The Great 'What Can You Blag On Holiday' Hunt

UnitedFlyer · 9 August 2007 at 5:55PM

Just booked my holiday to Bangkok & Hong Kong next year.

It took a few emails and lots of please/thankyou's to the hotel (Intercontinental), but they have just upgraded me to a 2,650 sq ft Royal Suite (best suite in the hotel). Nice when you think I'm paying ~£70 and the suite goes for £1200 a night. :T

slsom64 · 9 August 2007 at 8:56PM

We went on holiday to Turkey last year and signed up for a day-trip boat excursion via the rep (cost 90000 turkish lira). Then went into the nearest town and got the same excursion for 27000 turkish lira... So the lesson is check out the local companies before giving money to reps.

aloiseb · 10 August 2007 at 12:04AM

Anyone wanting to see how to get into First class, or just get better treatment in general when flying, should read "Flight Babylon" by Imogen somebody (sorry!) -she was the one who wrote Hotel Babylon - it tells you what really goes on behind the scenes with the ground and air crew.

Only trouble is, after reading the snake anecdotes I'm not sure I would ever want to fly again.....!

kduffy101 · 10 August 2007 at 12:27PM

hi all,
if going to tunisia get a bottle or two of whiskey,they go mad for it.
the first year we SWAPPED a bottle for 1 leather jacket+2 pairs of trainers.
2nd year we SWAPPED a bottle for a 18k gold chain,after haggling for a bit i got the chain down to £210 from £280,then when i told the guy that i had SCOTCH WHISKEY,he phoned his boss who came to meet me,then after a bit i bought the chain for £150+bottle of whiskey.BARGAIN
happy haggling

Neoshoegal · 10 August 2007 at 3:07PM

UnitedFlyer wrote: »

Just booked my holiday to Bangkok & Hong Kong next year.

It took a few emails and lots of please/thankyou's to the hotel (Intercontinental), but they have just upgraded me to a 2,650 sq ft Royal Suite (best suite in the hotel). Nice when you think I'm paying ~£70 and the suite goes for £1200 a night. :T

care to elaborate on that? what kind of emails did you send, what did you have to say?

mum2one · 14 August 2007 at 11:54PM

kduffy101 wrote: »

hi all,
if going to tunisia get a bottle or two of whiskey,they go mad for it.
the first year we SWAPPED a bottle for 1 leather jacket+2 pairs of trainers.
2nd year we SWAPPED a bottle for a 18k gold chain,after haggling for a bit i got the chain down to £210 from £280,then when i told the guy that i had SCOTCH WHISKEY,he phoned his boss who came to meet me,then after a bit i bought the chain for £150+bottle of whiskey.BARGAIN
happy haggling

I go to tunisa a lot, the trouble is with so many cheap offers of Whisky a lot of them had cottoned on to how cheap the whisky is.

mum2one · 15 August 2007 at 12:01AM

My tip is get friendly with the rep, espi if the hotel has a shop in it, works a treat as they wont rip you off, you'd say something to the rep, and they would tell the other hol makers.

The last two hols Ive stayed at same hotel, got to know the rep sat and had a chat a couple of times, brought sum jewellery 1st time, went back the last hol, ready to barter, the bloke recognised me, said he'd knock some off, and wot a surprise he knocked off, even more than I planned!

Def worth a try x

Riyazi · 15 August 2007 at 9:17AM

This worked for me once but its a risk so please use with caution

I sat near the check in counter and waited for the last 10 minutes to check in. Most of economy class was full so they offered business class for us so that me and my wife could sit together

Tried the same on the return trip and got upgraded to business class again but due to a mix up by the staff (the other last seat was given to someone else by another staff member) only I got the business class seat. So I gave mine up to sit with my wife in economy

Create_the_Future · 15 August 2007 at 9:19AM

kduffy101 wrote: »

hi all,
if going to tunisia get a bottle or two of whiskey,they go mad for it.
the first year we SWAPPED a bottle for 1 leather jacket+2 pairs of trainers.
2nd year we SWAPPED a bottle for a 18k gold chain,after haggling for a bit i got the chain down to £210 from £280,then when i told the guy that i had SCOTCH WHISKEY,he phoned his boss who came to meet me,then after a bit i bought the chain for £150+bottle of whiskey.BARGAIN
happy haggling

Hurray! - you said "haggle" (barter = exchange goods without involving money)

Skyhigh · 15 August 2007 at 12:40PM

kduffy101 wrote: »

hi all,
if going to tunisia get a bottle or two of whiskey,they go mad for it.
the first year we SWAPPED a bottle for 1 leather jacket+2 pairs of trainers.
2nd year we SWAPPED a bottle for a 18k gold chain,after haggling for a bit i got the chain down to £210 from £280,then when i told the guy that i had SCOTCH WHISKEY,he phoned his boss who came to meet me,then after a bit i bought the chain for £150+bottle of whiskey.BARGAIN
happy haggling

I don't suggest doing this, since it may land you in trouble with the local authorities because alcohol is restricted in Tunisia - usually to specially licensed restaurants. So they'll pay alot for types of alcohol that are not available there.
This isn't too dissimilar to bringing in restricted/illegal contraband in to the UK, such as cocaine.

For the sake of a few hundered quid (at most), its not worth the risk of getting yourself stuck there, in a lovely (free) cell.

Quick tip:
Take an old credit card, store card or similar with you, many hotels now have key cards that you have to put in a slot near the door before you can have any power/light.
Most of the time these aren't 'intelligent' and can't read your room card/key, they just check to see if something is in the slot.
Stick your card in, or cut it to size.
Leave the aircon on low to keep the room cool for when you come back.
No more walking into a furnace after going out for dinner!
(Not eco friendly, but there are worse things).
- Don't leave it in if the maids going to clean your room either...

:!:

The Great 'What Can You Blag On Holiday' Hunt

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