Would you book a holiday just now ?

[llm24]

The travel industry has been one of if not the most hard hit industries since the start of the pandemic

January / February is normally one of the busiest times of year and every travel agent looks forward to these months with a lot of money going into preparing and advertising

My question is simply

Will you book a holiday for Summer 22 over the next months ?

If not , why not ?
If yes , will you be booking through a Travel Agent ? If not why not ?

Help a Travel Agent out

We would be happy to use a travel agent though, before Covid we were planning to go touring in Canada and probably would have used a travel agent to organise that, usually for smaller holidays we just used Tui

I think people are free to comment on their own experience op, @NotJustACigar is clearly talking about one company that their employer has dealt with. They also explain circumstances where they would use a TA.

I don’t think your responses have done you any favours, sadly.

No, we still have BA flight vouchers from a cancelled Easter holiday, it's been a nightmare trying to find an alternative as costs have gone up so much and far fewer flights departing from nearby airports, but we have to use them before a set date. So much hassle, I'd much rather have had a refund.

We nearly booked to go away last half term, but my older DC would have needed negative covid tests, they'd had covid 6 weeks prior so wasn't worth the risk of them still testing positive.

Yep with a travel agent.
Already have an Easter holiday booked

@kikipie

Thanks for your feedback

Yeah maybe did take it to heart so I apologise to @NotJustACigar
As I said I thank everyone for their feedback good and bad
Just felt the comments went a bit to far on a thread that was on the whole positive

I just got back from a long haul holiday, I had been nearly two years without a holiday and sun because the U.K. summer was so shit this year I broke and literally phoned an agent, ask them what the had leaving in 48 hours time, got myself a 24 hour pcr test, as soon as the result came in positive I booked my holiday to a destination I didn't have to test again once out there until it came to returning to U.K., I took the antigen tests with me for the return flight, got back Monday morning, took pcr got 4am results on the Tuesday. Now out and about as usual. Bother? Hell yes, admin extra? Omg yes, extra £££ yep but worth it? 100% I could not live without sun any longer and looking at my now chargrilled skin I feel like I've finally got enough vitamin D to last a while.

I recommend to go ahead and book, many agents also have things in place if things don't go well with the testing and I also took out full comprehensive insurance to cover the loss of the trip just in case too.
It will always cost more than a holiday pre covid as a result though.

Booking now directly with places in UK for summer 2022, main reason is just diagnosed with stage 3 cancer so may be in treatment then so need to have access to healthcare, avoid covid, dont want to pay fortune in insurance. Also nightmare getting money back for 2020.

I thought this was gonna be a nice let's get jolly about holidays thread but just seems to be an advert for yourself as a travel agent @llm24. Disappointing I so want to get excited about going away and I'm sure it will happen 👍👍👍

@babasaclover

That 100% was not what I was looking to do
It was an exercise to find out what the public think about booking a holiday for 2022

Never once did I say where I work or advertise how you contact me

All I did when people said they would never book with a TA is to try and dispel any myths they may have had and encourage people to help an industry that has suffered massively and made no money during the last two years .

But yeah thanks for kicking me when i’m down 👍

I really would be interested to know if a TA would be no more expensive than booking direct as it is more secure. I would be ok if it cost a bit more - just not if it is nearly double. And particularly in Europe. If i knew how to PM I'd send my plan for you to look at and see if it was doable for a similar price.

We used a TA (Bon Voyage - USA specialists) when we went to California and they were pretty good. The USA makes me twitchy so I wanted extra back up if anything went wrong.

I'll also use a TA if we ever manage to do the Trans Siberian express or go to Vietnam or India.

I would also be more likely to use a TA if they kept a finger on the pulse and sorted the Covid tests and paperwork for you.

DH is very well travelled but even he nearly went round the bend trying to sort out tests and questionnaires went he visited his parents in Spain last summer.

The problem, i think, is that it is hard to find a TA to do exactly what you want.

I would love to book our summer holiday, but dare not.

We normally go independently to France, but it's not so much COVID that's putting me off, but the new EU Entry/Exit System which is due to be introduced next May.

We usually go by ferry and I just can't see it being anything other than complete chaos getting into any EU country this summer.

We have just booked flights for the summer. Just need to sort out accommodation now.

The new EU entry/exit rules don’t seem that onerous when compared to existing requirements for travelling to many places outside the EU.

Was due to fly today but have rebooked for 2 weeks time due to having covid. Also have Menorca booked for August, and will probably book something for Easter/May...Nice to have things to look forward to and easily changed if something happens