Creative Charters--Why so expensive?

[MGGopher]

I'm not here to bash...just looking for some insight from my fellow 'Holers. I'm on the email list for Creative Charters, and yesterday got a message about the USC trip. There are a couple options, but the bottom line is that GLC members can get the trip (RT air, 3 nights hotel, ground transfers) for about $750 pp/double occupancy after a few discounts. This got me wondering what it would cost me to put together my own trip, as $1500 for a couple seemed a bit steep. My findings? RT air on Frontier for $280 pp. An equally nice hotel for $140/night. I didn't check, but I figure on a rental car at around $30/day. Total price: around $1100. Now granted, the flight isn't a direct charter (there is one stop each way), but I also didn't look very hard for deals--this is straight off Kayak and Hotels.com. Does anyone with some insight into the travel industry have any clue as to why it would be about $200/pp more expensive to do the trip with a group as opposed to going it alone? The whole idea seems a bit counter-intuitive to me. I thought one would arrange a group outing to save money...power in numbers or something like that.

 

[highwayman]

No gas to buy, no parking fees, no hassle getting to/from the airport and game as well. They'll get you to the tailgate, Victory walk, game and back again. The extra you pay for is also for their on-site concierge service as well.

You get what you pay for. Steve and crew gets you where you need to be. They will line up side trips, tours, etc. and are always there to answer questions.

Is it expensive? Yes. You have to decide if you want to eliminate any hassles. You might get a car for $40 a day, but it might be closer to $80 in SoCal.

 

[tjgopher]

Group travel is almost always more expensive than attempting to go on your own. But, there are benefits to group travel (as already pointed out). No worries about the headache of hotel reservations, renting a car, returning a rental car, gas charges/fees, driving to/from everything, paying to park at the hotel (which for 3 nights might eat up half your $200 right there), paying to park at the game, non-stop air service is huge to me (my time is valuable), etc.

In addition, it is kind of fun to travel with a bunch of Gopher fans, stay in the same hotel with a bunch of Gopher fans, etc. You kind of adopt each other and form a mini Gopher army. I talked to a few people who were on his Puerto Rico trip who told me it was great because they all flew down on the same plane, stayed in the same hotel and of course winning the tourney helped them all enjoy it together.

And, if you really do some investigating, I think you'll find that Creative Charter is actually fairly cheap when it comes to group travel for fan trips like. I remember someone here did a cost comparison of "official bowl trips" for each school a few years ago, and CC was by far the cheapest of all Big Ten schools "official fan trips."

 

[GO4FAN65]

A few years back they tried to arrange a bus trip, instead of flying, to Columbus to try and save money. Another couple, my wife, and I signed up. It didn't pan out for lack of people and they had to cancel. We still used the tickets and hotel accomodations they had set up after we drove out. Very accomocading people. It's well worth the money to have someone do all the planning and leg work for you in my opinion. No stumbling around and running into unexpected problems. It's also great fun to be with other Gophers fans.

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

Does anyone with some insight into the travel industry have any clue as to why it would be about $200/pp more expensive to do the trip with a group as opposed to going it alone? The whole idea seems a bit counter-intuitive to me. I thought one would arrange a group outing to save money...power in numbers or something like that.

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, they are a business and need to make a profit and they are contracting for services with other businesses which also need to make a profit.

(I have priced about 5 different trips with them over the years and always ended up booking my own travel far cheaper, but I don't begrudge them charging for the services they provide. If the University really wanted to encourage fan travel, it would make it's own arrangements and offer the trips at their cost. That would allow the fans to benefit from the savings of buying "in bulk" and more people would probably make the trips.)

 

[station19]

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, they are a business and need to make a profit and they are contracting for services with other businesses which also need to make a profit.

(I have priced about 5 different trips with them over the years and always ended up booking my own travel far cheaper, but I don't begrudge them charging for the services they provide. If the University really wanted to encourage fan travel, it would make it's own arrangements and offer the trips at their cost. That would allow the fans to benefit from the savings of buying "in bulk" and more people would probably make the trips.)

And they could 'stage' lame promos in the aisles.

 

[MGGopher]

Thanks for the input, everyone. It's something that had been on my mind for a couple years now, so I thought I'd throw it out there. The responses you all gave definitely illustrated some reasons why a) they might charge more, and b) why someone might be willing to pay that premium. Makes sense. I'll probably still be inclined to book my own trips, but I get everyone's point...

 

[Lakeville Goldy]

My buddy and I took one of their trips to Penn State and it was awesome and that specific trip I couldn't touch their price. I usually end up doing my own trips because we usually like to see other things along the way. Like going to USC we will see my wife's relatives in San Diego. But if you just want to go to the game they almost can't be beat.

It isn't really a fair comparison to look at direct flight vs. connection. If you price the direct flight you will likely be over the cost of Creative. How much is your time and frustration over connections worth? $200 might be cheap...

 

[TLHGO4]

And they could 'stage' lame promos in the aisles.

I can see it now. Three hours of time share promos on the plane.

 

[MGGopher]

It isn't really a fair comparison to look at direct flight vs. connection. If you price the direct flight you will likely be over the cost of Creative. How much is your time and frustration over connections worth? $200 might be cheap...

Yeah, that's definitely true...I pointed it out in my OP. I just priced a direct flight though, and it's only $320 on Sun Country (so $50 more than a 1-connection). Again though, I now agree with the consensus opinion that Creative Charters is more expensive for a reason: they give folks the added value of hanging out with Gopher fans as well as not having to worry about the little details like rental cars, parking, etc. Doesn't make a big difference to me (at least not enough to justify a few hundred bucks), but it does to others...and that's cool with me.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

I have done there trips on the harder to get to places

Purdue, West L, Indiana, Michigan(Kind of helps that we won the jug that year), and Michigan state even a couple basketball trips Mens sweet sixteen and Womens basketball final Eight. There trips are more expensive than something you can put together on your own but there is something to be said for the convienence and not having to spend all of the time and work that goes into doing all this on your own.

Your partially paying for service and there a business so there is an upcharge. When it is a charter flight you do not have as big a hassle getting through security and wasting all that time in line. Like others have said, they arrange all of the transfers so no rental car or putting up with that hassle of driving or getting around town in LA.That and you can get tickets through them. Believe me the traffic in LA and Southern California is the absolute pitts beyond ridiculous, and the collesium area of town sucks bad, so I personally would feel safer in a large group. They stay in decent hotels somewhat pricey but your paying for the group experience and being around other Gopher fans. When I have been able to afford it I have gone with there group. Steve and Dorthy do a nice job of taking the hassle out of things. I'm not trying to be there personal salesman as I do not know them, but when I have used there service for trips, I have been nothing but satisfied and have had good experiences. The one thing is you do not have the freedom to roam or do other things outside of what is set-up for the group so If you want to do some of your own tourist type stuff then setting up your own gig would be the way to go.