Big Hawaii deals are poised to be featured front and center on Amazon’s upcoming Prime Day, that will take place starting tomorrow, July 11-12. We said before that Amazon would be voyaging into the world of travel. What better place to start with than Prime Day + Hawaii. And this will be the first time ever.
Priceline will be the first travel brand to offer an exclusive Prime Day deal. The site currently runs ads throughout Amazon’s portfolio of streaming and audio products.
“We want to meet customers where they are. We know travelers are shopping on Amazon and booking travel with Priceline,” said Lesley Klein, senior vice president of marketing at Priceline.
Consumers have put the breaks on spending, including at Amazon, so the time is ripe to begin the awaited move. After all, we continue to want to enjoy travel experiences, more so it seems, than buying paper towels or televisions.
First time travel participation in Prime Day.
Amazon says that they will partner with Priceline/Booking to offer an additional 20% off Priceline’s Hotel Express deals. That means that huge discounts should be available. We suspect too that Amazon needs these deals to be substantive to gain traction and achieve credibility in this all-important new space for them.
What we find similar comparing Booking/Priceline and Amazon.
With both vendors, they make it exceedingly easy to buy. They already have all our details and you can reserve with just a few clicks. If we change our minds, both companies make that generally very easy too. That’s true when buying cancellable reservations on Booking (which we always do), or with Amazon when purchased directly from them and not in their third party marketplace.
Priceline said of this partnership, “We want to meet customers where they are. We know travelers are shopping on Amazon and booking travel with Priceline.”
Are you spending less at Amazon otherwise? We sure are.
We still recall that before and during Covid, we were spending more and more on Amazon. That as shopping in stores was more challenging, and inventory was a huge problem, especially here in Hawaii. It all came together as the perfect situation for Amazon to soar. Oh and needless to say, as Amazon soared, we weren’t traveling.
Now, however, the world has shifted once again, and we are buying only a fraction of what we used to on Amazon. There are a few reasons for that. One is simply trying to avoid buying more things. Shiny objects have lost a lot of their appeal. Then too, Amazon has become less attractive.
Programs that once enticed, like Subscribe and Save, among others, could be more attractive. When it comes time for the next shipment, the price is often significantly more. Not only that, but we’ve noticed that more and more vendors are no longer selling their products on Amazon. The deal isn’t quite as good for the vendors. So we are being forced to shop elsewhere for things we once bought on Amazon.
The King of travel (Booking) meets the king of shopping (Amazon).
As we’ve said, Booking is where we at least begin when looking at Hawaii hotels and vacation rentals. We may or may not ultimately buy there, but editor Jeff reports as a case in point that he currently has four upcoming Hawaii travel accommodations booked through the booking.com app. Booking/Priceline (one and the same) started in 1997, now operates in virtually every travel spot in the world, and partners with 400 airlines and 1/3 million hotels, just for starters.
Just last month we asked whether your next Hawaii vacation would come from Chase or Amazon!
In a prescient article last month entitled “Why You’ll Buy Hawaii Vacations From Banks or Amazon Next” we spoke to this deal that’s occurring just weeks later. Here’s what we said about Amazon travel:
“Amazon will be a travel giant, a tour company, a trip-insurance provider, and more. They have the power to control pricing as they do in their online product store. When they move in, everything changes.”
Well don’t look now folks, it just changed!
We weren’t prepared for it this soon, but Amazon Travel has arrived.
Not only is Amazon set to try its wings in Hawaii travel and beyond, but so is Chase. We recently started getting offers from Chase Travel. These are the companies that know us and our habits best.
Amazon knows if we aren’t buying things, we’re planning travel.
With the sudden shift in consumer spending, which is undoubtedly very painful at Amazon, shopping this has been pushed to the front burner of the retail giant.
Chase says it will sell 15 Billion in travel in next two years.
They also said that now, $1 in $3 their customers spend is on travel! This will get interesting, with Hawaii travel a behemoth of importance and size in the entire travel space.
The plan is for Amazon to use everything they know about us to do cross-selling.
Various perks, like tomorrow’s Prime Day, are to be offered to get our attention and shift our loyalty. While OTAs like Priceline/Booking know a good deal about us, Amazon knows far more. Thus the next winners in Hawaii travel are looking more and more to be those familiar companies.
How do I book a hotel with Amazon travel and/or Chase? I am a prime member, but didn’t find any travel site on Amazon.
Do you have any recommendations for shipping my car from California to Maui? On line many of the shippers appear to be scammers
I didn’t see any kind of travel deals on Prime Day, Hawaii or otherwise. Did I just not see them or did they not happen?
Hi Ed.
Thanks for asking. Yes they are on. You can find them here.
Aloha.
I did not find any travel or hotels on the Amazon site either ….the link above for priceline expired, so did they only offer travel deals for one day?
Hi Eva.
This may just have been a trial deployment between the two companies. We haven’t heard anything about a long-term relationship at this point.
Aloha.
I did not find any travel or hotels on the Amazon site either ….
I remember reading a few months ago on Beat of Hawaii that 10 million visitors come to Hawaii yearly. This is expected to increase to 15 Million.
This is Too Much! Now we have Prime day trolling for More tourists?
We went to some of the French Polynesia Islands in June 2018 and want to go back! Living in the Midwest, such a long flight and costly though. We’ve never been to Hawaii, although we’d like to, but not sure we’d get the relaxed, laid back vibes. In particular the Islands of Tahiti are going to, if they haven’t already, put a cap on tourism. 250,000 only, per year!
I agree, that is too many tourists for Hawaii.
Costco Travel isn’t what it used to be. A few months back Costco quoted a cruise price that was more than $1,000 higher than the cruise line itself. Other companies had lower prices than the cruise line. The $750 shop card didn’t make up for 1,000 extra price.
It would be interesting to see what Amazon can do.
Hi Kathie.
Thanks. Interesting comment. While people rave about Costco Travel, we haven’t been able to find anything to buy there recently either. Let’s see what others say.
Aloha.
Sometimes, Costco still has the best prices on car rentals…. but it’s hit or miss
I know! I was really excited to get the Costco membership, but the travel end of it hasn’t even been competitive!
It’s always “what’s the devil in the details” that goes beyond the listing price.
Will Amazon through Booking.com offer “value adds” such as Costco Travel and other tour operators, or will it be an an Al-a-Carte pricing model, similar to Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit where everything is an extra fee?
As far as the Amazon pharmacy, some deals to be had. However, not everything is less expensive than Costco when used in conjunction with your own prescription insurance benefits. Of course, much has to do with the type/quantity/strength of the medication being purchased and (if any) what insurance plan you have – and how that applies to the medication and whether in or out of formulary.
Costco Pharmacy at this point has terrific pricing on older (not old medication, older in the marketplace)types of generics that are widely prescribed and effective – so good for the consumer!
Going back to travel, I hope Amazon working with Booking.com has come-up with an easy to understand/use travel portal to book doorbuster travel deals! Let’s see where they are accepting lower margin – is it the hotels and/or airfare?
Could we even hope that Booking has negotiated either no and/or very low resort and other nickel and diming add-on nonsense and pesky fees?
The travel purchasing landscape is littered with failures. Let’s see what Amazon offers that’s new and revolutionary.
Interesting. In recent years, I’ve been booking directly with hotels, airlines, and rental car companies because if things go awry, that’s usually the best way to get a satisfactory resolution — or an upgrade, if any are available. I’m curious about what your experience has been using Booking — are you able to get easy assistance when something goes wrong?
Thanks!
Hi Terry.
We hear you and feel the same way, especially as regards airlines. We would never buy air travel from a third party. We have never had a bad experience with a booking.com reservation. At least not so far…
Aloha.
That’s good to hear! Mahalo for sharing your experience!