Flights

[jason adams]

Hi all,this is my first post as a new member.I've been a Villa owner now for six years. Is it me or are Flight prices just getting ridiculous. Is this having an effect on anyones future rentals?
Jason

[Katys Grandad]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forums Jason.

I don't know about the impact on rentals but it's definitely not just you who think flight prices have become ridiculous.

Last weekend I was looking at Manchester to Fort Myers in May. My dates are outside school holidays and it's not a direct flight but the cheapest I could find was £695. 2 years ago I was paying under £400 for the same flights.

[freddiehollie]

Hi Jason.

I have just booked 15th December 2011 Return 1st January 2012 via Philly with US Airways family of 4 for £2100. Very pleased as Virgin wanted £3600

My flight for this summer (2011) was £2700. So I was pleasantly surprised with that.

I noticed the prices varied widely by a few days either way.

We have travelled with US a number of times now with no problems. We were always Virgin people, but the service from them is getting worse as the prices increase[V]

Problem is we fly from Manchester so very restricted to sheduled airlines and you are to restricted with charter airlines.

The baggage allowance is also better with US than Virgin[msnsmile2]

[Albert the Frog]

We've been as renters for a few years now and love Florida-this year though we are restricted to school holidays and found the flight prices horrendous-Virgin's lowest was £1000 per adult on the dates we had so we too booked indirect with US and came away thinking the £730 we eventually paid was a bargain!
We looked at going to europe but even there the overall cost is ridiculous-so, before i start waffling- i think that it is not just prices to orlando that are becoming restrictive it is all over-it probably means from a renters point of view that i will be searching out value for my money and then i will have to cut my cloth-as it were. Cost though is certainly now more of a consideration for me than it has been

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

I don't know about the impact on rentals as I know with our own villas there has been a massive increase in the number of US guests over the last few years as they realise what great value villas are over the very expensive hotels they have been used to staying in. We've probably had a few less UK guests than normal but that has more than been made up by the influx of US guests [msnsmile].

[steph_goodrum]

We've found the same as John but if you are able to travel outside school hols it is better.
We booked Virgin this week for mid June at £468 each which is good compared to school hols. It used to be off peak were under £300 not so long ago.

[Sandra M]

I went out to our villa for my 40th with some friends, it was February 2005 and we paid £170 with Thompson - I priced Thompson yesterday for a week in March this year and it's £560 [msnoo]

I think we're going to go for the miles plus money option with Virgin which is comiing out at £398

Sandra

[Sandra M]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
I don't know about the impact on rentals as I know with our own villas there has been a massive increase in the number of US guests over the last few years as they realise what great value villas are over the very expensive hotels they have been used to staying in. We've probably had a few less UK guests than normal but that has more than been made up by the influx of US guests [msnsmile].
[/quote]

I think this is true, we have more bookings for our villa this year than any other since we have owned ( 2005) and have 11 weeks booked for 2012 already.

If people decide to go I think they are prepared to pay the prices as most people see it as a big holiday

Sandra

[SteveandJan]

Jason, I managed to get some Virgin flights at £709 during the summer school holidays direct into Miami. The prices were up £80 per person since last year but the tax has increased. We as owners have seen our utilities, running costs go up, so the airlines are having to cope with increasing commodity prices just like us and they have to pass these increases on to their customers, otherwise they will go out of business. As much as it pains me to see the increases, the increases are worldwide and European flights have increased too. There is also less capacity on routes into Orlando from 5 years ago. I always book as soon as they release the dates that I want. I haven't noticed a downturn in bookings, we are very busy for this year and have 3 weeks booked for next April. As John and Steph said, Orlando being an international destination we have guests from all over Europe, UK, US, Canada and South America to name just a few. I second what John says how villas are better value than an expensive small hotel room.
[msnsmile]

[Andrena]

I too agree that flight prices are becoming ridiculous. We too are having more US guests but as has been said we as owners are facing higher costs too, but the guests seem to feel that if they have to pay higher airfares they want to pay less for the villas. This is just not possible as if we keep our homes up to the standard that guests want then it cost us money and we just cannot offer low prices unless guests want lesser standards in our homes. They can't have it all ways -a wonderful place to stay in for their holiday or a cheap rental and less comforts.

Andrena