Tagged Pages Archive | Polynesia
2013
28
January
Montreal to Bora Bora | How To Get The Best Package Deals
28
January
Guides
The Ydeals Noise-Free Guide To Getting The Best Deal On Flight & Hotel Packages From Montreal to Bora Bora
 | There are thousands of travel sites out there, all wanting you to believe they have unique or special prices on packages to Bora Bora. They don't. They use marketing noise to hide the fact that there is really only one source of unique prices on packages to Bora Bora. This guide will remove the noise and show you what that source is, so you can stop wasting so much time when searching for the best deal. |
What are the unique sources of prices on packages from Montreal to Bora Bora ?
Unique Source #1 - The Flight & Hotel Combiners
The Flight & Hotel Combiners are sites that simply mash together the latest flight prices from the major airlines with the latest hotel prices in Bora Bora to create a package. They tend to mostly be U.S. based brands offering packages departing from Canada.
Many warm destinations have at least two unique vacation package prices from the Canadian Tour Operators but there are not currently any that offer packages from Montreal to Bora Bora.
Where should I look to get the best holiday package deal?
This is the noise. The flight price component of the package from the major airlines is identical for every site that offers these types of packages. There may be a slight differences in their source of hotel prices, but for the most part they're all grabbing the latest hotel prices from similar sources, at similar prices.
The result is that the Flight & Hotel Combiners usually all have very identical package prices to each other, and people tend to waste a lot of time thinking they are comparing prices from unique sources against each other, when they're not.
Here are the Flight & Hotel Combiners that spend the most on advertising to travellers, you have likely heard of at least one of them...
| Expedia | Travelocity | Book It | Orbitz | Hotwire |
When should I book to get the best price on Bora Bora vacations from the Flight & Hotel Combiners?
Try to remember that at the end of the day, the travel packages offered by the Flight & Hotel Combiners are simply made up of two components:
1) The latest flight prices from the major airlines. The major airlines don't tend to offer great last minute prices, so waiting until the last minute can backfire. I find the major airlines tend to usually offer their most decent prices around 8 weeks before departure. But to Bora Bora, flight prices tend to start off expensive and stay that way.
2) The latest hotel prices. It's more common to see hotels offer discounts at the last minute, but then you have to weigh that against the fact that the flight price component from the major airlines can rise as the date nears, meaning the package price could go up.
So as a whole I'd probably consider the flight price component as being the limiting factor, and suggest that I'd be comfortable watching prices from the Flight & Hotel Combiners up to about 8 weeks before departure. But everyone has a different tolerance for risk.
One strategy can be to look for dates that have cheaper flight prices to Bora Bora, and then use those dates when looking for a package. You may want to read the guide Montreal to Bora Bora | How To Get The Best Flight Deals.
What about my local travel agency or independent travel agent here in Montreal?
If it's through a travel agency in Canada, or any Canadian travel agent, they would normally try to sell you on a vacation package from one of the Canadian Tour Operators, but since there are no Canadian Tour Operators that offer packages from Montreal to Bora Bora, they'd likely just book a package for you that was similar to what is available through the Flight & Hotel Combiner sites. They may or may not charge you a booking fee for their time.
What about booking flight & hotel separately? Is that cheaper or more expensive than a packaged holiday?
People often want to know if booking a package to Bora Bora is better or worse than booking flight and hotel separately. The answer is, well, that there is no correct answer. One or the other can be cheaper or more expensive for any given situation, at any given moment. All you can do is try both and compare.
I'd suggest starting with finding the cheapest flight to Bora Bora that you can. You may want to read the guide mentioned in the paragraph above. To Bora Bora though, you can pretty much be guaranteed that flights will be pricey.
Then find the cheapest hotel rates you can for your dates. Remember that package deal offers are almost always listed as 'per person' (usually based on 2 people in a room), so you'll need to do some simple math for an accurate comparison. Again though, you can be certain that there are no 'cheap' hotels in Bora Bora. Everything to do with Bora Bora is expensive.
The easiest thing to do is usually just to take the travel package price that you see on the typical Flight & Hotel Combiner sites and multiply it by 2. Jot down this number.
Now take the total cost of the flights to Bora Bora you found (2 of them) and add it to the total cost of the hotel (across all nights) that you found on your own. Compare to the number you jotted down above.
Remember that for a fair comparison you should always keep as many variables the same as possible, including the flight quality (number of stopovers, layover time), the number of nights, and the hotel involved.
Congratulations, you have essentially become your own Flight & Hotel Combiner, not all that different from what the large travel sites are doing.
So you're saying I'm not ever going to find a cheap package deal to Bora Bora?
When it comes to Bora Bora, *everything* is expensive, including the flight there (I have yet to ever see a decent price), the accommodations (there are no budget options), the food & drinks, the excursions, etc.
What about travel packages with non-stop flights?
There are currently no airlines offering direct flights from Montreal to Bora Bora (BOB), so as a result, there aren't any packages that do either.
What about 'all inclusive' packages from Montreal to Bora Bora?
Unlike some countries (Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic), where there is an abundance of all-inclusive resorts, Bora Bora does not really have many true 'all inclusive' resorts where all meals and drinks are included, and the ones that do will be ridiculously expensive. When using the Flight & Hotel Combiner sites, you could keep an eye out for hotels that offer a room type of 'all inclusive', but there are very few in Bora Bora.
What about value-priced packages to Bora Bora from U.S. airports close to Montreal?
If you've ever read my guide about flying out of U.S. Airports within driving distance of Montreal, you may know that I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a package from a U.S. airport to Bora Bora that's at least a certain number of dollars less per person than the airfare from Montreal.
How much cheaper it needs to be depends on which U.S. airport you're flying from. Below, I'll list how much cheaper I feel it should be from each U.S. airport, to be worth the drive.
From Plattsburgh, New York (PBG)
I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see an package from Plattsburgh to Bora Bora that's at least $150 less per person than from Montreal.
Unfortunately though, Plattsburgh doesn't really offer flights to Bora Bora, or even to Los Angeles (LAX) which is the most common U.S. gateway to Bora Bora. So you're not likely to find any packages departing from Plattsburgh.
From Burlington, Vermont (BTV)
I feel it could be worth the drive, if you ever see an airfare from Burlington to Bora Bora that's at least $225 less per person than from Montreal.
Similar to Plattsburgh, there aren't really any flights from Burlington to Bora Bora, but you could try looking for a flight from Plattsburgh to Los Angeles (LAX) and then a package from Los Angeles to Bora Bora.
I think I've found a great deal on a getaway package to Bora Bora!
Excellent! Please share it with your fellow travel lovers from Montreal, they will appreciate it and thank you for it! You can post it in the YUL Deals Facebook group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive), where thousands of people from Montreal are crowd-sourcing the best deals, and sharing great travel advice.
Or if you prefer, you can always give me a shout through the YUL Deals contact form or on Twitter @YULdeals or through Google Plus. Great deal finds are always appreciated.
Why should I trust this Montreal guide to Bora Bora travel?
 | The info in this guide is based on my observations of the travel industry over the years, including all the thousands of websites out there, and where all the different players get their prices from and how they interact with each other. The goal is to remove the noise of travel marketing, so people can stop wasting so much valuable time searching the same prices over and over. |
But, as social proof of it's accuracy, feel free to join the YUL Deals Facebook Group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive) and publicly disagree with any of it, or make a comment below. Critiques are always welcome!
I think I have some info that could help improve the Bora Bora vacation package guide!
Great! Please post your info in the Facebook group above, or contact me directly. Suggestions for improvement are always appreciated. Let me know if you see something that seems inaccurate or outdated.
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