Sandals & Beaches Sales & Marketing Gimmicks Are Misleading

I've been thinking about booking a vacation through the Sandals website. I saw that the resorts were 60% - 65% off, but I only had a couple of days to make my purchase according to a countdown clock on the right hand side of the Sandals site.

I didn't book the vacation because I hadn't done enough research. However, when I went back to the Sandals website a few days later, I saw a new 60% off sale on the website with a new countdown clock.

I again failed to make my purchase before the countdown clock reached zero and once again a new sale was on the site with a new countdown clock.

Is there any time of the year when there isn't a 60% - 65% off sale on the Sandals site? If the resorts are always on sale then is there really a mythical price that can be claimed to be the true price for a Sandals or Beaches vacation?

If the current sale is always replaced by a new sale once the countdown clock reaches zero, then is the countdown clock anything more than a misleading sales and marketing gimmick?

From a sales and marketing point of view, it is a brilliant idea. The visitor gets excited about these resorts being available at such a reduced rate and then they are spurred to action by the countdown clock. However, it only works if people don't know that the sale and countdown clock are basically meaningless. I suppose Sandals isn't too happy when someone like me writes a blog post like this.

The reason I am writing this is because I don't like misleading sales gimmicks. Tell us what the resorts are like and make a pitch at an honest price, but don't try to trick us into making a purchase.

I felt like I had been deceived when I saw the new sale and countdown clock on the Sandals site. What really got me mad was when I was at my parents house and my father saw that I was looking at the Sandals site. He immediately got excited when he saw the 65% off sale. I told him that the resorts seemed to always be on sale and that the sale price was in line with what an all inclusive resort vacation usually costs.

I was able to tell my father not to get too excited, but what about all the other people who don't know that the sale and countdown clock on the Sandals and Beaches sites are sales and marketing gimmicks?

That is when I decided that the least I could do was to write this blog post about it on a site like this one.