Search results matching tag 'agents'

You don't have to keep up with the Jones's - just go on holiday with the Jones's, Smiths or the whole street!

Chrisoakes — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 07:04:00 GMT

Morning all

Been away for a while but seeing the story of the whole street that booked it, packed it and f.. well flew away on it (far better strap line than the Redknapps), I thought I would have a little dabble back into the world of blogging.

In case you have missed the coverage viral or otherwise the close-knit residents of Coronation Avenue, aged three months to 60, all descended on the same hotel in Ibiza for a week.

The neighbours all from Coronation Avenue (I kid you not) in Haverfordwest, West Wales spent around £500 each on last week's three-star break and booked through their local high street agent.

First point is booking through an agent - save the hassle let a professional do it - can you imagine collecting the money from 49 mates - would have been a nightmare!

Second point - no fall outs - but when they came back home must have been quite boring when the neighbours asked where did you go on holidays - or the kids back at school writing about "what I did on holiday" essay - must have been quite repetitive!

In these days of peer pressure and bigger and better holidays to "chat" to the neighbours about on a serious note - great heart warming story of a community without the usual gloom and despondency and fantastic that all age groups went and enjoyed the sites of Ibiza together.

l come from an ex council estate in a town in Scotland called Kirkintilloch and we had close neighbours - who would take all the kids away on day trips to far flung places like Troon, Girvan and the occasional swim in the North Sea up in Arbroath where you needed a survival suit and not terry towelling trunks with a snake belt!

So times have changed - but nice to see a sense of community coming back - may be a one off - but let's hope that its not the last of it .

I wonder how many agents now today will be sending flyers up their local high streets, giving them to milkmen, sports clubs schools etc to try and capture the "group street" market this morning- and good luck to them.

Until the next time be lucky.

Regards

Chris

I don’t mind paying but ……….

Chrisoakes — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:41:00 GMT

Last week I went to see the team at Jet2.com and Jet2holidays. We had a great catch up and I saw the operations team in action working the ongoing volcanic ash bookings as well as their day jobs!

On return to my car – I put in my ticket – knowing the high cost of airport parking – which was £9.00 for 2.5 hours – to be charged – wait for it - a credit card charge on top of $£2.50 – nearly a third of the cost!

Whilst we are up against volcanoes, riots and god knows what else you would think that the airports would be working with the travel trade to make airports more accessible – instead of an indirect tax and rip off charges.

Fair is fair and you know you will always pay extra for food or drink or even a book at the airport – however when parking is already expensive how can they justify a 3^rd of the price for using your card!

Come on airports work with us not against us in getting the great British public back on holiday!

Treasured Island

Chrisoakes — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:35:00 GMT

I sometimes forget we live on and island. You mention the word island and it conjures up long sandy beaches, palm trees and clear blue sea but we do live on one and albeit a bit colder sometimes. The narrow stretch of water called the English Channel has kept hordes of invaders away during two World Wars this century – however it became a final hurdle last week for the tens of thousands of people trying to get back to our treasured island.

A rough estimate was that the impact of the volcano has cost the European economy at least £1.3 billion and the aviation industry a further £650 million.

Economists at the Royal Bank of Scotland estimate that the impact of nearly seven million people being stranded away from home would be more than £400 million a day in lost productivity.

British Airways said that the closure of European airspace had cost it nearly £80 million since last Thursday Top of Form

TUI Travel, said that it had cost it £20 million so far and Thomas Cook, revealed that the disruption at its peak had cost approx £7 million a day.

What about Ryanair – well they have done a U turn on the issue of compensation and will reimburse “reasonable out of pocket expenses” will that include the Saab that someone bought? The initial stance by them showed once again that the bargain airline in fact when it goes wrong is not really a bargain at all.

We all know it was unprecedented and people were complaining about the lack of information – however if it had happened 20 years ago think of it – no 247 television updates, no internet, Bing, Bebo Google or facebook – no one to tweet to – no update on I phone or Blackberry – no iPod to watch your videos on or listen to music on the long journey home – changed days.

One thing remains the same – the resilience of the Travel Industry – not just in the UK but worldwide – and see who stepped up to be counted.

As usual websites are easy –when you are doing research or booking a flight - however trying to get through on phone lines or by email was a nightmare in some cases – so it fell back to the agents themselves – not just high street but on line agents and call centre staff and homeworkers to name a few. Also a call to arms from suppliers, tour operators, bed banks, transfer suppliers – who then had to mobilise and work with the frontline reps or agency staff in the thick of it and at the sharp end overseas.

I am sure that everyone out their will now review contingency plans and there has been a call to have a UK wide or Pan European task force for the future.

My view is quite simple remember the partners that you have worked with who played fair and worked with you to make it as painless as possible for the millions of people to get back to their homes.

At times like these you realise and appreciate who your friend and partners are!

So on that note we have had the “blitz” spirit in droves – and on St Georges day – even as a Scotsman I have an image of all the boats seeing the white cliffs of Dover to the strains of Land of Hope and Glory!

Ok so until the next one – plague of locusts or frogs falling out of the sky – or something else that we could never plan for – let’s crack on and let our resolve shine through of our proud and resilient island.

What are the responsibilities of a rep?

Chrisoakes — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:49:00 GMT

I of course am an advocate of anyone taking the opportunity to work in travel as I have done both in the UK and overseas for over 22 years. Last week I had a great opportunity of working with some of the staff from Worcester College of Technology who have a travel implant agency Spires Travel in the college. 42 students and 3 staff members had 5 days in the Costa del Sol to experience the life overseas first hand. It was hard work and with curfews in place the students were on their best behaviour and at least 15 of them will eventually become overseas reps; some already have placements, or cabin crew or travel agents. The course is excellent and well managed by a team of very knowledgeable staff, Bridget, Martin and Jane who were on hand for the students and worked them hard on the trip!

Courses like this are vital and it was so good to see a new wave of young enthusiastic people who may be the captains of the travel industry of the future – lets face it if you look round now most of the high profile people in our travel have came from the overseas background.

It is great that there are now courses for this and that young people are being taught the value of working overseas and how much responsibility goes with it, however where does that responsibility start and end?

Being a father of a my young daughter Amelia I find the deaths of the two young children in Corfu 3 years ago Robert and Christianne tragic and I cannot even begin to feel the grief that the parents must be feeling. Things do need to be reviewed, laws tightened to ensure that this never happens ever again, and somebody needs to be accountable – however should this be the hotel who had qualified maintenance staff and on site inspections – or two young holiday reps who were asked to complete standard company heath and safety checks?

Nicola Gibson and Richard Carson are on trial with ten Greek nationals for the deaths of Robert and Christianne. The trial has been postponed several times however goes ahead tomorrow 17^th February and hopefully common sense will prevail on accountability.

Anyone starting out in a career in travel should always know how tough it is at the sharp end and that they have a huge responsibility, however on this occasion the buck needs to stop with the hotel owners and management and not two young holiday reps completely untrained in gas maintenance.

I do hope that Nicola and Richard can be exonerated and pick up their lives and careers and not be made to be scapegoats in all of this. It also needs to be clear from the tour operator and the Package Travel Regulations as to who ultimately has responsibility for what – and what the repercussions are when you put your name to any document – health and safety check or otherwise.

The tragedy of all this is a young family torn apart and the terrible loss of young life and that ultimately even more vigorous controls and checks are in place so that this can and never will happen again.

Urgent Press Release: Christmas Downsizing

Chrisoakes — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:53:00 GMT

Like all businesses today’s global challenges require the North Pole to continue to look for better, more competitive steps.

Effective immediately, the following economy measures are to take place in the “Twelve Days of Christmas” subsidiary:

1. The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree never turned out to be
the cash crop forecasted. It will be replaced by a plastic hanging plant,
providing considerable savings in maintenance.

2. The two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not cost
effective. In addition, their romance during working hours could not be
condoned. The positions are therefore eliminated.

3. The three French hens will remain intact. After all, everyone loves the
French.

4. The four calling birds were replaced by an automated voice mail system,
with a call waiting option. An analysis is underway to determine who the birds
have been calling, how often and how long they talked.

5. The five golden rings have been put on hold by the Board of Directors.
Maintaining a portfolio based on one commodity could have negative implications
for institutional investors. Diversification into other precious metals as well
as a mix of T-Bills and high technology stocks appear to be in order.

6. The six geese-a-laying constitutes a luxury which can no longer be
afforded. It has long been felt that the production rate of one egg per goose
per day is an example of the decline in productivity. Three geese will be let
go, and an upgrading in the selection procedure by personnel will assure
management that from now on every goose it gets will be a good one.

7. The seven swans-a-swimming is obviously a number chosen in better times.
Their function is primarily decorative. Mechanical swans are on order. The
current swans will be retrained to learn some new strokes and therefore enhance
their outplacement.

8. As you know, the eight maids-a-milking concept has been under heavy
scrutiny by the EEOC. A male/female balance in the workforce is being sought.
The more militant maids consider this a dead-end job with no upward mobility.
Automation of the process may permit the maids to try a-mending, a-mentoring or
a-mulching.

9. Nine ladies dancing has always been an odd number. This function will be
phased out as these individuals grow older and can no longer do the steps.

10. Ten Lords-a-leaping is overkill. The high cost of Lords plus the expense of
international air travel prompted the Compensation Committee to suggest
replacing this group with ten out-of-work congressmen. While leaping ability
may be somewhat sacrificed, the savings are significant because we expect an
oversupply of unemployed congressmen this year.

11. Eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming is a simple case of the
band getting too big. A substitution with a string quartet, a cut back on new
music and no uniforms will produce savings which will drop right down to the
bottom line.

12. We can expect a substantial reduction in assorted people, fowl, animals and
other expenses. Though incomplete, studies indicate that stretching deliveries
over twelve days is inefficient. If we can drop ship in one day, service levels
will be improved.

Regarding the lawsuit filed by the attorney’s association seeking expansion to include the legal profession (”thirteen lawyers-a-suing”), action is pending.

Lastly, it is not beyond consideration that deeper cuts may be necessary in the future to stay competitive. Should that happen, the Board will request management to scrutinize the Snow White Division to see if seven dwarfs is the right number.

Merry Xmas !!

Chris

The Blogger is back with a few over due rants!

Chrisoakes — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:59:00 GMT

Apologies as it has been some weeks since my last blog. Since the Travel Convention I have managed to squeeze in a family holiday at last to sunny Tenerife. Travel is amazing as I have still have some friends over there Roberto and Karina that I worked with and Adi and Ruth and even though it has been over 14 years since we worked together it still felt like yesterday. Since then I had a jaunt to SSH to the Hays IG Conference which as was well attended and productive. SSH does let itself down however as the arrival process is a daunting and disorganised affair and more should be done not just for the conference but generally to make it a bit more welcoming to say the least. My last journey of late was to Amsterdam for a great joint Fam Trip with the COOP Scottish Region co-hosted by Holidaytaxis, Travel2, Hoseasons and of course DFDS. Amsterdam is know for a lot of tolerance to wards various activities, however there is a lot more to the city and I had forgotten what a great destination it is. It was a great cruise and highly recommended for a short beak and all of the agents were hard working and excellent.

So a lot of trips with no hitches – wrong…….

On arrival in SSH there was a problem with my relatively new passport (don’t worry no one had drawn whiskers on my face this time), as there was a problem with the chip. I managed to get through – same problem on the way back and the same going to and from Amsterdam. I then this week had to go through the torture of the passport office call centre – reference Stephen – who was reading the same info of the website that I was reading!! I did manage to get an appointment in Liverpool to go down and sort it out. My passport is only a year old and I paid extra to get it the same day – I then had to pay an extra £77 to get a new passport yesterday – the broken chip is their fault!! They have said that if the passport has not been tampered with then they will refund the money – however in the old days it just would have been stamped – no hassle and lasted a good ten years!

Second call centre rant – Sharon and Amelia (my wife and daughter) were all booked to go and see Sharon’s mum and dad in Malaga. I received an e-mail when we were in TFS to say the outbound had been cancelled – I booked the flights 4 months previous with BMI Baby. There was no phone number on the email and it was a no reply email either with no reason and no name. I managed to find a number – called their call centre overseas who informed me I would be refunded the flight cost but not the taxes or the credit card charge – wrong answer! After a debate on legalities and speaking to the supervisor, they agreed to full refund – then couldn’t work out how much it was. I then asked them was it definite that the inbound wasn’t going to be cancelled (he didn’t understand you have to fly a plane out so that you have one to fly back in again!) and he said it was definitely not cancelled. I rebooked the outbound this time with Easyjet next thing new email – inbound is now cancelled by BMI! I have had a full refund – no apology – and an experience that I will never book with BMI Baby again – poor and shoddy service and they expect support from the trade. Yes I know I should have booked it with a travel agent and there are good and bad call centres and staff – however still a very poor show by BMI Baby

Anyway nearly Xmas and goodwill to all men (and women) – back next week.

Chris

Ryanair - diplomatic as always......

Chrisoakes — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Taken from this weeks Sunday times another classic Ryanair act of diplomacy.......

IT’S SCRATCHCARDS AT DAWN

The chief executive of the no-frills airline Germanwings has sparked a furious row with Ryanair by predicting that the Irish giant would go out of business. “The Ryanair model is coming to an end… travellers do not want to fly from nowhere to nowhere,” said Thomas Winkelmann, at the launch of Germanwings’s new Manchester-to-Bonn flight. Asked for a response, Ryanair told The Sunday Times: “We only reply to airlines that have a significant market share. Germanwings is the fly on the arse of the airline industry, so we’re not going to bother.”

You just couldn't make it up!!!

Regards

Chris

The Fantastic Faro Fam Trip - was it all worth it?

Chrisoakes — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:03:00 GMT

Ok so just back from the much anticipated Faro FAM Trip jointly hosted by Avro, Cosmos, Holidaytaxis.com and of course our country hosts the Portuguese National Tourist Board – so was it a success?

From our point of view every agent was excellent on time, smart and attentive and they saw a different side to a trip – not endless hotel visits but lived and breathed the actual country itself. Our Portuguese hosts were very gracious Jose and Miguel and of course they wanted to show us the best bits of the Algarve – which they did in great abundance and if all tourist boards had staff as passionate and attentive as these two then the will do well as they were excellent.

From fantastic pool side restaurants to some of the best beaches you will ever find (trust me its true) to the ancient town of Lagos to the Venice of the Algarve Tavira we saw some stunning sites.

Spending time in Faro itself which is a beautiful historical city with lunch on the roof top terrace of the Hotel Faro, was in itself a treat and showed what a great city it would be for a short break – not just an airport.

One of the other highlights was the white washed village of Cacela Velha with the views of the amazing national park of Ria Formosa an area which I have previously never explored in the Algarve all well worth a visit and of course to top it all we had excellent weather!

Having worked in travel for over 20 years you always have some people that are a bit fussy on these trips as to local food – not so our hardy bunch who tried everything from hot stone sizzles, authentic chicken piri piri in one of the most traditional restaurants in the Algarve to even suckling pig on the jeep safari and of course who could forget the local fire water and honey.

Not content with days and nights beaches and cities and local culture – but our last day was a team building jeep safari in the mountains with all but one of us going down a 200 foot death slide – that set the adrenalin levels for the day and of course made us even more competitive as we all already are!

Of course need to justify the spend on such trips and like all of the sponsors I am sure we will see huge support from all of the agents who attended for Holidaytaxis.com, Avro and Cosmos and certainly for Portugal and the Algarve.

A huge thanks to everyone involved UK and overseas in organising the trip and of course to our “star” agents who attended last week they had VIP treatment and in my view deserved it and we are all committed to supporting those continue to support us.

So are these trips still of value – I have 45 excellent agents that will say yes and an industry that still if they experience a product first hand will always sell it more effectively. Let’s look at the results I am sure all of these guys will get behind us tell their friends and colleagues and look forward to the next one in 2010!

And the best moments – the awards, the Jose and Ricky dance, Sally Sat Nav heading to Blackpool airport and not Manchester on the way out – Lucy on the death slide, the cats whiskers – to many to mention. The last laugh however has to go to Johnny “get the party started” Pollard from OTB life long England fan who stitched up 2 Scotsmen, Gordon MaCreadie from Cosmos and myself to sing the English football anthem – 3 lions – and he has the video to prove it!

Enough said!!

Chris

What's in a name? (Win some High Street Vouchers!)

Chrisoakes — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:48:00 GMT

It’s been a few weeks and I have been travelling far and wide up and down the UK and Ireland. This for a lot of us is conference season and over the next few months I am away to Faro with 45 luck agents courtesy of HTX, PNTO and Cosmos so watch this space for the photos! In October Barcelona for The Travel Convention where I am sure the subject of recession and how we combat it and is it over will be the hot topic once again. Then across the pond to Northern Ireland Travel Awards – not to be missed then off to the canaries for a short break before Sharm el Sheik and then Amsterdam in November!

I have tried my best to offset my carbon footprint and sometimes we wonder are our journeys still of value with conference and video calls and other modern technology – the answer is yes. Ancient traders set off on their ships to many exotic ports in days gone by and people still want to deal with real people. Whether you are a call centre, OTA or high street agent – it is the people behind it that make it work which is why my phone is never turned off and whenever I can get a meeting in with my accounts new or existing it is always a worthwhile journey and at conference you get to meet them face to face.

As I sit on the train travelling through a very sunny Scotland I have just read a great little article which might bring a smile to your face about where people go on holiday:-

Gardener’s – Barra

Fireman – Burntisland

Used Car Salesman – Bangor

Artists – Paington

Batman – Cape Town

Exotic Dancers

Pilots – Ayr

Plumbers – Bath

Bad chefs – Nuneaton (that’s a really bad one)

Sanitary Engineers – Flushing Meadows

Bury FC players – Toulouse

Nymphomaniacs – Bonkle

Kerry Katona – Isle of Dogs

I have left out the one about Cockfosters for obvious reason.

Any other suggestions greatly received and will win some High Street vouchers!

Hopefully see some of you at the Northern Travel Trade Ball tonight and my blog next week comes direct with Miss Travel Weekly Jo Rix from our Fam Trip in Faro.

Chris

Read this - another rip off!!

Chrisoakes — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:21:00 GMT

Ok – so we all here about rip off Britain. Latest culprit Manchester Airport!!

I have just booked flights with an airline and had to pay £60 quid for bags – I know it’s a rip off, however you know they are going to charge you.

Yesterday morning going through security at Manchester Airport for the umpteenth time in 43 years – I had my clear plastic bag seized full of my assorted stay young potions and toothpaste etc.

Then I met upon the three Witches of Eastwick – Hinge, Bracket and Hecate…. Who told me that my clear plastic bag was not an authorised clear plastic bag – it was not a MANCHESTER AIRPORT 1 litre clear plastic bag. Even though speaking to a supervisor – with the same story – and the designated bag should be clear plastic bag 20cm by 20 cm (mine was 21 x 22) and still clear and all toiletries were less than 100 mls – I had to leave £30 worth of odds and sods – to buy them again in Boots – 110 metres along the corridor.

Let me say I am all for security – over the years I have worked in some hot spots etc -, however don’t believe that Oil of Olay and Aquafresh are the materials of choice of any Al Qaeda cell?

Ok so why the sudden jobs worth attack as I have travelled the same route for years with my clear freezer bag full of toiletries – easy from next month you will HAVE to use the correct bags issued by Manchester Airport so they can do “vapour tests” and they will cost you a £1 a bag!!

At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!