What travel agent do you use?

[Unicorn13x]

We always booked through our banks holiday service but they don't deal with Virgin always went with TC before, so since we were going with Virgin this year we booked direct with Virgin.

[metalguru]

This year, flights and car with BA, first weeks accommodation direct with a Casino, 2nd weeks accommodation with Booking.com.

[NewtoOrlando]

Book everything myself. Flights and car direct with BA, Disney through Disney, villa through the owner on the dibb or through homeaway/holiday lettings, any other tickets through floridatix/attraction tickets, any additional hotel stays ie airport hotel, beach stay, universal hotels through either hotels.com or Expedia. All of this is booked on a deposit only and I pay the rest when it’s due, that way should I need to cancel I only lose the minimum amount. Made a mistake years ago booking a holiday with an agent on a low deposit scheme and I had to cancel but it meant I had to pay the whole deposit which was a big chunk of money.

I also like to have control over everything, where we stay, type of villa, be able to change things about myself rather than have an agent do it.

We all do it differently, however I’ve yet to find an agent to give me exactly what we want in a holiday for cheaper than doing it myself. Plus, I LOVE sorting it all!

[hayles25]

This time round went with travel republic for flights and car hire and direct through Hilton honours for the hotel, we saved a huge amount though would have preferred flying with virgin just a shame their prices are through the roof.

[duchy]

Usually I DIY but will use agents for certain things. I tend to use specialists for these bits and it has always gone well but this year I slipped up and used Hays.
Booked a cruise at the very end of December , price was already good and got a bit of discount too. Apart from consistently calling the Fantastica cabins Fantasmic throughout the call she seemed pretty good but a few days later I needed to call to add my cruise loyalty number and add a couple of requests. Five calls later and I still haven’t spoken to her or got the info I need. Not even an email . Apparently she’s a team leader which makes it all the worse as she’s hardly leading by example !
Our friends have now decided to join us on the cruise, but want a suite , they’ve given up on adding to our booking now and have booked their cabin separately ... so she’s lost a nice chunk of very easy extra commission too.
I accept I’ve been unlucky as the customer service staff I’ve spoken to have done as much as they can but ultimately five failed requests for a callback from her over three weeks is dreadful.
I’m an advocate of homeworking but in this case I wish I’d booked in branch (or obviously elsewhere) as at least I could walk in and get this dealt with !

[Guest]

Originally Posted by darth plagueis

Need someone who is reliable

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I use google, Virgin Atlantic website and my credit card. They've never sold me a bad trip yet.

[JudgeJ26]

We used to book our package in store with Thomas Cook. Never had any problems. This year we have booked in store with Virgin Holidays. A new store has recently opened in Canterbury. My youngest daughter works just around the corner from then so is able to pop in with any queries etc. Their service has been fantastic so far. We very much appreciated the freebies we received when booking too - 3 mini bottles of Prosecco, bags of mini pretzels and Hershey and Reese chocolate bars. All given in a Virgin Holidays canvas bag.

[traceyt]

I book everything myself but I have been going there for over 20 years. There's a lot to know about florida holidays and a first timer might be better off using a ta as can be overwhelming.

[duchy]

Originally Posted by traceyt

I book everything myself but I have been going there for over 20 years. There's a lot to know about florida holidays and a first timer might be better off using a ta as can be overwhelming.

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Might is the word as you simply can’t assume all travel agents are equal or even knowledgable.

[emmafleur]

Originally Posted by Tre85

We have used Virgin direct for this year but have used Tui, My Magic Holiday and Charter Travel in the past. All been great. I would prefer to book with a TA for protection and to be honest they have always come in cheaper than when I have looked at DIY!

Please if you do book DIY get travel insurance as soon as you book any part of the holiday and also make sure it covers consequential losses! This means if your airline goes bust (like TC) then your insurance will cover all other elements associated such as hotel, tickets and car hire. Otherwise they aren't inclined to refund you as they have still held up their side of the deal and its not their fault that your choice of airline has failed (if that makes sense!).

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I just wanted to add something to this. I had flights booked with TC using my credit card. I’d booked the flights myself and not through a TA. My credit card company paid me back the money for my original flights plus all consequential losses I had incurred due to the TC collapse. I had no issues getting my money back and went on to book Virgin flights independently. I booked everything else either with Disney direct or with individual hotels/ websites such as Hotels.com. I like being able to control of my own holiday and deal directly with the companies I’m using. However, my first holiday to Orlando I did use travelplanners and they were great.