Experiences of Trivago, Kayak, Booking.com and others

Conrad

We usually book our own flights and accommodation, and never use tour operators or middle men, however we wanted a long haul holiday this time and to feel we have back-up and expertise onside.


I wanted to share my experiences of using these internet holiday portals that seem to be springing up, some of which are backed by expensive TV advertising. This was for long haul flight and hotel.


I'm on about firms such as Booking.com, KAYAK and Trivago.


I was personally dissatisfied and found the services did not suit me for the following reasons;


+ Very long flights with long stop-overs and awkward times


+ Some not so great airlines, some with poorer safety records


+ Sub standard resorts & hotels - sub-par Tripadvisor reviews reflecting 'ageing' resorts and 'average / poor' buffet style food / smell of damp and mould / seen better days


+ Where resorts were nice, there were other issues such as very long unreliable coach journeys after a flight or the resort was surrounded by a bit of a smelly old town (some in Bali like this - very depressing outside the resort and for us this renders them non-magical)


+ Pushy >> when using these portals you are confronted with messages designed to instil urgency, for example > 'most recent booking 7 minutes ago' ' 3 rooms remaining' '4 people are viewing this package'


+ Lack of expertise - to my mind these are dis-interested middle man internet business's with no real attention to detail and a lack of information on resorts / accommodation. I was left with the impression it's all about quickly getting people to commit regardless.



This all left us with a feeling that you would not be in the best hands when abroad in a far away land, and things can and do go wrong.


OUTCOME;

We found traditional tour operators far superior, and ended up booking with Kenwood Travel - far better flight offers, real people quickly answered our calls, and they'd stayed in the resorts and as such the firm stakes it's reputation on recommending them, and the resorts on offer were far superior.


Also nice to know everything is arranged by pro's and you have back-up on the end on a quick call.


To cap it all we found the deals were only slightly more expensive.

Now I realise everyone is different and for some people a slightly decaying hotel with luke warm buffet under hot lamps with slightly mouldy bathroom sealant is their idea of a good deal, but for us when spending good money we'd rather pay a little more and get a lot better holiday and peace of mind, after all your entire life boils down to a set of memories.

richardw

Did you feel the Travel Agent saved you time, or could you have done the research yourself?

blindman

Conrad wrote: »

We usually book our own flights and accommodation, and never use tour operators or middle men, however we wanted a long haul holiday this time and to feel we have back-up and expertise onside.



To cap it all we found the deals were only slightly more expensive.

Now I realise everyone is different and for some people a slightly decaying hotel with luke warm buffet under hot lamps with slightly mouldy bathroom sealant is their idea of a good deal, but for us when spending good money we'd rather pay a little more and get a lot better holiday and peace of mind, after all your entire life boils down to a set of memories.

Slightly confused here.


You always DIY for assumingly short (Europe ?)hols but because this was a longer flight (?) you wanted expertise backup BUT you still went DIY and used portals to book said flights and hotels?


Surely it was up to you to check the reviews\airline quality from these portal before you booked?
Is this not what you do when DIY for short haul?

I DIY all hols and use various tools\portals to get prices but invariably look at reviews from several sources before I book.

Booking.com has it's own "review" score but I find these over hyped and will compare at least on Tripadvisor.

Airline quality
Flyertalk is a bit OTT but can give insights into carriers, routes and comfort\cabins.

Pushy
Don't believe any marketing hype!


Lack of expertise - to my mind these are dis-interested middle man internet business's "

Surely you are the one who was the expertise when DIYing?


These portals are just that-One place where you can look at a a myriad of choices.
The final choice is down to you.

PompeyPete

Conrad wrote: »

I'm on about firms such as Booking.com, KAYAK and Trivago.

I was personally dissatisfied and found the services did not suit me for the following reasons;

I've used Booking.com or Agoda dozens of times, and never been disappointed. But I do plenty of homework first.

Conrad wrote: »

+ Very long flights with long stop-overs and awkward times

+ Some not so great airlines, some with poorer safety records

I use Skyscanner to compare prices, BUT always book direct with the Airline. Flying longhaul east or west there's plenty of choice, and usually flight times that avoid expensive overnight airport hotels.

Conrad wrote: »

+ Sub standard resorts & hotels - sub-par Tripadvisor reviews reflecting 'ageing' resorts and 'average / poor' buffet style food / smell of damp and mould / seen better days

Pre-trip homework. Prefer to use locally owned and operated accommodation and put money into the hands of locals rather that massive AI resorts.

Conrad wrote: »

+ Where resorts were nice, there were other issues such as very long unreliable coach journeys after a flight or the resort was surrounded by a bit of a smelly old town (some in Bali like this - very depressing outside the resort and for us this renders them non-magical)

Pre-trip homework. I was in Bali 19 months ago and a non-reserved taxi from Bali Airport to Sanur [50 minutes] cost a fiver including tip. Resort hotels are often inconveniently situated with hardly any access to public transport.

Conrad wrote: »

+ Pushy >> when using these portals you are confronted with messages designed to instil urgency, for example > 'most recent booking 7 minutes ago' ' 3 rooms remaining' '4 people are viewing this package'

Don't take any notice of stuff like that.

Conrad wrote: »

+ Lack of expertise - to my mind these are dis-interested middle man internet business's with no real attention to detail and a lack of information on resorts / accommodation. I was left with the impression it's all about quickly getting people to commit regardless.

Don't be rushed, compare places, look at where they are on the maps. Read the reviews, but on Trip Advisor make sure you read between the lines.

Conrad wrote: »

This all left us with a feeling that you would not be in the best hands when abroad in a far away land, and things can and do go wrong.

Pre-trip homework. Make sure you've got good travel insurance, and that stuff like their Hot-line telephone number is handy at all times. Read FCO Travel Advice for the destination you're visiting. Take a copy of Lonely Planet or Rough Guide, they contain all sorts of useful stuff. Make an appointment with your GP Travel Clinic 6 weeks before you travel. Don't rely on a tour rep!

Conrad wrote: »

We found traditional tour operators far superior, and ended up booking with Kenwood Travel - far better flight offers, real people quickly answered our calls, and they'd stayed in the resorts and as such the firm stakes it's reputation on recommending them, and the resorts on offer were far superior.

Some are better than others. You obviously found a good one. Even with a good one things can still go wrong and leave a sour taste.

Conrad wrote: »

Now I realise everyone is different and for some people a slightly decaying hotel with luke warm buffet under hot lamps with slightly mouldy bathroom sealant is their idea of a good deal, but for us when spending good money we'd rather pay a little more and get a lot better holiday and peace of mind, after all your entire life boils down to a set of memories.

Because I organise everything myself I've only myself to blame if anything goes wrong, which it sometimes does. But even then being independent any snags are usually easy to solve and move on.

Failing to Plan = Planning to Fail.

redpete

Tripadvisor is a far better source of reviews that any of the booking agents. I always research accommodation on Tripadvisor and book via the discount sites (including booking.com, hotels.com, ...) or directly making the most of quidco cashback where available.


I usually book flights direct with the airlines but have done so via online agencies without problems.


I have never been surprised by the poor quality of the accommodation nor by bad service from the agents.

callum9999

So to summarise, you decided to book the holiday yourself then realised you can't be bothered to research it so instead contracted it out to a travel agent to do for you with a fee?

Given we're already aware of the existence of travel agents and what they do, was there a specific point? DIY travel isn't suitable for people without the time to research or who finds it tedious, but it's certainly lucrative for those who can.

(That sounds slightly snottier than I intended, sorry!)

Conrad

callum9999 wrote: »

So to summarise, you decided to book the holiday yourself then realised you can't be bothered to research it so instead contracted it out to a travel agent to do for you with a fee?

Given we're already aware of the existence of travel agents and what they do, was there a specific point? DIY travel isn't suitable for people without the time to research or who finds it tedious, but it's certainly lucrative for those who can.

(That sounds slightly snottier than I intended, sorry!)

Well we did days on end of research to include dozens of attempts thru these new portals and almost went round the bend with them

We've always booked direct flights and accommodation, but for the long haul destinations we were considering we found the good old established tour operators a better option

Note we were booking peak time and so the usual barf people tell emma out wi cheap good flights did not apply though any of the main online portals

In a nutshell the good ole fashioned tour operators came up witht the goods

bigadaj

The only time I have booked through a travel agent in the last few years is when we want a standard week in the med, it's easier and no more expensive.

Long haul holidays we generally travel around so check flights on skyscanner, book with airline, hotels checked on tripadvisor once schedule planned and booked either direct or through consolidator depending on cost, with email confirmation direct with hotel a few days after booking. There's a risk that things could go wrong but remaining flexible and not rushing things means we've never had major issues, and I'd estimate our costs at no more than half than booking through an agent for a long haul package.

You pays your money and you takes your choice I suppose.

PompeyPete

I made our latest Booking.com reservation yesterday.

As well as getting the usual immediate confirmation from Booking.com, I also got a more-or-less immediate welcome e-mail from the hotel [in Leon, Nicaragua], which said...

Thanks to book in Hostal Malinche in Leon, Nicaragua!
We are waiting for you from Monday, May 2, 2016 to Friday, May 6, 2016.
When you'll arrive we can help you to know our beautiful colonial City giving you informations about the different activities that you'll be able to do!

We look forward to stay with you!
See you soon!
Malinche's Staff!

Quite a nice touch, never had that before when booking.

duchy

What a strange post.

Kayak etc are not travel agencies they are price comparison sites so you are comparing apples with oranges.

If you don't have the experience or confidence or time to put your own trip together then paying the agent to do it for you makes sense but it will invariably give you fewer choices at a higher cost.

I used kayak to locate fares to Chicago recently. Kayak certainly offered options cheaper than direct fares and for me the time versus money calculation is always worth a look.

My conclusions .... I could fly direct to Chicago for between £650 to £800 on my dates or I could fly indirect and pay £250 plus £28 in placement flights plus a hotel to overnight was £50 on a hotel boat (travel agent incidently wanted £100 for the exact same hotel) in Gothenburg. So I've saved an awful lot of money .......in fact the saving has covered all my hotels and other bits in the US and added a nice night in the centre of a really nice city enroute instead of an overpriced Heathrow airport hotel or a very early start from home. I booked my transatlantic flights direct with the airline from the Kayak link (in this case SAS but I usually book BA or AA again their flights and links are on Kayak). I could have saved a further three pounds on my flights and used edreams link rather than the SAS two lines further down but I chose not to.

The med a package can be cheaper but certainly not always......long haul it invariably cheaper, more flexible and better value to build it yourself unless you want something very packaged and generic.


Kayak isn't for everyone but many find it a really useful tool that can save throwing away a lot of money for very minimal effort. It really comes down to do you want to do the work yourself or paya travel agent to do it ....as make no mistake their wages come out of your holiday budget.

I did giggle at Conrad getting all snooty about low rated hotels (clearly missed you can filter for any grade of hotel on Kayak including five star) and then saying he was looking at hotels with buffets. Breakfast apart the nicer hotels don't tend to have buffets but proper dining (Vegas excepted of course) . Still so long as he's happy with his personal decision to let a travel agent choose his holiday for him I'm sure all will be well and he'll have no regrets.

callum9999

Conrad wrote: »

Well we did days on end of research to include dozens of attempts thru these new portals and almost went round the bend with them

We've always booked direct flights and accommodation, but for the long haul destinations we were considering we found the good old established tour operators a better option

Note we were booking peak time and so the usual barf people tell emma out wi cheap good flights did not apply though any of the main online portals

In a nutshell the good ole fashioned tour operators came up witht the goods

That's solely your issue though - you don't seem to know how to use them correctly.

I backpack and so use these sites extensively, if I'm not being particularly picky I can load up booking.com etc., find a suitable place to stay, book it and pay for it all within 2 minutes.

Ditto with the flights (though that generally takes a bit longer obviously!). Flying during peak periods is irrelevant, you use the same tools the same way. I'd be beyond shocked if your travel agent found something I couldn't have found on the usual comparison sites in a minute or so at the same or lower price.

Which brings me right back to what I said in my original response. If you don't have the time(/don't know how to use comparison sites) or find the process tedious then contracting it out to someone else for a fee makes sense. For other people, the large savings from a DIY holiday makes sense. It's a personal decision.