Las Vegas is home to deals, promotions, and discounts. Never pay full retail price. Especially on Grand Canyon helicopter tours. So, where are the best heli coupons? Online, of course.
The trick to getting great discounts is buying direct from the tour operator. Not the broker. Not the hotel concierge. Not the sidewalk ticket vendor. Each of these guys exists because they make insane commissions. The result: You pay more.
For tour operators, brokers are a part of doing business. However, if operators could do it, they’d prefer to sell their trips themselves. This guarantees that you get the right tour at the right price. Middlemen, by contrast, tend to sell you a trip that generates the biggest commission.
Tour operators understand the concept of “customer value.” They also “get” the idea of repeat and referral business. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in business. These companies know intrinsically that if you are happy with your helicopter trip that you’ll refer your family and friends. It’s a “value” that’s so important that they factor it into their business plan. Middlemen don’t do that.
As a result, tour operators like Papillon Helicopters, Maverick Helicopters, and Sundance Helicopters do everything in their power to get you to buy your flight on their website. How so? By offering you coupons and specials that give you savings up to 35 percent. By way of example, Papillon Helicopter’s Grand Celebration tour, the most popular West Rim landing trip, retails for $399. That’s a fair price when compared to the company’s competitors. But if you book that same tour online, you pay only $280. That’s a savings of nearly $120. Or how about the Grand Celebration with Skywalk and Boat, Papillon’s #2 best-selling tour. It retails for $597 but savvy travelers can book it at $400 per person, netting themselves a savings of nearly $200!
The discounts pile up even higher if you do a group order. Papillon considers a “small group” to be between 10 and 29 people. If your party falls into that range, you get an additional 10 percent off the discounted price. The “small-group” option is kind of buried into the page. To find it, go down the right-hand side under the testimonials and click the link that says “Click to switch to Group mode.” Doing this will refresh the page and give you the “group” rates.
Las Vegas is the discount helicopter tour leader. Competition for your travel dollar is fierce. Marketers and middlemen all claim to have the cheapest prices. In reality, the best deals are being offered by tour operators. These companies work side-by-side with these brokers and travel agencies because it’s a cost of doing business. But the secret is this: Tour brokers want your business the most and they are willing to reward you with steep discounts of up to 35 percent if you buy directly from them on their websites. And who doesn’t want to save money, right? Especially in Las Vegas, where that $200 savings can be used to splurge for a fun night on the town.
Ready to save money on Grand Canyon Helicopter tours? Travel writer Keith Kravitz shows you how at Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour Reviews
