Best Travel Agent to Book US Trip With?

clumsyklutz

Travelled to Vegas September just gone and looking to travel out again. We went for a week last time and booked with Tour America, had no issues with them and went to book again. Price they quoted was ridiculous €3k for 9 nights, whereas alpharooms (just as a direct comparison) was quoting me €2,380, now I now they have to make their money - but really?!? Had I the money upfront, we would pay the lesser price and be done with it.

However, I decided to look elsewhere and found Cassidy Travel, who quoted me somewhere along the lines of what the search on alpharooms gave me. my question is, has anyone had any dealings with them for trips like this? Or would anybody be able to recommend another TA?

Atlantic Dawn

Have you tried booking it yourself online? The likes of Ebookers and Expedia allow flexibile booking of hotels and flights.

For travel agents the likes of Tour America and American Holidays would be where I would go if I had to.

Fred Swanson

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clumsyklutz

As I said earlier, had I the money upfront I would have booked it myself online, (as I do with all cheaper European holidays), but unfortunately I don't. Have contacted Tour America as that's who we used last time, and received the ridiculous quote of €3k, hence why I'm looking elsewhere.

Will try ebookers. Are the reliable?

endofrainbow

Cassidy Travel are very good but for some thing simple like a trip to Vegas why not do it yourself - book directly with the airlines, and the hotels and cut out the middle man - save yourself quite a bit

clumsyklutz

endofrainbow wrote: »

Cassidy Travel are very good but for some thing simple like a trip to Vegas why not do it yourself - book directly with the airlines, and the hotels and cut out the middle man - save yourself quite a bit

As I have mentioned (twice now) in other posts I would ordinarily but I don't really have over 2 grand on me right now to book it outright so that's why I'm looking at travel agents and not being overly familiar with who's good and not good(having booked every other trip on my own -and quite cheaply) I decided to ask for recommendations.


Sorry if this seems like a rant, just a bit fed up of the posts telling me to book direct and I'd save a fortune - I'm well aware of the savings I'd make (having looked online to get comparisons), that is really not what I asked at all.

Fred Swanson

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Dodge

have you tried booking it yourself?

endofrainbow

Gone are the days when you could walk into a travel agents and put down a deposit (unless it's a package holiday on a charter flight. Once air tickets are booked , you have to pay for them.

Sorry if the answers you are getting don't suit you but you came on looking for advice and that is what you got.

clumsyklutz

I think you'll find you're wrong Fred, have received quotes from plenty of travel agents who will accept deposits so I don't know where you got that notion from, not everyone is lucky enough to have over two grand up front for a holiday, it's fairly common to pay deposits. Am just looking for recommendations of travel agent that I can trust to book with.

Dodge....really?! I'm not even going to bother properly responding to you.

clumsyklutz

endofrainbow wrote: »

Gone are the days when you could walk into a travel agents and put down a deposit (unless it's a package holiday on a charter flight. Once air tickets are booked , you have to pay for them.

Sorry if the answers you are getting don't suit you but you came on looking for advice and that is what you got.

Well then how come I have quotes from Cassidy Travel, Tour America, Club Travel and Abbey travel all willing to take deposits in my inbox? Also last year when we booked with Tour America we paid a 300 euro deposit and paid off throughout the year, no issues. The only reason we're not booking with them again is because their quotes are ridiculous this time round.

The answers don't suit me because I didn't come on here looking for ye to be telling me to book the holiday on my own, I came here looking for recommendations of travel agents.

Dodge

Relax. You've already tried 4 of the main travel agents around. What else are you looking for? If they're certified then you can probably trust them. That's your own choice

Seems to me your options are; (a) go with one of them and pay off as you can, or (b) save up and book yourself.

clumsyklutz

Dodge wrote: »

Relax. You've already tried 4 of the main travel agents around. What else are you looking for? If they're certified then you can probably trust them. That's your own choice

Seems to me your options are; (a) go with one of them and pay off as you can, or (b) save up and book yourself.

Just because they're certified doesn't mean they're reliable, I just wanted to make sure before I hand any money over.

By the time I'd manage to save up the money the prices will have shot up. It wouldn't make sense to do that!

Fred Swanson

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clumsyklutz

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Surely they are going to charge you a fair bit over the odds for doing it that way?

Nope Cassidy Travel are 1,171 online (or if you're booking in store 1,246) pp for 9 nights in a 5 star hotel (we wanted this one in particular as we stayed there the last time), charging 150pp deposit, to be fully paid 12 weeks before the trip, this would be the case for either option.

barneygumble99

clumsyklutz wrote: »

Nope Cassidy Travel are 1,171 online (or if you're booking in store 1,246) pp for 9 nights in a 5 star hotel (we wanted this one in particular as we stayed there the last time), charging 150pp deposit, to be fully paid 12 weeks before the trip, this would be the case for either option.

Did you try bargaining with Tour America? We went on honeymoon during the summer and we booked with Tour after 2 days days going back and forth between them and cassidys. They had knocked over 700€ off their original price by the time we paid a deposit.

clumsyklutz

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Did you try bargaining with Tour America? We went on honeymoon during the summer and we booked with Tour after 2 days days going back and forth between them and cassidys. They had knocked over 700€ off their original price by the time we paid a deposit.

Yup, in fairness the girl we dealt with in there was lovely, but she said they had been trying for ages and just couldn't come close, (the one thing I didn't like was asking if we would choose a lower star hotel so that they could be competitive), which was a shame as we had booked with them the last time and found them good value for money. I think it's gonna have to be Cassidy!

You only need to pay for flights upfront.
You can book a hotel and pay when your there.
Maybe that is doable?

Dodge

Not to knock your own plans but a 4 star hotel in Vegas is still likely to be top class (and in fact I know some that are from my own experiences)

January

We booked via club travel. Had gotten a price from tour America and when I went in to pay I actually went to the wrong part of abbey St and ended up going into club and got same holiday for cheaper.

clumsyklutz

bubblypop wrote: »

You only need to pay for flights upfront.
You can book a hotel and pay when your there.
Maybe that is doable?

Unfortunately not, wouldn't have that kinda cash upfront!!

clumsyklutz

Dodge wrote: »

Not to knock your own plans but a 4 star hotel in Vegas is still likely to be top class (and in fact I know some that are from my own experiences)

Stayed in the same five star hotel the last time, really enjoyed it and the fact it was non smoking and non casino, and very slightly off the strip (near the fashion show mall) felt like if we needed to get away for a little bit we could. Having taken a good look around most of the other hotels while there, as fab as they are, we just couldn't see ourselves staying in them. Were kind of set in our ways :-P

Think we're just gonna book with Cassidy and let that be that, seems like the best and cheapest option.