Fancy a break ? (superbreak.com)

Member Name: pornstarx2

Product:	superbreak.com
Date:	12/04/06 (603 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good offers & a nice & easy website

Disadvantages: Some packages are expensive & everything has to be booked with accommodation

WHO ARE SUPERBREAK?
WWW.SUPERBREAK.COM is a widely known company used by independent travellers and travel agents to book short breaks. They specialise in 2 to 5* hotels and carry over 500,000 travellers a year.
When I first picked up a Superbreak brochure in the shops I thought the hotels looked a little pricey and thought you could probably get cheaper deals elsewhere but was I wrong to jump to this conclusion? I searched their very comprehensive website a couple of times when I have been booking short breaks and to be honest I have found cheaper deals elsewhere but not this time.



WHAT WAS THE SPECIFICATION?
My parents 21st wedding anniversary is on the 6th of April and my dad was looking for a nice 4* hotel in the centre of Matlock Bath and the main thing it had to have was an indoor pool and a nice restaurant because my mum and dad love swimming and spend a lot of their time away in a pool so like good facilities. They wanted 2 nights Friday 7Th April and Saturday 7th April and I didn't want my dad to spend a fortune.
After hours of trawling the Internet I was quick to realise Matlock doesn't have the widest variety of hotels and not many of them have pools there were a lot of nice small and friendly hotels but not pools! Eventually I came across a hotel called the Swallow New Bath which was only a 3* but it looked as though it had a nice pool and restaurant in a good location. So after much persuasion to my dad to tell him he really didn't need a 4* hotel he set his mind on this hotel.


WHAT DOES SUPERBREAK OFFER?
Superbreak is the perfect company to go to if you need to sort some accommodation out, as it is quick and easy to get a quote to compare to others. They sell rooms anywhere in the world. They mainly deal with the UK but have contracts with hotels in popular worldwide destinations such as USA/ Canada, Portugal, Caribbean, Dubai, Spain, France, Germany and Malta to name a few.
They also sell a good variety of theme park breaks, theatre breaks, event breaks, singles holidays, golf breaks and airport hotels. So basically any reason for accommodation is catered for here. If you are looking for a general hotel and not sure were they place all the hotels in a sub heading area for you to find under family, romance, country and luxury.
Superbreak also organises group travel online which is quite good, as most online sites cannot cope with the pricing etc but Superbreak seem to have covered their full list of services online.


WHAT DOES THE WEBSITE HAVE TO OFFER?
The website is a lot better than the brochure that they have for the main reason it is a lot more up to date with prices and offers and can all be booked and checked online without the hassle of going to your local travel agent or calling up to book.
However if you wish to receive a brochure you can pick one up from your local travel agency or you can order a copy online.
The website also offers other good services gift voucher sales which are good for people who love to travel as they can be brought for gifts in £10, £25 and £50 denominations.
As Superbreak does not offer transport to the hotels they have links to other websites to assist travellers such as car hire and rail fares.
If you have transport but unsure how to get to your hotel you can click on the map search link and get directions to your hotel which is a great tool for travelling to areas you have never visited before.

HOW DO YOU BOOK?
The booking procedure is very simple and varies for each type of break you are looking for but all tend to go the same way. You enter the date you wish to travel, amount of guests, the destination or attraction you wish to visit and the date. You are then given a list of available breaks and prices. Once you have spotted the one you want you can click on the hotel details to clarify that the break is exactly what you want then you click to confirm the booking. Once this has been done you will have a list detailing all the extras you can buy on top of the break such as excursions, meals, insurance or upgrades depending on what the hotels offer. Then you are all done all you need to do now is complete payment with either a credit or debit card and don't worry paying online is not a risk. Superbreak has a secure server to protect all card and personal details that is authenticated and certified by thawte.com. Superbreak also does not charge a credit card surcharge, which is great and also very rare these days.
All prices are per person and the board basis varied for each hotel. It is not possible to book anything without accommodation on this website unlike other competitors websites.
If you need a little human advice and some recommendations or if your just not comfortable booking over the internet you can use the booking line which they charge at national rate or you can pop into your local travel agency.


CONFIRMATION STAGE
Once you have confirmed your holiday with a payment you can expect to get an instant confirmation in your inbox advising how much you have paid, what you have paid for, the hotel contact details and details of check in.
If that was no enough I got confirmation on my door mat the very next day ok I booked at am 11am on the Monday but got the confirmation through the post on the Tuesday. Talk about a rocket that confirmation definitely did not mess around coming. I was very surprised at their haste and thought what good customer service I had received.
The confirmation is sent in a Superbreaks cardboard wallet, which I thought, was a nice touch and the confirmation showed a map of the location of the hotel and a break down of exactly what I booked so not to cause confusion at the hotel.


THE EVIDENCE
I am such a bargain hunter and pride myself on getting the cheapest prices for everything and if I ever pay over the odds I get really annoyed, sound silly but its like I have been defeated.
So when I was came across one of the few hotels in Matlock Bath with a pool I was determined to get a good deal for my parents. Working the travel industry proves to me everyday that you should never take any price at face value you should shop around and once your done shop some more because there is always some company cheaper than the other and from my experience I would say you can get things probably even less that half the price other retailers are selling at.
Going back to my hotel I browsed the web for a while and found most websites were churning out the same rate £180 for two people for two nights includingluding breakfast.
After a week of on and off looking I decided to give up and go with the a company called laterooms.com and this is what their website offered me
Fri 7th April £90 for the room including breakfast
Sat 8th April £90 for the room including breakfast
Total £180
Thinking I may be able to get something better from the hotel itself I looked on the hotels main webpage which showed no availability which is quote normal as I thought other companies may have allocation.
I called the hotel just to double check and they had plenty of room's twins, doubles and superior rooms but at a nice price too.
Fri 7th April £140 for the room including breakfast
Sat 8th including breakfast £140 for the room including breakfast
Total £280
Or
With evening meal £320
I was quite shocked that the hotel was charging such a rate considering they had lots of room's available and not much time to sell.

I called late rooms as it stated to on their website to confirm my booking and was told they could only offer me a double on the Friday and either a twin on the Saturday and an executive room at an extra £20 so £200 for the two nights. I told them I'd get back to them as I was really not happy with the customer service and tried to steer my dad away from this hotel but he really wanted to go their so I called them back.
Guess what?
They now said they could only do twin rooms on both nights now and not even the £200 deal they quoted me 15 minutes ago, This really worked me up and I was going to get my dad to give this hotel a real wide berth until I logged back into www.Superbreak.co.uk and I couldn't believe my eyes.
Double room Fri 7th April £70 for 2 includingluding breakfast
Double room Sat 8th April £70 for 2 includingluding breakfast
Total £140 wow what a bargain and not only that you could also upgrade to half board for an extra £60. So the whole booking only cost £200 includingluding breakfast. I could not believe it. I must say it has been on of my better bargains I was really gob smacked at the savings I had made for my parents and really didn't believe it was that simple. After I had completed the short online booking procedure I was emailed a confirmation and received one the very next day in the post. It was stating a double room was booked for 2 nights half board, well I really was shocked I thought I must have made a mistake but I hadn't it was there in black and white.
Had Superbreak really come through? Had I been wrong about them all along?
Well we will soon see when my mum and dad com back from their stay and let me know if everything went along smoothly.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
After dealing with Superbreak I have been very satisfied with the service and found their website enjoyable to go through and very simple to navigate.
I do still think that some things they offer are pricey but I do believe if you look hard enough there is a good deal to be had here.
If you are looking for a quote on an accommodation I would recommend Superbreak not necessarily to book with but to at least get a quote. You never know you might find a bargain too.

Summary: Worth a look