Not really worth the premium against self-organised

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Thomas Cook
★★☆☆☆
1.6
18.0% of users recommend this

Jewelx1984's review of Thomas Cook

“Not really worth the premium against self-organised”

★★★☆☆

written by Jewelx1984 on 06/10/2016

For a Luxury Canada Touring Holiday:

Pluses - Flight costs and car hire are cheaper than you're likely to get, unless you can book a long way in advance. Their choice of hotels is sound. They do a lot of emailing and calling to their internal people and sub-agents abroad to clarify queries and get advice. If you're working then they can do this while you're busy.

Minuses - They don't actually know much/anything about the locations they're booking (you're at the mercy of their local agents). Their itineraries aren't (itineraries) they're separate lists of bookings for car hire, accomodation, trans, ferries etc. so you have to cross-reference and double-check everything yourself (e.g. they had us picking up our hire car the day after we needed to).

Specific issues: Seem unaware of distances, so on a touring holiday, they'll happily suggest you move on somewhere that's only 60-90 minutes away (effectively wasting a day). Conversely, they'll suggest a move that means you'll be challenged to get your en route sightseeing in. Completely inadequate vouchers provided for things like trains and ferries, often with incorrect details. Some excursions/trips had woefully little information about pickup times/arrangements. The itinerary is poor compared to competitors: you don't get what you need for day-to-day logistics.

On balance, I'd organise it myself next time.

Advice - Check things like distances. Register for any hotel chain loyalty schemes (we got upgraded twice because I - not TC - did this). Check the so-called 'itinerary' and supporting vouchers (are they adequate for you to handle things by yourself on the day?).

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