If I'm on a package holiday, particularly to a new destination, I will probably go (t'others wont though) I like to know who they are and how to get in contact with them in an emergency, also if you need to change rooms, or are somewhere that it can be difficult to communicate direct with the staff, they can often help.

I've done the odd deal with them before on kids prices, also did buy two get one free one year, most Brits won't barter. Thomas Cook did a free trip to Fethyie from Olu Deniz, took you round loads of places, they must have been on a rake off from the stores they dropped us outside. (didn't buy from any of them ) Lovely air-conditioned mini bus instead of a crammed sweaty dolmush, stopping every second - brill.

Been to villas last couple of hols and going again this year, so no rep meeting, just a phone number.

I've worked out I can't go to hotels in the school holidays anymore they are just too crowded for us to have a good time.

Doe

last year was the first time we never went to the reps meeting , and got lost making our way back to apts , we went shopping and missed the turning , so we walked miles and miles out of our way , all up hills , it made me feel really ill , and we had to open drinks and foods that we had bought for the apt , never made the same mistake with the turnings off after that . Not sure what we will do this year as yet

I have been doing welcome meetings on and off for the past 18 years here My first job was to sell tours, commission only, and I did well, as I would only recommend trips that I liked, or thought would suit the clients. Some weeks I made no money at all. But that was preferable to having clients complaining. I now work for a resort and part of my job is to hold the welcome meeting. I don't have to sell tours, just tell people what is on offer to them, tell them about the actual place they are staying and answer any questions they may have.

I realised last week that clients have a perception about Welcome Meetings which is not good Some clients turned up very near the end of my meeting, then started asking questions I had already covered earlier. I must admit I got slightly annoyed (didn't show it!!) with them and I answered their questions.

Later that day they saw me in my normal guise of waitress, and were very confused, because they had presumed I was a rep

So folks, I would say, if you can spare the time, do go along to the welcome meetings, even if you have been to the resort/complex etc many times before. I try to give information about local fiestas, changes that have happened since people were last in resort, that sort of thing.

no we dont bother we go fuengirola and do our own thing know the place like the back of our hand and as for trips we use the local travel agencies for days out..etc

I went to the welcome meeting in Kalamaki this year as we were around the pool anyway and it was somewhere to escape to the shade for a while. I was impressed with the rep in that he didn't try to push any trips on us. He gave us a list of them, complete with price and briefly spoke of one or two that he thought might be of interest. We were then told if we fancied any of them we could book with him whenever we saw him about the complex

I didn't see it as a waste of time because it only lasted about 15-20 minutes and one thing I learnt from the rep was that there was a free bus to the sports beach which we're glad we availed ourselves of as we had a great day there.

As I've been going to Sousse for over 11 years now and book independently I never bother with welcome meetings. The first time there we had a lovely rep who was actually past retirement age but knew the area well and gave excellent advice but the following year was a different story and I've never bothered since. The funniest was the year Tunisia changed their clocks for the first time the day we were due to fly back. I knew about it through talking to locals but the rep apparently didn't and many of her customers almost missed their flights. Last year a couple at the hotel told me they were doing the trip to the Medina with their rep. I saw them there and in the evening they said they wished they had simply come with me as it had been a complete waste of time and money, most spent at a cafe which charged an arm and a leg (no prizes for guessing who got baksheesh for taking them there).

The last one we went to was in Mexico in 2008 and tbh it was a waste of time, just a sales pitch. We had more information on the resort than the rep! I think welcome meetings should be put in room 101