My immediate thought was definitely price and then on thinking about it and the moans we hear about several companies customer service when thinks go wrong, usually the companies that give a cheaper price.Companies that I would not book with because of the bad customer service. I came to the conclusion it was customer service that counted for me and not price

I think it can come down to what you pay for. I prefer to book a package, as I personally feel more comfortable and if things go wrong (and they have) the T/O steps into help (again and they have), but I do know you can probably price up the same holiday by going DIY and have it lots cheaper. So for me I guess it comes down to service first.

I've flown with Ryanair/ Easyjet because of price. We always do DIY nowadays, but there's certain agents I'm nervous about booking accommodation with so yes in that case customer service does come into it.

Having spent most of my working life in sales and management my answer is that there should not be a boundary between price and service, however there inevitably is this is down to bad management poor staff selection and the modern indium of paying low basic wages so that sales people have to make up their pay with commission and become more concerned in taking as many orders as they can today not caring about future business,
In the last company that i worked we head hunted or trained our own staff paid a reasonable basic and shared a small annual bonus, thus the sales office staff made time to talk to and deal with customer quires and if they had an issue in sorting the problem came immediately to a member of the management team for advise or help,

we always priced at reasonable rates [you could find cheaper if you wanted] but all our customers knew we would sort out their problems whether it was our error, their error or the manufactures error.

so my philosophy when purchasing anything is a fare price and reasonable service over cheap price

I located the cheapest 4 star hotel possible with HB basis for my parents last November hotel with 2bookaholiday.com and was a little wary about it but, it was a good price in comparison to others on offer at the time.

My dad then got taken ill in October and we decided it would be better that he didn't travel as planned. He was hospitalised for a few days although he came out with no medication and was only given antibiotics and put on a drip whilst he was on the ward, he was very weak.

We postponed the holiday to February this year instead of November last year with admin costs and the holiday company rebooked everything exactly as the original.

When we collected my parents at LCA airport they told us they were charged for their hold baggage at Manchester airport as they said it wasn't included on the booking, although I knew it was on the original booking I made for them.... So, I did some investigation at this end, checked the prices, did another dummy booking and all package holidays included the hold baggage.

So, I phoned the company and after speaking with 3 different people and then being given the Duty Office number for Monarch airlines I spoke with a very nice lady who checked it out, saw there had been a mistake at Manchester and said she would look further into it and get back to me. Although she said it would not be the same day.... Sure enough, 2 days later she phoned me and told me the money would be refunded to my parents. Now, for the one and only time my parents for some reason decided not to bring their credit card on this holiday and ended up paying the extra costs in cash so Jean made arrangements for the relevant department to send my parents a cheque, which was waiting for them when they got home at the end of their 4 week holiday.

I would say that Customer Service would not be my first choice on deciding if the holiday I was looking at would be the one that I booked.

Location, price, cleanliness and facilities are what sells the holiday to me - in that order.

If the company don't have good customer service should there be a problem well, that's their lookout I'm afraid because if I have a genuine problem I will pursue it to the death down every possible avenue until I get a result. Customer service or no, if they're at fault - they will eventually have to sort it out one way or another.

I wouldn't want to be in their shoes Cyprus : rofl

I must admit that the most important for me has to be customer service , and I'm a little surprised that customer service has been chosen by most of the posters so far , but then I shouldn't be surprised because if you're a regular on here you are more than likely to be a savvy traveller and know that good competitive prices can be searched and found but making sure to use a good company or agency that has a solid reputation for good customer service is very important .
From some of the posts in the complaints forum I get the feeling that people chase the cheapest price or book a package that isn't what they thought it was just because it was cheaper than something offered by more mainstream agents , I wonder if the saving is worth all the stress , hassle and disappointment ?
I find my time is too precious to have to spend it complaining about a problem because their customer service is so poor , that's why I will book only with companies and people I can trust and who I have built a relationship with , I know what I'm going to get , and they reward me for my loyalty so I don't feel that I'm paying excessively just to get good service .

I understand that price is also important as everyone has a budget they have to keep within but just because a supplier " stacks it high and sells it cheap" they seem to think that negates them to offer any good service , I just avoid any businesses that operate in this way ,

i travel regularly to spain and am happy to go DIY, as i think i am aware of (almost) all the pitfalls and make sure i have a plan B - or in modern business speak, i do a risk assessment- on all parts of the holiday.
i think this is true for almost all the "old hands" on here.
so if i arrive in resort and find the hotel wants to move me elsewhere, or my chosen transfer doesn't happen i know what my options are.
with this in mind i am happy to book cheap as i am reasonably confident that i can sort out any issues that arise.
if i was going somewhere new, or off the beaten track, i would want more support and so would be looking more towards a company that provided some sort of local representative like the old package holiday used to provide, but if my research showed i could still do this DIY, and i could have my plan B then i would still go cheap.
i think most DIY problems come about because people who have never done it before, or never been to that resort before, have not done enough planning.
they are told it is so easy and cheap to book by friends and so they check it out and find they can save £££s by booking direct and take the plunge. they arrive at a foreign airport and then realise that they have to find their own way to the transfer coach and so the problems start...............
it is around this time that they start to realise that the T&Cs they ticked on all these web sites are not really there to help them!
the one thing that i have learned over the years is that regardless of where you go you need to have back up money.i think a lot of people, especially those on AI,are travelling with minimum amounts and have no emergency funds to bale them out if trouble happens.
having a credit card for emergencies, or even just a bank card to use at an ATM, is essential if you want to go DIY

I don't base my choice on an either/or like this but rather my guiding light is to ask 'Is this value for money?'. So I do often book the rock bottom DIY or dynamic package but then don't necessarily expect much in return and know that if things go tits up then I'll be on my own and like jimd-f make sure that if necessary I can buy my way out of an emergency but if it represents great value for money that won't put me off doing it because I do feel savvy enough to cope with the unexpected or short notice changes etc.

Whereas, at the opposite extreme, with my Cuba trips I do pay more than many others on the dance scene are willing to pay (the only way I can explain why some operators are still in business!) but it still represents excellent value for money because the staff work so hard to make sure that everything is absolutely spot on, the tuition is second to none and it really is a great all round experience as only a small specialist operator with firsthand local knowledge and connections can provide.

SM

Paying more does not always guarantee better customer service. Through here there are a few rock bottom priced companies that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole but overall I do go with price. The problem is that you only find out how good a company is when things go wrong and the vast majority of holidays are trouble free.

we always book package holidays with large tour op's as we feel this does take out some of the stress if things do go wrong. even something as small as wrong type of room to faulty things in the room that has not been fixed after reporting it to hotel.
there is always a rep handy to sort it out.
ok I know you pay more this way on the holiday but I think its worth every penny reading some of the problems people have booking independent on here alone !!!

Must admit that I am fussy about accommodation. It doesn't have to be 'posh' but I have specific 'wants' which, to me, make my holiday. Sea view, air cond are a priority. I love nothing better than having my coffee on a morning over looking the sea. Hubby is a hot house flower so needs the air cond.

I'd rather travel on a budget airline then be able to pay more for accommodation that meets my requirements.

One point in my favour in booking my parents holiday accommodation for their travels to Cyprus is that 7 - 10 days before they are due to arrive, we pay a personal visit to the chosen hotel to:
1) enquire they have received the booking confirmation
2) check the room is allocated correctly (my parents need twin beds rather than a double bed)
3) ask if we can have a look around to suss out if all facilities are available, see if there is any evening entertainment, check out the cost for non-residents to stay for evening dinner etc... and most importantly
4) leave them our local phone number in case of any issues, which gives them the hint we actually live here and so aren't going to disappear if there are any problems

That's exactly what I'd do too

Price for us, but I only look at the Operators that I have faith in, or have booked with in the past.

cyprus100 wrote:

One point in my favour in booking my parents holiday accommodation for their travels to Cyprus is that 7 - 10 days before they are due to arrive, we pay a personal visit to the chosen hotel to:
1) enquire they have received the booking confirmation
2) check the room is allocated correctly (my parents need twin beds rather than a double bed)
3) ask if we can have a look around to suss out if all facilities are available, see if there is any evening entertainment, check out the cost for non-residents to stay for evening dinner etc... and most importantly
4) leave them our local phone number in case of any issues, which gives them the hint we actually live here and so aren't going to disappear if there are any problems

If only I could have a Cyprus in the hotels I want to go to, you would be god send

Miss Pink wrote:

If only I could have a Cyprus in the hotels I want to go to, you would be god send :cheers

Hey, maybe I could rent myself and be the "man on the ground" for all future holidaymakers? It's one way of seeing the world, I suppose!

Just looking through the replies and noticed that nearly all male posters , myself, shrimper and madasharley were quite firm in our replies that customer service was more important than price , jimd-f and wizard were pretty much in the middle and only Miss PInk of the females was of the firm opinion that for her " I guess service comes first " although not massively scientific on such a small sample , it might seem that or appear that the females are more price conscious and the males place a greater emphasis on customer service over price ??
Interesting though , to hear people's thoughts .

But given that only 2 out of the 6 female posters stated that price was the most important consideration for them is this really that conclusive? Isn't the real divide here between those who prefer to book a package because they feel more secure booking their holiday that way compared to those who are confident about doing DIY bookings? Booking a package is usually the more expensive way to go but one only has to look at the complaints forum here to know that as Fiona says, paying more for a package is not necessarily a guarantee that you get better customer service.

But the big flaw in your reasoning is that the majority of posters who replied to your query would appear from their posts elsewhere on HT to be booking for and to go on holiday as part of a mixed sex couple. So as far as I can tell, with the exception of Miss Pink and I, for everyone of the posters there is a partner of the opposite sex who presumably thinks the same as them? Or at least doesn't feel strongly enough about it to say 'You are not booking that because....'

SM