With the sad demise of Globespan in the headlines, we wish to clarify the status of bookings made with Palmer and Parker Villa Holidays.
In some holiday protection schemes passengers are not protected against financial failure of their tour operator if they have not bought a whole package. What that means in practice is that if you have bought a single item (eg flights or accommodation) from a supplier, but not a package holiday, then you are often not covered against your tour operator going out of business.
Palmer & Parker is a fully-bonded member of ABTA and bonded for all activities: that means you are covered against our financial failure by our ABTA bonding regardless of whether you buy a whole package holiday from us or just a single item, such as accommodation.
Of course this is all theoretical: we have been in business since 1971 and are not finding trading as difficult as others in the travel industry.
2009 was a surprising year. At the beginning of the season nobody knew what to expect. It shaped up all right, but the established way of dealing and old habits changed. Here are the lessons to be learnt for 2010, for owners and for holidaymakers.
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What changes during a recession in the holiday market? In previous recessions people gave up their holiday as an unaffordable luxury. This time round people see things differently: of course, a six week cruise in the Seychelles might downsize to a week or two in France, but this time round the holiday is indispensible. (Also see this). But the inexorable collapse of Sterling against the Euro makes things a bit more uncertain for UK holiday makers with many preferring to wait and see what happens to exchange rates: after all, what’s the point in going to the Eurozone for a holiday if you can’t afford dinner? Some tips on how to turn the economic uncertainty to your advantage. (more…)
I catch a lot of no frills flights and it would be good if our suffering passengers got their heads together to praise and scorn as appropriate. Firstly the big beasts Easyjet and Ryanair need separating, and that is simple. Their websites are
equally friendly, (unlike their staff) but not as good as BA.
Thereafter the differences are sharp. Somehow Ryanair has gathered up ground staff and cabin staff who are especially and uniquely illiterate. The Ryanair airport announcements are a polyglot gabble in bossy tones and incomprensible. Easyjet learnt from GO! (whom they bought from BA) to speak slowly – and how to deal with grumbling passengers. Ryanair allegedly charge cabin staff for their jobs by way of making them pay for ‘training’ – rather in the style of doorman at Claridges – and the staff allegedly resent that. And it shows.
So you can choose between the noisy lot and the quiet lot. Both will offer amazing deals – and half the deals are deceptions. But both say it is cheaper if you book early – and both mean it. And keep to it
The smaller no frills are hugely nicer – they are mostly spin offs from established airlines (example German Wings from KLM) and know what they are doing. Any new ones, which are starting from scratch, are best left alone.
