Trailfinders has been my travel agent of choice for several years now. They have around 15 branches across the UK including one in Glasgow, although all of my bookings have been done via the telephone.
I had a friend who worked for Trailfinders in London and I think it was a good ten or ... Read review
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A review by helencbradshaw on Trailfinders November 6th, 2005
Author's product rating:
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Tailored service, professional staff
Disadvantages:
none
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Trailfinders has been my travel agent of choice for several years now. They have around 15 branches across the UK including one in Glasgow, although all of my bookings have been done via the telephone.
I had a friend who worked for Trailfinders in London and I think it was a good ten or more years ago when I first learned about their specialism. While they offer a wide range of holidays to suit more independent travellers, they particularly appeal for their flexible approach and for tailor made trips, particularly Round the World (RTW) trips at bargain prices.
From their website www.trailfinders.com, you can find a map showing their branches within the UK and Ireland. Each branch has its own geographical number, so you know you are talking to someone relatively local, not a huge call centre, where you are just a number. That said, if you cannot get through right away, the office's auto-attendant will tell you your position in the queue, so at least you know you are not waiting for hours. Normally I would phone and find there would be perhaps 1-2 people in the queue before me, which seemed acceptable to wait (although travel calls can be a little long at times).
I have booked two long haul flights with Trail-finders, namely to Australia in 2003 and to Thailand in 2004. With the latter trip, I had tried my favourite airline, BA beforehand, (as I had enough airmiles to pay for the trip in theory). However BA's call centre staff could not locate Koh Samui on a map, and advised me to call back once I knew the airport's three letter code. I did obtain this, but it would have meant a disjointed leg of a three leg journey as they didn't have a partner airline.
By contrast, calling Trailfinders was a lot less painful. They had been able to get me a flight from GLW > LHR > BKK > USM for a total of £666 return, including an upgraded seat type for the LHR > BKK sectors. This compared favourably with BA, who were a similar price for economy seating. I had never flown with the airline in question and was suitably apprehensive, but the trailfinders member I spoke to was very reassuring about the airline (one of the largest airlines you have never heard of apparently!).
My other trip was to Australia, again GLW > LHR > SIN > BNE > SYD > SIN > LHR > GLW, booked last minute for a competitive price, and included an upgrade to World Traveller Plus on the London - Singapore leg.
As with booking any trip independently, there are a lot of pieces that you need to organise, and Trailfinders are able to hold seats on aircraft for you, and provide your reference number, while you sort out the rest of the trip.
Documentation is with you within a very short period of time, perhaps 48 hours or so. You can arrange your travel insurance through them also. They are reasonably competitive and the cover is comparable (although I really ought to take out another 12 month policy sometime soon). I think I paid around £50 for a trip to Australia lasting three weeks, which was a pound or two more expensive than other policies available at the time, but sometimes it is easier to have all your eggs in one basket.
Once you are travelling, you can easily view your trip on line from their website by following the "viewtrail" link. This is simple to access, with your surname and booking reference number. You can also use Viewtrail to see details BEFORE you go, such as immunisation information, and the outstanding balance on your trip.
My sister also used Trailfinders to book an extensive four month trip last year. She had contacted me by text to ask me to contact Trailfinders on her behalf as she was unable to phone or access email. She had given me a fax number instead of a phone number and was half way around the world at this time. I contacted a branch in London with her reference number, and they were immediately able to offer the right branch that could assist me with the changes to the route that she had asked me to do, and advised me that she could see the amendments as soon as she could find internet access once again.
However, if you want to escape the cattle class feel of the typical package holiday, but still want a little bit of comfort and security then Trailfinders have a range of "Perfectly Planned" holidays which might be of interest. Some of these trips make me want to jump back on a plane tomorrow and go around the world. Staying in top hotels in resorts such as Singapore, Cairns, Sydney, Uluru and LA on a RTW ticket are available from around £1200.
Of course once you do book with Trailfinders, you can opt to receive their brochure and from time to time this is one mailing that you won't mind receiving.
Trailfinders can handle all aspects of your tailor made holiday, including car hire, airport parking, hotel and stopovers, weddings - and even Polar cruises. The fact that they look for staff on the basis of their global travel experiences has certainly shown through on all the conversations I have had with them over the last few years
Recommended 5/5
www.trailfinders.com
Tel 0845 058 5858 or use website for your local branch
They are open seven days a week with opening hours from 10am until 6pm on Sundays.
They do not have an online booking service, as most trips are more complex and therefore need some degree of human interaction! However the website is very informative and up to date, and is guaranteed to whet your appetite.
Advantages: Wide choice, tailor made holidays, impartial advice Disadvantages: Debatable follow through service on itineraries...
...available brochures and settled on Trailfinders as the most informative and appealing to our requirements. We visited the Kensington branch to 'gen' up further and make some provisional enquiries. Our initial consultation was excellent, so much so that after an hour and a half, we had selected our dates, confirmed our hotel choices, flight selections, specified our preferences, paid the deposit and left very happy clients.
Unfortunately, things ... ...mistakes in it. I telephoned Trailfinders and they apologised profusely and said a revised itinerary would be sent out immediately.
Seven days later - nothing. I called again. They apologised profusely again and the next day I received an itinerary. I was all ready to accept it as a wee mistake and forget the matter. Tore open the envelope to discover that there were still 2 mistakes outstanding.
Suffice to say over the following 2 months, I ended ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: The outstanding service and competitive prices. Disadvantages: Only slight gripe is the price of travel insurance
...can do it justice.
Trailfinders are not as widespread as several of the bigger travel agents such as Thomas Cook and with travel centres only in London, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle. There is also one in Dublin and several in Australia. However, before those of you who don’t live near one of these travel centres, stop reading tickets or holidays can be just as easily booked over the phone. The ... ...flights or holiday bookings. Trailfinders surpasses all other travel agents in this field quite convincingly. Firstly as Trailfinders is totally independent all the advice given is impartial. The travel agents who work at Trailfinders have all had specialist training and most have had firsthand experience of where you’re about to head to. In my case the agent had been on a trip very similar to the one I am about to embark on and was incredibly ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: knowledgable and good first impressions,apologetic Disadvantages: poor customer service,some sloppy employees,unreliable,problems not solved very quickly or proffesionally
...to book a holiday through trailfinders about 2 months ago and just want to air my frustration with the appalling service i received.
Like other opinions on here,first impressions were excellent.The staff seemed professional and thorough.....at first!However thats where the praise ends!...
I originally paid a deposit for a holiday with them after lots of grief i received when trying to confirm accommodation through them for hotels in thailand.I ... ...least!)I thought well its not trailfinders fault the accommodation is not available,is it.Anyway the lady found some accommodation for the dates and i paid my deposit over the phone a few hours later as she had to check availability with another company.I had not received an invoice after about 2 weeks,yet my card had been charged,so i phoned the lady and asked for an invoice.She apologized but a week later nothing had still been received,yet she ...
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Advantages: Excellent flight service Disadvantages: Limited hotel choices, insurance expensive
...Boston from Manchester through the trailfinders Manchester office. The price they gave me was excellent, I tried internet agents and they couldn't match the price. They have all the major airlines details, we booked Aer Lingus. The hotels that they can book are somewhat limited though, with only a few to choose from in each city, we booked all ours through the internet, with much more choice, and at much cheaper rates.
We also booked car hire through ...
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Advantages: Great, friendly staff, good prices Disadvantages: cant book on line
I originally tried to book a flight through their web site but unfortunately that is not an option. So I phoned them up, they gave me a great price, a friendly voice and let me put on an option. I then tried various web sites and other agents who couldnt match them exactly for times and prices. Because the nearest branch is near me, I went in the next day and as it turns out spoke to the same gentleman who had taken my option. He immediately remembered ...
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Advantages: luxury,crime free,clean ,great shopping ,different Disadvantages: unbearable heat,likely to spend far too much!
...Dubai is not just the capital of the world for duty free cosmetics (I'll get on to that in a minute!) its also a terrific destination if you like unsurpassed luxury and customer service AND! if you can tolerate furnace like temperatures!
Dubai is just a seven hour flight from the UK and therefore ideal for a short break.
It is definitely a luxury destination and you'll never find any last minute bargain packages,however,if you shop around you should be able to put your own package together for a five night stay for around £500.00.
Trailfinders is a good place to start.
Dubai is not huge but all of the hotels are in the six star category with prices to match for food and drink.
A stunning feast for two in the Dubai Forte Grand Hotel costs around £60.00.
Alcohol is freely (not exactly free at around £4.50 for a pint of lager...
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Advantages: Great location, good facilities, great deal Disadvantages: You'll be lucky to get the same deal
...INTRODUCTION
It was the first time Ms Larsbaby and myself had been to Vancouver, and without first hand experience of knowing where to stay, we had a look on the net and took this hotel booked for us by the excellent Trailfinders, which was one of their options.
LOCATION
The Century Plaza is pretty much was the heart of the shopping and eating area of downtown on Burrard Street and so is ideally placed for the tourist. This end of Burrard Street had several restaurants and coffee shops, as well as a Market Place supermarket which had lots of excellent foodstuffs as well as a café which serves nice paninis. Just a short walk to the north was Robson Street, which had lots of shops such as Gap & Banana Republic, and a lot of Asian restaurants. There was also an interesting looking hot dog stand very close by which...
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Advantages: Decent room and facilities Disadvantages: Exploited to the full during a workers strike, no room services
...INTRODUCTION
After a week in Vancouver, myself and Ms Larsbaby headed east to Montreal, a city I had visited 3 times in the past due to my friends there. Through Trailfinders, we booked the downtown Hyatt Hotel. As we discovered upon check in, this was going to be a very unusual and eventful stay.
THE STRIKE
When we checked in, we were asked if we were aware of the "situation" they were having and we were not.
Apparently every 3 years, the hotel workers union gets all of it's hotel staff together and agrees to picket and strike at certain hotels, to represent everyone, and it so happened that our hotel was the one they were picketing this year. I don't know if this is just Montreal or if it affects more of Quebec. This had been going on for a month or so when we arrived. This meant that most normal services weren...
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01.10.2008
