Learnt a new lesson about my work today. I was actually going to the mall nearby to look for some stuff so I decided to go to a store I sell stuff to to pass them a document. When they saw me, let's just say they showed me yet another part of my job that my mum didn't properly explain to me.
Didn't hurt or anything since I could handle it, but the trip was just more important than I expected.
Also visited People's Park Centre near Chinatown today to see if I could get plane tickets cheaper than what I found on Expedia.
I had thought Expedia used SGD the other night when I noted the prices but I just realized they were in USD.
Anyway using the wrong price as my benchmark, I visited the travel agencies one by one to ask for the plane tickets for the days I wanted plus other conditions I deem necessary, like reaching there in the morning by departing at night so that even if it's too early for me to check in, I can still leave my luggage with the hotel and start walking, something taught to me recently by someone I know through my business.
Initially all were far above the price I had in mind, although lower than what it actually was in SGD.
A few even tried to pressure me by telling me that their low price was only available at that moment and I cannot take my time to think about it.
Those "low" prices were seriously lower than most, but still higher than what I wanted. Moreover, the lowest price offered by them was exactly the same as the lowest offered by 2 other agencies, which was about S$100 above my benchmark. No big deal.
Finally I entered this agency that offered only plane tickets, called "Fairprice Travel", which actually stated in Chinese on their signboard outside that it's a wholesaler of air tickets. Btw it's not related to NTUC.
I had a bit of hope then but after so many failures, I wasn't expecting much, maybe slightly lower than the lowest at that point.
In the end, they got one that was only $9 over the price I had in mind, so I asked for her namecard and wrote the price and airline down.
It was Malaysian Airlines with one transfer at KL, surprisingly, instead of an airline from the destination country.
Then when I got back and realized Expedia was in USD (after reading their FAQ), I knew I was pretty much settled with this part of the decision-making process.
As for the hotel, Fairprice Travel doesn't handle that, and all the other agencies couldn't go below $90 per night even for single beds (I only wanted a specific hotel), so I'm booking from the internet instead.
One website that I shall not name so that I don't reveal the destination country openly, offered me 2 nights for just $148 at that hotel for a room with either twin beds or a Queen-sized bed.
In other words, even if they could match the $74-per-night rate, I don't believe any of them could match the room.
Ok, so this may not be completely accurate. I didn't actually visit all of the agencies in that mall; I omitted an entire row near the food court, so I probably visited only 90% of them.
One reason why I stopped asking after finding Fairprice Travel is because the expressions of the agents tend to darken when I ask them to find fares that don't exceed the lowest I found at that point.
Obviously this meant that in order for them to compete, they would have to reduce their own commission. And why would they really want to compete for such a small commission from just 1 person's airfare and a few nights' stay at a hotel?
One of them even told me politely she won't bother to search for hotels unless I accept the price of the airfare she offered... which was $186 above the one offered by Fairprice.
The trip itself won't be very comfortable due to the first flight. It's a midnight flight with an hour-long transfer, meaning I won't be getting much sleep. After that, the plan is to go look around right after I dump my luggage at the lobby, so sleep is out of the question for the rest of the day too.
As for the return trip, I didn't care and I don't remember. All I know is that I am going to be back on that day itself (some flights end on the next day due to a long transfer period). I'm really not planning to do more walking on the final day, hence my nonchalance.
The hotel itself was the one thing I could splurge on because in a developing country, it's never a waste of money to spend more on lodgings and even food. When things suck in a developing country, it could seriously suck, and you don't want that to be true for your room.
So when I chose the hotel, I looked at the location first before going for somewhere that's at least 3 stars. The most important factor is always the location when money is not a major issue.
Y'know, I kinda wonder how the other agencies survive. More young people turn to the Internet these days to do their research, so there has to be an increasing number of travellers who don't need a guide.
Without a guide, travellers would only need the air tickets and hotel bookings from agencies.
Yet absolutely none of the real travel agencies could match the air ticket prices of this agency that specializes in that, and the Internet offers far cheaper hotel prices than they can.
How many internet-illiterates are there buying from them to allow them to stay in business?
Tried to order Domino's the other day using my free-pizza voucher that they gave to compensate for a late delivery last month.
Didn't work. Apparently they don't allow certain promotions to be used together with others.
I used 2 other coupons in addition to that voucher, and I've never had any trouble with multiple coupons before. Hence I suspect that free-pizza voucher can only be used alone in each order.
Ordered Canadian 2-for-1 instead.
For some reason I find myself disliking the task of typing order forms detailing the changes I want to the factories.
I have no idea why. My guess is I fear making mistakes in those.
Strange because it's the same even for order forms for samples on which there is little to lose.
No comments:
Post a Comment