A 'Premier' Travel Site! (Premier Travel)

Member Name: nicola_uk_1974

Product:	Premier Travel
Date:	08/06/02 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Colourful, Holiday Search Facility, Ease of use

Disadvantages: A couple of dead links, Some presentation issues

The first page of this site is colourful and eye catching. Running along the bottom of the page is a moving 'info line' which shows the company's main phone number and opening times.

There is a brief description of the company on the centre of the page, whilst to the right of this, you can find a 'Bargain Of The Week' - by clicking on the destination of this, you are taken to a separate page of further details from where you can hit a back button to return to the homepage.

Along the top of the homepage, you will find links to the following:-

'News'
This tells you that Premier are leading Cruise Agents of UK', so it's not really news as such! It's just basically telling you that they are impartial and to contact them for further info.

'Home'
erm...this takes you to the homepage! Always a useful feature!

'Enquiry Forms'
This is a form where you can input details of a holiday you may be interested in, along with your contact details and then submit it to Premier Travel. It's a good detailed form with all the necessary fields (name, telephone number, required holiday dates, travelling from, destination, accommodation preferences, free format details) however, the 'up down' menu on the right hand side takes a bit of getting used to. You simply put your mouseover either up or down and the screen moves, it's not quite as quick as the usual internet bars but it works ok.

'Branch Addresses'
This details all of Premier Travel's branch addresses, shown on a small map of East Anglia. By clicking on the town name, you can obtain full contact details of that branch, along with a direct email link which is very helpful.

Now back to the homepage...

Along the left hand side of the page are the following links:-

'Holiday Search' (Opens in a new window)
This takes you to a holiday search e
ngine where you can input departure and return dates, departure point (either all airports in a given area, e.g. South East, or scroll down for specific airports), arrival point (again either an area, e.g. Europe, Africas or scroll down for specific destinations), whether you are searching for packages, flights or ski holoidays, holiday duration and maximum price - both of which can be left to default as any number of nights or any price. The drop down menus on this screen make this whole section easy to use.

You are then taken to a list of holidays which match your search criteria. These can be ordered by either self catering price, star rating of accommodation price, tour operator, destination airport, departure airport, departure date or number of nights by using the drop down menu at the top. Once you've found something you like, simply click on the price to the right of the holiday(which are grouped by board types) and you will be taken to a full page of accommodations which match this showing complete details of the given holiday. By clicking on the book now link at the foot of your choice, you are taken to a further screen which confirms the details and then reconfirms Premier's phone number so you can either ring them or click on another link to email them your request. You then fill in your contact details, click submit and away it goes!

Back we go the the homepage again and to the next left menu link:-

'Flights'
It says you can book your scheduled flights and check fares here, but when you click on the link, it takes you to something called 'My Trip And More' which appears to assume you already have a reservation and doesn't allow a search facility...we'll close that window then!

'Late Offers'
If you click on this link, you get taken to a 'shop window' page, which shows 6 late offers within a 'shop window' - I like the style of this one! As most Trav
el Agents put their late offers in their window, it's very apt! By clicking on the destination of something that takes your fancy here, you can find full details of the offer. There is no email link here, but there is 'callback' button at the foot of the late offer where you can fill in your name, phone number and preferred time to be called, presumably to enable Premier to call you back to discuss the offer. But does it tell them which offer you are interested in I wonder? Perhaps an email link would have been the better option here.

Next menu link then...

'Airport Hotels & Parking' (Opens in a new window)
From here you are taken to 'ABC Holiday Extras' where you can request details on airport hotels, parking and airport lounges.
I tried clicking on the 'hotels' and 'parking' links, but got a cookies error which I have been unable to get past - it may be their site or my PC, but I assume that normally by clicking on these links, you will be given the opportunity to book your hotels and car parking through this site. There is also an 'FAQ' link which does work fine and contains lots of Q&As relating to the site which are always helpful.

Well...now my cookies are playing up, I'm heading back to the homepage again to click on...

'Special Departures'
Here you are given another 'shop window' style page with special depatures - appearing to be theatre trips, Grand Prix and a few more which may be of interest. By clicking on the destination, you are once again taken to fuller details, but again only with this 'callback' link and not an email one which I find a little disappointing.

'Cruises'
Another shop window style couple of pages detailing cruise offers - some lovely ones there! Again, click on the destination for full details but only expect that callback link! The other thing here is that the boxes appear to be o
verlapping the window a bit which spoils the presentation slightly.

'City Breaks'
Another shop window of City Break offers, no overlapping this time which looks better! Again, click on the destination for details and the ol' faithful callback request!

'Car Hire' (Opens in a new window)
This link is not working unfortunately, but I assume the idea is to be able to book your car hire directly here.

All in all, this is a very attractive site, but with a few flaws which need rectifying to really make it something special. I'd like to see more attention to presentation and lots more email links. Those improvements alone could really help.

If you're looking for a holiday though, I'd say the holiday search is definitely it's best feature and well worth a try.

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