Good For The Pocket - Bad For The Soul (Direct Holidays)

Member Name: malone19

Product:	Direct Holidays
Date:	23/02/05 (820 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unbeatably Cheap!, Great Value

Disadvantages: Poor reps, Unsatisfactory aftersales service

Last September my girlfriend and I went on our first holiday together, we found a great deal after hours of searching through travel agents, teletext and the internet. The deal was so good that when we told an employee of a rival agency that we were just checking to see if we could get anything better before deciding she told us that we were crazy - there was no way we could possibly get it cheaper. I can't remember the exact cost but it was around £250pp for a week half board in a 4 star hotel in Salou. I can have no complaints about the hotel apart from the food was not brilliant but there was a fairly large buffet selection. The hotel was excellent and overall it was great value for money. The plane was small and cramped but this is normal. As far as I'm aware kid's clubs when available are not included in the price and you can either book them while booking the holiday or on arrival, the club at our particular hotel seemed very popular and organised.

Booking the holiday was simple and unlike many companies had no hidden costs or taxes, any extra costs were either included in the cost or detailed at the time (such as in-flight meals & airport taxes). Booking can be done through the internet or in one of the high street stores where the staff are very friendly. The UK staff were very helpful in answering our questions and giving us a description of the area and things to do. I didn't take the insurance which was reasonably priced as I have union travel insurance but as far as I'm aware Direct Holidays' insurance is just about as cheap as anywhere else. Everything seemed to go flawlessly from the booking of the tickets, arriving at the destination and the holiday itself.
There was however a very dark-spot on our holiday experience, on the return journey just as we were about to take of there was a massive thunder storm. The power went out at the airport and after a 3 hour wait on the runway we were told to exit the plane, not much was done to inform us of what was happening. Back at the airport we were given stale rolls and rubbery cheese after waiting in the airport itself for another 4 hours. I felt sorry for the people with young children. There were no facilities and nowhere to go in the small airport. The airport staff were very helpful and some of them stayed even after the airport closed for the night (while we were still in). After a further 2 hours in the airport we finally got send to a hotel 2 hours away in Barcelona, I must say it was a very nice hotel and the rooms were great. But after spending half the night in a cold airport anywhere would have done. In Barcelona we were told we could go to sleep and get up at 11am for breakfast but when we got up we were ushered onto the bus for the return two hour journey to the airport. Once there the plane was delayed for another 2 hours. All in all we went 21 hours delayed without a hot meal! I'm not even sure this is legal! It wasn't the fact we were delayed that was the annoying thing, it was that we weren't treated like paying customers and weren't informed throughout. To add insult to injury we didn't get our in-flight meal which we had paid for as the meals from the night before had gone off and apparently the airport did not have facilities to make new meals.

Delays can of course happen to any travelers and tour companies, although I accept this the treatment we received from the reps and the aftercare from the company was sub-standard. The reps in general seemed unknowledgeable of the area and quite new to the job - their customer service was simply not up to scratch. This being said, all other Direct Holidays staff were very helpful and friendly.

When we returned I informed Direct holidays of these events and didn't even get my money back for the in-flight meals never mind compensation. The only up-side was the curry I bought when I finally arrived home was the best thing I ever tasted!

Summary: