2016-Apple-Big-Sale

Apple Vacations 8th Annual MAST BIG Sale is HERE!

A couple new offers have been added to the Big Sale:

Make sure to check out this MAST Exclusive Bonus Commission offer for Secrets Cap Cana!
  • Earn up to $50 in Bonus Commission for new bookings to Secrets Cap Cana Resort & Spa!*
  • Valid for bookings made September 16-29, 2016 for travel November 15, 2016-February 15, 2017.
  • Earn $25 per booking on packages of 2-5 nights and $50 per booking on packages of 6 nights or more! Valid for land only, scheduled air package bookings and exclusive vacation air packages to Secrets Cap Cana.
  • Click Here for flyer
Apple has decided to add a DSM scheduled air EBB code:

SC-MASTDSM16
travel window: 12/15/2016-05/31/2017
Save $25 per person on scheduled air packages of 3 nights or more departing from DSM

** REMINDER – Apple knows they have competitors that target MAST during Apple Vacations Exclusive Sale so want to remind you… APPLE has a PRICE MATCH BEAT during the sale. Apple will match the competitors lower price (with promotional codes too) PLUS reduce the package by $20.

They recommend that you use the Price Match function on myappleonline.com. There are no limits on the number of Price Matches and they are combinable with the EBB Discount.

If you are having challenges or issues with quotes or booking details, like promo codes, commissions, their system, etc, please reach out to Angelique Draftz at the MAST Apple Help Desk. Her phone number is 847-631-2432 and her email address is adraftz@applevac.com. This would be the quickest way to ask or address a question with a quote or booking. She can take a look at the details and should be able to figure out what is causing the discrepancy.

2016 APPLE BIG SALE GUIDELINES

Booking Window: Friday, 9/16/16 – Thursday, 9/29/16
All bookings must be made and guaranteed in this window to qualify for the promotion.

Promotional Codes:

ExclusiveVacations Flight Gateways with Exclusive Hotel Offers & Early Booking Discount:
SC-MASTORD16 (For Chicago Exclusive Vacation Packages)
SC-MASTRFD16 (For Rockford Exclusive Vacation Packages)
SC-MASTMKE16 (For Milwaukee Exclusive Vacation Packages)
SC-MASTSTL16 (For St. Louis Exclusive Vacation Packages)

ExclusiveVacations Flight Gateways with Early Booking Discount:
SC-MASTIND16 (For Indianapolis Exclusive Vacation Packages)
SC-MASTDTW16 (For Detroit Exclusive Vacation Packages)
SC-MASTLAN16 (For Lansing Exclusive Vacation Packages)

Scheduled Air Discounts:
SC-MASTMSP16 (For Minneapolis Scheduled Air via SY)
SC-MASTHAW16 (For Hawaii Scheduled Air nationwide)

ADDED:

SC-MASTDSM16
travel window: 12/15/2016-05/31/2017
Save $25 per person on scheduled air packages of 3 nights or more departing from DSM

**Promo codes must be input at the time of booking, if a booking is eligible for a discount associated with a promo code and is not in put into the booking you will need to cancel and rebook the reservation.

  • The code is ONLY built for MAST agencies – so if a new MAST agency is having difficulties make sure they call inside sales at 800-365-2776
  • The code only deducts Apple Vacations EBB portion ($25) and if applicable the hotel exclusive discount, agents will have to deduct the additional $25 EBB on their side.

Travel Windows:

Hawaii 11/01/2016-08/31/2017
ORD 11/01/2016-12/10/2017
RFD 01/06/2017-04/17/2017
MKE 12/23/2016-04/17/2017
STL 11/01/2016-12/10/2017
IND 02/11/2017-08/06/2017
DTW 01/16/2017-04/17/2017
LAN 12/24/2016-04/17/2017
MSP 12/15/2016-05/31/2017

Blackout Dates: 11/18-11/23/16, 11/17-11/20/17

Group Blackout Dates:

  • ORD & RFD 03/24-03/27/2017
  • MKE 04/7-04/10/2017
  • STL 03/17-03/27/2017

Charter EBB Promo Discount: ORD, RFD, MKE, STL, IND, DTW & LAN
$50 ($25 Apple Vacations/$25 Agency) discount is valid for all new charter packages of 3 nights or more from the above gateways during the booking and travel windows.

Exclusive Hotel Promo Discount: ORD, RFD, MKE, STL
In addition to the $50 per person charter promo discount, select hotels offer exclusive promotional savings for adult passengers on packages of 7 nights or more. These savings are located on the Hotel Exclusives grid.

For more information, please Click Here for the Agent Memo.

Lists of Exclusive Hotel Promotions for each of these departure cities:

Great News for Xmas Travel – In addition to some of the hotels providing significant savings for Christmas – Apple Vacations will provide a $100 EBB (Early Booking Bonus) vs. the standard $25 EBB discount.
When matched with the agency $25 EBB discount – that is $125 off per person Plus any Hotel Exclusive Prices.
This is valid for ORD, MKE & STL for travel departure dates 12/18-12/31/16.

The Apple BIG Sale with MAST starts this Friday. Here are a few tips on having a successful sale for your agency:

  • The sale is a marketing tool. It gives you a reason to reach out to your customers, it is something to talk about with them, to put on your website and social media pages. Let your customers and community know you have something they can’t get anywhere else.
  • The sale gives you product to sell. Without product, how will anyone know you give great service.
  • Transform the product into the kind of travel experience your customers are seeking. Through your marketing activities, your customers should feel they will get the kind of experience they hoped for.
  • Don’t focus on the price today or the price last week or last month or someone else’s sale. You know pricing is fluid. Focus on the savings today. Every quote should include the regular price and the sale price. Illustrate for your customer there is a true sale going on.
  • The sale helps establish your agency as someone who plans trips to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. Too often, travel agents assume consumers understand what travel agents do, but that is often not the case. Some consumers won’t think to come to you if they don’t know you can help them.
  • You have something non-MAST agencies do not have. Anyone going to Apple directly to buy a trip, won’t get these prices either.

Take the sale for what it is, NOT for what it isn’t. It is not necessarily the best prices of the year. The price for a particular hotel may have been lower back in July. It may be lower in November than it is today during the sale. As I said earlier, pricing is fluid due to all kinds of factors.

In order for MAST to continue with the BIG Sale in future years, we have to perform by booking more guests than last year for the participating hotels. The hoteliers will not go through the work of establishing the discounts, the internal approval process, and working with Apple to get the prices in to the system unless they see that the sale benefits them and everyone involved. As you know, these hotels are doing sales throughout the year and if MAST does not perform, they will do sales with someone else. A lost opportunity for MAST.

Don’t forget to enter the promo code at the time of booking. Your customers will not get the sale price without the promo code and it can’t be entered after the reservation has been confirmed.

Price matching is allowed using the same guidelines as always. Exclusive hotel savings with the promo code are on select resorts (located on the Hotel Exclusive grid), select dates, select gateways, and select room categories, 7-night stays or longer, and applies to adults only.

For details on the $50.00 p.p. Discount, refer to the sales announcement and material covered in the webinar. The recorded webinar can be found on mvptravel.com, Training Page, MAST Webinar Series, Recent Webinar Recordings.