In message , at 08:23:17 on Mon, 2 Apr
2012, d remarked:
The real blackmail is in the holiday companies and airlines stiffing people
with exhorbitant fares during school holidays. There's no reason for them to
do it , they just do it because they can. Its naked profiteering.

They price things according to supply and demand. It's difficult to
criticise that in a capitalist economy.

Except they put the prices up in the expectation of demand long before
the season, not actual demand during it.

What?? The demand for holidays occurs when people book them, not when
they take them.

If that were the case you'd find the prices slowly increasing as time went
by and more people booked. They don't. They start high and remain there. Its
only when they have surplus left over and its close to end of season that
the bargains start appearing.

Holiday companies know quite accurately what the demand is going to be,
in advance. Because of historical data and their knowledge of the
market.

Therefore it's possible to set prices with the intention of exactly
selling out both the August and February slots, despite considerably
differing demand.

The "sales" are simply evidence of when that prediction didn't quite
work out.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at
11:18:56 on Mon, 2 Apr 2012, Neil Williams
remarked:
If that were the case you'd find the prices slowly increasing as
time went
by and more people booked.

That is merely one pricing model. Another is to charge everyone the
same (higher) prices at times of known high demand, and if you end up
with a few spare dump them for a few quid. That model might be more
profitable in some cases.

Budget airlines tend to use a combination of both models to some extent
but leaning toward the first.

Budget airlines can also trim their supply much more easily than hotels
can. So there's loads of extra flights to relevant places during the ski
season, and yet the prices are still very high because they know people
simply "have to" go skiing at particular times.
--
Roland Perry

On 02/04/2012 10:40, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 08:23:17 on Mon, 2 Apr
2012, d remarked:
The real blackmail is in the holiday companies and airlines
stiffing people
with exhorbitant fares during school holidays. There's no reason
for them to
do it , they just do it because they can. Its naked profiteering.

They price things according to supply and demand. It's difficult to
criticise that in a capitalist economy.

Except they put the prices up in the expectation of demand long before
the season, not actual demand during it.

What?? The demand for holidays occurs when people book them, not when
they take them.

If that were the case you'd find the prices slowly increasing as time
went
by and more people booked. They don't. They start high and remain
there. Its
only when they have surplus left over and its close to end of season that
the bargains start appearing.

Holiday companies know quite accurately what the demand is going to be,
in advance. Because of historical data and their knowledge of the market.

Except the ones which calculated that 2011 was going to be a good year
for holidays in North Africa...


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In message , at
17:47:22 on Mon, 2 Apr 2012, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Holiday companies know quite accurately what the demand is going to be,
in advance. Because of historical data and their knowledge of the market.

Except the ones which calculated that 2011 was going to be a good year
for holidays in North Africa...

There's always going to be exceptional circumstances (holidays to Fiji
are off the menu this week, for example). Doesn't alter the general
principle.
--
Roland Perry

On 04/02/2012 06:00 PM, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
17:47:22 on Mon, 2 Apr 2012, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Holiday companies know quite accurately what the demand is going to be,
in advance. Because of historical data and their knowledge of the
market.

Except the ones which calculated that 2011 was going to be a good year
for holidays in North Africa...

There's always going to be exceptional circumstances (holidays to Fiji
are off the menu this week, for example). Doesn't alter the general
principle.
And there should be some exceptionally good deals for cruises this year.

On 31/03/2012 12:12, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:42:22 on Sat, 31 Mar
2012, Graham Nye remarked:

Have you ever been involved in market research? They don't just pull
numbers out of a hat.

They might as well for some of the results they get. This seems
particularly likely if the "research" has been commissioned just
to provide an excuse for a press release and hence some free
publicity or if the questions given to the MR firm dictate what
answers are acceptable (as with the drinking survey Arthur saw not
permitting a choice of real ale).

This is a typical bit of Usenet nonsense, where people are too inclined
to rubbish the efforts of other professionals...

Would you care to defend the practices I mentioned? I'm left with
the impression that ABTA are an organisation that is happy to fling
round some half-baked statistics to grab some unjustified free
editorial coverage when it ought to be buying some advertising
space. Hardly the "expertise, reliability and fairness" their press
release claims their brand stands for. How does that constitute a
professional PR result? (It's possible, of course, that the
underlying market research was comprehensive and that the PR people
have selected an incoherent set of stats for their press release.)

... while claiming their own
activities are a tour de force that's beyond reproach from mere
amateurs.

Could you point me to the activities in my paragraph quoted above
that I am claiming that for?

Another characteristic is the odd non-sequitur that gets thrown
in. 40% of people taking time off during the games, eh? Wouldn't
have anything to do with the games occurring during the main
holiday season, would it?

I did wonder about that myself, but would 40% of the population
take a holiday during a normal mid-August?

Offhand, I don't know myself. One thing's sure, though - we
aren't going to find out from this press release. I'd expect
that a press release saying how the Olympics affected holiday
plans would list the holiday-going statistics for non-Olympic
years as an obvious way to establish a baseline for comparison
but what would I know? I'm not a PR/MR/statistics professional.


--
Graham Nye
news(a)thenyes.org.uk

On Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:15:47 +0100, roger wrote:
And there should be some exceptionally good deals for cruises this
year.

In today's Times I was amused to note an advert for cruises backing
onto an article about the Titanic.

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

On 02/04/2012 19:48, Neil Williams wrote:
On Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:15:47 +0100, roger wrote:
And there should be some exceptionally good deals for cruises this
year.

In today's Times I was amused to note an advert for cruises backing onto
an article about the Titanic.

http://www.anorak.co.uk/wp-content/u...ruise-ship.jpg

I once saw a Sunday newspaper with a box explaining that their "Visit
Sunny place" colour supplement had been printed the previous week,
before the disaster/war/revolution which was dominating the news
section, and it was too late to change it.


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 30/03/2012 14:42, Neil Williams wrote:
On Mar 30, 3:31 pm, wrote:

The real blackmail is in the holiday companies and airlines stiffing people
with exhorbitant fares during school holidays. There's no reason for them to
do it , they just do it because they can. Its naked profiteering.

There is more demand for a limited commodity, ergo the price is
higher. That's just market economics.

The cheaper prices at other times encourages those who can (those
without children, primarily) to holiday at other times.

Though the absence of children is also an encouragement in itself.

--
Arthur Herod Figgis Surrey, UK

On 02/04/2012 18:33, Graham Nye wrote:

How does that constitute a professional PR result?

We are discussing it now, so it worked.

Don't confuse the "get our name in the media" style of "research" with
the "attempt to gain an understanding of the universe" research.

A while ago there was some "research" into cockroaches on trains from a
leading purveyor of cockroach removal solutions. Ben Goldacre managed to
get an admission that it was indeed made up, but the story is is still
out there on various news websites.
http://www.badscience.net/2010/03/rentokil/

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK