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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that booking a holiday was actually easier before the age of the internet?

46 replies

bibbitybobbityCAT · 19/10/2009 10:53

You went to the travel agent. You got an armful of brochures. You browsed, you drew circles around the ones you liked the look of, you went back to the travel agent and they booked it for you. Easy peasy.

OP posts:
TheDemonicButDandyLioness · 19/10/2009 10:58

YANBU.

DH and I spend AGES on the internet researching holidays. The searching doesn't stop once you've found your destination either. There is such a wide range - often double the amount - of prices on offer on the internet for the same hotel/package.

Nettee · 19/10/2009 11:01

But I would guess that you would find the one you liked the look of and it would not be available when you wanted to go and then the travel agent would sell you what they wanted to sell you......

This is from someone who has only started booking he own holidays since the age of the internet

But you are probably right

Original poster
bibbitybobbityCAT · 19/10/2009 11:07

I can't help thinking that there is a business opportunity somewhere in simplifying searching for holidays on the internet.

OP posts:
TwentiethCenturyHeffa · 19/10/2009 11:13

YANBU - I hate booking holidays now I spend aaaaages searching, and I can never quite shake off the feeling that there would be something better and cheaper if only I used the right search terms. I love the internet but would much rather just pick a holiday from a limited number of catalogues or something.

abra1d · 19/10/2009 11:20

There is too much choice on the internet and that bamboozles me. I prefer to pay an agent.

claricebeansmum · 19/10/2009 11:22

Also, you can't often sort out the things like "We want inter-connecting rooms" or things like that.

You are very much on your own

LaurieScaryCake · 19/10/2009 11:23

I agree with both points of view.

It is now much easier to do flight and hotel separately. It used to be a nightmare.

However, once you've got your flight at a good deal (they don't seem as variable prices) you then have to take the chance that you will find the right hotel (according to the blardy reviews on tripadvisor) at the right time and at the right price.

It takes an age.

haventsleptforayear · 19/10/2009 11:26

YANBU.

I love looking for holidays etc. but it takes literally weeks.

I remember mum and dad choosing between two hotels in Majorca and taking the one with availability.

Done.

Bleh · 19/10/2009 11:27

Having just spent approximately 10 hours (no exaggeration) trying to book flights and hotels over the last two weeks, it is a freaking NIGHTMARE in the internet age. However, I think it is better than before as you can do your own research (as long winded and painful as it is) and not have to rely on travel agents, and small businesses that wouldn't necessarily have had the same exposure, now have a much larger potential client base.

MissAnneElk · 19/10/2009 11:30

Well, you can still go into a travel agent, pick up a pile of brochures and pick something. Not something I would choose to do, but you can.

TheDemonicButDandyLioness · 19/10/2009 11:31

It is definitely better, just not easier. And does lead to more spousal- and self-recrimination: "if only I'd booked the flight two hours ago", "if only DH had got his holiday request signed off two weeks ago when he bloody said he would, we could have had that special deal", etc, etc. Or maybe that's just me

ooojimaflip · 19/10/2009 11:37

Just go to a travel agent. It's worth saving all the hassle.

TrillianSlasher · 19/10/2009 11:39

You can still go to the travel agent if you like. They do still exist. It's the balance of easyness vs price.

Original poster
bibbitybobbityCAT · 19/10/2009 11:44

Yes. Am not convinced you save that much money doing it on the net.

Too much choice - never a good thing!

OP posts:
Original poster
bibbitybobbityCAT · 19/10/2009 11:46

Actually, I would be willing to pay someone to do it for me in much the same way as I am cool about paying someone to clean my oven. Some jobs are just too daunting .

OP posts:
5Foot5 · 19/10/2009 13:13

Disagree.

Much prefer sorting it out for myself.

I guess that we don't often choose holidays that are sold in brochures though.

Iklboo · 19/10/2009 13:16

Just looking at hols on t'internet

Hoseasons Bognor Regis May next year - nice camp, good reviews, lots of entertainment, pool etc. 1 week self catering = £300

Butlins Bognor Regis - same time, same area etc. I week self-catering = £717 reduced on special offer from £954

Discuss

Original poster
bibbitybobbityCAT · 19/10/2009 13:20

!

Go for the Hoseasons one Ikl.

OP posts:
laughalot · 19/10/2009 13:24

Travel agents dont just sell you what they want to sell , I prefer to book my clients what they want netee !!

Iklboo · 19/10/2009 13:27

Yes - Hoseason's it will be! We've been with them before and always had a great time. Why is Butlin's so much more expensive? We could go abroad for that money (if we had it. Which we don't. Which is why Hoseason's will be getting our patronage next year)

Morloth · 19/10/2009 14:15

I can't remember life before the internet, must have blocked it out as a sort of defence.

Would be wired in 24 hours a day if I could and do everything online.

MorrisZapp · 19/10/2009 14:23

It was easier if you just want a package deal and to be told when to turn up at the airport.

But for anything else, fuggedaboudit.

It certainly wasn't easier sneaking paper and pens into Waterstone's to note the names and phone numbers for hostels in Dublin from a Rough Guide that I couldn't afford to buy, and that was out of date from the day it was printed.

has anybody in the known universe ever paid the guidebook rate for a hotel?

And tripadvisor helps you choose the hotel as it is all peer rated and not based upon advertising etc.

I know people got by before the internet - I just can't imagine how. It beggars belief.

In fact, on most trips we do further research on the web once we get there.

Time off is precious - why gamble on two photographs in a sales brochure being true and representative? Madness.

lisasimpson · 19/10/2009 14:28

Yes laughalot but there are certain benefits to be had by travel agents if they book their preferred operators aren't there?

mumeeee · 19/10/2009 15:09

YABU. It's much better sorting it out yourself and much cheaper.

laughalot · 19/10/2009 15:16

Yep if you work somewhere like thomson for example they will try as hard as possible to sell you a thomson/first choice hol. I work for the co-op and we are a independant and will sell any firm,we dont favour a particular one and we earn commision on every firm we sell.

Some people do think that travel agents commision is a whacking amount but for example at the moment in our shop we earn £ 5.00 a booking on a thomas cook holiday and that is the highest commision level something like a thomson hol is a £ 1.00 per booking.

When we get people in to the office who have maybe been online and want us to match the web price sometimes its impossible. The company earn 10% commision on a thomson holiday and they have to earn some money on the booking as it isnt worth us booking people if we dont earn something. The internet cuts out the middle man and therefore thats why they can offer the discount. I can see why people book on the net I look for my own holidays on there as staff discount is same as a customer discount .

It does really pee me off though when people come in and say we have booked on the net can we just ask you a few question, no feck off we are not a bloody tourist information. Travel agents wont be around for much longer which is a shame as it is good to be able to speak to someone in person lets face it at the end of the day if you have a problem and have booked on the net you spend ages on the phone trying to speak to someone or if you have no cares in the world you will be really cheeky and come in and ask the agent to deal with it !

I would like to think that all my customers go away thinking that I have sold them the right holiday and sold it because I can make a few quid out of them. There will be agents out there who are like that though and it is sad really. Im not on the agents defence its just sometimes people think that we rake money in and its not like that .