Tour Operators or Direct Booking

[Andrew]

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 18 November 2002

I would like to arrange a week at the Coco Reef fairly soon - it sounds wonderful - and wondered if you had any opinions on how best to book it. Are any particular tour operators good and/or competitively priced, or is is better to book flights, and a room directly with the hotel? When I have been to other parts of the Caribbean I have typically booked it through BA, Kuoni etc. Thanks in anticipation.

[Steve Wooler]

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 18 November 2002

Hi Andrew

This is a very difficult question to answer. I guess it all depends upon how much effort you want to put into it. You can often get a better deal by booking direct, but I think it does vary tremendously. I regularly find that people who go on about the great savings they have made by booking direct have invariably stayed at hotels, and at times, that were not their first ideal choice, all in the goal of getting “the best deal”.

Booking with a major tour operator does have the advantage (?) of a local representative to meet you at the airport, liaise with the hotel and provide local tours, etc., - just one person to blame when things go wrong and someone to call on for local help in times of trouble. However, you can arrange all of this through a local Destination Management Service (DMS) company (one Tobago firm regularly answers reader’s question in this forum, giving me the feeling that they truly interested in visitor’s questions – so would definitely be my first choice).

I think the best advice – if you’ve got the time – is to get quotes for the flights and from the hotel and then compare with prices quoted by the tour operators. The first time I stayed at the Coco Reef, my regular travel agent booked me through tour operator Tropical Locations. We were there during the ‘troubles’ of 2000 when there was a lot of storm-damage repair going on. Although not formally complaining, I mentioned the problems when my travel agent asked for our impressions on return. Unbeknown to me, the Travel Agent, Four Seasons Travel took the matter up with Tropical Locations, who carried out an investigation and subsequently refunded 50% of our cost. I would have been more than impressed if this had been the outcome after making a fuss – to receive it when I didn’t says an awful lot to me about both Four Seasons Travel and Tropical Locations – hence my blatant plug here. Mind you, Tropical Location don’t have their own representative on the island and use a local DMS firm, Tobago Travel – the less said about them the better. They failed to meet us at the airport or at the hotel and were rather scruffy and unhelpful when we did eventually make contact, so gave me no confidence that I had reliable or useful local representation – surely one of the major ‘features’ of using a tour operator.

Whichever way you decide to book, I am totally confident that you will have an amazing time and return for a longer trip next time. Please let us know how you get on – particularly if you decide to compare prices booking direct compared to tour operators.