Travel Agents Say MoneySaving Is Immoral!

Pincher

I hardly ever do packaged tours, but the competition is truly unbelievable at the bottom end.

I was on a five day package to see Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yellow Stone Park, Zion, etc. Coach with tour guide and five nights hotel. US$450 per person all in. Flight to Las Vegas was separate.

It was just a transport service, although the tour guide did introduce the locality with some stories. Effectively, you take a few pictures, and move on to the next location. Apparently, the program used to include a BBQ around Yellowstone Park, and other entertainments. The problem is, bottom end customers just look at the headline price, and the better programs don't get picked, so in order to survive, the companies have to cut out all the frills, and it ended up being a bare minimum coach and hotel package.

When my sister went years ago, they had a donkey ride down the Grand Canyon. All I got was a few pictures from the viewing platform. I want to pay more so it could have been a better trip.

A holiday is not like buying a toaster, when you pay too little, you might as well look at the pictures from a computer, and save yourself the boredom of sitting in a coach for days.

The most extreme example I have come across is China, where you almost get paid to go on a five day trip. I paid about £300 per person for a five day coach tour to Jiuzhaigou, which is about a 12 hour coach ride from Chengdu. The same thing was advertised for £45 on flyers in Chengdu! The difference is we didn't have to shop.

The agents advertise to get tourists to sign up, and then SELL them to tour operators. So the agents get your £45, and then get a payment from the operator. They take you to road side warehouses, and the coach only returns when you have bought enugh. There have been cases where old age pensioners were stranded for more than a day, starving, with nothing to sleep on than the car park ground. Fighting with the tour guide gets you arrested because sometimes the police are in on it becaue they get a cut.

In situations like this, haggling will get £45 down to £10, and the agent still makes money, but to what end?

matty_yorks

I remember Martin's excellent point at the time, which still stands today:

The person selling the holiday has had professional training in how to sell the product. By giving the consumer obverse training, Martin is just levelling the playing field.

If a travel consultant is good enough, they will be able to sell a trip at not necessarily the cheapest price. If not, they should get more training or consider working for a different parasitic business.

Yep, they're parasites.

Butti

The headline 'Martin Lewis offers to send another member of staff to travel agency for day' is not really catchy. Much more catchy to say you've snubbed them.

I do have to say I have a bit of a soft spot for Thomas Cook. I got pick-pocketed in Italy about 10 years ago. They got about 50p in lira but my fiver for the train journey home. Hence I needed my £50 travellers cheque changed into £50 sterling for the journey home in England. Thomas Cook could have actually charged me commission twice but didn't charge me any at all.

I thought everyone expected you to haggle these days.

B

Dragon

Surely the headline should be:
“Martin Lewis turns down travel agents’ invite” – Is that English?

Sorry but it's a pet hate of mine, and I am sure that I am not alone.
The only thing which can be issued or received is an "invitation".

The word "invite" is a verb - and for those who don't understand the term, it means a doing word. Something which one can do, cannot be used in this way - in English - but then I suppose perhaps one should not use the words "English" and "journalist" in the same sentence!

:mad:

matty_yorks

Dragon wrote: »

Surely the headline should be:
“Martin Lewis turns down travel agents’ invite” – Is that English?

Sorry but it's a pet hate of mine, and I am sure that I am not alone.
The only thing which can be issued or received is an "invitation".

The word "invite" is a verb - and for those who don't understand the term, it means a doing word. Something which one can do, cannot be used in this way - in English - but then I suppose perhaps one should not use the words "English" and "journalist" in the same sentence!

:mad:

hate to shatter your ego but it is listed in dictionaries as both a noun and a verb, and has been for quite some time.

cinereus

Travel agents are scum who deserve everything they get. And I would only use "invite" and "quote" as verbs not nouns.

Pollycat

This is a thread with a poll and everytime someone votes in the poll, it brings the thread back to the top of the board.

NECROPOST ALERT...!!!
The last post on this thread was over 3 years ago