Holiday floridas has anyone used them?

[Guest]

Just looking at a package through holiday floridas and they are coming out cheapest, has anyone used them?

I've not heard of them before so am a bit wary.

holidayfloridas/package/aboutus

[BarryL]

Not heard of them or the parent company Holiday Wagon.

The address given (71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden,London, England, WC2H 9JQ) is a virtual, maildrop address. You'll not actually find them there. Nothing wrong with that in itself as there can be legitimate reasons for a virtual address. In fact a quick google shows over 9000 companies registered at that address.

I can't find any reviews of either company. Holiday Wagon has a facebook page but it seems pretty inactive.

All things considered I'd be ultra cautious

[Guest]

Originally Posted by BarryL

Not heard of them or the parent company Holiday Wagon.

The address given (71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden,London, England, WC2H 9JQ) is a virtual, maildrop address. You'll not actually find them there. Nothing wrong with that in itself as there can be legitimate reasons for a virtual address. In fact a quick google shows over 9000 companies registered at that address.

I can't find any reviews of either company. Holiday Wagon has a facebook page but it seems pretty inactive.

All things considered I'd be ultra cautious

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Thank you. That was my worry too. I can't find out much about them at all.

Think I may avoid.

[RobandLynsey]

I would be very cautious just the name alone screams dodgy. "Floridas" is that the best grammatically incorrect catchy name they could come up with? I would steer well clear.

[RobandLynsey]

Also scamadvisor (never used before but was googling holiday floridas and scam) gives it a trust rating of 0%!

[Guest]

Argh, I'm gutted. They're so much cheaper than the next cheapest quote and I could have gotten the same price booking everything myself but the flight prices have now jumped in the time I've been looking at this

[RobandLynsey]

To be fair to them there looked to be a thread on here a while back where them seem legit and they do have a legit TTA number (can't see the ATOL one though). I would still be dubious though as it looks like they are a very small operation if they are legit which could be a hassle if they run into problems. We have done DIY ourselves for our up-coming trip and I was prepared to do it as we would only loose a little if we couldn't find a flight that suited up until June (we go in Aug). As it happened a flight came available soon after that I was happy to pay. Flight prices change all the time just keep an eye out.

[Guest]

I contacted them and received this reply:

Firstly, all holidays booked with Holiday Floridas are ATOL protected. This protection is provided to you under ATOL number 10300 which is a group ATOL of TTAFS Limited which means we are authorized to book ATOL Protected flights and holidays providing the customer 100% financial protection. As we are part of the TTA (License Q5305), we are also part of the Group ATOL scheme of TTAFS Limited (TTA).

In regards to the TTA (Travel Trust Association), they are a regulatory body of over 500 travel companies across UK, similar to ABTA. As you may check on Travel Trust website as well, all monies paid by you or any customer is deposited into a trust account which is managed by the TTA and at no point is accessed by your travel agent which in this case is Holiday Floridas. It will also interest you that TTA then pays the airline, hotel suppliers, and/or any other suppliers from this account and only pay back the travel agent, Holiday Floridas their Admin costs upon your return from your holiday.≈

Hence, you are not only secure financially through the ATOL protection but also through various other Supplier Failure Insurances in place which ensure that your money and holiday is 100% secure against any unforeseen circumstances. You may call TTA on 01483 545 780 to confirm the same.

ABTA & TTA: While these are both private bodies consisting of hundreds of travel companies and have strict rules the travel agents have to abide with to ensure customer satisfaction, their ways of working are quite different. Both have their affiliation with ATOL, so that part is covered. But here is the major difference.

ABTA: They are an association that agents can belong to which ensure that agents abide by strict codes of conduct and rules to ensure quality to the customer but they do not protect clients monies. Because ABTA has been in the trade for a much longer time than TTA, this is a small aspect people usually miss. I do not intend to say you may lose your money with an ABTA bonded company, but the prospect still remains as you will understand while reading further. Whilst ABTA require agents to have some kind of insurance bond, this is not always enough. Although most agents would have to be under a direct debit scheme but not all suppliers work this way. Hence, it isn’t as full proof as the TTA which I have explained below.≈

Travel Trust Association (TTA): As you may come across this information on a lot of forums TTA does give 100% protection to clients due to the way that they operate. They are extremely strict when it comes to the client’s monies which is deposited in the Trust Account. All bookings made are paid through Invoices submitted by the travel agency (Holiday Wagon) and Suppliers (Thrifty, etc.). These Invoices are scrutinized for every booking before the payment is made to the suppliers. Holiday Wagon does not see their admin costs/commissions until after you have returned. Additional to this, there is Airline Failure Cover, Supplier Failure Cover & SASSP (Stand Alone Safe Seat Plan) applied to every booking to basically put a double layer to everything. Finally, if a TTA member ceased trading, the money is still in the trust account so there should be no need to make any other payments unless of course you still owe the balance.

Hence, you see the 100% financial logo on our website and on TTA’s website too.

[RobandLynsey]

Hmmmmm, who are TTAFS? Looking at their website it is beyond terrible and can't find out much about them apart from that. Looking around here is a post on tripadvisor in August about Holiday Floridas which I have to agree with:

"Been around less than 2 years and the first set of accounts they filed with companies house was for a dormant company (so they're basically claiming they did nothing as a business the first year they existed)...
5 out of 6 company officers both past and present are based in India...
If they're selling packages that include flights, they HAVE to be registered with ATOL - here rather than having their own cover they're using the TTA as a middle man, so your money is protected if they went bust- you'd get your money back, eventually...
Their website says they've invested years in the U.K. Travel industry... they've only existed as a company for two years!
It doesn't look great to be honest. I'd much rather pay the difference to go with a well known, respected agent if you absolutely have to use one."

[Guest]

Okay so we've booked. The price difference was just too big and while I understand that dealing with a new company can come with risks I have a copy of our Atol certificate, I have spoken to the TTA and I have paid on a credit card and have travel insurance so I have lots of back up.

The company have tried really hard to reassure me and provided lots of information up front before I paid my deposit, so I'm happy.

I'll be back to update next Summer as to how it all went.