Benefits of booking though and independent travel agent
A young couple booked their honeymoon through us several months ago. It was booked with Thomson to Cape Verdi, travelling on Wednesday 8th February.
Around 5.00pm on Tuesday 7th February Thomson sent a text message to our customers, advising them there was a severe sand storm in Cape Verdi and that their flight was delayed by 24 hours. It was regrettable, it was unfortunate but nothing could be done about it.
At around 5.00pm on Wednesday 8th February, Thomson telephoned us, the independent travel agent and advised that they were cancelling the holiday. The customer could find something else or have their money back. However Thomson did not offer anything else.
At the travel agency, we went into overdrive. This was the customer's first holiday for 6 years, it was their honeymoon. They were working on a carefully saved up budget of a little over £2,000 for the two of them and time taken off work was committed to and could not be easily changed.
To make matters more difficult, the customers wanted somewhere hot enough to swim and a good spa, furthermore this is leading up to half term weekend! This is also the peak time for the Caribbean.
We worked hard and we found a very happily acceptable alternative. The Sheraton Hotel in The Gambia. It came within budget, it has a good spa, it offered hot weather. We made the booking and e-mailed the e-tickets. The customer then panicked, worried how they were going to pay, when Thomson were holding their money?
We were able to say to the customer, as we made the original booking with Thomson, they would be refunding us directly, therefore we would not need to ask the customer for any more money.
Now just imagine the pickle this customer would have been in, had they booked with Thomson, directly on the internet!
ART AFLOAT
with STAR CLIPPERS
3 SAILINGS ESCORTED BY RICHARD NICHOLS
Include:
Daily art tuition and workshops with Richard Nichols
Return flights from London economy, upgrades available, prices on request
Shared transfers
7 Nights full board on Star Clipper or Royal Clipper including all port taxes and all watersports
Northern Cyclades 5th May 2012
From £1599.00 per person based on 2 sharing
Spain and Morocco 6th October 2012
From £1499.00 per person based on 2 sharing
The Windward Islands 7th december 2012
From £2499.00 per person based on 2 sharing
Call us on 01344 627586 for more information
People have been asking where is the place to travel to this year?
We are lucky here in Sunninghill, in that we have a very broad mix of customers with a wide range of requirements, meaning that we need to keep abreast of a very wide range of destinations. However that makes the job here so very interesting.
January is the month when people start thinking about their summer holidays, Christmas is over, the weather is cold and damp, the evenings draw in so very early, we need to feel some warmth and see some sunlight, even if we don't want a beach holiday.
We have had a busy month and I have a feeling that it will continue as a busy year for us.
The favoured holidays to date are:
Middle East
Cape Verdi
Tuscany
Caribbean
Rhodes
Turkey
Australia
Far East
Cruising
I will keep this list updated during the year and I'll put it into order too when there is some meaningful data.
Of course we are not only booking for next summer, but we are also having people come into us wanting to get away quite soon, booking in January for January and February departures, getting away to the Costa Del Sol or Cape Verdi or the Caribbean, all of which offer differing levels of warmth and sunshine.
Cruising has been interesting, despite the dreadful Costa Concordia disaster, most people seem to know that nothing like that is likely to be repeated and in general, we have not seen a drop in our cruise bookings. However our customer have begun to ask more about the smaller luxurious cruise ships such as those by Regent, Silverseas and Crystal. Another market which is showing growth is that of River Cruises, where the better ones include excusions, very good food and drinks with your meals.
Cape Verdi is a developing market, it still does not offer very much, other than sunshine and a very good rest, but during winter months, that is all many customers want. In fact my own daughter is travelling there for her honeymoon in February.
Would anyone like to give me feedback if it would be helpful if we add a customer comments page to our web site? Providing you the traveller, the opportunity to add your comments on your experiences? Please e-mail me. tony@stptravel.com
