Gold Coast Accommodation - discount marketplace

Gold Coast Accommodation - The Discount Market

The last few years has seen the arrival of websites able to connect the price conscious buyer with cheaper, discounted accommodation with promises of huge savings on the published rates.

This is a great arrangement for people whose decision to buy is based solely on price and where they can meet the time limitation on bookings... you can't book further ahead than 21 or in some cases, 28 days.

In the majority of cases the buyer will be perfectly satisfied with the accommodation provided. However, if you are a "price above all else" buyer, there are some realities that you may need to consider.

If you think you are going to book the family holidays 6 months in advance, in a prime ocean frontage, recently renovated apartment, all at discounted prices, then you are going to be disappointed. The premier accommodation is always in demand and is seldom listed on the discount websites. This is especially true of both Gold Coast accommodation and Sunshine Coast accommodation.

The key thing to realize is that heavily discounted Gold Coast apartments are unsold stock  which means that the property managers have not been able to put "bums in beds". There are many reasons why that may happen, some of which will have no adverse effect on the guest experience.

If your dates are in low season, then there is probably no limitation on the apartment allocated to you as there is usually lots of empty apartments available. But if your dates are in mid or high seasons, then it is quite possible that you will be allocated a unit that is unsold for a reason.

Low level floor with no views, a poorly maintained apartment, lack of  air conditioning, back of house units overlooking the rear of the adjoining building.... these are all typical reasons why some accommodation ends up in the discount pool.

However, the owners of those apartments still expect a return on their investment and one way to get that is to arrange lettings on the discount websites where it is assumed the buyer knows the pitfalls.

Guests paying full tariff always get the best apartments to encourage them to come back next year and to provide word of mouth referrals. As a discount buyer you are not going to be allocated a prime apartment if it involves displacing a guest paying full tariff.

Taking all that account, happy hunting for the best price on your Australian accommodation

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