Member Info for Beachbum1978

A way of protecting its Brand, Quality and reputation I suppose?? IMO, DYOR, ATB, GLA

The price promise is a very strange one. Never heard of a travel company do it, in the 23 years I’ve been in the industry, but could be wrong.

Price movement is supply and demand, and discount comes in to shift cabins/seats etc. It’s a big call really. Especially when we live in a world of supply and demand price fluctuations with pretty much everything these days, and is just accepted?

I can only presume with it being such a luxury, niche product within a particular demographic, they don’t want to trash it. Cruise is a notoriously discounted product in the mainstream and margins/reputations get trashed.

29rosamund Welcome!

Thanks for your thoughts, I was just interested in your very last words ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ and what that represented, individual or company. Obviously non of my business, just interest.

By the way, I’ve just left Morrison’s, and you are correct. The place is rotten to the core, and an absolute shambles from top to bottom. Good job it’s getting taken over! ATB.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/summer-staycation-frustration-revealed-in-saga-poll

Good afternoon agents please be bear with us as our call waiting times are much busier than usual

Our call centre are doing a fantastic job of working their way through all the incoming calls but to save you waiting if you are able to book your holiday on our portal, please do at www.sagaagents.co.uk

If it's not too urgent, feel free to email us at tradesupport@saga.co.uk we may not be able to answer all the queries but can defintely try or forward to the relevant department.

Thank you all for bearing with us at this time, we do appreciate your support ??

To repeat what I said last week, travel bookings are really starting to come in thick and fast generally now. Turned a massive corner and consumer confidence is now good. Some bargains for this year!

Bookings 60% for next year and 40% for this year to give you an idea. Cheers.

IMO the big boys are buying-in and playing around with it at the same time to get the shares at the right price

There has been a familiar pattern all week. Buying big, then lowering the price again, repeat, repeat. Just IMO DYOR.

Sorry 16 months. Took off sale in the March due to Covid

You getting first round in when it’s gone BB?

Just over 6 months it’s been on sale according to this article

https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/356179/saga-seeking-sale-of-titan-travel

You won’t see much movement in August because there all looking after the grandkids during the school holidays, while there parents work. Soon as the kids go back. Gran and Gramps come out to play!

That’s why Sep/Oct is peak booking time. They deserve a break and plan.

Banbury - put me down for 77% booked up by the time of trading update, and 92% by end of Oct/early November (I’ll have to ask for that).

Fantastic work Banbury! Love it!

Given the times, and what we have been through, I would say those are fantastic capacity figures!!!

Don’t forget we still have September and October peak booking periods to come, and confidence generally getting better and better as the weeks go by.

As I mentioned the other day about half my turnover being in the bag already for 2022 bookings, this now mirrors the trend as I mentioned, be it Saga is higher. It’s really all about 2022 as we know, and as a few agree now, 2021 breakeven, stop cruise cash burn is decent result. Keep up the good work mate

To give a tiny example of what is happening.

My agency is tiny. Turnover is £1m a year. For the rest of this year, I’m scraping by, at break even every month, or just under. But… I already have £500k of forward 2022 bookings in the bag already. So half my yearly turnover 6 months before. Which never ever happens in normal circumstances. Tour operators tend to mirror what travel agencies are doing.

Thanks Thomson - main observations from a travel industry perspective

- Delta variant has spooked/thrown a spanner in the works for this year, on top of most people righting this year off anyway.

- Saga demographic customers are not ‘late bookers’ they don’t rush, they research and compare. And tend to book with at least a 6 month lead time. I worked for a similar Tour Operator called Wendy Wu Tours, largest operator for Escorted Tours to China. All 50+ and could never shift any late availability.

- Best case scenario is the ships are now on the seas with paying customers, and if they stop the cruise cash burn and even break even for this years cruising fair enough, then next year will explode. Cheers

Thanks Banbury - I think this years load factors/bookings will still be a little scetchy with uncertainty and changes etc etc, but expect them still to be decent.

The real money will be from late this year and all of next, when everything gets better.
Unfortunately the TU comes at a time just at the start of the peak booking period for SAGA customers, so the figures could dramatically increase from the TU to the end of Oct/Nov.
What I’d like to see/hear is a further update on capacity/bookings at the end of October/November. Something I might ask them directly.
This will give a real indication.

We have just had a cracking July! Bookings are now starting to soar, so the sentiment has changed dramatically in the general travel arena. I’ve seen it first hand this morning from the figures.
I even think TOUR (don’t shout at me) will start a turnaround, be it slowly. However, still agree with you, they should get shut. More hassle than it’s worth. Stick with the high margin quality cruising.

Thanks Birdseye for the updates. Careful on that copyright:-)

Cheers guys. My agency has massively picked up with bookings now. A real corner feels like it’s been turned. The Cruise market will be booming, so the only thing I expect from the RNS is very large load factors and demand. That I am extremely confident about. Cheers

When is the next RNS? What date in Sept?

There is a great quote in the film ‘The Big Short’ where they quote certain terms used by Wall St/Stock Market’ to confuse people that only they know what they are taking about.

Stick to your own research. Best of luck

Thanks for this Culco…missed it on news earlier. ROX… PMSL…nothing wrong with taking an ex’ back for one night, and taking a gamble! You love it.

Can always send her a nice CARD afterwards x