Travel Cost

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

How do think the future cost of gas and/or airline tickets going to impact your timesharing? Do you think rental cars prices are going to increase, too?

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I don't think rental cars will increase. Customers pay the fuel. In fact, I think it would be a very bad idea for rental car prices to spike. It would be smarter to decrease prices a bit in the hopes that once a person has paid air the rental car seems like a super bargain! There should be enuf competition for this to be possible, especially in the most expensive flight destinations.

Generally, tho, none of this will affect our plans. If we want to go somewhere, we will.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

How do think the future cost of gas and/or airline tickets going to impact your timesharing? Do you think rental cars prices are going to increase, too?

We are on a driving vacation now. I am seeing gas prices from $3.8X to over $4.30 a gallon. If you put in 15 gallons @ $4.00/gal, you have $60 in the tank. If you are traveling 1000 miles at 20 MPG, that trip cost $200. This is a lot cheaper than airfare, but you figure with the kids, food, hotel/motel room because 1000 miles is too far to drive in a day and your $200 comes up another $150-200. These numbers are reference only. Our trip will be closer to 2500 miles, but I am getting 27mpg which will be about $370 in gas alone. When you start adding in the 3 days in a hotel, plus ‘eating out’ food, the whole trip gets expensive.

On the other hand, airline tickets are up, number of airlines flying is down. A trip takes hours, not days. But then you have to rent a car.

Yes, that does affect either the amount or location of travel to timeshare. If I have to travel for two days, I think it will mean flying. If I can drive it in a day, I’ll drive. But at the current and possible future costs…I may rent out more of my time and let someone else use the weeks. I’ll use that money for a future trip.

I expect rental cars will go up, but much less than other costs.

Bottom line…I have to get away from work. I own the timeshare, might as well use them, so I am spending the money.

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

We need to take vacations. Being 2 employed people with no kids, our vacations won't be affected. What actually matters most to us is the constraint of having too little vacation time.

[GeoPatSK Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GeoPatSK]

Even with gas prices at $4.00+ when traveling with 2 or more in the car, traveling by car seems more cost effective that air, if you don’t need to stay overnight on the trip.

When we travel by air there is the cost of flying, with all the new charges, parking the car (around NYC that can be $100 to $175 a week) and a rental car at $125 to $175 a week.

There will be four (4) of us traveling to Orlando from Washington D.C. in August, and we are planning to drive down.

• Tolls $ 0.00
• Gas $335.00 (75 gallons at $4.50)

Compared to

• Parking (2weeks) $250.00
• Best Air Fare (4 RT) $800.00
• Rental Car (2weeks) $235.00
• Tolls from Airport $ 3.00
• New Baggage Fees ???

That is $335.00 vs. $1,388.00

And time wise 14.5 hours in the car vs.

• 1 Hr to Airport plus parking and shuttle
• 2 Hrs. before flight
• 2 Hrs. flight
• 1 hr. baggage, car rental, trip to resort

Total 6 hrs. by Plane

But 14 to 15 hours is my daily limit in a car.

[funtime2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close funtime2]

We will continue to drive as we have in the past. Most of our traveling is on the east coast which is where we live. The only way we are affected is the higher price of gas