I Always Thomas Cook It! (Thomas Cook)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	Thomas Cook
Date:	13/10/09 (207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Choice of ways to book, Competitive prices, Good range of destinations and Great Service.

Disadvantages: Don't visit as many places as other tour operators.

I've been quite lucky this year to have been on three separate holidays in total, each for a week and each at a different time in the year meaning I've always had a holiday to look forward to in a sense. As I knew I was going to be returning to University in September to complete a post graduate course I realised that I wouldn't be able to afford a holiday for quite some time and so decided to go a bit wild while I had a continuous wage coming in! One of the holidays was booked directly with the hotel as I had stayed there numerous times before and then we purchased flights directly off the internet. I therefore used a tour operator for two holidays, the first one was to Gran Canaria back in spring and the second one was to Tunisia in early September. As I'm always on the lookout for the best possible price I did do quite a bit of shopping around and spent many a lunch hour looking on different websites. Once we had decided when and where to go for each of our holidays it meant we could concentrate on getting the best price available to us. The main tour operators I used were First Choice, Thomas Cook and Thomson who obviously all have other tour groups contained within their brand. The one that repeatedly came up the cheapest by quite large amounts for both of our holidays was Thomas Cook and so this was who we decided to book each time with. Much of our research and price comparisons were done online although the actual booking and price negotiation was done in a different store each time.

Thomas Cook was actually setup by a man with the very same name back in 1841. During the mid 1800s Thomas Cook successfully organised a succession of trips by railway around England before moving on to other areas of the UK. In 1855 he offered customers the chance to travel to Paris and other areas of Europe which was a huge success and by 1865 he was offering customers the chance to travel to North America. Shortly after this he came to understand that his middle class passengers expected a better quality of accommodation and so began to negotiate with hotel owners and innkeepers to provide both accommodation and meals for his customers. Since those very early days the Thomas Cook company has simply grown and branches can now be found on the majority of high streets in the UK as well as throughout European countries too. They offer a range of holidays such as all inclusive hotels, cruises, fly and drive options and self catering too. It is the second largest leisure company in the UK now with approximately 30,000 employees working both in the UK, abroad and on the forty five aircrafts that Thomas Cook now operates. In 2007 Thomas Cook merged with My Travel to form the Thomas Cook group which also incorporates brand such as Direct Holidays and Panorama. It's clear to see just how popular this brand is from its constant presence, there are three Thomas Cook outlets within five miles of my house (two being about a two minute walk from each other).

The Website

Whenever I'm thinking of booking a holiday I'll always begin my search online and tend to start at the main tour operators websites to get an idea of what sort of prices I'll be looking at. The Thomas Cook homepage is slightly overloaded in my opinion with a menu running along the top, a search function on the right hand side of the page and masses of different advertising material and features taking up quite a bit of the rest of the space. The backdrop to the homepage is a currently a picture of a good looking couple running through a clear blue sea next to a beautiful white beach looking all in love and tanned. The menu along the top of the page offers links to pages on Deals, Holidays, Flights, Hotels, Destinations, Car Hire and Insurance to name the majority of them which will all result in you being taken to a new page focusing specifically on that topic. There is a multitude of information contained on this site and I'm going to mention just a few things here, firstly the Deals page is really great if you're looking for a fairly last minute deal or a particular type of holiday as it will allow you to easily see the best deals available relevant to what you want and secondly the Destinations page offers information on the Top 10 Spots depending on what type of holiday you want and various other features such as What's On and What to Do at different places in the coming year. The website is really easy to navigate once you get the hang of it, full of information and really thorough in what it provides.

The main feature on the website that I tend to use is the holiday search facility which can be accessed directly from the homepage towards the right hand side. There are certain criteria that you need to give here to help the search engine such as what you are looking for (holiday, hotel, flight, city breaks, etc), holiday type (beach holiday, snow holiday, etc) where (there is a dropdown list of locations for you to choose from, you can also further specify the exact resort), departure airport, departure date and how many people are going. There are also further sub options which can either complete or leave blank, these include what sort of board you want, what sort of star rating you're looking for from your accommodation and what your budget is. After that you're ready to search and the results are brought up within about three or four seconds, you can choose to order them according to departure date, price, etc. Holidays are presented in a list showcasing the main information you need to know such as hotel name and photo, flight details and price. If you want any further information you can click on one of the icons which allow you to see photos of the hotel, a map of the area, customer reviews, etc. If you decide to go ahead and get a final price you then simply need to click on "Continue" to be taken to the final page where additional charges will be added for in flight meals, transfers, etc. If you wish to go ahead and book you can do so from this page, the whole process takes about ten minutes.

If you encounter any problems there is a number to ring or you can choose to chat to an advisor online. As I've always booked in store I'm not sure how reliable or how good either of these features are but it's nice to be given the option. Overall I'd rate the Thomas Cook website quite highly as it's really easy to use and you can get a range of holidays to meet your criteria within about two or three minutes. Everything you could possibly want to know is included somewhere on this website making it both very helpful and very thorough. The only downside I've found is that when you initially search for a holiday and are presented with the results, the final price per person that you see is not what you actually pay. If you click through as if you were going to purchase the holiday you'll find that the price can increase by anything from nothing at all up to about £100 depending on additional charges for things like under occupancy in your hotel room, airport transfers, fuel supplements, in flight meals, etc. You will also find that this is sometimes counterbalanced by a discount that is applied to your holiday cost because you choose to book online. I'm often quite suspicious of this and think that the prices are perhaps merely inflated in the first place and then the online discount simply makes you think you've got a bargain when in actual effect you're paying the basic price. I personally prefer to go into a store and speak to someone face to face when booking a holiday, but this is a good alternative.

The Shop

I've visited a Thomas Cook shop quite a few times this year and normally I tend to visit one of two, one close to me and one in The Trafford Centre. Both shops have quite a nice atmosphere about them with there being a spacious and uncluttered feel to both of them. The decor is quite plain within the stores and the staff are always smartly presented. I've dealt with two main members of the Thomas Cook staff when I was booking my two holidays, both of whom were extremely helpful during the entire procedure and not at any one point did either of them appear even the slightest bit annoyed when I kept changing my mind! Both of my holidays I'd found online and so gone into the shops with the details each time, however I've also been in on other occasions and asked them to just have a browse for something for me which they are more than willing to do as long as you've got some sort of idea about what you're looking for. What I prefer about booking in a shop oppose to online is that there's always the opportunity to negotiate on the price a little which I did for both my holidays. I went in with the internet price which they always promise to match and also managed to get a further discount on both holidays. As long as you haven't got unreasonable expectations about how much money you're getting on they will normally try to accommodate the sale, for example if the price was £417 per person they'll normally do their best to round it down to £400, this is the tactic I always opt for when booking!

Once you've booked your holiday you'll receive a printout of all the information regarding it. If you book the holiday quite a bit in advance you can choose to pay in instalments, you'll be reminded when your next instalment is due either via a letter or a phone call. A week or two in advance you'll receive a phone call to go into the store and pick your tickets up too. Each time when I booked my holiday in store the process was really hassle free and straightforward, I think I spent on average about twenty five minutes doing it all as they need to take the details of the passengers, the payments, etc. The staff were really thorough each time and I left feeling like a fully appreciated customer. The only negative I've found of booking in the store is that when you're booking or when you go in to pay off an instalment they'll do their very hardest to try and sell you something extra such as currency or insurance. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but once I've said no I like people to stop bothering me about things! I personally would recommend booking in a store as you can double check all your information is correct at the time and I also prefer the more personalised touch that you get face to face. However it is a little more time consuming and you may be offered unwanted extras. There does seem to be a Thomas Cook store on most high streets and even in some villages too so if you are interested in visiting you can either check out a local directory or visit their website to locate your nearest store.

The Aircraft

As already mentioned Thomas Cook operate around forty five aircrafts, as this number was published on the website I'm not sure how up to date it is and have a vague memory of it being slightly higher when I last flew with them. They have a range of aircraft which vary in size but as I'm not too into my aeroplanes I won't go into the mechanics. I've flown with Thomas Cook many times including on my two holidays this year and have always found the planes to be clean and fairly modern. Although they're not exactly what you'd call luxury and the leg room on short haul flights is somewhat lacking, they're far nicer than their budget airline counterparts in my opinion. Thomas Cook offer in flight meals which you can choose to remove from short and mid haul flights if you so wish, this will normally knock around £20 off the cost of your holiday. They also run a trolley service which offers all the usuals at slightly inflated prices compared to shopping in your local supermarket. The air hosts and hostesses have always been really pleasant, particularly on my flight home from Tunisia when someone near me was feeling quite ill one air hostess stayed with her for quite a bit of the flight and continuously returned to check on her. The in flight entertainment is adequete, there always seem to be up to date films showing on their flights as well as a range of music and television to choose from.

The Reps

Now if there's one thing that puts me off about package holidays it's the travel company reps that you can't seem to avoid no matter how hard you try! I always find them to be just a little too enthusiastic and jolly which verges on irritating, especially when you've just been on a flight and basically want nothing more than to get to your hotel. You'll first encounter your Thomas Cook rep once you come out of arrivals in your destination country, they will then accompany you to your hotel and either be based full time at your hotel or come back most days at a set time to deal with any issues. Now I have to be honest and say I can't really fault the reps I've encountered this year, they've dealt with any queries we've had instantly and gone out of their way to help us. For example while in Gran Canaria we wanted to hire a car, the rep recommended Avis rather than a road side car hire place so we decided to trust them. He offered to ring Avis and hire the car on our behalf which he did and also managed to secure us a discount off the advertised price in the Avis window as he explained we were Thomas Cook customers which saved us about 20%! You'll also encounter your rep on your journey home, they'll meet you from the hotel and ensure you safely reach the check in desks ready to return home. All in all they are a bit too jolly and rather annoying but they're only doing their job, and they do it well.

My Experience

Both my holidays this year through Thomas Cook were thoroughly enjoyable and we experienced no problems whatsoever with any part of the booking process or the holiday itself. I was impressed with the helpfulness of the shop staff when I booked both my holidays, as well as their ability to try and match your budget to the holiday you wanted as much as they could. The flights were both pleasant enough despite a lack of leg room and we arrived at the hotel each time at the designated time with no hitches. Any queries we had were immediately answered and dealt with my the reps there, we did attend the welcome meeting each time but felt this was merely a sales pitch and really not all that helpful. We didn't book any trips through Thomas Cook as found it much cheaper to do it directly while there although we did make a saving when we booked our car hire through them. Overall I really can't fault Thomas Cook, they've beaten the prices offered by First Choice and Thomson each time and I wouldn't hesitate to book with them again. Their choice of destinations widens every year, from city breaks in Europe to luxury holidays in the Caribbean. The only thing I would say is that First Choice and Thomson do visit more destinations for example Thomas Cook don't go to Antigua or Cuba or other faraway destinations at the moment. I'll certainly consider Thomas Cook when I come to book next year, I just need to work out how I'll afford a holiday especially once my student loan runs out!

Thanks for reading.

Summary: One of the UK's main holiday providers.