line for our top customers or some way to provide better service. We’ll come up with something innovative- Stay tuned!
and
Stephanie - The number of Canadian visitors and winners on our site have grown tremendously over the last couple of years. I guess the value of the Canadian Dollar certainly helps! We will definitely be adding departures from Montreal, Ottowa and other Canadian cities in the very near future.
Again, thank you all for your comments.
We are listening!
Michael N. Hering
CEO & President
April 1st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Since August 2000, I have purchased 64 auction items from SkyAuction. I can honestly say your staff has never let me down. In the early years, Rose Clarke held my hand. Chris Schwarzenbek has been most helpful on many occasions, to the point that he phoned me at home one night to confirm that the air reservations he was making were to my satisfaction.
Thanks to your Ready, Set, Go auctions, my wife and have been able to afford to travel to Aruba more than 40 times over the past 7 years.
I am concerned about a pattern that has developed over recent weeks within the resort rentals. Today, under Buy It Now there are 4 different resorts in Aruba listed, one for check-in in 3 days, one for 4 days, and the other two for 5 days from now. The Buy It Now price for all 4 resorts is $900. In the past, the same resorts with check-in within 13 days were $299 to Buy It Now. They were also available in the Ready, Set, Go auctions.
You seem to have singled out Aruba and Grand Cayman in making this change. Less desirable locations are still $299 to $525. Coupled with the cost of short notice airfares, the $900 resort price makes it prohibitive to travel from remote locations like the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where we live. There has to be a marketing reason for your change.
Maybe you will sell one of the weeks now listed for $900, but the other 3 will likely go unused. A shame.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Hi
As most others respponding, I am a long time user with over twenty some auction won. I would like to express my displeasure at the new site (www.rciredemption.com)that is refered to for the Home & Away ; Surf and Turf and ect auctions. This site is not very good and doesn’t give many choices. The areas to chose from are very large and when you bring up an area you can’t tell where it is specificall with out opening each item referenced.
Additionally, it does not tell you what size unit is available for the dates you might have available. The old GetAway Weeks was much better.
Even though I have bid on several of these auctions in the past I will not bid on them through this new http://www.rciredemption.com
Thanks for listening to me
Rcihard
April 1st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Michael.
I can’t thank you enough for this site. When I recommend it most people actually think it’s a scam because of the deals. I’ve purchased virtually every type of offering over the years RCI, Hotels, All-Inclusives, Restaurants (I’m the member from Boston always complaining why we can’t get any restaurants signed up here…)
There is no better value on the web. Keep it going and congratulation on the 10 years.
Best regards.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
With my first experience back in 2000 being a good one (flight to London) I used Skyauction again for a week-long trip to the Dominican Republic. That experience was less good. I confirmed my details with you prior to my trip and was told that the confirmation number was all I needed. Imagine my disappointment and anger when arriving at the resort to be told that they were all full up and there was no rooms available. We were shuffled off to a lesser, older, non-child free resort. My bid was based on the accommodations as described, so I was shortchanged by receiving a lesser experience without any offsetting consideration. If I knew where I was ultimately going to be staying, my bid (or absence of a bid) would have reflected that.
After returning, I contacted Skyauction and received a certificate from the resort for a free week (airfare not included) to be used in 2 year’s time. When trying to redeem the certificate, the agency in Florida passed the buck to the resort after trying to make the arrangement over many weeks. The resort said to fax it to them; but, never replied to the multiple faxes. Needless to say the (worthless) certificate expired without being redeemed.
This explains why I haven’t been using Skyauction; nor, suggesting others to use Skyauction. Anything you’d like to offer as encouragement to my starting bidding again other than “sorry it didn’t work out for you?”
April 1st, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Micheal,
Just wanted to drop a note expressing my appreciation for SkyAuction. In the past few years, I have won some wonderful, memorable vacations. I’m not embarrassed to say that without your format of bidding on vacations I never would have been able to afford my family trips to Florida or our most memorable St. Thomas. We have been able to stay in quality, clean accomodations due to your innovative idea for normal folks, like me. I salute you Micheal and your entire staff at SkyAuction for helping families spent un-interrupted time together and strengthing many families quality of life. The fact that you created this blog shows you value your customers opinions. Because of this, I will be a customer for life. Thank you.
Sincerely,
smoke101
Jim Smoke
April 1st, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I have been using this site to get vacation value condos for years, love being able to afford to go away for a week. I have never had a problem with the confirmations or using the paperwork upon arrival to check in. A phone line would be great for those few times it would be needed. Phone customer service could work from home coordinating between the customer and supplier, I would be happy to send a resume and work for you !
Keep up the great work, we who use the site regularly love it !
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Thank you for the opportunities via Sky Auction.
A Travelers’ Comments section will bring SkyAuction in line with your competitors.
I read Travelers’ comments/recommendations for hotels, restaurants, airlines, etc. and find the information extremely valuable in making decisions about travel.
We can inform, alert, educate other travelers prior to making decisons and investments in travel plans. When we are placed in the hands of other agency representatives, it is a “hope for the best” opportunity; when all goes well, we need the opportunity to tell other travelers. Likewise, when it does not go so well, it is extremely important for us to have the oppoortunity to warn others. When so far away from home and the ease of problem resolution, it is terribly frustrating to encounter a problem without any chance of resolution.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
I have used skyauction for several years and in most cases I am very pleased with the bargains I have won and have referred many people to the site who were also very pleased. I only have a few comments. On one airfare auction I won last year to Puerto Plata from Philadelphia, I had to change planes in Miami, which was not made clear on the auction until after I won. Time between planes was several hours and on the way back the plane was delayed. I really would not have bid if I would have known it was not a direct flight. This year I made my own arrangements for a direct flight and just bid on a room. Also I have sent several emails over the last year for which I have never received a response.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Great site, I have referred lots of people by word of mouth that now purchase travel through skyauction. However, I need a phone number to call for customer support. I won an auction for a cruise. Bid 2 but travelling solo. Website is not setup to allow me to get past the page where it asks for the birthdate and name of the 2nd person. E-mailed but response I got let me know the nice person that responded hadn’t a clue what I was talking about because I was referred back to the same place to input what the program is written to not let me do (requires input of 2 names if bid 2 on cruise…single travellers are not considered. Wanted to talk to someone for a minute privately to get this resolved or call tech support like most other companies have and saw no phone numbers listed at all so I am stuck posting here, hoping that someone who knows what they are doing, and knows what is going on will post a response or contact me. I need to get the chosen trip dates verified and this paid for so I can book my flights while they are still available.
Disappointed with the service so far this time around.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Richard Davis hit the nail on the head. Please go back to getawayweeks.com. I have been gone for a month and was amazed to see the change. How can you bid intelligently when you do not even know the size of the unit being offered? Plus you have to go month by month ad nauseum. I bid a number of times in the last few years under Surf and Turf, etc and have been thrilled with the results. You can see that in a number of categories now no one is even bidding with the new rciredemption. Western US Room and Board has not had a bidder the last two times at the very least. That can’t be good for you! Definitely not for me.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Wow!
It looks like we need a blog for our Vacation Rental Program. I’ll have to talk with Chris about that.
Jerry - I wish that I had the time to travel like you and wife have. 40 times in the last 7 years to Aruba! Fantastic. It was my understanding that all properties available within 2 weeks of check in were available at the $299 rate. If that was changed it was not by us but by our suppliers of these weeks.
I am seeing all of the vacation rental properties next week at a conference and will take that up with them.
Richard and Karen - When we implemented the new redemption site for vacation weeks I thought everyone would be pleased. Now instead of having to call during working hours you can book your own week 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
I think I have the solution that will work. In addition to the redemption site to book your week, we will look to keep getawayweeks.com as a site that you can still see what’s available in the old format. Once you found the week you like you can then go to rciredemption.com to book it.
There will be some other changes on April 15 regarding pricing and availability that will be put in place. Some prices will be raised, some lowered and more access to inventory will be available.
More on that later.
Michael
April 4th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Stephen,
I’ve been told that one of our biggest hurdles is convincing people that when “it seems to good to be true” that in fact it is true. Very often winners are getting deals that are better than the price we pay for the product. We actually lose money on 15 - 20% of our auctions! The other 80% keeps us in business.
I’ll go to my Food & Fun department to see if they can try to add some more restaurants in the Boston Area. It will not happen overnight, so please be patient as it generally takes 2 -3 months for a new restaurant to be added into the program. Take a trip to New York as we have just added 10 new restaurants into the NYC program.
Cheers,
Michael
April 4th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Mark,
Reply to the blog with your trip number and I will look into it for you.
Obviously, the hotel made an attempt to right the wrong with a free week but didn’t follow through to the end. That’s out of our control.
But I think we can come up something to encourage you to bid again!
I await your info.
Michael
April 4th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Jim,
Thank you for your support over the years.
Quality of Life is what we are trying to be all about!
Regards,
Michael
April 4th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Now, if only Glenn Tilton would have a blog…
At one time, one could reserve a timeshare at the time of bidding so I guess being able to book it any time is OK but you still have to wait for your booking number as much as a week unless you call to get it, which I have done. We stay at your condos about 5 times a year and it has really enhanced our knowledge of parts of the country where we have stayed. You have enabled us to visit a son in Oregon a couple of times a year at a very low cost in a wonderful resort. Thank you for a great service. Better than being an owner but I never tell!
April 7th, 2008 at 11:24 am
We just got back from another fantastic vacation booked thru Skyauction and I just sent a thank you not via email - then come to check out the site and find this new look and ‘blog’ section - how funny
I LOVE skyauction, we have never had a bad experience. Keep up the great work.
Our last auction was won on a ‘hidden’ auction - it was fun that way - added a little mystery to the game.
Looking forward to our next vacation already - just have to find it on the site!
Angela
April 7th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Our family has used skyauction many times for great family vacations and we’ve told a lot of people about the site as well. We hated to see the taxes/fee go up an extra $100 in the past year or so, though for vacation rentals. Also, will “Santa Catarina” ever be deleted off as this is just the South Carolina listings?
April 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I wrote you a personal letter once to your New York office and was very surprised and pleased to receive a personal phone call in return. So, I know you’re really working hard to please.
I have one question. Why do certain locations, hotel chains, etc. drop off the site? A good example I really miss is the Othon Hotel Chain in Brazil — completely gone?
Thanks for my favorite website on the Internet and the very best vicarious travel site. Oh, another question — Greece? Almost non-existent — are the Greek Isles in our future?
Dan
April 7th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Tracey R,
We removed the “Santa Catarina” from the drop down on the vacation rentals location search. It turns out there was a bug and Santa Catarina (Brazil) was showing up because it has the same state abbreviation (SC) as South Carolina. Thanks for reporting the problem.
Gary Doughty
Chief Technology Officer
April 8th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Renee,
Thanks for the support. We are not hiring at the moment but that can change at any time. Until then, please send a copy of your resume to nick@skyauction.com so we’ll have it on file.
Regards,
Michael
April 8th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Janis,
By the end of the 2nd Quarter we will be adding a Traveller’s Comments Section where we will be inviting our Members to submit their experiences to us for publication. It’s been on our “to do” list for a while and it has now reached one of the top new features for our Tech Team to implement.
Thanks for your input!
Michael
April 8th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Daisy,
We are always trying to find the best connections when airfare auctions are won. In your winning auction we booked a connection via Miami because that was probably the only available space in the contracted class of service with the airlines we work with. In some of our offers we specifically state that we are offering non stop flights.
If you win another auction for air transportation and absolutely require a non stop flight then you can add that information to the Winner’s Comments Box and you will not be charged unless we can provide one!
With respect to the unanswered emails I am quite suprised. We use a pretty sophisticated CRM system (KANA) that processes every email received and “pushes” them to our support agents for response. There are flags and bells and whistles when an email has not been responded to and it is also managed by supervisors that ensure we repond to all emails.
Michael
April 8th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Christina,
My Cruise Department has informed me that you are confirmed on a lovely 12 Night Cruise of Northern Europe on one of Norwegian’s newest ships “The Norwegian Jewel”.
I’ve checked the sequence of communications and once we received your information that you are travelling alone (April 2 at 10:13PM), our Cruise Department responded the following morning (April 3 at 9:25AM) with the single pricing. You accepted it that evening and were confirmed the following morning.
Our agents do not currently work 24/7, and I do feel that this booking has been handled in a timely manner.
Hopefully all is now well and your disappointment this time around is no longer an issue!
Enjoy your cruise!
Michael
April 8th, 2008 at 9:09 am
A follow up to Stephen-
Anna, one of our top staffers (who is actually on maternity leave until April 14) sent me an email regarding a new restaurant added in the Boston area!
In response to:
“…(I’m the member from Boston always complaining why we can’t get any restaurants signed up here…)”
We now have “The Daily Catch” - Boston
http://www.skyauction.com/anyoffer/36398
http://www.skyauction.com/anyoffer/38896
Hopefully there will be more to come!
Michael
April 8th, 2008 at 9:50 am
A follow up to Mark,
I received your information. Thank you.
Your trip number is 791127 and will be back to you shortly.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Karen,
We are still running auctions where you can reserve your room prior to the end of the auction.
Those auctions are called Ready, Set, Go and offer you the ability to reserve your room without obligation anytime up until March 2009 prior to placing a bid or winning an auction.
You can find them on the site or here is a click through:
http://www.skyauction.com/anyoffer/73564
Michael
April 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Michael.
I have been a true believer that skyauction is the BEST travel site and I am a loyal bidder/customer since 2000. I have recommended your site to everyone I know. And when they win a bid and have traveled, they tell me they loved the trip and especially the price.
I just smile and say ” That’s why I use them all the time”.
However, this is my dilemma… I just requested my hotel reservation(fulfillment #868129 Item #1360020) and was notified that the dates I requested were unavailable. However, I called the hotel direct and they have availablity for the same days that I have requested through Skyauction. ?(I sent an e-mail with this same information and it is in queue for an agent to handle)??? I just don’t understand why??? These dates for this hotel will reflect the other bid I have won for another hotel for the rest of the week.
In additon, I had my son use the site and he won his bid for the same hotel and received a confirmation. My brother also bid and won for the same hotel. Micheal, this is an important trip “Family Reunion” with over 200 people attending.
Please don’t disappoint me….
Thanks,
April 8th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I am another Skyauction fan. We figured we had spent 1/3 of the year in Skyauction properties and trips a couple of years ago. And we have also recommended your site to many friends. But I have been disappointed recently by the very limited selection of vacation rentals. For example, there have been only seven “Last Minute” selections this week, and they are now down to four. I can remember a couple of years ago when we would choose from forty or fifty each week. Why has your selection declined so much? We would be using your site a lot more these days if there were a lot more opportunities…(But I keep looking and hoping!)
We have only had one problem in all the purchases we have made from Skyauction, and like others, it was because we could not get a timely answer about a reservation; several e-mails got only form replies although we were within two days of the time we had hoped to leave on our trip. We finally found a contact phone number and got immediate help. But it was really frustrating trying to make travel arrangements when we did not know if our hotel would be confirmed or not (it wasn’t which left us scrambling the day before our planned departure
) But otherwise, we have always been very pleased with all our transactions.
One time we were on a cruise we had purchased from you all, and everyone at our dining table had bought their cruise from you all, too! We had a good laugh and fine bond being Skyauction bargain cruisers!
April 10th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I have won MANY auctions, mostly vacation weeks, over the years, and I also do not like the new rci redemption site. I have been doing what you suggested and checking with getaway weeks first, but there remains 2 problems. The availability is not exactly the same, and it is way harder to find something on the new site. For example, you can search “Pennsylvania” on getaway weeks, but need to search all of the eastern states on the new site - takes forever, especially since there are only 4 to a page. Calling was never a problem, since their hours are long. I also can’t stand the “hidden bids” and “reserve not met” - won’t even look at them. Over all, I am pleased, as we just took a 7 month trip across country consisting almost entirely of vacation weeks - could never have afforded anything close to that without skyauction. Thank you. Mary
April 13th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Micheal
Congrats on 10 years and thanks for changing the way my family travels. I frequently use the “Home & Away” auctions and with the new system, we can no longer place an one day “hold” on a resort. You mentioned that we can do this with “Ready Set Go” but they tend to cost twice as much.
Can you return the one day “Hold” feature to the new “Home & Away” auction process.
Rick
April 15th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Michael, The positive is that this is a fascinating website. I will bid on things in the future. The negative: Are you aware that on MSN tv 2 (WEB tv) that when I scroll down on the items for auction, that I get perhaps 3/4 down and then the scroll down locks up. Since you are the ones that program the site, maybe you know the cause and possible resolution of the problem. I very much wish to see the bottom part of the bid because that is where you give the surcharge info (such as the $195 add-on).
April 15th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Good morning,
I was out in Vegas last week attending a conference (and enjoying all that Vegas has to offer) so I’m a bit behind in answering some comments.
Dan - Nice to hear from you! There will always be products that come on the site for a limited engagement. That’s primarily due to the way we obtain a lot of the products we offer. We will purchase blocks of inventory which may be a limited number of rooms over a certain time period.
For example, in Athens and the Greek Isles, about which you’ve inquired we have an offer running which can be seen at: http://www.skyauction.com/anyoffer/72084
We have 7 hotels offered through December 2008 including hotels in Crete, Athens, Mykonos and Thessaloniki. Of those 7 hotels, 4 hotels show that they are sold out. They are obviously not sold out for the next 8 months, but the allotment of rooms we have purchased are now sold out. We might obtain more, but more likely, not. That’s why it’s so important to bid and win when you see something you want!
With Othon Hotels in Brazil, we had purchased in advance many room nights over the last five years, but with the weakness of the dollar (or the strength of the Brazilian Real) the economics didn’t work for a bulk purchase this year. We are negotiating with other properties to obtain new product in Brazil.
Hope to speak to you again.
Regards,
Michael
April 15th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Rita,
Thank you for your loyalty since 2000!
With respect to your stay at the Dolce Hayes Mansion, we have gone back to the hotel several times and while you need anywhere from 4 to 6 nights, the hotel is sold out on only one of the nights - July 27. I even checked this morning and that still remains to be the case.
What I would suggest you do is book all the nights you need except for July 27. For the one night stay with one of your family members if the hotel doesn’t open up between now and arrival.
Michael
April 15th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Donna,
The conference I attended in Las Vegas last week was all about vacation rentals. We have made a lot of new contacts are are very excited about the amount of new inventory we are planning to bring on!
It won’t be tomorrow, but over the next couple of weeks and months I feel confident that you will be pleased with the additional availability!
Michael
April 15th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Mary,
Our Tech Team is working on a site that will show the same exact availability as the redemption site in a format similiar to getaway weeks. It should be completed in the next couple of weeks.
I have heard you’all regarding the “reserve not met” and we have been systematically removing reserves from most of our auctions!
Regarding “hidden bids” you are making a big mistake. Those auctions are providing some of the very best values we have ever had on SkyAuction! It is not a reserve and it is simple to participate. You simply need to place a bid and it will advise you if your bid is the current high bid or what bid you need to place to be the highest current bid. All other functions are similiar to our normal bidding process.
The hidden bid auction has added over 500 new and wonderful properties to our site that otherwise wouldn’t participate. They just don’t want the general public to see their properties auctioned starting at $1!
Try it, you’ll like the value you can get!
Michael
April 15th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Rick,
I don’t recall that Home and Away offered a “Hold” feature, but I will look into it. If we can we will!
I’ll be looking very closely at the vacation rental program and what new features can be added over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully you’ll be pleased with the results.
Michael
April 15th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Ken,
I wasn’t aware of any issues on MSN TV, but I will pass along this information to our Tech Team for review.
Until then, if you place a bid, an invoice comes up showing all the charges which can probably be viewed without a problem. You have an opportunity at that time to cancel your bid.
Michael
April 15th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Michael
With the old system, when you called “getawayweeks” with your certificate number from “Home & Away”, they would, if asked, place a resort on “Hold” for you until the end of the next day.
Rick
April 15th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Hi we have bought over 35-40 items with Skyauction from the Russian Volga River boat trip, vacations in Mexico, Dominican Republic, crusies, play & dinner tickets etc.
Per one of your other clients, I have found your “reserve” pricing trips all too frequent for “fun and interesting trips” and find myself skipping the offers, or frankly, looking at other websites; in fact we went to Brazil, Urguary & Argentina in December because there were too few regular auctions being offerd.
Hopefully you will get rid of all the reserves because some of the trips frankly can be bought from the vendor cheaper when they have sales for less. As a loyal “Skyauctioner” devotee, I now find it hard to get away! Lets get bck to great deals so we can get away:-) KR
April 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Hi Michael,
I also love Sky Auction and thank you for starting it 10 years ago. I would like to see if you can add more package deals and river cruises around the globe. It would also be nice if we can bid on more Carnival cruises. One other comment would be to see if you could add more 3 and 4 night all-inclusive deals like you use to in the past to the Caribbean and Mexico.
Sincerely,
Suzette
April 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Michael,
OMGosh!!! I want to toot Valerie Boss’s (Support Agent) horn…. She is the best!!! Guess what??? With e-mails back and forth to each other she was able to confirm all days requested for out stay. She made it happen. YEA!!!! Now I will not have to try and find another hotel to stay at. All my family members are in the same hotel. I am a very HAPPY HAPPY : - ) and loyal customer. Thanks
April 21st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I just won a bid for a 5 nigh trip to Miami next month. I am really excited and nervous at the same time. I started reading this blog after I made the transaction. I just hope and pray this is for real and not a hoax. I will wait a few days for a response. But I hope this is the real deal because I already booked my air fare too.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 am
KR
I am addressing “reserve auctions” currently and eliminating most if not all of them. We are also having our product team go out and find new interesting product to offer.
We’ve just added a great Tour of Egypt including a Nile Cruise starting at $1.00. Check it out at http://www.skyauction.com/item/73925 .
Check it out!
Michael
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:04 am
Suzette,
Thank you for your support and comments. I will pass along your desires the product team.
Michael
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 am
Rita,
I’m so glad it worked out for you!
Valerie is one of our top agents and a bulldog at times to get things done.
Enjoy your reunion!
Michael
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:31 am
Tracey,
We’re the real deal otherwise we wouldn’t have been around for 10 years!
I see from your record that you requested your stay last night at 7:25PM. Our Land Agent requested it from the hotel at 7:26PM! How’s that for a quick response.
I fear, however, that we will not get confirmation from the hotel as your request was for a Thursday through Monday over Memorial Day Weekend and the offer specifically says it is valid Midweek only - Sunday through Thursday. Perhaps the hotel will let it slip through.
In these cases where the hotel cannot confirm your stay we will ask for alternate dates or you have the option of withdrawing from the auction without any fees or penalties being assessed.
Michael
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 am
MICHAEL I WON AUCTION 1384314 FULFILLMENT 888851.I HAVE BEEN CHECKING THE SAN FRNCISCO AREA FOR A RESORT WEEK AND CANNOT FIND EVEN ONE WEEK DURING THE NEXT YEAR.IT SAYS SORRY NO AVAILABLE RESORT WEEKS THAT MATCH YOUR CHOSEN SEARCH CRITERIA.I AM WONDERING DO YOU EVEN HAVE A RESORT IN SAN FRANCISCO,OR IS THERE A CERTAIN TIME I SHOULD CHECK.I WANT TO GO END OF AUG OR SEPT.THANK YOU WANNELL STEGENT
April 24th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Hi: I just want to commend Skyauction for it’s improvement in customer service. One extraordinary agent by the name of Valerie Boss, truly went the extra mile in trying to arrange our travel plans. Bravo!
April 25th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Michael,
Again, I would like to thank you for SkyAuction and for this blog. You mentioned that availability of vacation weeks would be increasing soon - Is that for the ones we bid on, or for the “buy it nows” that usually cost more? Also, I was very nervous about your statement that some things will be costing more. Do you anticipate any changes in the Home and Away auctions? We are planning another cross country journey - which wouldn’t be possible without Skyauction, but won’t be able to do if the charges for these auctions increase.
I would also like to thank one of your agents, Denice Adams, as she has helped us with many problems in the past. When I see the response is from her, I know everything will be settled.
And thank you again for the site.
Mary
April 28th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Michael,
Some of your luxury hotel hidden bid offerings are running out of available rooms. I cite France (where there is only one night left in Paris), Ireland (where you are down to one Dublin hotel) and Switzerland (where Geneva is gone). What are the chances of replenishing the inventories?
Ahab
April 29th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Wannell,
There is only one property in San Francisco and I have never seen it available on the engine. The closest availability is probably going to be the Lake Tahoe area or Reno. If you are limited to San Francisco only and we don’t have any availability, then we can refund your auction without penalty.
Michael
April 29th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Bibrann,
Thank you and I will tell Valerie as she seems to be getting a lot of praise these days. Next thing you know she’ll be wanting a raise!
Michael
April 29th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Mary,
When the initial changes went into effect I was a bit concerned about what will be available in the system for Home and Away auctions. There were lots of rooms available to some of the more popular destinations like Orlando, Florida, Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Branson, Missouri but limited to other destinations. I’ve done a check this morning and I was pleased to see units available to places like Aruba, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Myrtle Beach, Cape Cod and many other destinations throughout the US and Canada.
Most of the best units will open up as you get closer to the check in date. It appears that will continue to be the case.
Happy Searching!
Michael
April 29th, 2008 at 3:27 am
Ahab,
Our Luxury Hotel auctions have provided some great deals to those who have participated in the hidden bid process. We have been fortunate to have been able to offer thousands of nights at hundreds of luxury hotels around the world.
As I see it we will be offering the same properties for 2009, but those auctions will not appear until late 2008. We will get some additional inventory for 2008 but it will be limited so if there is anything you have been watching you should get it now!
We are negotiating with several other groups of properties and are hopeful to have a similiar program (at different hotels) available in the next couple of months.
I’m sure we’ll be sending out an email when the new programs become available.
Michael
May 1st, 2008 at 10:33 am
I have a Getawayweeks certificate. I’ve realized you no longer offer this on your auctions, but will Getawayweeks continue to update their inventory? I am looking for a week in January 2009 - in Orlando…. and there hasn’t been anything yet. (I’ve had the certificate for a few months now… and I’m still waiting for something to come up).
Thanks!!
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 am
Donna,
Getaway weeks will continue to be updated for your use. It is still a bit early for the January 2009 time period. There will be rooms available (I’ll give you your money back if there are not) but it’s going to happen closer to check in.
Michael
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:37 am
Congratulations Michael on establishing a wonderful auction site for travel. While I am fairly new to your site, i have already booked 5 trips in 6 months. I had the great fortune to travel to East Africa using your booking site and had experienced a life long dream. Not only was the country/safari outstanding, i had the great fortune of meeting 5 other Sky Auction clients from the USA on the trip. We danced, sang, explored, dined, wined, laughed and cried when we left. I have made new friends for a lifetime. Since this time, we book our future trips thro SkyAuction and travel together.
Apart from the above great experience, i have been a world traveller using many travel and tour agencies. All travel companies and their clients experience some difficulty along the way (i myself experienced a robbery at a luxury hotel in Brussels) but Sky Auction surpass the service of all other travel companies. The people there actually care ! Michael, i don’t know where you hired Tilly from…but she is one of the best in the Industry. I’m sure we drive her crazy with the several requests/desires and she always does her best to accomodate. Most of all, she does what she committs to without failure. I find that Tilly is passionate about travel and therefore her desire to assist others in a memorable experience is always top of her mind. Tilly recently vacationed with her family and was kind enough to share her experiences with us…..she is very special and you are one lucky man!
Keep up the fantastic work and we will continue our memorable vacations with SkyAuction.
Kindly,
Joyce
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Hello again,
Since I am here now, I would like to suggest a feature: when an auction says that frequent flier miles will be given on the tickets, it will be nice to ask the winner for its frequent flier number and add this number to the itinerary automatically. Right now I have to add my number to the comments field and there is no guarantee that it will be added to the itinerary (at least it wasn’t added to any of the reservations that were made for me here).
Thank you
Andrei
May 6th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Hello,
I would like SkyAuction to offer more of a selection of sites & locations in/near Africa. As I work for the USG in Ethiopia, there is actually quite a large ex-pat community found throughout the African continent. Many people are always looking to travel to different places while posted/stationed here. Seychelles, Egypt, Madagascar (home to the vanilla bean), Zanzibar, Ethiopia (home of coffee) and more would be great places to go but can be difficult to book on your own often times. And more specific for my fiancee and I is that we can’t always take 8-14 day trips. Something in the 3-5 day range would be more ideal.
State (US embassies), USAID, CDC, and Peace Corp are just the tip of the iceberg of expats that could be reached. And many of these employees have their families with them as well. And when you include the rest of the broader expat community it would seem to be a very entice proposition.
Anyway, I recently stayed at the Enterprise Hotel in Milan and was very, very, very pleasantly surprised!! I look forward to more trips via SkyAuction.
Thanks,
Alton
P.S. - It’s very cool that you actually take the time to read/respond to people on your blog.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Michael,
Congratulations on 10 years! I have taken probably 15 trips through skyauction I have booked and another 20 with friends under their tickets. Skyauction built a better mouse trap and is responsible for many travel agents going home at lunch and staying until breakfast.
Chris Swarzenbach has helped me on numerous occasions and is very polite and pleasant to deal with. I always hope if I have a question or problem that arises, it will be Chris who winds up helping me.
I do have a couple of “observations” that regulars have probably also noticed, again this is my observation and not intended to offend. I will be speaking of Mexico in particular
5 years ago, you could bid on “world class resorts” time after time, after time. There seemed to be an endless supply of them. The Fiesta Americanas, Hiltons, Acapulco Princess, Marriots, ETC.
Today, while there are a few of these around, what is up for bids is usually 2-3 star hotels and not the 4-5 stars we used to see regularly. What happened?
Most of the “home and away” deals require for a Saturday or Sunday check in. I am constantly having to burn additional vacation time as I work weekends and I also have to pay 25-40% more for air travel on Weekends out of LAX. Can you get some Monday-Thursday check in dates?
Thanks, John Hesson
May 8th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Love this site.
But, could you make the airfare and air/land packages searchable by available departure city.We are in Lubbock Texas and its tough to figure out which auctions have departure options for us.
Keep up the good work,and get us to Nicaragua!
May 13th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Michael, I have question concerning home and away auctions. When you purchase a H/A package you have until say December 31st 2008 to book a reservation for travel through June of 2009.
The problem is There aren’t any packages available to my desired destination posted six months in advance. This also applies to the book by June H/A auctions.
I see no point in trying to bid on a auction when there is little if any chance something will be posted 6 moths early. I feel this has to change to something more resonable like 30 prior to departure.
David Panel
May 14th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in getting bad to you all as I just spent the last week in the Riviera Maya at the lovely Ceiba del Mar Beach and Spa Resort in Puerto Morelos. If you want a romantic getaway in a relaxed, casual but elegant setting then chose this place. You won’t be disappointed. We’ve got it up for auction now!
I’m going to respond to some of the recent posts here.
Joyce - Thanks you for the positive comments and particularly the kind words about Tilly’s passion for perfection. We appreciate her here as well as you do and she’ll be with SkyAuction for the long term!
Andrei - What most people don’t realize and we don’t do a good job telling everyone is that you earn frequent flyer mileage on virtually every auction for airline tickets or packages using a scheduled airline. The difficulty in asking for your frequent flyer number upon submission is that we may have an offer that says “Major US Carrier”. Well, that can mean American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta, etc and that can start becoming cumbersome. I think a better solution (which I will suggest to our IT staff) is to store all of your frequent flyer numbers in an organized fashion in your SkyAuction profile for our system to enter into your airline record automatically if a match occurs.
Alton - One thing that I didn’t mention in my original posting is that for many years I have been involved in the sale and promotion of tickets and tours to Africa and have been to the Continent at least a dozen times in the past. It’s sometimes difficult to try to cater to everyone’s needs as we generally try to create products for the “mass market”, particularly when doing so in an auction environment. As you may have noticied, we have added some additional tours and will continue to do so as well as some hotel options in and around the Continent. I will get with our product development team and see what can be developed to fit the shorter stay requirements of those already overseas.
Derek - The way to find departures from Lubbock, Texas or any other departure city is to use the Search feature. You’ll find it on the top right side of virtually every page. Click on the word Search, then choose either AIR or VACATION PACKAGES and enter Lubbock in the box that asks “DEPARTING FROM”. That should do it for you!
David - The new Home and Away offers allow you to make reservations by April 30, 2009 for travel up to October 31, 2009. We are not saying that you have to book something 6 months in advance. For example, you can book any date from now until April 2009 whether it’s a week in advance, a month in advance or a year in advance. The current certificate allows you to book for any date until it expires in April 2009 and for travel six months after the expiration date. Hope that clarifies it!
Michael
May 14th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Hi John,
Thank you for the your support over the years and your kind words about Chris! He has recently been moved up to my floor in the building with additional responsibilities but I’m sure he’ll be available for you when needed.
We too have seen a change over the past 5 years as it relates to Mexico. Many of the properties have become All Inclusive Resorts and the fees they charge for meals in addition to the room cost have been excessive. It’s cheaper to bid on our Bid Per Night auctions for All Inclusive properties. For that reason All Inclusives have for the most part been eliminated from our offers.
Some of the larger chains like Hilton and Marriott have decided not to be in the vacation rental market for their condos. Their thought process is that if you can rent them on a weekly basis for the low prices typically available on our site, then it hurts their ability to sell their weeks at $20,000 plus!
I have seen over the last week many of the better properties starting to reappear on the redemption site and I’m hoping that that trend continues. I have also been advised that the Ready Set Go auctions will begin to see more and better product shortly.
With respect to check in dates, the weekly rentals will generally remain on a weekend to weekend basis. There has been some movement in offering the properties on a nightly basis, but the nightly pricing is too high compared to the weekly rates. You do have the option of booking it on a Sunday to Sunday stay and checking in on Monday and leaving early as well. (Be sure to notify the resort if you do so). You forfeit the nights you don’t use but the overall cost is still a deal.
Michael
May 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Hi Michael,
I have been a big fan of Sky Auction for some time now. Like any other auction, I always do my due diligence before I make a bid. If I need any help at all with my dining or tickets I speak to Adam or Chris. They are both so helpful and pleasant to talk to over the phone. Its always nice to know that I can speak to someone if I have to. Keep this site going and I will enjoy getting that top bid!
All the Best
Jaye
May 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I have been doing business with Skyauction for many years and love it. Hit the site nightly. One thing the bugs me is the restaurant auctions. Seems to be a waste of time. The high service charges for a week trip to some “condos” seems very high also ($295 a week). When it was $195 it was questionable but still, the auction could be had for a lower price and we could find a deal ocassionally. Hard to do now.
All in all, the service people have been helpful many times - keep up the good work.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Hello Michael: You may not remember talking to me when I, by chance, rang your extension. I can t imagine a more difficult customer than I have been and you have won me over as a devotee. Through every unreasonable request, you and your staff have guided me with such patience. I am a retired airline pilot and travel often. I have been a slow learner but now realize the nature of your service and that if I use your service as it is designed, I will have pleasant experiences. I recently used Skyauction to enjoy a visit to Breezes Runaway Bay, which was most enjoyable and before that a short stay at Breezes Montego Bay. You bent over backwards to make that vacation possible with minimum notice. From our conversation, I understand that you plan to have a way to rate the various resorts. I encourage you to do this. Just for the record, I would like to say that Breezes Runaway Bay is the best resort that we have visited in Jamaica. We have visited all the Superclub resorts in Jamaica and the Bahamas. I will also have to say that Breezes Montego Bay is one of the worst. By upgrading to a high category room, the resort is fair at best. I congratulate you on a very good business model. Thanks
May 27th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Dave,
Our restaurant business has tripled each and every year in the last 4 years, so some people do take advantage of them. How bad a deal is it when you can buy food at half price at fine restaurants around the country?
With respect to condo auctions you can try the Home & Away Special which includes a 7 night condo rental and a $100 SkyAuction travel certificate and still has a $195 tax and service charge.
Michael
May 27th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Hi Jerry,
Yes, I remember our conversation well!
I’m glad the Runaway Bay property was to your satisfaction. And I guess it’s fortunate that Montego Bay was only a short stay.
Our product reviews feature is still being worked on by our programmers and we’re hopeful that it will be fully functional in the next month or so. Once it’s up and running I’d appreciate your input in helping our other members make good travel decisions.
Keep well,
Michael
June 4th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hi - Are plans still in the works to make the new rci redemption site for the home and away auctions as easy to use as the old getaway weeks site? I am planning a cross country trip and going crazy finding what I want on the new site. Thanks again. Mary
June 7th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Mary,
Yes, that is still in the works. The first priority we had was to ensure that there was product available for redemption. That seems to be accomplished. Now we look to ease the pain on finding what you need.
Michael
June 12th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Mr Hering
I’ve been using your skyacution site for a few years. I think it’s the best creation since sliced bread. I’ve never had a problem with the vendors or your staff. It’s great. I’m a retired teacher an have wanted to contact you to see if you have a position for a guy to work from the house. I live in NYC. I don’t need money but I think it’s such a great business I’d love to work in. Thanks for some great trips. Bob
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
You need more air ticket auctions TO AUSTRAILIA!!!!! there are TONS of BIDDERS and amazingly are bidding within $100 of the price of purchasing a regular ticket at regular prices. example LAX to SYD went for over $1000 .