simply travel

[Bridge1001]

has anyone noticed the demise of simply travel? I went to Periyali Villas in Zakynthos last year and was impressed with the service and quality - especially the kids club. Now TUI (thomsons) have ruined it! cheap brochures, theyv'e dropped lots of properties, especially the child friendly places, web site is terrible....they want us all to go on Thomson SuperFamily holidays which are not my cup of tea...any advise o reasonably priced med holidays which are good for kids? not big unfriendly hotels full of shaven heads, lager drinking louts?

ii cant rememerb now
no periyali was cheaper 3 adn a half
( thunk)

no no it's the one on the beach the Tamarisk Beach nr Bodrum

simply are not doing tamarisk beach anymore. only periyali or mousses in greece with chreche. coud try direct, but no childcare

I've been to Periyali twice and Mousses twice - both are lovely. Prefer Mousses set up - prefer Periyali's actual location, looking out over the sea, but not the fact that you are so isolated. Mousses is just five minutes drive from Lefkas town which is lovely - Periyali is next to one man and a goat and a handful of tavernas and is a half hour drive to Zante town, along perilous, windy, mountain roads. Went the first week in May and first week in June to Periyali - pool was warm both times, just depends on the weather really as to how quickly it heats up. The second time around it was baking in the pool. Mousses pool is much, much nicer though and vast - and the family who run the place are divine. Happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Prefer Mousses houses too - might be a bit smaller than some of the Periali villas but they are in better nick and have air-con, cd stereo and sat tv which shows some english kids programmes, which can come in handy.

But the Mousses villas are all exactly the same - whereas Periyali has more character. (Although when you are getting up at 3am to have a cold shower because it is so blooming hot you can't sleep, character seems neither here nor there.) Believe you can now hire air-con units at Periyali - worth every penny I'd say.

bridge1001 you can still get childcare at Tamarisk Beach (see below)

so oyu think the wallop s houdl moousses then

I don't think anyone should go to Mousses because then it will be fully booked if and when I try to book again.

You could do, it's not flash or anything, just nice.

not read the whole thread but we went with simply this year to Corsica (Capicciolo) and it is going to be Crystal Active next year so no chance of a repea booking. We had 4 adults and a 2 year old but had to pay £140 under occupancy.

Kids club was fab but its a shame they have sold out.

simply have been owned by thomson's for years, so there's no change in ownership. I have been sending clients with simply for years, and their levels of service, quality of brochure has diminished and their choice of accommodation has halved for next year. However I went to Tamarisk Beach for the creche with my step kids this summer, and I really can't see how having Crystal running the place is going to change things - the same creche staff will be there, just they'll be wearing Crystal uniform not Simply's, the owners of the hotel will be the same, the water sports place might actually be better run under Crystal Active - so I think it's partly snobbery that will stop people from going there now that it's under Crystal's brand.
I'm the biggest travel snob going and I wouldn't re-consider the Tamarisk Beach as a perfectly good option for next year.
If you want to go to Turkey next year then I'd recommend Exclusive Escapes as the natural succesor to Simply.

Valleygirl - but are they actually doing a creche for little kids, I was giving the impression it was all being geared up to older families?

We have had two superb holidays with Mark Warner - and now being pestered to go again next year. Absolutely no lager louts. The childcare is wonderful for littlies up to teenagers. The only other thing we have found to be so good is P and O Cruises - fantastic! We never see the children!!

FFS are you all blind

THEY ARE DOING A CRECHE FOR ALL AGES

LOOK AT THE BROCHURE

By CountessDracula on Thursday, 20 October, 2005 3:26:57 PM

Milly1968, bridge1001

I just looked at the crystal online brochure and the Tamarisk Beach is in there with childcare look It's in the Active Beach brochure, you have to register to look at it. It also says if you book before 15 nov then childcare is free!

I am waiting for the crystal brochure to come in the post...could be interesting. is nthere anything else out there that isn't beach club and is self catering?

"I wouldn't re-consider the Tamarisk Beach as a perfectly good option for next year"

what deos that mean
youd go or not?

I can't get on to the Crystal Website at the moment to look at the Tamarisk beach hotel. However, I do remember that when we briefly thought about it last year, we decided that it was completely impractical as the apartments only have one bedroom plus sitting room - as we have 3 children this would not make for a very relaxing holiday!

We went to the Alianthos apartments in Crete 18 months ago with Simply Travel, and we had a good time. However I wouldn't really want to go back as I don't think the Akrotiri pensinula was nice/interesting enough to go back for a second time. However, I'd definitely recommend these apartments to anyone who hasn't been before. The creche is v.good and we really liked the nannies.

Exclusive Escapes sound interesting but they don't have any childcare, and I'm not enduring a 4 hour flight with 3 children (plus a 5.00am check in at Gatwick) with no prospect of any rest or relaxation time at the other end!

You are right about the apartments. One of the reasons we changed our minds and went to lefkas

Actually, I've changed my mind about Mark Warner. I've just been on their website and I want to go to their resort in Sri Lanka, a snip at £7500 for a week during the christmas hols.

I,ve checked out tamarisk beach - not interested because of the room situation...need 2 bedrooms for same reasons as milly1968. god this is getting depressing! I,m looking out the window at the rain, and need something to look forward too...also, if I change my mind and book campsite in france, all the discounts are running out of time. think I will price up lefkas, I am looking for may half term and the following week.

I,ve checked out tamarisk beach - not interested because of the room situation...need 2 bedrooms for same reasons as milly1968. god this is getting depressing! I,m looking out the window at the rain, and need something to look forward too...also, if I change my mind and book campsite in france, all the discounts are running out of time. think I will price up lefkas, I am looking for may half term and the following week.

I,ve checked out tamarisk beach - not interested because of the room situation...need 2 bedrooms for same reasons as milly1968. god this is getting depressing! I,m looking out the window at the rain, and need something to look forward too...also, if I change my mind and book campsite in france, all the discounts are running out of time. think I will price up lefkas, I am looking for may half term and the following week.

I,ve checked out tamarisk beach - not interested because of the room situation...need 2 bedrooms for same reasons as milly1968. god this is getting depressing! I,m looking out the window at the rain, and need something to look forward too...also, if I change my mind and book campsite in france, all the discounts are running out of time. think I will price up lefkas, I am looking for may half term and the following week.

I've just been looking at the Crystal brochure for Corsica. Get this - the villas have two bedrooms, so you would think they would be aimed at families of 4, but you have to pay an under occupancy supplement if there are less than 6 of you (there's a sofa bed for two of the lucky occupants) AND kids under 12 don't count towards the occupancy head count. Now that is just plain greedy.