I won't miss the Holiday rep. I never use them. The one time I wanted one, just before and just after a hurricane in the Caribbean, I could not even get in touch with them!!!!!! (BTW, they had been to the hotel and told we wanted to speak to them and she just left without speaking to ANY of the 50 or so guests who wanted to talk to her!)

So, no, I won't miss the holiday rep.

BTW... the nearest shops.... well, if I really want to know, I ask front desk. No troubles.

They are very much in use with singles holiday companies - known more as hosts than reps. Always around, full of useful info, never trying to sell you trips and a very welcome touch, especially for those who are new to travelling alone - it's at least one friendly and helpful face to calm the nerves.

To be honest most reps have ever come across have been about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. There to sell trips but precious little else. As for local knowledge the majority of them couldn't find their own bum with both hands! There are exceptions to this, all the reps employed by Canvas holidays that I ever came into contact with were excellent.

Given the sorts of kids in school that are entered into 'Travel and Tourism' Btec courses I don't hold out much hope for the next generation of reps either!

I think if you have been abroad many times and sre confident about what you are doing and where you are going then you don't really need a rep.

For those people who haven't travelled abroad before then a rep is a help. I don't do packages any more but when I did I had some very good reps and some who I never even saw. I guess with any job, you have those who are dedicated and those who aren't bothered.

i think that for people going on their first foreign holiday they are a blessing.
it can be very initimdating going to a strange country, where you don't speak the language, don't understand all the customs and have problems understanding the "funny"money. even for people who have been abroad before, visiting a strange resort or different country can be stressful. so, for these people having a good rep is invaluable.
for most of the regulars on this site, they are probably not so important, as we all do our research before we go, and, unless the rep has actually lived there for a while - not just arrived for the season- we will probably know as much, if not more than, the rep.
i grew out of using reps years ago, but do attend the welcome meeting if i go somewhere new; but i usually speak to the rep beforehand saying i dont do trips, but will there be anything else of interest to me at the meeting.
i have attended welcome meetings held by ferris coach holidays in the costa brava and they have usually been poorly attended (as its normally all regulars), but the reps are a fountain of knowledge. i have found some great restaurants by speaking to them.
so, i think it is sad that the bigger firms seem to be dropping the reps from their destinations because there is a place for them.
i do think though that this is because when we all filled in the holiday satisfaction forms from the reps at the end of our holidays we were asked the wrong questions.
instead of being asked if we really needed a rep, we should have been asked if we would like a rep who actually had lived in and had some knowledge of the resort, and the surrounding area.

Are they missed?

Well yes I think the good ones probably are - and by good ones I mean folk who have proper knowledge of the area they are in. The one really good rep we had was in Portugal and he was a "local" - he was fantastic at pointing us in the right direction. And knew everything about the resort and surrounding area.

Apart from him though I have to say I dont have a lot of positive things to say - we had a bad experience in La Manga years ago with reps who told us the "best" place to change money - strangely enough it was the most expensive - wont bore you but I have at least three other negative stories.

In my experience once they did the sell at the welcome meeting a lot of them didnt want to know............and yes I know there are probably fantastic reps who know their stuff - Im talking from personal experience as I see it.

We've done DIY for the last five years and have found the hotel receptionist has more knowlege and gives us better information than the reps would have.

Luckily we have not had a problem that required a Rep's assistance so I will tell you my thoughts on them:-

We have never met a grumpy or an unhelpful Rep - in fact we are still in contact with some who have become friends.

The ones I feel sorry for are the youngsters who have never been away from their families before and they meet client's who know more than them because they have often visited the area, accommodation or attractions.
Probably the first time they have had dealings with members of the public too. They have to listen, smile, nod etc and they cannot answer negatively about anything because they could be reported for being rude!
I love it when I have met a newbie on their first week and gone back later in the year and they have grown in confidence!

We tell them that we do not wish to attend their welcome meetings or go on their trips and they just say fine but if there is anything you need, just let us know. Sometime during the holiday, they sit with us and have a chat. I think they can tell that we are only there to have a good time and will not complain about anything!

Their services are necessary for families who do want to book trips or people unaccustomed to the area or travel.

I wouldn't want their job - they work long unsociable hours for not a lot of money, they have to sort out problems, deal with complaints but rarely hear any compliments and usually have to live in shared apartments so they are always with people.

My only complaint is that I would like to fill in a questionaire about the Reps at the hotel not on the plane coming home because I think that if anyone has a bad time at the departure airport (flight delays, excess baggage etc) they could soon forget about how good they had been during their holiday.

I will miss them!

Not being flippant but this question once again rears its head. There has been much discussion over the years here on HT and to be fair, I don't think we have ever resolved the question. Points for and against are put forward and I do know that we have one or two reps here on HT who read and take note of what has been said. I would suggest those are the reps who everyone praises.

I do wonder if the welcome meeting is more the problem than the reps in many cases. Some I have attended have simply taken time out of my holiday that I am reluctant to give. Others have been more worthwhile. Several have asked if you have been there before, and having established that you are not a newbie to foreign holidays have simply said tell me what you want to know.

Last year in Spain we simply wanted to know where the railway station was having not visited that area for many years, we knew there was one but it had the area had been redeveloped since our last visit. The rep refused to even discuss it telling us she would cover it at the meeting. Fortunately her colleague took us to one side and gave us the information saving a lot of time and a boring sales meeting.

What do I want? To know who the rep, is and how to contact them if I need them.

fwh

It does raise its head most years doesnt it fwh?

And its always interesting discussion!

What do I want? To know who the rep, is and how to contact them if I need them.

Totally agree with your comment - however I would add that I would also want them to have the knowledge to assist me with my query once I have contacted them

quite a few of my holidays have been of the built variety, so i don't qualify for rep support, however i must say that most of the reps i have come in contact with have been very good, and in the case of Olympic i found them excellent even when we were not one of their clients they tried to make sure we were Happy and all OK, i can even remember going with a few friends to a Greek night out and as we were without a holiday rep the Olympic reps adopted our table.... on the down side yes i remembers a few snotty ones out to push for sales but they seem to be a dieing breed [well one can hope]

we did have a rep in Zante who booked as on to an excursion, told us the day and time - early morning-about 7am as we were going across to another island. We stood at the point for ages until one of the locals asked what we were there for and then told us the ferry didn't even sail that day!
Well, as you can imagine, we were fuming, but when the rep came to see us, we both looked at her looking absolutely miserable and took pity on her. She was just so young and it was her first posting. Making a song and dance about it wasnt going to do anyone any good. But we did have to have another early night!

We were on a Thomson Gold holiday this year and the reps were a big help when a couple of problems cropped up. I suppose we were fortunate as a rep always seemed to be around. Over the years this has seldom been the case, in our experience, you either couldn`t find a rep , they lacked local knowledge or they just wanted to sell you things.

We went to the first welcome meeting on our first family holiday abroad , and yes we found them interesting , booked trips with them and also found them helpful when needing advice , but as we returned year after year to the same resort we didn't bother going to meetings , we knew it all then.
Last year we went somewhere different , and guess what ............ we went to the welcome meeting the next morning armed with a list of questions . I do think they will be missed if not in resort as you never know when you might need one . We are going to a different country again this year and we will be there on the dot , to see the rep .

Yes for me I think so. When my son was a 'little un' he did become very poorly on hols and we needed the doc in etc, the Thomson REP was fab, and went above ancd beyond, by getting the medicine for me and bringing back to arranging meals in the room for me as I would not leave my son.

This is not the only reason, for me it's a security blanket that if anything goes wrong they are therer to help. When I had a problem with a trip I went on organised by them, the REP in the room sorted for me and gave full refund the next day.

I guess I have been lucky over the years with the Thomson REPs I have come across.

We've had reps from both ends of the scale. Some have been brilliant and others a complete waste of time.

I tend to go to the welcome meeting mainly so I can recognise his/her face if I needed to find them. I go on my own as hubby has always said they are a waste of time. I do find them informative and sometimes worth the 20 or so minutes just to see whats what. However, there are a few places that we have been to more than once and so dont bother with the meetings at all.

We have found generally that most reps are accommodating and friendly, but one time we had a rep that was only interested in you if you were willing to go clubbing with them! Once she realised that we werent going to buy the reps' night out and reps' pub crawl tickets, she didnt want to know us.

We've had a couple of reps that really took the time out to get to know you. Stopping by your sunbeds during the day to make sure you were ok, calling on the holidaymakers that couldnt or wouldnt attend the meetings, buying a drink for the kids. Its the little things they do that make a difference. One even told us that buying the waterpark tickets off them was a waste of money and to book it direct. They are the type of reps that will be missed.

Sarah

Hey wow I got a good response to that question!! Very pleased.

This question may well have been asked before, and Im sorry if I was going over it again, but I used to be a rep for 6 years. I did Santorini in 2003 and in the some of the smaller, 6 room accommodations, there is no front desk, or reception or bar. How could an old couple, coming to Greece for the first time, familiarise themselves with things to do or places to see if they are limited to where they can go?

In 2003 there were approximately 10 English reps working for Thomas Cook/Kosmar/Libra/Golden Sun/Olympic etc etc. Now, there are about 5, most for Thomas Cook. Alot of the others work for the agent and are covering several different companies. I dont think you can offer a service doing this. Its so hard as you are spreading yourself so thinly.

"We have hardly see our rep, shes useless" etc etc were a few of the comments I heard. I think the company has an obligation to provide a rep in order to answer any questions or provide flight details home.

Never really bothered much with the reps who are there to "look after you" - I usually stick my head into the welcome meeting just to see who they are if I need them, but after that I don't bother much.
However, when we've been on all-inclusive holidays, we have made good friends with the entertainment reps

Havent read the whole thread, but if I am on a package I normally go to the welcome meeting (the other three wont ). Just incase we need them. yes I know its a hard sell on trips but they also do have local information as they have normally been there all season, if not previous seasons, and its nice to know who you need to look out for if (God forbid) you have a serious crisis and need a hospital, doctor or an emergency flight back to the UK.

I would feel irresponsible if I didnt even know their name, or who to tell reception to get hold of.

Even though we dont do hotel entertainment much you can just tell that some of the entertainment reps are brilliant.

The thing is though - those trips that are sold at the welcome meeting can usually be bought for less in some of the ticket shops in the town.

An example was in Crete last year - we really fancied a trip to Knossos and then a day shopping Heraklion. It was 39 Euros per adult and 19 per child as per the organised Rep trip.

We hired a car for four days for less than that trip would have cost, drove to Heraklion - and paid 6 Euros into Knossos!

I guess they are useful if you maybe dont have local knowledge or just want the convenience of stepping on a trip without any hassle............horses for course I suppose!