booking online versus travel agent

chipp

Is there any advantage in paying substantially more to book a package holiday at a high street travel agent rather than booking the same package online through the tour operator's website? I'm talking Thomson, not an independent travel agency and I'm talking a package - one price covering everything shown in the brochure, not DIY flight + hotel etc.

I appreciate that tour operators need to cover the costs of running a high street operation, but the difference in price seems extortionate to me. If it's the same holiday and I have the same legal rights regardless of how I book it, it's a no-brainer, but not being a seasoned traveller I'm just wondering if I'm missing something.

ferf1223

some will say that if something goes wrong, you have the TA to turn to for help and to sort things out...we don't see it that way, if something goes wrong we want to have the relationship with the airline/hotel, etc...too many stories of people having to wait until their TA can contact the airline/hotel to resolve an issue...we can call our airline/hotel and talk to them ourselves.

others will mention additional protection in booking a package which I suppose in some cases may be relevant - i.e. if the flight is cancelled for some reason, you won't be bound to the charges associated with the hotel as you booked a package (assuming it is actually a package you are looking at and not flights+hotel as separate elements), not DIY separate elements...but booking direct in a lot of cases you can cancel the hotel up to 6pm on the day of arrival...so I guess I don't really see any benefit...not for us, not for the holidays we take.

Some will also say that TAs can sometimes give extras as part of the package which will bring down the variance between booking with them and independently...I suppose that's worth considering, if that does bring the two more inline.

Ultimately TAs have costs in operating their shops that have to be paid somehow, plus you're getting some form/level of service too...and some people like to use TAs for various reasons and that's fair enough. We choose to do it ourselves, pay by CC so we have protection there, have travel insurance so more protection there, and where possible book cancellable hotels and hire car so more protection there...we don't find a TAs services worth paying extra for but some do.

balletshoes

I haven't been into a travel agency to book a trip for years (at least 10). I see no need to, as you say you can get package holidays from the high street agents among others online.

Incapuppy

Some TA's will match online prices; so take a printout, its always worth asking.

jhe

as incapuppy says print off internet price and take to travel agents.
i always book this way, if there are any questions problem etc travel agents deal with it instead of having to phone premium numbers and be stuck on hold for ages

mcfisco

A Thomson's - bricks and mortar - TA branch 'de-packaged' a holiday we were going to book with them online @£1k+ PP
It ended up around £850 PP
It was for 5 of us so a substantial saving

So worth going in after you've found it online and see what they can do

lollipopsarah

As above we checked online (yawn) for many weeks, then went into our local TA and even though the holiday still cost a lot more than we expected we did get free insurance.
Remember that what looks good online sometimes has lots of extras, so it's not always as good as it seems.
Having said that, we booked via the internet 2 years ago and got stranded when the volcano went up - aaaaaaaaaagh the day after we arrived.
Luckily for us our flights were with a well known airline and after an extra 4 days they brought us home - brilliant service.
Fingers crossed we are going back this year!
xx

mickeyjane_2

Hi

I know a company called Latedeals who I normally use to book my holidays. They always give up to 70% discount, and are owned by TUI Group (Thomson/First Choice) so I always find them cheaper.

The holidays only go up to 8 weeks in advance..but they also have a sister site Holiday Hypermarket if you are looking to travel beyond that.

They are on facebook . If you like their pages they also regularly post deals.

The holidays on the site are all package holidays so you are completely covered by ABTA.

I hope you find this useful

sal-ad_daze

We were pricing a First Choice Holiday - a lot cheaper online that in the Agents, we asked for a price match and the First Choice shop couldn't/wouldn't do it but our local Thomson shop was happy to.
For various reasons haven't 'done' a package in years so weren't sure how flexible they'd be (taking the family to Morocco so wanted the extra back up of a package) and have no complaints so far

Spooki6970

I had exactly the same dilema as you - I found a July 2012 holiday i wanted on a First Choice website on 10th April- phoned the local Tui / Thomson shop as thought it was the right thing to keep a local shop going. They quoted me a price that was about the same £2800, but I called them back and said it was a bit much and that I would leave it 5 weeks (to the end of May).
they phoned me back in a heartbeat - it is the very last room - there is absolutely no way there would be anything meeting our requirements in 5 weeks (especially as we were going away at the start of the school holiday).
Because it was Thomson - not some fly by night, number on the back of a postcard set up - I actually believed them. Because they actually were privvy to alot more information than I - they would know that for certain, wouldn't they?
I had to pay everything within 14 days. You can imagine just how flipping annoyed I was to find 4 rooms meeting our exact requirements available through First Choice at the end of May - £400 cheaper.
Well, I certainly can not afford to lose £400 - it took 2.5years to save for this holiday. I have put in a complaint to Thomson as their agent in effect told a bare faced lie to get me to buy that holiday. Thomson have tried the "we're sorry - but prices go up as well as down" tact - but my beef is that i was categorically told there wouldn't be anything available at the end of May - not there "might" be something - that there absolutely wouldn't be anything there as I was looking at the last room.
Talk about cheap sales tactics - I expected a hell of alot more from thomson. My complaint has been passed onto their "Retail" section. It has most definitely soured my view of trying to help a local business. So getting back to your post - don't bother with the local travel agent - they are only out to meet sales targets and have absolutely no morals in ripping you off. I have learnt my lesson - at least on line it is in writing and I can take sopies of everything.

mcfisco

You can imagine just how flipping annoyed I was to find 4 rooms meeting our exact requirements available through First Choice at the end of May - £400 cheaper.

I have absolutely no idea what the cancellation average is ........ but,could the 4 rooms not have come from late cancellations?