My Experience with Costco's Online Travel Department
Written: Mar 18 '07 (Updated Mar 18 '07)
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Many of us are familiar with the Super Warehouse Costco and what it has to offer. I have spent many hours in their warehouses and a few hours surfing their website because they do run specials that are only available on Costco.com. This review is in relation to the Travel section on Costco.com and my first purchase with them.
I am one of those spur of the moment travelers. I hate booking a trip months in advance and waiting. I much more prefer a weeks notice or less. So when I saw that Disney was having a Kids Fly Free special I started surfing the Disney site and I literally checked it every week and I can't remember the exact reason I googled "Disney Kids Fly Free" but it popped up results for Costco which I had never even thought of looking at.
If you have never been on Costco.com you can find the link for the Costco Travel section near the right hand corner on the top. Once you click the tab you are taken to the Travel Main page where you can find trips by their featured Items or featured categories. There is also a box on the left side that is broken down into categories such as Disney Resorts, or Las Vegas and so many many more..
Say for instance you pick the Disney resorts your next page will feature all the Disney Specials they have to offer along with specials for the Disney Hotels and Good neighbor Hotels.
For the most part their prices are almost identical to what you could book on the Disneyland website but Costco will actually throw in a couple extras if you book thru them..like a free Character breakfast for each person along with one $20.00 gift card per reservation. That saved us an extra hundred bucks because I had all intentions of having breakfast with Goofy this year.
When you decide to book with them, you can do it over the phone or online, I opted for the online booking and I noticed how similar the Costco Disney site looked to the regular Disney site, just a different color. Costco also doesn's offer as much of a variety of hotels and they start in the moderate level not the economy level. I have to say for those worried about prices there really isn't that much of a difference between the moderate and superior level.
Once you pick your hotel, you also pick the amount days you would like in the park (right now adults pay kids prices) . If your hotel of choice is available they do price that and if it isn't the offer suggestions. Now you can book your hotel and ticket there or go on for airfare. We needed airfare so we booked that along with a shuttle to and from the airport. For us, I was done but they also do offer you a rent a car options and you can book other California attractions like Knotts Berry Farm and the San Deigo Zoo.
Checkout was easy, no registration on the site was required...you just enter everyone's name and address along with payment information. Now this is where things go weird. I tried to book this on Friday night and I hit the submit button but nothing was happening. I eventually had to close my window down because it seemed to have stalled out. I checked my email and there was nothing from Costco and my card hadn't been charged so the next morning I proceeded to book it again and I got an even cheaper rate for the exact same thing. There was a difference of about $110.00 or so. Well when I went to book it every thing went smooth this time. I got the confirmation email and was good to go..so I thought.
Something in me wanted verbal confirmation so I called the Costco Travel department to confirm everything and I was told I still had a balance of the $110.00 difference. I argued stating I printed up my page showing how much was due and how much was paid and balance is now zero. The rep wasn't exactly sure what happened but manually fixed it and she told me my tickets would be printing that day and would be shipped out on Moday so I should have them on Wed.
Oh, did I mention I only bought these 8 days in advance which is the minimum required.
She also said I could call back on Monday for the tracking number..well can you tell where I am going.?? Monday no tracking number available, neither was there one on Tuesday.. something about a delay in the airline ticket department. When Wednesday came, I was finally was able to get a number and found out delivery was due on Friday. Well I thought they were pushing it pretty close since we were scheduled to leave that Monday.
All in all things worked out well and the tickets and cards all made it safely. The reps who took my calls were all so very helpful and reassured me numerous times that they would arrive in time. I have to say that I will make sure to check out the Travel Section on Costco.com anytime I want to take vacation to see what they have to offer first..I might get surprised again!!
One last note..unlike their warehouses Costo.com does take MC and Visa and I was told that I would earn a rebate on this trip because we are executive members but just read on their website, I won't. And I do need to point out that membership is required to shop on their website, they do specifically ask for your membership number.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? A Disney vacation
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katopasna
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Location: The Coast of Oregon
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My son just graduated from the AFB Boot Camp!!
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