Travel Counsellors - good or bad?

photome

Qwerty_travel wrote: »

They are an amazing company with agents who really care about providing the best holiday for their clients.


They are Atol bonded and have their own unique Trust which guarantees 100% financial protection.


The company has superb customer care and are highly regarded within the industry.


Take a look at their website and see for yourself.

Nothing like advertising yourself !!

Qwerty_travel

photome wrote: »

Nothing like advertising yourself !!

Ha ha yes it looks that way. Don't be deceived by a name. I am not affiliated nor do I work for them. I used to work in travel so knew about them and have also booked with them.


I am aware of their good name and personally rate them. I am just giving the op my opinion which was asked for. As you are doing yours

photome

Qwerty_travel wrote: »

Ha ha yes it looks that way. Don't be deceived by a name. I am not affiliated nor do I work for them. I used to work in travel so knew about them and have also booked with them.


I am aware of their good name and personally rate them. I am just giving the op my opinion which was asked for. As you are doing yours

Difference is that you seem to have registered on this site specially to do just that, call me sceptical if you like

Not denying that they may be good, just that does anyone really need to use them over DIY

Qwerty_travel

photome wrote: »

Difference is that you seem to have registered on this site specially to do just that, call me sceptical if you like

Not denying that they may be good, just that does anyone really need to use them over DIY

No of course they don't but maybe not everyone wants to book DIY. The reason I registered is because I always usually book DIY but last year the only way I could secure the hotel I wanted was to go through an agent. I rang the hotel direct and was told they only took bookings through various agencies such as expedia etc. I could not find any availability and so decided to try a travel agent and chose Travel Counsellors.

She got me the hotel and I booked the complete package at a price I was happy with. I felt I got a really good service and I am more than happy to recommend her.

Make-it-3

Travel Counsellors is a franchise, so your experience with them will be as good as the individual you are using. However, that said they are usually very experienced travel agents who just want to go it alone and provide a high quality, personalised service. They have the benefit of being able to draw on hotel, airline deals etc negotiated by head office but put together a tailored package. A friend of mine is one and I know he treats all his clients like they are family members.

So why would you use them?

If you enjoy putting together your own holiday, researching, looking at maps, reading guide books, scouring the internet then you aren't going to hand that over to someone else.

If you are happy to have a standard off the shelf package from a tour company then you probably don't need them either.

But if you want something different, don't have the time or the desire to search it out then that's where they come in.

davcas_2

I've used one following a recommendation from a friend and now use her all the time for big trips. She did a lot of the ground work and I just had to review, do a little follow up and let her complete the rest. As previously stated, her hours were not just 9-5 and her comms were brilliant and the small fee is nothing to the hassle of the travel agents.

ToLeadABetterLife

I used one recently and she did all the hard work and came up with a competitive quote. I might have been able to save 2% at most but felt for the peace of mind they offer in financial protection v's the lowest quote I had, I opted for them. I like the idea of having a friendly person to call most anytime and they know the trade better than I do so they can at least try and blag us a better Honeymoon upgrade if such a thing exists.

I did a huge amount of my own research and the various sites were dearer and it took me forever to find the one company, NOT TC, who was slightly cheaper but they seemed to be wide boys so wasn't comfortable with them.

That said I am happy to look at any part of the trip and choose to DIY if it makes sense - EG The TC taxi quotes seem 50% more doing it through TC than myself or even the hotel but that is small change in the big picture (But I'll likely save that few beers money and book the taxi's direct!)


The TC agent told me many travel agents won't guarantee a hotel only booking, if someone goes bust, without the flight being part of it and as I had my own flights aleady that was of interest to me as it saves me 1.5-2% on CC fees as I feel safe to use DD now - They state:
Financial Protection
Travel Counsellors Trust Fund, which is independently administered by the Barclays Bank Trust Ltd, guarantees a 100% financial protection