Cancun hotels, call now!
Sep. 9th, 2009 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guslI just got a cold call offering a promotion on a Cancun vacation (6 days, 2 adults + 2 children): at first it was a combined deal with Orlando, FL (5 days), for $598 altogether (including ground transportation). I managed to haggle them down to $349 for Cancun only, for 6 days/5 nights in a luxury hotel, to book anytime in the next 18 months (with an extra day free if I booked between Aug-Nov).
At first I thought it was a scam, given the slimy nature of the marketing ("you just won $2500 in travel money!", "only one call per household, so it's take it or leave it!"). They said it was a way of promoting their timeshares, and that the deal required that I take a tour of their resorts.
After I hung up, I realized that this must be related to H1N1.
Slimy or not, the take-it-or-leave policy makes sense a lot of sense as price discrimination. The people who approach their website by themselves are likely to be interested in going to Cancun, and thus willing to pay more. Mechanisms by which I'd call them back later could be corrupted, eliminating their high-paying customers.
At first I thought it was a scam, given the slimy nature of the marketing ("you just won $2500 in travel money!", "only one call per household, so it's take it or leave it!"). They said it was a way of promoting their timeshares, and that the deal required that I take a tour of their resorts.
After I hung up, I realized that this must be related to H1N1.
Slimy or not, the take-it-or-leave policy makes sense a lot of sense as price discrimination. The people who approach their website by themselves are likely to be interested in going to Cancun, and thus willing to pay more. Mechanisms by which I'd call them back later could be corrupted, eliminating their high-paying customers.