How Low Does An Auction Have To Go
We’ve been to Croatia twice and would love to go back again. So when I saw that Abercrombie & Kent was selling a Croatia package in the American Express Going Once auction, I was kind of excited. Until I looked at the details.
The trip had two nights in Split, three nights in Dubrovnik, and roundtrip air in economy class from New York. The retail price was listed at $13,570 per couple, which seemed high to me for five nights anywhere, much less in Croatia.
So I thought I’d investigate to see how low the price would have to go before it became a great deal. A quick search for air on Expedia turned up a roundtrip through Dublin on Aer Lingus for $1,135 pp. I chose weekend travel in August, thinking that would be the most expensive.
Next, I checked out the hotels on www.tripadvisor.com. Le Meridien Lav had very positive reviews, but it isn’t actually in Split. It’s in Podstrana, 8 miles away. I found deluxe rooms there in August for $531 a night on Expedia. Villa Argentina in Dubrovnik also had good reviews. Rooms on their site were $345 a night.
The A&K package also included a day trip to Montenegro – an easy drive away – transfers, and a brunch. Based on my back-of-the-napkin calculations, you could do the package independently for less than $6,000. And you could stay at the delightful Hotel Peristil (http://www.hotelperistil.com) right in the heart of Split.
If you did it yourself, you could also take a few extra days and visit the Istrian Peninsula (Lidia Bastianich’s home turf) and Plitvice Lakes National park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most spectacular natural wonders in Europe.
So how did the Going Once bidders make out? Not too bad. The ten available packages sold for between $7,828 and $7,442.
Two auctions worth watching next week: the Regent Seven Seas Greece and Turkey cruise on February 12 and the American Express Buenos Aires package on February 13.
