The Site: ReserveVacations.com
- ReserveVacations.com combines traditional online travel booking with with the vacation timeshare industry
- Travel package prices “are on average $225 off major travel sites“, when you agree to participate in a 120 “Resort Preview” of timeshare ownership
- Non-Preview traditional travel packages are available for online booking at reduced rates
- 110% Price Guarantee
The Good:
ReserveVacations.com really does have low prices on hotel packages to some popular destinations, like Cancun, Orlando, and Las Vegas, especially when you agree (and qualify) to attend a no-obligation 90- 120 minute timeshare presentation (which they call a “Resort Preview” and claim it to be “fun and informative”). We found 3 night all-inclusive hotel packages at top rated Cancun resorts for $349 for 2 adults (subject to change), and 2 night hotel packages in Myrtle Beach from $29 (subject to change). We went on to find 2 night hotel packages on the Las Vegas strip with show tickets included from $79 for 2 adults as well (subject to change). We appreciate that the name of the hotel that you are booking is disclosed prior to booking, so you can read hotel reviews on TripAdvisor and compare prices elsewhere before finalizing your booking. We recommend you spend time reading the small print so that you fully understand what is included in your booking on ReserveVacations.com.
We found the 110% Price Guarantee on ReserveVacations.com to be quite good. If you find a lower package price within 48 hours of booking, Reserve Vacations will refund, not just all of your money, but an additional 10%.
ReserveVacations.com makes it easy to contact them as they provide their mailing address, toll-free phone number, email form, and live chat box. We don’t often find this so easily on other websites.
The Bad:
There are some website design issues that we should mention in our review. The ReserveVacations.com search box is automatically checked to compare prices on Hotwire. We recommend un-checking that box on the search box, because we kept getting an destination error on Hotwire.com. We were also bombarded with another website pulling up, TravelApe.com, without any warning (later realizing that this is where you get redirected to book hotels without a “Resort Preview”). We got errors on ReserveVacations.com when we used the back button on our browser, so avoid that. We clicked several links that came up with “404 Page Not Found” browser errors. Although their search box allows you select up to 8 travelers (4 adults/4 children), we were unable to actually find any packages that accommodated that many people. We only had success when selecting up to 4 travelers.
The list of destination cities is very short. We counted 20 cities, and some of these don’t seem to be popular vacation destinations. Killington, Vermont wouldn’t be on our top 20 destinations list. Although Reserve Vacations calls their travel bookings “Packages”, which is typically associated with hotel + airfare in the online travel booking world, their “Packages” do not include airfare. We also typically associate the word “vacations” as inclusive of airfare. Rather, a package on ReserveVacations.com may include the hotel + a gift card or attraction tickets. This may confuse some people, and may add complications when determining what qualifies under their 110% Price Guarantee.
If you aren’t married or make less than $75,000 per year, you may not qualify for a “Resort Preview”. Thus, not everyone qualifies for the reduced rate packages, which seems a bit unfair to us. Although we have never sat through a “Resort Preview”, we have to wonder how much “fun” a timeshare presentation really is. It’s hard to commit to something like that when you are planning a vacation, and it is up to you to decide whether the savings are worth those 2 hours of your vacation time. Perhaps it is, so it’s worth checking out.
We couldn’t find their cancellation policy.
The Fees *
$350+ up to full retail price of vacation is charged if you:
- Do not meet the resorts “Qualifications” for a “Resort Preview”, as disclosed in the Terms & Conditions on the final booking screen, and/or
- Fail to attend the “Resort Preview”
*Based solely on research done by TravelSiteCritic.com, these figures may be inaccurate and are subject to change.Verify policies with the website before you book. Please be aware of airfare taxes & fees, applicable to any booking that includes airfare.
The Deals:
The following deals do not include airfare and we do not receive notice if they sell out or change.
Please be aware of airfare taxes & fees. TravelSiteCritic.com is a marketing affiliate of ReserveVacations.com. Read our review disclosure.
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