Budget Travelshops

vms7ply9t6dw4b

Has anyone dealt with them instore reciently and been alble to negotiate a discount? Was booking a holiday online and they hit you with a rake of extras including a "late booking fee" which doesnt sit well with me, im booking this now so they dont have to sell it cheaper next week.

Anyway, i wouldnt mind going in and playing hardball if i knew they had the power to discount. Otherwise i'll just book it online.

Thanks

B1977

budgettravel online works out about €5 cheaper than booking it in the shop.
not sure if they ll drop the price for you

Berty

Late booking fee is the biggest farce in the world of travel.

The idea of charging you extra for a holiday they are desperate to sell is beyond comprehension but the thing is; Budget Travel sells holiday to a specific demographic who assume this is the cheap way to book holidays and had they known they can get a similar or better holiday themselves with some research they would.

But alas, the majority of Budget Travel customers are procrastinators and will pay this money. Hence, they will keep charging it, along with sitting together on the flight fee's, charging for the transfer fee, organising your rental car fee(on top of the commission they take) and so on and so forth.

maynooth_rules

Berty wrote: »

Late booking fee is the biggest farce in the world of travel.

The idea of charging you extra for a holiday they are desperate to sell is beyond comprehension but the thing is; Budget Travel sells holiday to a specific demographic who assume this is the cheap way to book holidays and had they known they can get a similar or better holiday themselves with some research they would.

But alas, the majority of Budget Travel customers are procrastinators and will pay this money. Hence, they will keep charging it, along with sitting together on the flight fee's, charging for the transfer fee, organising your rental car fee(on top of the commission they take) and so on and so forth.

What is the alternative to them. I shopped around all the Irish websites for my holiday a couple a weeks and i got **** all good deals. The best i got was with Budget travel. There were no good late deals anywhere. There were hundreds to leave from English airports. Essentially for the money we payed for our holiday here, we could have got an all inclusive holiday leaving from an english airport. Thats what im going to do next year. The extra charges with Budget are a joke. We payed twenty euro for seats together, and we were seperated by the aisle on the way out. Stupid unfair charge.

Edit: I refused to pay their 60 euro insurance charge as thats just a disgrace. I got insurance elsewhere for 20 euro

Berty

What do you do?

Go to a regular travel agent who sells holidays across the spectrum, befriend the girl behind the counter and she will spend her time looking for the best deal.

My mother uses one girl in one travel agent and the girl normally goes out of her way to find the best deals / upgrades etc.

mikedragon32

My parents used the same agent in Toolin for years as they had built up a relationship with her and she'd bend over backwards to get a good late deal for them.

Being the old fashioned kind, they'd never book online and have always used the agent. Now Toolin are gone they're at a loss about using an agent for their next holiday.

Personally I wouldn't use a tour operator at all. I did last year (Sunway) as I got as good a deal as I had found online booking everything myself, but that's a rarity nowadays. I don't know if I'd do another package, it all seemed a bit cattle like, being shuffled to a bus from the airport, herded into the hotel, told to attend meetings etc, however, I certainly wouldn't use Budget. This whole thing of charging a late booking fee for a holiday that they are desperate to sell is unbelievable, then to charge a fee for the airport transfer? It really does make me wonder what "package" means any more when it comes to a holiday.

OP, rather than looking for a package, why not see where you can get cheap flights to for yourself and then see if there are cheap hotels to be found... You'd be surprised at how much you can save if you dig around a little and not allow yourself to be led around by a tour operator...

maynooth_rules

Well personally i think the days of getting a last minute deal in july or August is a thing of the past. The fact that there is limited competitors doesn't help. Great options in Britain hence its easy to get a last minute deal

chancer_007

am thinking of booking last minute to Spain @ end of Sept.
whos the best to book with?
sunway,budget,falcon??
thanks in advance

Berty

chancer_007 wrote: »

am thinking of booking last minute to Spain @ end of Sept.
whos the best to book with?
sunway,budget,falcon??
thanks in advance

There is nothing wrong essentially with any of them as they all have good hotels in good locations and all fly from the same airports on the same chartered flights.

The best is going to be the best price for you, which hotel you prefer and which date you are willing to travel on.

If you go into a large travel agent they will actually sell the holiday of Sunway and Falcon and many others. You will limit yourself by visiting budget travel and will normally find a better deal in a standard travel agent if you do not find it online.

vms7ply9t6dw4b

mikedragon32 wrote: »

OP, rather than looking for a package, why not see where you can get cheap flights to for yourself and then see if there are cheap hotels to be found... You'd be surprised at how much you can save if you dig around a little and not allow yourself to be led around by a tour operator...

I have done that in the past alright, but i was looking for something i could just book and forget about. Not have to worry about flight times and transfers etc.

Ended up booking online in the end, got the €5 per person online discount but had to pay a €15 per person late booking fee. They advertised the holiday @ 380 but when they added in the taxes charges and airport transfers (again this seems mental to me, the whole idea of transfers being extra on a package holiday) it came to 450. They're as bad as Ryanair FFS!

Still though... week in Aiya Napa on the 22nd of August, cant put a price on that :P