These days, travel agents offer LESS of a choice, not more. The reason for this is the fact that the big chains are owned by major tour operators such as Thomson and Airtours and they want their staff to sell THEIR own products not the competitors. Generous staff commission payments ensure that if you walk into a Lunn Poly shop, a smiling assistant will do his or her best to sell you a Thomson holiday, even if its not what you want. Similarly, My Travel Company (Going Places)staff will always try to persuade you to opt for Airtours. So can you really trust them to find what's best for you ..?
Not so with Teletext holiday pages. Here, you can browse in the comfort of your own living room, pen and phone at the ready, confident in the knowledge that these guys are really in competition with each other. They have learned over the years that advertising a holiday just a few pounds more expensive than their competitors means the difference between the phone ringing or not ringing. If people are sitting in a travel agency, more often than not, they will feel obliged to book with the smiling clerk even if its not really what they want. Telephone contact is different. It doesn't take much to say "Thanks for your help .. byeee!" ... and so people will shop around for the best deal. They'll not feel obliged to sign on the dotted line. A nice voice on the end of a telephone is one thing but a cute, smiling travel consultant eager to place a pen and booking form in your hand is quite another.
All this is fantastic news for holidaymakers. Polite staff who will do their best to find what YOU want, not what lines their pockets. They know that you could cut them off at any minute and they don't want to lose a sale. Terrific prices 'cause these guys work to tight profit margins .. you're only going to press "hold" on your TV remote if the price is less than everyone else. They know that so they'll be ultra competitive.
The only down side is when companies don't update their pages regularly. There's nothing worse than seeing your ideal holiday advertised only to discover that the price has changed or its no longer avaiable on the date you require. Give them the benefit of the doubt though, it has to be remembered that ten seats avaiable at 10am could easily disappear by 10.05am. It doesn't mean they never existed ..!
Most of my friends only ever buy holidays from companies advertising on Teletext for the reasons I've outlined above. The days of impartial advice from your "expert" High Street travel agent are over. You have to do the homework yourself these days .. Know where you want to go and book with one of the excellent companies who do their business via the TV remote control for speedy, reliable, helpful advice and the best prices around .. you'll not regret it :-)
More details
Content Update
Often
Quality of the Content
Excellent
Security & Privacy Statement
Excellent
Purchase Tracking Function
Good
Speed of Delivery
Fast
Ability to Customise
None
Customer Services Support
Good
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