While this is certainly not a good topic for the owner of a Lifestyle Travel Agency to be writing about, I believe that it can help us understand the client’s needs a little bit more. Lifestyle Travel agents have absolutely no control over how the resorts set pricing, we simply try to enhance the packages as much as we can, to increase the overall value and lessen the headache of the consumer. Unlike regular travel agencies, Lifestyle Travel Agents, for the most parts, are also event planners, and we invest heavily in making your vacation more than just the typical holiday experience.
Regardless, some couples consider the major Lifestyle Friendly Resorts, like Desire and Hedonism II, to be overpriced, especially during peak travel season. Firstly lets all agree that the term “Over-Priced” is very relative and cannot be generalized. Overpriced for most, comes down to the depth of your pocket book. So lets assume this post is referring to the average middle class consumer. Do you think lifestyle resorts are overpriced?
From The Consumers Perspective….
Some consumers find it hard to justify Sandals like pricing for Desire Resorts, when the amenities and infrastructure at Desire, while very nice, they are not as nice as Sandals. Desire Pearl Charges rates that are equivalent to the rates of a honeymoon suite at Couples resort, but yet the Suites are about a four star quality. Hedonism II maintained an average price of about three hundred and eighty dollars a night, even while the hotel went through a phase where it was very run-down. The Couples Cruises seem pricey, if you compare them to the low Cruise Deals you can find online.
The food, the booze, and most of the amenities are the same as those of regular resorts, but yet the average pricing is fifteen to twenty percent more. For younger couples especially, they believe these prices makes it hard for them to frequent the traditional lifestyle resorts, so a lot of them end up settling for a week at Temptations Resort, or just bringing a group of friends to the Grand Bahia Principe.
From The Hotels Perspective…
When you consider the variables that come into play when an hotelier decides to make an adult only clothing optional resort, the possibility of failure is drastically increased As much as the lifestyle industry is rapidly growing, the community still makes up less than ten percent of the world’s adult population, so the potential market share is very much circumcised. This is very evident, when you look at the number of hotels that has opened up over the last few years, and struggled to stay afloat, which eventually led to closure. The real truth is, not many lifestyle resorts have the luxury of building a hotel with over five hundred rooms, and be able to maintain operation cost, with the size of the market available to them. Even though Desire Riviera Maya is one of the most popular lifestyle hotels, it only has one hundred rooms and Desire Pearl has only eighty. Hedonism II in Negril Jamaica has two hundred and eighty rooms, but they have been able to survive through mostly reputation and the fact that they also provide a very high entertainment value, which appeals to the none-lifestyle crowd as well. The bottom line is, Lifestyle resorts do not have the volume to make up the profit, so in order to make it worthwhile, the markup has to be higher than comparable Vanilla resorts. In addition, these hotels or cruise specialist such as Couples Cruise, have to implement specific kinds of events and entertainment, which you will not see at regular hotels.
Summary
We have been to all the different kinds of hotels that the travel industry has to offer; from a bed and breakfast, to honeymoon luxury hotels, to all inclusive resorts that cater to the age of sixteen and up and we have definitely visited all the Lifestyle Resorts a few times. In our experience, we found that the freedom we have from being at a lifestyle hotel, the difference in the attitude of the people and staff, and even just the energy that is created, the experience is worth every penny if you can afford it. Even though when looking at just dollars and cents, they may seem expensive, there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration. I will touch on those things in my next blog, but first I want to hear your thoughts are.
The lifestyle is slowly becoming more mainstream, and very soon we will have at least a quarter of the hotel options available to us that the Vanilla community has to visit. We will have more people to fill each hotel, and that will no doubt make it better for the hotel and cruise operators as they will have more people to fill more rooms, and that will no doubt bring pricing down a bit. Until then, the prices are justified and my next blog will explain why.
We appreciate you leaving a comment to share your perspective.
