Who would you use again

[karen1980]

Would like to know who you would recommend booking with in the future. Which agents have truly given a great service through this pandemic even booking DIY

We booked our tickets through ATD we paid the extra Covid cover and received our money back in the time frame given

Discovery cove have been great moving our booking no problems

Maple parking have be great also full refund within 5 days

[sha9]

I managed to get everything either cancelled or moved relatively easily.

Disney - moved hotel and tickets and transferred deposit & gift cards to free nights offer.

Universal - gave us 3 months Annual Passes to activate next trip.

Hotwire - managed to get a refund even though it was booked as a Hot Rate and technically non-refundable however this was because Hard Rock Hotel agreed it.

Holiday Inn - refunded airport hotel no problem

Hertz - car hire was free cancellation anyway

Virgin - changed to open ticket. Had major problems rebooking as they were reward flights and couldn’t get new reward seats for our dates. Had to take a refund and use miles plus money which cost more in the end.

[NewtoOrlando]

Always had good service with Attraction tickets and Florida Tix. I’ve always booked Disney direct with Disney, so much easier to deal with them direct when needing to change the dates etc. Have used travel republic, Expedia, and booking.com for other hotels and never had an issue, and villas I usually book direct with the owner. Flights usually with BA. Have managed to move bookings free of charge or get a refund with no cancellation fees for all our bookings.

[Loobylou_82]

I would use Expedia again, got a full refund on flights and hotel booked with them. Auto Europe for car hire got full refund and Premier Inn full refund. But for this October booked flights and hotel with BA and I have never been with them at all. But they were widely praised on here and it was a really good price for flights and hotel so jumped in.

[Dazed]

British Airways.

Fantastic service throughout.

[mskitty]

Ever After Holidays were amazing. We first were caught up in Thomas Cook going under and then we had the pandemic and both times they kept us updated and once the refund was initiated we had our money back in a matter of days. They are a Disney specialist who now trade under the Hays banner and are so helpful and knowledgeable. And the best thing was that they came up the same price as DIY.

[Disney45]

I would definitely use BA they have been great with our 2 bookings in the last year. Also Attraction tickets no hassle with them to move our Disney tickets from June to Dec just paid the difference. OAT on the other hand they weren’t great last year and lost the deposit for our universal and MNSSHP tickets so probably won’t use them again.

[colin39]

Norwegian, tbh, the full money was back in my bank the same day i cancelled. And we booked their cheapest seats and thought a refund would be a fight.

[cornishfrogboy]

I have compiled a document listing all those companies that Dibbers have been dealing with and what their experiences were, positive or negative.. I am a bit like that. There are many companies that I will now lean towards and equally some that I will not now touch with a very long barge pole. There are some big surprises to me on both sides of the fence! If I am aware of any that have clearly broken the law, then they are gone for good.

Now my own experiences.

March 2020, California.
Hotel rooms going up to LHR and staying the night before driving home x7. All Prem Inn and at Salisbury, Chessington, Heathrow. All bottom rate no refunds. I never even bothered to contact them due to the ts&c’s. They contacted me and refunded the lot with no charges.Excellent!
Flights with BA to SFO and home from Vancouver. They cancelled and the money was in my bank 8 days later. Excellent!
Hotels in the USA, mainly through Ebookers and all returned within a few days other than one that I needed to chargeback on. Ebookers were excellent!
Internal flight, United Airlines from San Luis Obispo to Tacoma. That flight took place even though I had cancelled. They still refunded me. Excellent!
Car hires SFO to SL Obispo (Alamo) and Tacoma to Vancouver (Hertz?) full refund within a few days of cancellation.. Excellent!
SF tickets ‘love tour’ booking. Refused to acknowledge cancellation or communicate. Successful chargeback solved that and I will book direct next time.
Alcatraz. Chargeback.
SF ghost tours. Refunded immediately and gave me a code for a free ghost tour of San Francisco when I eventually get there. Christian, you went above and beyond!

In summary, I got back every penny (eventually).

August 2020 California, Arizona.
Flights into SFO and out of Phoenix were with American Airlines and I did the cancellation, expecting a credit note. ‘Oh no!’ Said the call handler. ‘It is clear that your flight home was originally direct, but that we had rescheduled it to an indirect via O’Hare. We will give you a full refund, should you want it’. Can’t beat that service and we had the money 5 days later.. Excellent!
Hotels. All ebookers and all returned within a week of the cancellation. Excellent.
Car hire was budget. Returned within a week. Excellent!

In summary, all of my money was back within days.

I have learned a great deal from these experiences. Whilst travelling to or within the States, I will consider United, American, BA and Delta (Delta have seemingly been very good at refunding and I have in any case tended to favour them). I will not now use a French one, a Dutch one, 2 x Irish ones or one owned by a Hippy with a Beard. That is from my own experiences and observing the issues of others.
There are other airlines that I would consider that fall between my assessments of ‘excellent’ and ‘shocking’.

U.K. Hotels. Premier Inn all the way!

USA Hotels, Ebookers if best or competitive price (I get 8-10% through my employer portal), but no chain has given me any cause for complaint at all.

Car Hire. None have given me cause to moan and therefore all are still on the table.

Tickets. N/A

This August is Prem Inn, BA, various hotels, United for an internal Burbank-Tucson and 2 car hires through Holiday Autos- Alamo.. SFO to Burbank and then Tucson to Las Vegas.
All companies that have shown their mettle in 2020.

[ChrisJoandBen89]

We have a package to Florida and flight only to LA booked with BA. They have been terrific. Both have had to be moved more than once. Hopefully now for the last time!