On The Beach

C4Tim

Hi All,

What experiences have people had with this company/travel agent?

My wife and I went to Lanzarote on our honeymoon September 2012 after booking through OTB. The holiday itself was lovely, just not the experience with OTB.

Please bear in mind that all this occurred whilst arranging a wedding.

We got the price online and then rang them to discuss all the details and the fine prints (as I'm a bit OCD when it comes to arranging travel details and the like)

Having established the overall price, I made sure that transfers to/from hotel were arranged, baggage was sorted on the plane and that the tickets would be accessible in good time. OTB were more than happy to confirm all these details and bingo! We had a honeymoon booked.

With less than two weeks to go before wedding day and honeymoon, I start getting emails to ensure that we had booked hotel transfers and baggage for the plane. Thinking it strange, I checked our online account and we didn't have anything arranged. :eek:

I rang OTB and they told me that I hadn't booked any transfers or baggage and told me the price on the website didn't include the above. A fruitless hour later and I'm none the wiser; they didn't budge on the baggage or airport transfers. I requested a refund of the holiday, but due to their 'special calculations' it was more cost effective to go on the tainted trip than cancel. So extra £££'s to spend....

After this all went well. Wedding went without a hitch, and we got the tickets for the plane via our online account. Getting to the airport was easy and we had a stress-free trip to Lanzarote. :j

Imagine this, we get to the airport collection point to be told that we didn't have a transfer because we hadn't booked one or confirmed that we wanted one whilst booking the holiday. :mad:

After long negotiations with the company, saying that we had booked a transfer with them via OTB, they agreed to take us to the hotel. A little hiccup I thought, anyone can make that mistake. OTB were about to strike again.

We got to the hotel and attempted to book-in, only to be told that we were to supposed to have confirmation receipts of our booking with the hotel, otherwise we weren't able to stay. OTB had sent them to our online account without informing us at any stage.

Does anybody have good experiences with OTB?

This experience leaves me feeling that I will be avoiding the internet bazaar and using the likes of high-street dealers, like Thomas Cook.

littlereddevil

A search would have revealed all

jackieblack

There are regularly threads on here from people who've had problems, and inevitably there will be the odd post or two from people who say they've never had any problems.
Personally, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole!

C4Tim

jackieblack wrote: »

There are regularly threads on here from people who've had problems, and inevitably there will be the odd post or two from people who say they've never had any problems.
Personally, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole!

What was your experience with them?

jackieblack

C4Tim wrote: »

What was your experience with them?

Simply an opinion formed by reading all the posts on this and other forums from many people who've had problems

opinions4u

I've never dealt with the company.

I've never actually heard of the company, other than negative comment on here.

On that in-depth basis I wouldn't touch them with somebody else's bargepole!

stoneman

Problem is people only post when they have had a problem so you tend only to see negative experiences. Thomas Cook, BA, Virgin Holidays, et all, look for peoples experiences with these and you will only see the negative. When was the last time you have read a post "Wonderful service from x"
I have booked with OTB twice, only accommodation but both times I got what I paid for. I do find however that they are extremely slow at replying to emails, you can only seem to contact them through your account, and then you have to keep logging in to see if they have answered

arthurdick

have had 4 holidays in the last 12 months, all booked through on the beach,
so far, not one single problem, all been smooth and easy going, have a holiday booked through them at the moment, for june next year, fingers crossed .

C4Tim

arthurdick wrote: »

have had 4 holidays in the last 12 months, all booked through on the beach,
so far, not one single problem, all been smooth and easy going, have a holiday booked through them at the moment, for june next year, fingers crossed .

Hopefully it will all go well for you! Going anywhere nice?:)

jackieblack

jackieblack wrote: »

there are regularly threads on here from people who've had problems, and inevitably there will be the odd post or two from people who say they've never had any problems.
personally, i wouldn't touch them with a bargepole!

stoneman wrote: »

i have booked with otb twice, only accommodation but both times i got what i paid for.

arthurdick wrote: »

have had 4 holidays in the last 12 months, all booked through on the beach,
so far, not one single problem, all been smooth and easy going,

I knew it!

arthurdick

C4Tim wrote: »

Hopefully it will all go well for you! Going anywhere nice?:)

me too, i hope it goes well..never had a problem with them yet, but this is going to be only my 5th time..i have been lucky so far.

going to praia da rocha near portimao in portugal, went there in june this , it was lovely