A bit off topic, but when you are booking a £4000 holiday, you would want to look very closely at the T&C's, small as they are.
If you were purchasing a car or taking out a loan you would got right through all the T&C's defore signing up so why not for booking a holiday?
I know most people on this forum do their research before booking, but alot of travellers either go into the travel agent, not knwoing where they want to go or what hotel, so only get a quick chance to look at the brichure, and are sometimes presurised into booking up there and then, and once booked it's normal trnasfer fees/cancellation fees, so when they go home amd take a closer look at the brochure or look it up online, they might decide the hotel is not really what they are looking for.
Another problem is booking over the phone. The customer doesn't usually have the brochure infront of them so are relying on the sales agaent to pick them out the most suitable hotel, who are under presure to get the sale on the initial call as it affects their conversion rate, and therfore bonus.
My advice to travellers (not necessarily on this board would be to get brochures look at the hotel location and amenities, read the T&C's closely, then read reviews on the web bofore booking it over the phone/shop or internet. And always cut out the page of the hotel and take it with them, so if there are any differenves the can raise it with the rep straight away, give them 24 hours to sort out the problem / move hotels- this would cause alot of hassle if they have to make a complaint whne they come back.
As a final point it is easy when passing a TA's and seeing a bargain in the window and going in and booking it. And dont phone a call centre until you've read up on the hotel you want to go to.
I know this is advice most people on the forum already know but it is worth repeating. Some customers stilll think they have a 14 day cooling off period when they book a holiday.
And dont be caught in the trap where the TA will tell you there is only 1 or 2 rooms / flights left- they dont have access to that information. If they key in details for 4 people it will bring up 2 rooms,as thats the max number of rooms for the party. In actual fact there could be 20 rooms avail at the hotel. If they call head office they willl tell exactly how many rooms and flights are left.TA's will bend the truth to get the sale there and then to meet their targets.
Apols for pointing out the obvious to experienced forum members. But alot of complaints do come back because the customer has not researching the holiday properly.
As a final note, since the Thomson Call Centre closed, sales calls are now directed to Thomson shops where the calls are no longer recorded, so if there is any dispute of what was agreed on the phone. It's your word against the TA, who will do everything to prevent a shop loss, so it might be worth keeping a note of who you spoke to and what was said in the call.
Thanks
