Multi-Hotel package holiday

sandsy

BA's website let's you do it.
First choose your flight.
Then it gives you an option to add a hotel - make sure you change the check out date to suit your needs.
Once that's in your basket, you can pick another hotel - again, be careful with the date input.
You can then add airport transfers to the first hotel and back from the second hotel.
But you don't seem to be able to add a transfer between the hotels so that might have to be done independently.

In one location (Mexico), we managed this by booking a private day tour with a tour operator, and checking they were happy for us to take all our luggage along and drop us off at a different location (Cancun) to where they'd picked us up (Riviera Maya). And we had a great day at Chichen Itza etc into the bargain.

Hope this helps.

Westin

OP - this is also possible via Virgin Holidays.

stephb34

Gold Medal/ Netflights, Thomas Cook Signature, Funway, Kuoni etc.

cubegame

stephb34 wrote: »

Poster wanted any advice other than doing it themselves, so what advice did your post offer to them?
Not everyone has the time or the inclination to DIY and are happy to pay for help and not always is it dearer to use a travel agent and if you find a good one they are invaluable.

Poor advice.

There is never any need for a travel agent. Most posts on this forum where people are having problems or are complaining about being ripped off are because they used a travel agent.

It's not 1980.

stephb34

cubegame wrote: »

Poor advice.

There is never any need for a travel agent. Most posts on this forum where people are having problems or are complaining about being ripped off are because they used a travel agent.

It's not 1980.

Of course there is need for Travel agents not every person wants to DIY. It depends on who you define as a travel agent.
A lot of problems and complaints are for online travel agents the likes of Teletext, On the beach, lastminute.com and the latest kid on the block is Inteletravel which basically is a pyramid selling scheme a lot of the staff have no travel experience what so ever.

Doshwaster

cubegame wrote: »

Poor advice.

There is never any need for a travel agent. Most posts on this forum where people are having problems or are complaining about being ripped off are because they used a travel agent.

It's not 1980.

I wouldn't quite go that far. There probably is still a role for travel agents at the specialist end of the market and for corporate travel arrangers (try organising the flight, transfer and hotel arrangements for 100 employees all coming to a company meeting from different parts of the world) but for simple flight/hotel combos it is hard to see what value a travel agent can provide over DIY. In fact for some people, including myself, doing the research about different options and routings is part of the fun of travel.

I'm currently planning a 2 week trip around SE Asia for October and I wouldn't dream of letting a travel agent book it for me. I'd want to do it all myself.

Westin

I guess it is a case of Each to His Own.

Some people may not be as willing or feel as competent booking travel or holidays themselves, especially as for many it is a big ticket purchase.

I don’t think it fair to tar all travel agents negativity and I am sure there are many very competent ones out there.

You only need to spend some time reading some of the Trip Advisor forums to see many people lack the ability to use the internet and make travel arrangements themselves. Often shonky online overseas based ticket sellers are selected and used, probably picked based on price alone. Some self bookers also seem to make a right hash of reservations with inability to select the right travel dates, the correct airports or even to be able to spell their own names.

I think if people want to use an agent to make their travel plans and to book holidays then they should be free to do so without others chastising them.

Ps - I’m not a travel agent!

zagfles

Why do people think using an agent makes it easier to sort out problems? Problems are far easier to sort out if you've booked direct, if you booked via an agent and didn't get what you're expecting the hotel/airline will refer you to the agent, who might be in a diferent timezone/closed etc, whereas if you booked direct you sort it out direct with the hotel/airline. Loads of examples on the board of people having problems due to p**sing contests between travel agent & service provider.

Westin

That can very as well.

My sister in law was on holiday when her tour operator went bust (XL Leisure I think). The travel agent she used was on to it before she realised the problem and relayed information about a repatriation flight home and assurances on payment to the hotel while she waited an extra day for the return flight. Others who had booked direct with the airline on a flight only basis were left in the dark and not sure what to do.

I have also had instances myself with BA, EasyJet and Norwegian when there has been flight disruption and cancellations and reaching the airlines concerns proved difficult. Ticket desks at airports get swamped and their websites slowed or blocked to allow rebooking.

I personally think it comes down to the quality of the agent used.