Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

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NYGiantsFan
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Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by NYGiantsFan »

How's your experience with CostSaver (they are part of Trafalgar)?
I am noticing same trip by both CostSaver and Trafalgar. Trafalgar is almost double the price.
I will appreciate your feedback. Thanks
Flyer24
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by Flyer24 »

Topic moved to Personal Consumer Issues.
curmudgeon
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by curmudgeon »

Haven't used them, but often a significant difference is that the more expensive version of the tour will be staying in a much more central hotel, where you can walk and enjoy the location in the evening, while the cheaper version will have you in a hotel stuck out in an office park somewhere. You also need to learn to interpret bus-tour-speak; often "seeing" someplace means "look at it out the windows as the bus drives by". While that may be all you really have time to do, it's good to parse the descriptions closely so you aren't disappointed.
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rob
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by rob »

Done Trafalgar and a different cheap one - not costsaver - in Europe.... The hotel locations are the main thing but also Trafalgar tended to be more cultural stuff over the younger audience of the cheaper.

Cannot second the comment above about learning the speak... "opportunity" = added costs, "see" = drive by (possibly at night from the freeway) etc...
| Rob | Its a dangerous business going out your front door. - J.R.R.Tolkien
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climber2020
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by climber2020 »

My parent did an overseas Costsaver tour a few years back. From what I recall, the biggest difference was the quality of the hotels and the amount of included activities. The actual tour was fine and they still saw all the good things to see.

I'm not too picky about lodging, so if it saved me a substantial amount of cash I'd consider Costsaver over a regular Trafalgar tour (which I've done a few of, and they're excellent).
talzara
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by talzara »

NYGiantsFan wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:23 pm How's your experience with CostSaver (they are part of Trafalgar)?
I am noticing same trip by both CostSaver and Trafalgar. Trafalgar is almost double the price.
I will appreciate your feedback. Thanks
Since you didn't link to the two tours, we can't compare them to see if they are actually the same trip. They usually aren't.
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NYGiantsFan
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by NYGiantsFan »

talzara wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:44 pm
NYGiantsFan wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:23 pm How's your experience with CostSaver (they are part of Trafalgar)?
I am noticing same trip by both CostSaver and Trafalgar. Trafalgar is almost double the price.
I will appreciate your feedback. Thanks
Since you didn't link to the two tours, we can't compare them to see if they are actually the same trip. They usually aren't.
https://www.costsavertour.com/en-us/tou ... ummer+2022
https://www.trafalgar.com/en-us/tours/s ... ummer+2022
Difference is about $500 per person.
talzara
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by talzara »

They're not the same trip.

Costsaver stays in hotels far from the city center, includes less sightseeing, skips Cordoba, and includes one less dinner. You can buy another dinner and pay for the optional excursions, but then Costsaver no longer costs $500 less. You can't change the hotels. Once you buy the Costsaver tour, that's where you'll be staying.
  • Trafalgar's hotel in Madrid is near El Retiro Park. Costsaver's hotel is 9 miles away.
  • Trafalgar's hotel in Seville is a mile from the Alcazar. Costsaver's hotel is 6 miles away by the airport.
  • Trafalgar's hotel in Barcelona is in the Eixample. Costsaver's hotel is 6 miles away at a highway exit.
  • Trafalgar takes you inside the Alhambra in Granada. Costsaver lets you "see the fortified citadel of the Alhambra on the hilltop overlooking Granada," so you look at it from below.
  • Trafalgar takes you inside the Mezquita in Cordoba. Costsaver skips Cordoba, which was the capital of Muslim Spain during the Golden Age.
  • Trafalgar includes 5 guided tours. Costsaver includes 4.
  • Trafalgar includes 4 dinners. Costsaver includes 3.
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mfswatz9
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by mfswatz9 »

"You pay for what you get."
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NYGiantsFan
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by NYGiantsFan »

talzara wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 4:55 pm
They're not the same trip.

Costsaver stays in hotels far from the city center, includes less sightseeing, skips Cordoba, and includes one less dinner. You can buy another dinner and pay for the optional excursions, but then Costsaver no longer costs $500 less. You can't change the hotels. Once you buy the Costsaver tour, that's where you'll be staying.
  • Trafalgar's hotel in Madrid is near El Retiro Park. Costsaver's hotel is 9 miles away.
  • Trafalgar's hotel in Seville is a mile from the Alcazar. Costsaver's hotel is 6 miles away by the airport.
  • Trafalgar's hotel in Barcelona is in the Eixample. Costsaver's hotel is 6 miles away at a highway exit.
  • Trafalgar takes you inside the Alhambra in Granada. Costsaver lets you "see the fortified citadel of the Alhambra on the hilltop overlooking Granada," so you look at it from below.
  • Trafalgar takes you inside the Mezquita in Cordoba. Costsaver skips Cordoba, which was the capital of Muslim Spain during the Golden Age.
  • Trafalgar includes 5 guided tours. Costsaver includes 4.
  • Trafalgar includes 4 dinners. Costsaver includes 3.
Thank you for the detailed analysis. I appreciate that.
suemarkp
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by suemarkp »

Also note for every Trafalgar tour I've done, you don't generally spend much time in the hotel. Once you arrive for the day it is usually around dinner time and if they are providing dinner somewhere you're not back to your room until about 8:00. Sometimes you get to hotel around 4:00 so you can unpack but then you're off for dinner.

It is usually bags outside at 7:00am and on the bus by 8:00 (which typically means get up by 6:00 to get ready so you can close up the suit cases by 7:00). So in most locations, you don't have much time to wander from the hotel so location is irrelevant. If you're in the same hotel for multiple days, then it is nice if the hotel is centrally located, especially if you skip an excursion and do your own thing. We did that in Edinburgh, but had to take a city bus to the hotel as it was on the edge of town.

Hotel quality is more important to me. Usually there is something broken. On my last trip, one hotel had really slow sink drains and another had a room AC that did not work at all and the windows did not open. We changed rooms for that last one. On a previous trip, there was no AC so we had the windows open. Only problem was the room looked down onto a bar courtyard where people were making noise until around 1:00am.

Generally, you don't get view rooms with Trafalgar. You'll be overlooking the dumpsters, noisy bar patio, or some mechanical room. Typically they are in town, but not always downtown.
Mark | Somewhere in WA State
talzara
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by talzara »

suemarkp wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 4:38 pm Also note for every Trafalgar tour I've done, you don't generally spend much time in the hotel. Once you arrive for the day it is usually around dinner time and if they are providing dinner somewhere you're not back to your room until about 8:00. Sometimes you get to hotel around 4:00 so you can unpack but then you're off for dinner.

It is usually bags outside at 7:00am and on the bus by 8:00 (which typically means get up by 6:00 to get ready so you can close up the suit cases by 7:00). So in most locations, you don't have much time to wander from the hotel so location is irrelevant. If you're in the same hotel for multiple days, then it is nice if the hotel is centrally located, especially if you skip an excursion and do your own thing. We did that in Edinburgh, but had to take a city bus to the hotel as it was on the edge of town.
The OP is going to Spain, not Scotland. The Spanish eat dinner at 10:00 PM, and Spanish restaurants don't even open for dinner until 8:00 PM. If you want to eat at 5:00 PM, it's either tapas or dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Both tours have a free afternoon in Seville and a free afternoon in Granada. Both tours have an afternoon guided tour of Barcelona. The Trafalgar tour drops you off in the city center, but the Costsaver tour drives you to the hotel 6 miles away. Then you have to commute to the city center again the next day because both tours have a free day in Barcelona. The Costsaver tour also spends another free afternoon in Madrid.

For most of the trip, location is very relevant. Both tours are "9-day" trips, which is really 7 days because the first and last days are travel days. On 5 of the 7 days of the tour, Costsaver will be commuting to or from the city center from hotels 6-9 miles away.
Trism
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Re: Anyone used Costsaver tour (part of Trafalgar)?

Post by Trism »

On tours we value time away from the group and prefer a more a la carte model, so Costsaver works well for us.

We travel quite a bit and don't enjoy trying to cram 16 hours of activities into every day. With occasional exceptions we generally consider tour meals to be time wasters, and almost never attend group dinners even when they're included.

Tours tend to cover a lot of ground quickly, so if we find a particular city intriguing we can always go back on our own for a more immersive experience... so I honestly don't care if the hotel is in the city center or in an exurb.

In the evenings we like being away from mobs of people, and we are fine as long as the hotel is clean, there's something mediocre to eat, and the wifi works.

[When we're traveling entirely on our own schedules, however, I won't tolerate subprime hotels in remote locations, and we are usually more selective with what/where we eat.]

Travel styles vary so much... and that's why there are so many options.
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