I understood from the very beginning of Skyauction.com that we would become a favorite for value junkies everywhere! Now that we are in our tenth year I am convinced that for many of you, there simply isn’t any other way to buy travel. As someone who has been around the travel industry for 20 plus years, I can attest to the fact that even I have become jaded by the outstanding and even dare I say exciting deals we offer on a daily basis. Is it any wonder that we have a religiously devoted customer following some of whom have purchased hundreds of trips from us over our tenure? These good people are at the very core of why we do what we do everyday at Skyauction.com. We love deals too! We love bringing value to you and we work each and everyday to find the next exciting flight, cruise, hotel room, spa, restaurant, attraction, package that will be your next vacation!
As COO I was the guy who has wanted to have blogs for quite some time. I like to write and I want you to write to me because it can’t just be one-sided if we are all going to learn something from each other. I did pull a fast one on my colleagues because I kept the topic that was the most exciting (Deals and more) for myself. I mean, I could write all day about this stuff. I remember back in the day, Michael Hering and I used to comb all of our products to come up with what we considered a good deal for our customers. Now, it seems like we are uncovering the very best values either of us has ever seen in our travel careers. Call it fate or call it structural over capacity (fancy industry term) we call it just flat out great for our customers. The best part is, even if you have been with us for years, we are always introducing something new that we hope will interest you to come on in and bid.
Now onto the deals. I am not going to tell you that I have been everywhere and done everything, but I do get around. The deals below are either new and cool or they are being discounted because we want them off the shelf. Either way, that is a good thing for you.
Ok so you like Spam? (I did when I was a kid) This has nothing to do with that other than the name Spamalot. Well we have tickets in New York and Las Vegas so come and get them. We also have many other Broadway shows and restaurants all over the United States so come and get a nice dinner and a show, really, really cheap.
Hey Dude, like the outdoors? I can’t say that we see many horses here everyday in NYC (we do have a few) but these ranches are some of the best of the best. These places aren’t cheap and discounts are hard to find so if you like this kind of stuff best throw in a bid and rope yourself a deal! Do a search on “Dude Ranches” and if it ain’t here, then you will be paying too much.
I love Cruises. Ever since I went on my Honeymoon (25 years this year) I have been going back over and over again. Now, you know we have all of lines worth sailing on both at auction and on our cruise engine but what you might not know is that we do our own little, what we call, ”value added promotions” that you won’t find anywhere else. I can guarantee that this deal will make you feel like a “Celebrity” by saving you $400! You are going to have to stay in a balcony cabin or better and sail to Alaska but we all have to make some sacrafices, right? Do a little searching on Celebrity Cruise Lines Alaska offers and I am confident you will like what you see.
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April 1st, 2008 at 8:09 am
How about making Disney Cruises available to your customers for less!!
April 1st, 2008 at 8:09 am
How can we, as customers, help you get additional suppliers? As we travel the globe, we encounter travel suppliers who might benefit from partnering with SkyAuction. How can we connect them to you? Could there be some incentive like there is with customer referrals?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
Hi !
Personnally I don’t like these new Minimum Auctions
Specially the VSD for sale packages
The minimum are so high that it is better to buy directly
from their website once you start adding all the
extra s after your bid amount.
Thank you
Eric
April 1st, 2008 at 9:34 am
Sal,
As a long-time satisfied user, I congratulate you on your 10th anniversary. Why did it take me until 2000 to find and score on skyauction? A concern, however: The proliferation of processing charges, seasonal supplements, taxes and service fees, etc., could make it difficult for a newbie to make intelligent offers. This may account for the recent $500 winning bid for the Spain & Portugal luxury hotels. Did they really know it would be $569 for the first night and cost more than booking any of the hotels direct? If your site leads to confusion it will work against you.
In the same vein, I defy anyone to really know what it will cost for a week at Casa Pisces in Belize considering the uncertainty over taxes (6 rooms or 1 villa?) and fees.
This issue of transparency aside, skyauction serves a real need and will remain one of my first stops every day.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:40 am
Hi Eric,
I understand your comment but in some cases we wouldn’t have access to some of these products if we didn’t start them out with a minimum bid because of conditions given to us by our suppliers. We are always studying the price and I promise we are working to keep our vaule high and the discounts substantial.
Thanks for your business.
Sal
April 1st, 2008 at 9:42 am
Hi Barbara,
There is nothing like an extended sales force! If you bring in a valuable supplier that we haven’t contacted before I will find some way to see to it that you are compensated.
Best,
Sal
April 1st, 2008 at 9:45 am
Hi Barbara,
Ah yes, Disney discounts, wouldn’t that be a nice deal to have. The reality is, Disney doesn’t need to do much discounting, either you want that product or you don’t. They have purposely kept their cabin capacity low so they create higher demand for the product, hence higher prices. It is a very smart strategy when you think about it.
If I could get this deal, I would in an instant.
Sal
April 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
Hi Ed,
I am acutely aware of the need we have to limit surcharges and fees as they are currently broken down on our site. I wish I could show you the complexity of our agreements and how difficult a task that is to accomplish but thanks for validating what I believe will be one of our challenges in 2008. We are very focused on solving this difficult issue.
Thanks for you business and regards,
Sal
April 1st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I think this is the best site going and have used it several times and have fun with it also. Whats the possibility of having golf packages or rounds of golf to bid on. The vacation weeks are great and I have used them on two occasions for golf in Florida and Hilton Head for my foursome. Keep up the good work.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Steve,
Your reading our minds! We are looking at several possibilities right at the moment. Stay tuned.
Best,
Sal
April 1st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Sal,
What about the traveling options in Puerto Rico, they are going downward in terms of availability of offers, only 4 or 5 per week (1 to 3 cruises, maybe a hotel, and sometimes the same restaurant discount). I have been with you for a long time and have bought some things (cruises, hotels, discounts, restaurants …) , but never see an AIR (only flight) , or AIR PACKAGE (flight+hotel or flight/hotel/car, or whatever) but originating in Puerto Rico (departing from PR). All flights or air packages are to go to PR only, not from PR to anywhere! Is there any plan to add this to your offers?
April 1st, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Hi Alvin,
I am going to check into that because I believe we do have product that would be useful to anyone in PR planning a trip from the island.
I will keep you posted.
Sal
April 1st, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Let me start by saying I love Skyauction!~ I have taken many a girlfriend on a trip to the Dominican or Puerto Rico with your great bargains (they think I am a travel goddess because of your deals
and we leave for Cancun with you on the 19th and I have another win back to the DR at some point in 2008. I do agree on the comments regarding a lack of offers for Puerto Rico..I have won a hotel bid in the past and was trying to do that for a vacation this month but despite numerous attempts, ended up booking directly with the Marriott. Hmmm…but I still love you guys!! How about some European river cruise options (with air)….those seem dropping in price and increasing in availability!
Kristen
April 1st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Hi Kristen,
I think you are a travel Goddess as well!
Thanks and we are working on some additional auctions to and from PR.
Best,
Sal
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:06 am
Sal,
I enjoy the auctions and have been a faithful client for years. I do not like the “hidden” and “reserve not met”——this just turns me of completely. Can this be avoided?
Thanks,
Sandra
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hi Sandra,
I understand your comments and I can tell you that we are seriously reviewing the use of reserve auctions in the future. I think a stated reserve price might be the best way to go so at least bidders know the amount threshold. Hidden bids are a different issue altogether. We use this for suppliers who would not auction at all if prices are shown. It is either do it this way or lose the capability to auction off these extremely high value products.
Thanks for your comments!
April 4th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Regarding hidden bids, if you want to get an idea of what is being offered to get a feel for what they are going for just enter an obviously low bid. Skyauction will respond with the minimum bid for this item is….. You then no where you are.
I know times have changed, but when I started using this site there were so many trips to choose from, hotels and packages in Portugal, flights, packages, vacation weeks in Spain, various resorts in the U.S. These have not been available for over a year. What happened? I hate scanning through one restaurant auction after another when I’m looking for a trip. Why are they not kept in with the entertainment auctions?
That said, I love Skyauction and it is my first site to plan a trip. We have been to Spain twice, the Dominican once, & to resorts in VA, FL and North Carolina in addition to eating for 1/2 price in local restaurants with some of your offers. It is still the best deal in town if you know the price the offer would go for it booked directly.
I liked the river cruise suggestion, Sal. You didn’t respond to the suggestion. Does that mean, not a chance!
April 5th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Hi Lynne,
Thanks for the suggestion. We are considering a few different options to this problem with reserve pricing and we will let you know shortly on how our opinion of what is best to try. As far as the “merchandising” of our products is concerned, we understand that it has become a bit too difficult to find the travel stuff amongst all the new lifestyle stuff we offer. I am working with two of our marketing staff to comb the site (from the customers prospective) and begin to make suggestions on how to best segment out these offers. We will be working furiously on this in hopes of making some real improvements in the second quarter.
As far as river cruises are concerned, we have never found tremendous interest in that product among the customers we have communicated with. Do you really think lots of people would bid on these?
Let me know and thanks.
Sal
April 6th, 2008 at 9:03 am
River cruises??!! You bet there would be interest-at least among the people I know. Perhaps we are your older customers, but the river cruises rock. The views are excellent; it is easy to tour the towns without taking transportation from a docking that is miles from the venue to be visited, the food is excellent. The river cruise we went on has been one of the best trips ever.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Hi Lynne,
I will look into it.
Thanks,
Sal
April 10th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hi Daniel,
Ask me a specific question and I would be happy to clarify it for you.
Best,
Sal
April 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hi Sal,
I agree with Kristen and Lynne about the river cruises and yes I think there would be a great interest in river cruising especially if it included air. I just returned from an 18 day river cruise and it would have been great if I could have bid on it here at Sky Auction.
Regards,
Suzette