Booking our holidays is very easy! You have the choice of three methods:
1. See your local travel agent
Most clients choose to book their holidays through their local travel agent. We appoint only selected agencies, so if you prefer to book through a travel agent rather than direct with us, you can be sure you are receiving the best possible advice. To find the nearest travel agent to your home, click here to see our list of agents.
2. Telephone our national call centre
Call us on (08451) 305666 (local call rate) and our helpful and friendly call centre staff will be delighted assist (calls are charged at standard national call rates). Our offices are open:
Monday-Friday 9.00am-5.30pm
Saturday 9.00am-5.00pm
Sunday 10.00am-4.00pm
3. Book right here on the web
Ours is one of the first truly live reservations systems on the web. This means that the availability you see is exactly what we have - the web computer talks to our main reservations system as you click your way through the booking process ensuring you have the most up to date and accurate information to complete your booking.
How to Book on the Web
It is really very simple and quick to use our system. All that you need to complete your booking is a credit card. However, it is very helpful if you have a printer attached to your computer. Although it is not necessary to print out the confirmation page (since we send you the same information through the post), it is really very satisfying to complete your booking session by printing out a Confirmation on your own printer!
STEPS IN THE BOOKING PROCESS
Choosing Your Pick Up Area
Although you can do a search without selecting a pick up area, it is generally a good idea to narrow your search down to the holidays which start from your local area. (Group organisers looking for space may want to look at other areas since we can normally re-allocate allocations and coaches from one area to another in order to accommodate groups.)
We operate from four different areas of the UK:
1. North West. Our largest operating area is the North West of England which includes West and South Yorkshire and North Wales.
2. North East. Historically this was our second area and covers Tyneside, Tees-side, Wearside and parts of North Yorkshire.
3. Midlands. Our newest area covers the Potteries, East and West Midlands, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
4. South East. Our most rapidly growing area covers Greater London, Kent, East and West Sussex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and parts of Wiltshire and Dorset.
In all areas, the majority of our holidays are operated using a "hub and spoke" or "feeder system". You join a feeder coach in your local town and are then conveyed to a central interchange point where you change to the coach which takes you to your chosen destination. A similar procedure applies on the return journey. This method makes for quicker journeys overall and provides a much wider range of holidays than a "direct joining" holiday, although it does mean that you have to change coaches once in each direction.
Further details of the joining arrangements are given in separate sections covering the different catchment areas.
Departure Date
Enter the departure date using the scroll down boxes. If you do not know the exact departure date, enter a date as close as possible to your intended date of travel. If the computer does not have any availability for the exact date you enter, it will scan for availability either side and offer a wide range of alternatives.
Option 1 -versus- Option 2
The two methods have different uses. If you know exactly which tour you want, it is much quicker if you use Option 1 since the computer does not have to scan the many alternatives available. However, if you are just vaguely thinking about a holiday in a particular area then use Option 2. This is also useful if you are close to the departure date, since it is more likely that the holiday you want will be full and so Option 2 will give you more alternatives. In general, we recommend the use of Option 1 - you can always re-select on the next screen if the exact tour you want is not available.
Current Selection Screen
The Current Selection screen shows you what we have available based upon the choices which you entered. If you gave a fully detailed selection and all your requirements are met, you see just the tour you have requested. If you did not specify every detail or your exact requirements have not been met, you will see a selection of tours. If there are more than ten tours which meet your criteria, you will see a "More" symbol at the bottom of the page. You can examine those options and then return to this first page of selections if you wish. To select a tour and continue with the booking process, simply click the "Select" button on the line which is of interest.
Choosing a Room
Enter the number of rooms of a particular type you would like, then click on the pull down list for available Pick Up Points which are listed in alphabetical order. Choose the point you require and click "Continue". (NB If you want some people to join in one location and others to join elsewhere, you can indicate this on a later screen. Just choose the point for the first client at this stage.) Please note that all rooms have a minimum occupancy associated with them and the occupancy rules are displayed on this screen. Some hotels allow a limited number of doubles to be sold for single occupancy in which case you will see a minimum of 1 in the "Minimum Adults" column. (NB Doubles sold for single occupancy are generally the same as other doubles; this is just a way of limiting the number of such doubles which can be sold.)
Adults, Children and Special Requests
Enter the number of adults and children in each room. Also enter any special requests using the pull down menu. Please note that only the simplest of requests is included in the scroll down list. This is quite deliberate because if you have more detailed special requests, we would prefer you to write or e-mail our Customer Relations Department and explain your needs to her. Please send an e-mail to: [email protected].
Please note that we guarantee to pass this information on to the hotel, but we can never guarantee that any special request will be met. In particular, there are almost always more requests for low floor rooms than there are such rooms available. We ask hotels to ensure that such requests are granted so far as possible in accordance with the date of booking, with those booking early being given highest priority.
If you need a special diet, please ensure that you tick this item and forward a diet sheet direct to the hotel at least one week prior to your arrival. If you are mobility impaired, you must tick this item and also write or e-mail our Customer Services Department outlining your needs so that we can check with the hotel that a suitable room will be available.
Seating Plans and Party Names
To choose seats, simply click on the seats you would like based upon the pictorial representation of the coach. If you want to check which seat numbers these are (perhaps you want to be near people who have already booked and whose seat numbers you already know) there is a pull down numbered seating plan available.
Then enter the party names. Ensure that if you have previously selected a discounted client (child or infant) you enter their age here. Otherwise you can leave the age box blank. If members of your party want to join at different places, this screen is where you tell us their chosen points (the boxes are pre-filled using the pick up point you selected earlier but you can change any one of them using the pull down tabs.)
The insurance boxes are pre-filled for you to take our insurance. You can de-select these if you wish, but please remember you will have to send us an e-mail with details of the alternative insurer if you choose not to take the cover we offer.
Confirm Booking
This is it! When you click on the "I have read the Terms and Conditions and now wish to book" box, your holiday will be instantly confirmed and you will complete a valid legal contract with us. The two screens which follow are to enable you to effect payment using your credit card and to provide a final summary of your booking, which you can use as a Travel Ticket (although do look out for postal communications from us advising you of any last minute time changes). However, it is clicking on this screen which concludes a valid legal contract between us. If you want to review the details of the holiday, use the "Info" button at the top of the page to see a brief summary of the holiday details. If you have a printer connected to your computer, we suggest you print out both the Information page and the next Confirmation page and keep these handy. Between them, they cover most of the essential details of your holiday. (You may also want to print out the Insurance and Terms and Conditions pages.)
