Which holiday company do you use?

[Totallybannanas]

Haven't booked a holiday for so long and most seem online. Has anyone used an independent travel agent? Feeling a bit stressed with trying to find my criteria.

Not used travel agent for years. I decide where I’d like to go.
Book flights
Book accommodation… either hotel via Expedia or such like, or Airbnb entire property.

I don’t see how a travel agent would make things any easier because I get to do it all online in the comfort of my home.
Probably cheaper too.

We always used Thompsons for years as we thought we would be looked after we'll if problems occurred. Then we had a week in a hotel which didn't have the facilities as advertises. They wrote to us, offering an £80 refund as compo, which was good. It took 3 months of emails and getting ABTA involved to get the £80. On the same holiday, 2 weeks before they tried to change the flights from Manchester to Birmingham, on different days. After several hours on the phone we did get flights from Manchester on the same day, but they wanted to charge more. That knocked our confidence in Tui, as they now are. We have used Jet2 who are good, and probably our first choice now, but prefer to book direct. Find the cheapest flights. Check accommodation prices on Booking.com and on the hotels own website. We saved £500 for 1 week in Lanzarote in April doing this, and it was easy. If you book direct, you may get the same price offered as booking.com, but if you sign up to the 'membership' you often get discounts, upgrades or extras included. Lanzarote was with Radisson, we git a discount on the price and no extra charges for a room to shower and get changed in for a late flight home. Plus we are now offered higher discounts on future bookings, which seem genuine. It seems daunting at first, booking separately, but online you have time to check reviews and locations before booking.

Prior to Covid we always booked independently. Then we lost money as the hotel would only offer a voucher and it wasn't suitable to go for the next two years.

We then moved to Tui but last year we went independent again. We normally do Booking.com, due to some circumstances we choose free cancellation options at the moment even if it is a bit more expensive.

We also booked via the hotel and as PP said, signing up for a newsletter/membership does help. We have an email address just for these things.

I do a mix of independent bookings and packages, depending on the trip. If you do want to book a package, I'd recommend Jet2. I had two holidays booked which were cancelled during Covid and they refunded immediately.

I always book myself.

Always book independently.

Always book everything separately myself. Book accommodation on booking.com and book flights directly with airline.

Same for car rental or transfers.

Often you can choose to pay on arrival for accommodation and car rental, which I usually do so I usually only have flights to pay for upfront.

Hays travel

I wouldn’t recommend Tui. They have been useless on a recent holiday.