Holidaying stress-free : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Consumers Beware!

Holidaying stress-free

My husband and I are planning to take our kids on a short trip to Europe. Should we take a package tour offered by a travel agent or plan our own itinerary and make all the bookings ourselves, online?

Holidaying stress-free


Pushpa Girimaji

My husband and I are planning to take our kids on a short trip to Europe. Should we take a package tour offered by a travel agent or plan our own itinerary and make all the bookings ourselves, online? What do you suggest that? What kind of precautions do we need to take?

Well, both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you are making your own bookings, you may get a good bargain, particularly with your hotel reservation. However, you must have the time to look at all options, check on the ratings and independent reviews on the hotel that you intend to book, ensure that the site is secure before you give your personal details. You also need to see the terms and conditions of booking, particularly the cancellation policy. If for some unforeseen circumstance, you are forced to cancel your booking, what is your liability? While booking on the net, you will also need to give your credit card number for making the reservation.

On the other hand, if you have a travel agent who is doing your booking, you do not have to bother about checking out the hotel or giving your credit card number, but you will probably be paying the tour operator in advance. Here again, you can choose your own itinerary and ask the agent to make the bookings accordingly or go for a package tour. But you need to work out the full details of the trip and have everything in writing. The airfare (does it include or exclude taxes?), hotel accommodation (what is the star rating, check in and check out time, does the tariff include breakfast?) airport transfers, food and sightseeing arrangements.

On foreign trips, tickets for boat rides, art galleries, museums and historic places are expensive. Do you have to pay for them or does the package include those expenses? What about the visa services? Will the package include getting your visa for the countries that you plan to visit? Get these clarifications without fail. Remember, travel agencies often leave out important components of expenditure in order to show their pricing to be highly competitive. So do get the break-up of the expenses involved and in writing.

You also need to find out the terms and conditions governing your contract with the tour operator. Is it fair to you? What happens if the travel agency fails to deliver? You also have to check the cancellation and refund policy of the travel agent. If you have to opt out of the programme at the last minute, how much money would you lose? Does the agency have a complaint redress system? Remember, these days the competition among tour and travel operators is intense. So you can well exploit that to get a good bargain.

But first, you must choose the right travel and tour operator. Ask friends and relatives to recommend good ones, check their track record on consumer complaint websites and make an informed decision. You can also compare the offers of a few and decide on the best. But do remember to make a note of the promises they make.

If after all this too, the travel agent does not fulfill the promises made or the arrangements turn out to be unsatisfactory, what option do Ihave?

If you have all the details in writing, it is very easy to pinpoint shortcomings and resolve complaints. So the first option is to bring the matter to the notice of the agent and ask him to compensate you for any deficiencies in the service or for failure to fulfill the promises made (unfair trade practice). If the travel agent is not reasonable, then you will have to seek redress through the consumer courts. In Arnab Kr Sarkar Vs M/S Seema Travels, for example, the apex consumer court held that a consumer is entitled to compensation not only for loss or hardship caused on account of the negligence of a tour operator, but also for the disappointment suffered as a result of a ruined holiday.

If you were part of a package tour and all those in the group have a similar complaint, then all of you can come together and file a common complaint on behalf of all of you.

Top News

Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in UP's Banda orders judicial inquiry into death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari

UP court orders judicial probe into gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s death

Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari on Tuesday alleged that his brother...

‘Heart attack or poisoning’: The life and times of Mukhtar Ansari—crime and politics

‘Heart attack or poisoning’: The life and times of Mukhtar Ansari—crime and politics

Eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh are among the poorest regions...

Alka Rai, widow BJP MLA killed by Mukhtar Ansari, says 'justice has been served', visits Ram Mandir

Alka Rai, widow BJP MLA killed by Mukhtar Ansari, says 'justice has been served', visits Ram Mandir

Alka Rai is the wife of MLA Krishanand Rai, who was shot dea...

Cash-strapped Congress gets fresh IT notice of Rs 1,700 crore, say party insiders

Cash-strapped Congress gets fresh I-T notice of Rs 1,800 crore

Ajay Maken addresses a press conference

CBI files chargesheet against 20 institutes, 105 individuals in Himachal Pradesh multi-crore scholarship scam

CBI files chargesheet against 20 institutes, 105 individuals in Himachal Pradesh multi-crore scholarship scam

22 educational institutions were on CBI radar in the scholar...


Cities

View All