BBM Blog

DO YOU KNOW YOUR HOLIDAY COMPANY

3 Mar 2008

I had a call yesterday from a guy called Lee. He was in a bit of a panic about his holiday in 6 days times. A last minute deal for a diving holiday to Egypt had caught his eye and he’d paid around £900. Unfortunately, his tickets still hadn’t arrived and naturally he was getting concerned. I wasn’t in much of a position to help as Lee hadn’t booked his holiday with us. What I advised him to do was to contact the airline direct to see if he was booked on the flight and then go from there. I did feel very sorry for him as we all look forward to our holidays and it isn’t pleasant when things go to plan.

I’ve been thinking about this conversation Lee and I had and I was wondering just how much he knew about the holiday company he was dealing with before he parted with his money. In holiday terms, £900 isn’t a massive amount of money but even so, £900 is still a lot of money in real terms. Apparently, the deal had been on teletext (I won’t name the holiday company) so he’d called and booked up. When I spoke to him, he hadn’t been able to contact anyone on the numbers. The reason he’d called me was that our company name is similar to one the tour operator but that was our only connection with the booking.

After I’d confirmed with our admin department that Lee wasn’t our customer, I called him back to inform him and advise him on what I would do in his situation and wished him good luck.

The chances are that it’ just an administrative mix-up and everything will be fine but it does highlight that problems may occur when booking through agents or tour operators you know nothing about. Even if everything turns out OK, Lee has experienced a great deal of stress and more stress is something we can all do without.

At Explorer Travel, we have procedures in place which we follow in order to reduce the risk of fraud from customers but when we are customers, do we really take the same care when buying things over the phone or on the internet? Scams happen everywhere and sadly although it is rare, it can also happen with travel. An extreme example of this was reported only last week, when gang who had been committing fraud for around 10 years were finally brought to justice after defrauding thousands of customers. The guilty men had set up a number of travel companies which had cost holiday makers around £6m.

The last thing I want to do is put people off buying holidays on the internet or by phone but as with buying any product or service you should always find out as much about who you are dealing with as possible. In the UK, there are a number of associations that travel agents and tour operators can belong to. Depending on the association involved, there is normally a high level of criteria that must be satisfied before a company can be part of the association.

In the UK, 2 of the main associations are ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) and ATOL (Air Travel Organisers Licence). There is a difference between the two associations and depending on the type of business, they may be a member of one or even both of them. There is a strict code of conduct which covers all areas of the business including checks on member’s finances to help reduce the risk of things going wrong and a formal complaints procedure which members must adhere to. Generally, if you are booking with a company who are a member of ATOL and/or ABTA, you can be reasonably sure they are reputable people.

WHY BECOME A PADI DIVEMASTER?

16 Feb 2008

A few years ago, I made the decision that I wanted to become a Diving Instructor. However, as with all our lives, things change and I’m not 100% sure that is what I want to do. Currently, I’m a Divemaster so I’m nearly there. Regardless of whether or not I eventually become an instructor, becoming a Divemaster has given me a new appreciation and understanding of scuba diving that I otherwise may not have gained.

Many people are happy enough just to take their Open Water or Advanced Open Water and leave it at that. However, in the same way as when you get your driving licence, it is only then you really start to learn.

Becoming a Divemaster has given me more experience and a better understanding of all aspects of diving (physics, physiology, skills equipment and theory). I took the course as a stepping stone to becoming an instructor but it was also a challenge to myself and my diving ability. During my Rescue Diver course, I had been laid back or even arrogant with my attitude to the theory test. I eventually only passed it with the minimum score and this made me realise that I didn’t really know as much as I thought about diving and I was determined not to make the same mistake again with the Divemaster course.

An understanding of Physics is an important aspect for passing the theory side of the Divemaster course. I hadn’t studied the subject since I was about 13 so I knew I was going to have to work at it. I buried myself in the books until I understood the theory. My aim was to pass each of the exams with 100% of the answers correct. I didn’t get 100% but I did pass all of the subjects comfortably.

The next thing was my skills needed to improve to demonstration level. Of course I could do things like clear my mask but now I had to enhance the skill in such a way so that I could demonstrate it to a student. Again, it was a matter of working at all the skills to achieve it. How many people actual practise their skills once they have passed the course?  I certainly didn’t and it took quite a bit of work to get some of them up to standard.

I chose to complete my bookwork and skills in the UK before heading over to Perth in Western Australia to complete my course. Over there is where I would see the real side of being a DM, working with students who were taking courses of their own as well as other tasks such as mapping a dive site. Working with students was a side of the course I really enjoyed. I got a lot of satisfaction in helping people and it also taught me a great deal of things which I would never have learned on regular day diving trips.

I also found that my attitude to diving has improved. I’m far more safety conscious. That’s not to say I was deliberately reckless prior to the course, its just that you view things in a different way. Modern life tends to make you impatient with people who you think aren’t doing things properly but you can’t do that in diving. Rushing someone can create a more stressful environment and lead to a more serious situation developing and that is not a good situation for anyone.

The rewards of being a DM are plentiful. You do get a real buzz out of being able to help a new diver who is struggling to do or understand something. Taking the DM course is not about getting free dives or being a dogsbody at a dive centre. The course is for you to develop yourself into a professional and your attitude towards your development is vital.

For more information about becoming a PADI Divemaster, you can contact me via our Red Sea website www.redsea.explorertravel.co.uk and I’ll be happy to discuss your options with you.

STANDARD OR DYNAMIC PACKAGE
8 Feb 2008

With the school holidays fast approaching, many families will making preparations to escape to the sun. Some will have booked up nearly a year ago whilst others will be hoping for a last minute deal.

Due to a number of things, we’ve gone for the last minute deal. Now as a travel agent, I do try to be methodical when I book my own travel. I know the destination so that’s one of the main decisions taken care of so now I have two options. I can look for a package deal or I can dynamically package something myself.

This term ‘dynamic package’ is possibly something that many people haven’t heard of before but its quite import that you understand the difference between a standard package and dynamic package.

Typically, a holiday will consist of your flights, hotel and transfers between the destination airport and hotel. Obviously, not every holiday is like this but I’ll use this as a general example.

A standard package holiday would be when all elements of your holiday (in our example; flight, transfers and hotel) are booked by a single tour operator. However, due to increasing competition, dynamic packages are becoming more common. A dynamic package is where the elements of your holiday are booked using different suppliers.

With a standard package, you have more protection for any problems. For example, if your flight is late, there should not be a problem with the transfer or hotel as the tour operator are dealing with everything.

However, problems could occur with a dynamic package. For example, your flight with ABC airlines is due to land at 15:00 and your transfers booked with A1 Limos will be there to meet you from 15:30. They are due to take you to hotel for a 7 night stay.

So what happens if your flight gets a 12 hour delay – unlikely but it does happen. Who is going to tell the guy at A1 Limos that ABC airlines isn’t arriving at 15:00 as planned? He turns up as per your instruction and you are a ‘no show’. When you do eventually arrive at 03:00 the following morning who is there to meet you? Eventually you manage to get a taxi who charges you £100 to get to your hotel but your problems don’t stop there. The small print in the hotel booking says if you don’t arrive by 20:00, they room will be released as its their busy season so now you have no room either.

Now of course, this is an extreme example of what could happen. I’ve booked plenty of dynamic packages and what usually happens is that A1 Limos know your flight numbers so they can see if your flight will be late. Equally, your hotel will have this information so they will know that you are on your way albeit a bit later than planned.

So what is the advantage of a dynamic package? Well, it means you can shop around for the different elements of your holiday and we all like to save a bit of money on our travels. Primarily, people build dynamic packages themselves but travel agents also do this and if you book via a travel agent, it is important that you know whether you have a standard or dynamic package.

At Explorer Travel, we make it very clear on the documentation we send clients that they know not only if they have a standard or dynamic package but we also state the suppliers.

So getting back to my trip next month, I’ll be booking a dynamic package – flights direct with the airline, hotel with an accommodation website, my scuba diving direct with the dive centre. We’ll also pick a taxi up at the airport and any excursions will be booked locally.

I’ll the "Follow In Our Footsteps" section when I get back.

FIRST TRIP OF THE YEAR

25 Jan 2008

My sister gave me an interesting Christmas present this year. It was a years family membership for the National Trust. For those who don't know, this is an organisation who look after many of the historic buildings in Britain. Its very true that you rarely travel and explore the place where you live so this will give us a great excuse to find out more about this history of Britain.

During World War I, the Western Front saw some of the worst fighting the British army have ever been involved in. At Passchendaele for example, both sides were suffering 5,000 casualties every day. Of the many military cemeteries in the area, the largest is Tynecot where 11,908 men are buried. In the Belgium town of Ypres (now spelt Ieper), the last post is played at the Menin Gate every night at 8pm. This has taken place every night since 2 July 1928 with the exception of the German occupation during World War II. The ceremony was resumed the same night the area of the town as liberated by Polish forces even though heavy fighting was still taking place in other parts of the town.

There is so much to see along the Western Front in terms of history and its impossible to see it all at once. An excellent series of Battlefield guide books by Major and Mrs Holt claim that you could spend 3 months touring the around around Ypres alone.

For our trip, we are planning 2 days of touring before heading on to Paris. On Day 1 we hope to visit the following places:

• The V2 complex at Eperlecques

• Memorials at the SS massacre at Wormhoudt

• Branhoek Cemetery where Noel Chavasse is buried. He is one of just 3 men to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice

• Tynecot Military cemetery

• Sanctuary Wood museum

• Hooge Crater

• Cloth Hall in Ieper (Ypres)

• Last post at the Menin Gate

Day 2 will see us head south towards the Somme where we hope to visit the following places:

• Lochnagar Crater

• Grave of Lt Donald Simpson, the only professional footballer to be awarded the Victoria Cross

• Hawthorn Crater

• Thiepval Visitor Centre

• Newfoundland Park Memorial Visitors Centre

• Ulster Tower

• Delville Wood

• South African Memorial

• Site where the Red Baron was shot down

• Site of the world's first tank battle

• The Red Baron's original burial site

Although we plan to see quite a bit in such a short time, we are barely scratching the surface in terms of places to visit.

For more information about our organised Battlefield tours, please visit our website: www.battlefieldexplorer.com

If you would like to buy any books about the Western Front battlefields, why not browse our recommendations at our online store:

Battlefield Explorer Book Recommendations

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