1. Always seek help, or complain, to the Tour Operator's representative as a first resort. They are there to help you.
2. Ask for a Customer Complaint form, fill it out fully and keep a copy for yourself.
3. If you can't get a form, for whatever reason, make-up one of your own and get a witness to sign it, along with their contact details.
4. If you accept payments, compensation on the spot, or sign anything, this will affect your rights if you are still unsatisfied.
5. Take photographic or video evidence of your grievance and get the names, addresses and telephone numbers of other unhappy holidaymakers. There will be strength in numbers if it is necessary to take your complaint further when returning home.
6. When you return home you must complain within 28 days, in writing, to the Tour Operator. It may also help to visit your Travel Agent and explain your complaint, asking for his support/help.
7. If the Tour Operator is a member of ABTA, there is a strict code of conduct for dealing with complaints that they must abide by. Ask your agent for a copy.
8. If the Tour Operator fails to meet the ABTA code of conduct then you can write and complain directly to ABTA and they are forced to follow up the complaint.
9. Never accept money or a cheque unless you are fully satisfied with the outcome.
10. Visit Holiday Travel Watch for more detailed information and advice on your rights.
    

Good luck!

So, you've followed our earlier advice and are ready to go! But there are still some pitfalls to avoid if you are going to enjoy your holiday fully.

While travelling
Remember that travelling is very tiring, especially by air. Drink plenty of fluids but avoid alcohol as this causes dehydration and increases the effects of jet lag. If the flight is long haul, get up and walk around every couple of hours to aid blood circulation.

How many times have you gone away and forgotten to pack something?  To help you pack, here's our checklist of items that you just shouldn't leave without.

• Tickets/Booking Confirmations  
• Euro Health Ins Card
• Passports  
• iPod/MP3/CD player 
• Insurance  
• Batteries 
• Foreign Currency  
• Books/Magazines 
• First Aid Kit  
• Swimwear 
• Medicines  
• Clothes! 
• Toiletries (inc Toothbrush)  
• Shoes/Sandals 
• Sun-tan/After-sun lotion  
• Sun hat 
• Power adaptor  
• Hairbrush & Nailclippers 
• Travel hairdryer/iron  
• Address book & Pen 
• Camera/Video  
• Spare bags for return trip

It's not meant to be comprehensive, but we hope it helps!

A few simple preparations can smooth your way to a happy holiday. Here are our common-sense tips to keep you on the right track.

• Fit window locks and an alarm to make it more difficult for the opportunist burglar to break in.
• Ask a neighbour to look after your house - why not get them to open and close your curtains and keep your letterbox clear?
• Go out and buy some power timers and connect lamps and a radio to come on at different times.
• Buy a security marker pen and write you postcode on all appliances and valuable items.
• Take photographs of valuable jewellery, ornaments or personal posessions.
• Notify your Dairy to cancel your milk deliveries and your newsagent to cancel your newspapers, well in advance.

You can also get the Royal Mail to hold your post safely while you are away (for up to 2 months), through their "Keepsafe" service - contact your local post office for more information.

This month's disaster in the Travel industry, involving the volcanic ash from Iceland, has probably provided the biggest wake-up call to holiday-makers about the importance of "protection" when booking a holiday.

Changes in the way we book
Over the last 3-4 years, there has been a huge trend toward people booking their own holiday flights, accommodation, airport transfers and insurance (see "How the web has transformed travel"); effectively building their own holiday 'package'.  In the industry, this is called "dynamic packaging".

We are a nation of shoppers and love to think we can get a better deal if we 'd-i-y'.  What most shoppers are probably completely unaware of, is the lack of protection that this affords them in the event of things going wrong, compared to buying a tour operator package holiday.

Who's responsible?
The basic rule of thumb is simple - if YOU arrange and buy your holiday components separately, then it is YOU who has to deal with any problems that you may encounter in the course of your holiday.  This can include cancelled flights (argue with the airline); a failed airline (remember the Excel episode last year); problems with the hotel room and facilities (argue with the hotel owner); illnesses (sort yourself out and argue with your insurer), etc.  Remember, you have no 'holiday rep' to turn to.

Alternatively, if you buy a package holiday from a UK Tour Operator, THEY are responsible for solving any problems; they will sort out replacement flights; they will argue with the hotel owner about your complaints; their representative is always available for advice and assistance for any problem.  Of course you may be paying a little more for this comfort.

What about regulations?
With "dynamic packages", it is true that your flights are covered against airline business failure (ATOL licence scheme), plus there are some regulations protecting your entitlements with airlines, but do you know what these are?  However, it is almost certain that the other components of your dynamic package will NOT be covered, unless you have specific insurance for this.  

The fact is, that the industry and its regulations are very complex, to the point that they are not always fully understood by people within the industry, so what chance do you have?  Add to that the variation in Travel Insurance company terms and conditions - what you might be covered for and what you are not - and it becomes a minefield for a consumer.

So which is best?
Now, I'm not advocating one method of booking your holiday over another.  It is possible to get a great deal by buying flights, hotels and other items separately, but you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences if they occur.  It is also possible that, with a traditional Tour Operator package, due to their bulk buying, along with the fact that sometimes the Tour Operator owns the aircraft, the final price of a traditional package holiday is actually cheaper, but it will be less flexible than your d-i-y version.

There was a time when you would trust the Agent or Tour Operator to help you make the right choices and decisions, now it seems we are all prepared to spend hours online to find advice and bargains for ourselves.

We hope that AwayWorldwide.com goes some way to helping!

Booking Holidays has changed enormously over the last 10 years (see "How the Web has transformed Travel").  As a Consumer, I doubt that you are aware of just how polarised the The UK Travel Industry is, or how it affects you.  For instance, did you know that just two companies are responsible for nearly 80% of holidays booked in the UK (Thomas Cook and TUI)?

Between them, these two companies have swallowed up most of their medium-sized competitors over the years, leaving the remaining 2000 or so other Tour Operators fighting for the remaining 20% of the UK market.

Both these big companies own a series of Brands, many of which you may recognise but considered separate businesses; in fact they are part of the bigger brand.  To clarify this for you, here is a list from both these companies, showing just how many brands they control (in the UK alone) -

Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook Holidays
Airtours
Cresta
Direct Holidays
Manos
Neilson
Panorama
Style Holidays
Sunset
Sunworld (Ireland)
Swiss Travel Service
Thomas Cook Signature
Thomas Cook Tours
Thomas Cook Flights
Hotels4U (Bedbank)

TUI
Thomson Holidays
First Choice Holidays
Hayes & Jarvis
Crystal Holidays
Hotelopia (Bedbank)
Hotelbeds (Bedbank)
Laterooms.com (Bedbank)
TuiFly
Citalia
Austravel
Exodus
FlexiSki
Gullivers Sports Travel
Club Vass Active Holidays
Pinnacle Tours
Edwin Doran

In addition to this, these companies also often operate Web sites that are branded with different names, capturing more of the online marketplace in the process - eg. Flexibletrips.com is owned by Thomas Cook, whist Holidays-Uncovered.co.uk (once an independent review site) is now owned by TUI.

Of course, nothing is wrong with big companies offering such a high proportion of the product in the marketplace.  The same applies in retail, with Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda etc.   Ironically, however, the bigger travel companies performed badly for "customer satisfaction" recently - read at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240684/ .

Due to the budgets and resources that these big companies have to entice us to buy from them, often the smaller and more specialist companies are never visible and struggle to survive.  Usually these companies provide an excellent quality of product and very personal level of service, at competitive prices.  They are generally specialists in their chosen Destination or the type of holiday they sell  (eg. escorted tours, activity), so offer a wealth of guidance and information.  With over 2000 to choose from, the opportunity to try something different is enormous.

AwayWorldwide.com aims to provide you with information on as many different suppliers and options as we can.  We believe in providing a "level playing field" for all suppliers, with our "Travel Directory" listing as many companies as we have time to enter.  In time this will be the best starting point for your next holiday search.

The Travel Industry is probably one of the most complex and incestuous businesses you will ever come across, and yet the Customer knows so little about how it all works.

Package Holidays ruled!
Up until the last 10-15 years, most holidaymakers were used to buying a 'package' holiday.  Often they assumed it was all just one company who owned/supplied all the component parts.  In some cases this was true, with some Operators running their own airlines (eg. Thomas Cook) and exclusively contracting hotels, whilst others actually bought seats from various airlines and operated non-exclusive contracts with hotels and other suppliers, to make up your 'package' holiday.  Most of this stock was pre-bought and success or failure as a business was determined by whether you could sell the stock you had reserved.

Bring on the Web!
With the birth and explosion of the Web over the last 10 years, however, nothing is so simple any more.  Web Technology enabled Airlines to put their seats online directly to the public for the first time.  This quickly resulted in huge competition between companies such as Ryanair, Easyjet, BMIBaby etc.  Once customers could buy flights directly, they just needed access to hotel rooms, thus giving birth to another set of suppliers, aggregating Hotel Room availability (bedbanks) directly to the public.  Both of these were quickly followed with other products, such as Car Hire, Airport Transfers, Airport Parking, Travel Insurance etc., which traditionally used to be part of the 'Package Holiday'.

Suddenly, the big 'Package Holiday' Tour Operators were faced with unprecedented competition from new companies.  Whilst they were pre-buying airline seats and hotel space, all these new companies were just able to book and pay for stock as they needed it.  There was no point in fighting the change, so now nearly all the Travel Operators work on the basis of providing real-time stock allocation and only buying/confirming it when you book.  They also decided to acquire competitors and other successful companies (see "Who are you really buying your holiday from?").

The new marketplace
What this has created is a big marketplace of competing suppliers - Airlines, Bedbanks, Car Hire, Transfers, Parking, Insurance, Excursions, Attractions etc.  Many, if not all of these sell to the trade (Tour Operators and Agents), as well as directly to the public.  Also in many cases, you holiday is now made up 'on-the-fly', mixing flights with hotel beds, with transfers etc.  This is called "Dynamic Packaging" and, whilst more efficient for the industry, can leave the consumer at risk (see "Are you protected"), as these types of holidays are often not protected under government legislation covering "package" holidays.

Dynamic Packaging
With the components of Travel being so readily available, the Consumer now has the ability to make up their own package holiday, with the inherent risk that involves.  This is known in the trade as "dynamic packaging".  Probably the biggest boom online, however, has come from the many new companies now acting as 'agents' or 'retailers' of these travel components, under their own brand, directly to the consumer - examples are LastMinute.com and Expedia.com.   Unlike the 'old' Tour Companies, these 'upstarts' grasped the new technology and now drive their business through very focussed marketing campaigns.

How will you buy your holiday?
As a Consumer, you now have much more access, choice and flexibility in the holidays you can buy.  What you have to decide as a consumer, is how you want to buy your holiday -

1. By spending time online, researching, comparing, and shopping around for the best components to make up your own holiday, taking the risks if things go wrong, but getting exactly what you want
2. By buying form a company like LastMinute or Expedia who do the compilation for you, or
3. By buying a "Package" holiday from a traditional Tour Operator or High Street Agent, with the protection and support that provides

Although we all like to spend time surfing the web, and we are a nation of shopaholics looking for the best deal, I guess that all three methods will still survive into the future.  

AwayWorldwide.com is here to try to put all the suppliers, information and experiences in a single place, to make your choice a little easier.  Enjoy!

Up until the last decade, finding and booking holidays, or any travel abroad, usually meant visiting the High Street Travel Agent.  Using their experience, they would assess your needs, guide you through the various options, help you avoid the pitfalls, keep an eye on your budget, remind you to insure against the worst, and eventually find you a suitable 'package' in the sun.  You were comforted by their advice, your holiday was protected, and the experience was mostly painless.

A changing industry
In the last 10 years, how we book holidays and travel has changed beyond recognition (see "How the web has transformed travel").  The explosion of the Internet, containing thousands of web sites offering Travel, not just from the original Tour Operators, but from new "low cost" airlines, online "bedbanks", attractions, excursions, car hire, travel insurance, etc. has given us too much choice!   Add to this the volumes of 'helpful' travel advice from hundreds of other web sites, and it is difficult to know where to start.

More "lookers" than "bookers"
As an illustration of this, Google's own research has shown that the average online holidaymaker has visited 22 different web sites over a period of 29 days, and performed 12 searches on each, before finally making a booking.  More time looking than spent on holiday!  In fact, the average travel web site has a "conversion ratio" of between 0.3% and 0.5% - that's 200 to 300 visitors to every booking.

Danger!
One other point to bear in mind; because the Web now offers so much choice, there are some serious dangers that now exist when researching and buying online.  Do you really know who you are buying from?  Is your money safe?  Are you protected against airline failure?  What if you have problems whilst you are on holiday ... who will help you?   The Web has created huge choice, but the fragmentation of the industry has also left the consumer exposed.  More on this in another blog, coming soon.

The new "Travel Collective"
So, back to our question, where to start?  In our view, there is nothing more valuable than the advice and views from someone who has "been there, done that".  A collection of travellers, sharing their experiences, coupled with access to helpful resources, such as our Travel Directory.  All in one place on the Web.  Welcome to AwayWorldwide.com !  

We want to bring all your experiences together, to help one another make more informed decisions about your next holiday.  Let's face it, your holiday is probably the biggest annual purchase you will make (outside of your mortgage), so it's important to get it right.  Please join in and help us, and yourselves.