....yes, can agree with you 100% on this subject..but really, do you blame the reps themselves or the company behind them, pushing for maximum profit....
Two quick examples...in luxor once, an excursion to the Valley of the Kings, by air-conditioned coach, was offered to both of us for approx. £25 each.....we hired a local guide and two donkeys for approx. £5 and had the most amazing day possible.....
...and in our beloved Tenerife clients are offered excursions to places that are easily accesible by public transport....a trip up Mt Teide is a popular one...on the bus its only a fraction of the cost of a reps coach....
....In view of the ever - increasing number of people going the diy route, its quite possible that the days of the reps - and indeed the big holiday companies - are numbered.....

....In view of the ever - increasing number of people going the diy route, its quite possible that the days of the reps - and indeed the big holiday companies - are numbered.....

The days of the reps may be numbered, but the days of the main holiday companies will never be numbered.

Some people do not have the confidence to go DIY and some people prefer to book an holiday, that gives legislation in the British courts when things go wrong....for you to have some form of redress.

Those rights are very limited if you book an apartment direct with the owner, and what rights you do have, are difficult to enforce.

Sanji

Yes I paid the equivalent of £98 some years back for my partner and I to visit Mount Teide by night. The following day whilst talking to the man I always use to change my money with he told me that only 1 company on the island runs the tour called Artaseekers. He showed me his brochure which says how much he has to pay to Artaseekere for the excursion which from memory was about £25 or equivalent per person. He told me he sold the excursion for the equivalent of £35 per person obviously the £10 being his commission for selling the trip. You are correct in pointing out that Tomsins or their equivalent travel agent in your hotel charge the £48 then merely pass the £25 to Artaseekers and pocket the rest whilst advising you where the coach or in this case Jeep collects you from. Incidentally as you dont mention the name of your shop for spamming reasons,I dont have a shop so i can name Top Excursions near to the Pescador restaurant on Geranium Walk and Admiral as two of the best most helpful and reliable tour excursion offices I have found although I have never had a problem with any of the other zillion shops around town. Only with the tour reps. Sorry to ramble but the tour reps get my goat up. Are any of them going to defend themselves here. I doubt it because the indefensible is impossible to defend. Not even by the lying timeshare crooks or lying travel reps.

A word of warning to all please keep to the topic and keep it friendly.

allmen

I would never go on a DIY holiday. My husband and I were in Majorca on holiday, a few years ago. My husband swallowed sea water whilst swimming and became very ill. After having a doctor every day with no improvement. it was decided to send him to hospital in the south of the island though we were in the north. I dont know what I would have done without the help of the rep. When you are alone in a strange country and something goes wrong, it is comforting to know there is someone ther for you. The hospital had some kind of arrangement with the holiday company, so we were met in the hosp. by another rep who was really attentive and took very good care of us both. We had trips arranged and because we could not go, we were given our money back. I would hate to think where I would have turned with no rep. had it been a very serious accident or something, as it was, it was not too serious. keep the reps, I say!

Digby

Glad to hear your husband was OK but you honestly would not have needed a rep for the assistance you got. We have been going DIY for 20 odd years now and although we have never needed a hospital and only a doctor once during that time we received all the help we needed from the resort staff. They could not do enough for us and that was only a minor injury.I am sure if things had been more serious they would have been only too glad to help.

One example of a really bad rep was this year when my 20 year old son went away with his friends. They asked their young rep about jet skis and various other things they wanted to do and where to book them.Her reply 'Have a look around whilst your out in town or ask at the reception'. Just glad none of them needed a doctor or hospital.

Regards Jackie

we are fed up with the lies that are being told by holiday reps regarding excursions sold in our shop. They range from the usual 'the coach leaves without you' or down to 'the guides don't speak english' etc. etc

We have been on some excellent excursions with local agents in Tenerife, Lanzarote and this year in Gran Canaria and Turkey. All the excursions were much cheaper than the reps trips, they had English-speaking guides, the coaches turned up on time, the inclusive lunches were very good and all in all we had some wonderful days out
A couple of excursions we did in Lanzarote weren't even offered by the reps and were so much better than anything the reps had anyway - for example, the reps in Lanza were offering a boat trip over to Fuerteventura, which basically just drops you in Corralejo for a few hours. We booked an excellent Fuerteventura island tour with a local agent which took us all around the old villages in the mountains and the guide told us lots of interesting information about Fuerteventura and all of the Canary islands. We also booked a tour of all Cesar Manrique's best works in Lanza - again a brilliant day out, with a tour guide who was originally from Manchester. The reps could only offer a basic island tour.
In Tenerife last year I wanted to go over to La Gomera - the reps did not offer this trip, so I booked it with a lovely local agent and we had a great day, with a guided tour of the island and lots of interesting information. The trip included the Fred Olsen ferry and a very good lunch complete with El Silbo (whistling language) display. While we were in Tenerife I also wanted to do Mt Teide and Loro Parque in one day (having already visited Loro Parque a couple of years earlier) The same local agent sold us a reasonably-priced trip which was a fantastic day out and this trip was not available with the reps either.
The first thing I do when I arrive in resort is look for the local tour agents, and then compare their prices with the reps trips, usually with a smug grin on my face at the welcome meeting I'm planning on coming back to Tenerife at Easter 2008 (hopefully the new "Siam Park" will be open then) and I will not hesitate to go to the local agents to book any trips.

Another issue, is the amount of times the Eurocheque has been pushed this year. Tourists are given a lousy rate of exchange back in the UK without realising they have to pay commission when they get here too!

I never take any form of travellers cheques, I take my bank card and I find the exchange rate in the cash machines quite favourable and whatever my bank at home may charge for the transaction, it's usually less than the commission to change travellers cheques

Digby

Glad to hear your husband was OK but you honestly would not have needed a rep for the assistance you got. We have been going DIY for 20 odd years now and although we have never needed a hospital and only a doctor once during that time we received all the help we needed from the resort staff. They could not do enough for us and that was only a minor injury.I am sure if things had been more serious they would have been only too glad to help.

One example of a really bad rep was this year when my 20 year old son went away with his friends. They asked their young rep about jet skis and various other things they wanted to do and where to book them.Her reply 'Have a look around whilst your out in town or ask at the reception'. Just glad none of them needed a doctor or hospital.

Regards Jackie

Totally agree with you there Jackie. If you are properly insured you would have got the same treatment, and I have found over the years that the hotel/apartment reception staff are actually MORE clued up than reps are, as they are usually locals, and know about local facilities etc.

Also agree on the local agencies. We booked all our trips this year with Admiral Travel just behind the San Eugenio Centre, and when we spoke to people who had booked through their reps for the same trip (Mount Tiede)........they had paid way over the odds. Also their money changing was the best rate we could find.

Reps are under pressure to meet targets etc so its perhaps not their fault, but over the years we have come to actually avoid the Welcome meetings (we now do DIY but did package for years)...........as we mistrust quite a lot of what we are told. In La Manga we were exchanging money at the reception in the hotel as our rep told us it was the best rate. Turned out we lost over £80 in the week by not going to the local bank. (we were very green then).

I never take any form of travellers cheques, I take my bank card and I find the exchange rate in the cash machines quite favourable and whatever my bank at home may charge for the transaction, it's usually less than the commission to change travellers cheques

That's pretty sound advice, although you are restricted to about 150 euros limit per day. Sterling travellers cheques should not be charged commission on anyway, as they have a slightly higher value then sterling cash (presumably owing to the fact that the money is in the bank and being used to make more money before you cash them). Some people have had problems with the cash machines here, but I never have.

I guess I'm going slightly off topic but for anyone going to EU countries a few times a year please please consider opening a Nationwide Flexaccount.

When using their debit card there is no commision to take money out of overseas € countries ATMs and the best exchange rate you will ever get - trust me its the very best, far better than Admiral travel and all of the rest.

2 weeks ago I was getting 1.49+ a little bit and no commision !

The daily limit is €300 a day.

Chris

You can just use the Nationwide Flexi account for holidays.I still have my original bank and only use Nationwide for holidays,in fact the lady cashier in our branch advised us to do this.

Yep TFS1 you did go off topic so lets get back on topic before it developes into something else.

Please generalise as far as names go, don't be tempted to name names on this topic as it could cause HT some grief.

A few years ago I was in the unfortunate position of being hospitalised whilst in Majorca. Our rep (Thomsons) did not do a thing. We arranged everything ourselves (taxis etc through the hotel reception). I was in hospital for 3 days and we never heard a word from the rep. Luckily we were with friends who looked after our little boy while me and my hubby were at the hospital.

Our rep (Thomsons) did not do a thing

Fancy That!!!

All they do is take more money from you than they are entitled to and do less for you than you can get done elsewhere in your chosen resort for half the price

Holiday reps.... worse than Timeshare touts in my opinion....:)