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Deals galore!
Jamaican company facilitates discounts, packages for top resorts for localsJAMAICANS desirous of spending weekends in some of the country's most luxurious hotels will soon be able to do so at heavily discounted rates.
Couples could pay as low as $14,000 per weekend stay and a family of four could pay $20,000 for a similar vacation.
Normally, it would cost a way lot more for weekend hotel stays, but Damion Crawford, who, through his Yard Travel initiative, has devised a unique price buster. "We are a vacation facilitation company; we are like a local Hotwire orlast-minute.com company," said Crawford.
The businessman, who lectures in marketing at the University of the West Indies, Mona, noted that Jamaicans should experience the country. "They should want to see the best property, should want to experience the best attraction and if they that can do so at half the price, why not," Crawford said of his new venture.
Crawford says he will be a reservation centre, which will facilitate persons who are not holders of credit cards.
He has described his venture as a local Hotwire that seeks out unoccupied rooms in hotels and offers them to the public. "We get the rooms at cheaper rates and we sell it to the clients at the cheaper rate," Crawford said, noting that in some cases the rooms may be sold as low as 40 per cent of cost.
He told Hospitality Jamaica that not only is there a need on the demand side, but the hoteliers themselves have a need to maximise revenue.
"The hotels have a yield that they need to manage, especially with the seasonal realities that exist. A hotel, when it does not book the room, loses revenue and so something needs to be done to ensure the properly maximises its revenue," said Crawford, who holds a master's degree in management and has been teaching the discipline to university students for the last six years.
He claims to have detected excitement from hoteliers while pitching his business idea to them. "They have been trying to have a sustained approach to getting the local market and this one is a systematic solution, it covers all the angles that exist."
Crawford said Yard Travel has already signed up six Jamaican properties and is in the process of signing up many more. He said the first batch of rooms will become available on July 27. Members of the public will be able to get a listing of rates and hotels rooms through the website yardtravel.com and by way of advertisements.
vacation loans
Crawford said his company will also be making travel loans of up to J$50,000 per vacation, repayable within 12 months at an interest rate of 20 per cent per annum.
"This rate is lower than what banks lend for non-collateral loans, which is 24 per cent," argues Crawford.
The innovative Yard Travel businessman had added a component of transportation for Jamaicans who book with his company. In collaboration with Knutsford Express, vacationers only need to turn up with their bags and Yard Travel will ensure they get to their resort.
Last June, Camille Needham, executive director of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), in a letter to the association members endorsed the concept after meeting with the travel facilitation company boss.
"Since March 2010 Mr Crawford has been in communication with the JHTA about his Company, which seeks to assist hotels and other accommodations by marketing unsold inventory. We believe that such a service can be of great assistance to you in your efforts to efficiently manage your yield. We fully endorse the concept," a section of the letter read.
News of the launch has been welcomed by new JHTA President Evelyn Smith, who says it's a fantastic venture, which she expects will do well.
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