My Caring, Sharing Travelcare. (Travelcare)

Member Name: QueenElf

Product:	Travelcare
Date:	17/10/05 (336 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Independant agency, not on commission, so YOU get the best deal.

Disadvantages: None.

People work long hours and often save hard all year to give themselves and their family or friends a decent holiday. For many this is the highlight of their year and the last thing you want is to experience a “nightmare” holiday. Holidays abroad are now big business and for the layman can be confusing. A seasoned traveller will already know exactly what they want from a holiday and know the right travel agency to choose, but what can the ordinary person expect from an agency?

I used to pick the most reliable names, little knowing that these companies often offer incentives in the way of bonuses to their staff to “sell” a particular travel company. After a lot of disappointments I finally found a company I could trust to help with all my needs, this is a company called Travelcare, the largest independent travel agency in this country, backed by the Co-operative group which also specialises in banking and insurance with an annual sales figure in excess of £5.1 billion.

So what exactly are independent travel agencies?
Unlike the larger names such as Thompson’s, Lunn Polly etc, an independent company does not favour any particular travel company, instead they will stock a large range of brochures, and will also advise their customers on which company best meets their needs.
Travelcare has a policy of it’s “The Customer’s right to know” an open policy which will tell people exactly what to expect form their chosen destination and resort.
Unlike other companies that I will decline to name, no bonuses are paid to staff members to favour a particular company; instead an overall bonus is shared between the staff of 1500 people in branches all over the county. These bonuses are for overall performance in meeting the requirements of the customer.

Each branch uses the “agent’s Gazetteer” which has a vast amount of information on each country and resort that are sold through their network. When a customer asks for a particular destination, the staff will use this to inform the customer of each pro and con about the country and the resort chosen. For example, say you are a family with two young children; you want a local beach and a place for your children to play safely. In some cases you may want to have some time for yourself with someone to watch your children both day and night. Other factors may be the heat, is it too hot for you and your children? Which is the best time to go? Is the food hygienic and does it cater for different dietary needs? You may also prefer to go self-catering and take the children out for meals. All these details and many more will be taken into account by the dedicated staff.

Are you an older couple with mobility needs and don’t want to have your sleep broken by noisy nightclubs? Again the staff will help. Most important of all, any building work that is ongoing will be explained to you. For teenagers or young couples who want some nightlife and some activities such as water-sports, a resort will be found for you. The information will be presented clearly and you can actually read the book for yourselves, if you are in a hurry, the staff will photocopy the relevant pages for you.

Their web site is a fount of information, giving discount details, newsletters and an E-Mail service. They also provide good insurance cover through the co-operative society. Currency can be ordered over the Internet with safety or pop into a local shop. Parking and car-hire can also be booked in advance, but if there is a reasonable local company with a better deal, you will be told about this.
They also accept Tesco club cards, provide an online map for their branches and can even arrange gift-vouchers for a wonderful present for that special person.

How do I know this is true? I have been using Travelcare for many years now. I was a civil servant and holidays must be booked the year before to ensure there is sufficient staff to keep the system running properly. My first time with Travelcare I was at my wit’s end. I had booked two weeks in June and had also had to book the cattery well in advance, the Summer months are soon booked up and I had two cats to board out. My partner and I wanted to go to Rhodes, but we had to either book it early and pay full price, or chance a last minute reservation. By the middle of May I was panicking, the prices were still well over a thousand pounds for two people for two weeks and the cattery needed to know if we would be booking the cats in for extra days.

We went into Travelcare on a Saturday and despite being busy the woman that took our details was polite and helpful. Learning I worked in the Job Centre, a mere four minutes walk away; she took both my home number and my works number.
Each day for just over a week, she called me at my office number with various offers some were real bargains but we had set our heart on a holiday in Rhodes.
With barely two weeks to go, we finally got an offer for two weeks in Rhodes for £600 all in the price, self-catering as my milk allergy can lead to complications with foreign food.
It was not ideal, the resort was very close to the airport and we were told to expect a lot of aircraft noise. On the plus side it was a small village mostly untouched by tourism and a good place to tour from, with a private shingle beach as well.

She did warn us about the noise and suggested a resort that would cost us just over a thousand pounds. Armed with photocopies and a few days to decide, we weighed it all up and went for the unspoilt village, after all the other resort would still be noisy with loads of younger people. I went in on the Monday and booked it straight away on my credit card.
The flight was on a Saturday and so I booked an extra two days either side of the fortnight to board the cats and arrange to pick them up on our return.

In retrospect it was a good thing I did that, the flight was from Gatwick at 2pm, we drove up to London and my daughter drove us to the airport and kept the car for the two weeks, thus saving a fortune in car parking fees. Gatwick was a nightmare and I will never travel from there again, the queues were horrendous and we were worn out before we even got to the departure lounge. A few stiff drinks soon revived us and we were pleasantly surprised to find we would be flying by British Airways, a last minute seating plan arrangement.

Once aboard the legroom was far superior to other airlines, our stewardess gave us a complimentary bag full of goodies, a neck pillow, socks to ease our feet, soaps, toothbrush and paste, eye-shades to aid sleep, a refreshing face spray and some wet-wipes, now that was service for you!

The five-hour flight was hard for me without my cigarettes, but the in-flight movie took my mind off it for a while. I had pre-ordered a dairy-free meal, but the last minute change in our flight left me with a poor choice of meal, the cream-laden Chicken Chasseur was replaced with a breakfast meal that I could eat, full marks once again for British Airways.

Rhodes Airport was very busy and I expected a long delay, but we were through customs with our suitcases within half an hour. The buses were ready outside and the staff were quick and friendly, our resort was a ten-minute drive away, we were booked in quickly and after a shower and change of clothing, we were ready for a Greek meal and some bevies.
Saturday night was the main flight night, but we were too bushed to hear the roar of the Jets outside.

The Airport was busy each day and the aircraft flew so near we could make out which airline they were. We soon got used to it, except on Wednesdays and Saturday when the planes went overhead every few minutes, it became an “in-joke” with the other British tourists to find out who could spot the most common airlines.
Our room actually had double-glazing but it was far too hot to keep them closed, fortunately our trips out wore us out so a late-night bevy soon put that to rights!

The staff were always on hand and were very friendly, but we took Travelcare’s advice and booked a car in Rhodes town, it was delivered at 8am the next morning to our apartments and was 50% cheaper than the local tour rep recommended. It had air-conditioning and a sunroof for a very modest price.

The worst part was going home, it took two hours to get on the plane, again British Airways. We had a lovely holiday despite the aircraft noise; it was our choice after all. We got home exhausted, but with loads of lovely memories and a picture of our low-flying aircraft!

Within two weeks of arriving home, we had a customer satisfaction questionnaire from Travelcare; they use this to keep updating their resort details. Weeks later I got some feedback, the accommodation was clean and the maid came every day to clean up, but was puzzled why I had left a bottle of perfume behind, did I forget it? No, I left it for the maid who worked hard for little pay and as perfume is a luxury to the poorer Greek women, I had left it in place of a tip.

Since then I have used Travelcare a lot, visiting Corfu, Zante and Malta. Every apartment I have stayed in has been spotless and I have never had cause to complain.
Zante was a real treat; the hotel apartments had recently been upgraded and could put many an English hotel to shame. I have always taken the advise of the Travelcare staff and got many bargains on car-hire and local trips.

I have yet to find another company that sends out a satisfaction survey and any compliant leads to an addition in their Gazetteer. On my trip to Zante, I went from Bristol Airport, about forty-five minutes drive from where I live. The Travelcare staff has a list of local firms that will drive you to the airport, drop you outside the terminus and pick you up on the way home. They take your flight details and turn up dead on time, using their knowledge to know if a flight is delayed. To a weary traveller arriving home from a warm country to the usual chill of a British summer and laden down with suitcases this is the way to travel home. Our return journey cost us just £60, the airport parking fee was £72 for the fortnight, but even if it had been cheaper I would still recommend the taxi service.

The staff at my local branch of Travelcare are very friendly and nothing is too much for them to do. I had made friends with the staff and they always remembered my first name. How many companies can do that?
So they get the full five stars from me, this is one company that really does put the customer first.

For further information, visit them at www. Travelcare.co.uk.
They also appreciated the postcards I sent to them.

Happy Holidays.
Lisa.

Summary: Putting the customer first.