BOG OFF

Well I don'T suppose we will see too many Buy One, Get One Free offers from holiday operators - although some do offer this out of season, but it got your attention, so fullfilled its purpose.

The title you choose to head any specific tour can make the difference between success and failure. It has to either create interest, for example including the word Train, Gardens, Cruise etc, or whet the appetite by implying something you or your groups will find of great interest.

Example; A well known operator offered Black Country Weekend tours with very limited success. Same tour re titled Shropshire Heritage – with exactly the same itinerary and hotel was a roaring success.

With so many operators offering very similar escorted coach holidays, from weekenders to 12 day Grand Scenic, you have to be different to stand out from the crowd. This could be on price, and going for the cheap’n’cheerful angle, or upmarket, with a superior coach and or hotel, or be as most appear to be, based on an angle included in the excursions to give the tour some bite.

Example; Edinburgh – from using a hotel say twenty miles away and including a ‘Full Day of freedom to explore at your leisure”, which translated means we run you to and from the city, and the rest is up to you, or do you stay in the city and pay the difference, or a mix of both and include a City Tour with guide, or visit the quite excellent Royal Yacht and Exhibition? (If you’ve never been – go, it’s fantastic!) What you are adding is ‘sellability’, as covered by this correspondent before, so no need to explain further.

I have been looking through the brochures that Wholesalers have on offer to see what might entice me, and the sheer selection of tours is amazing. It is easy to see why so many tour operators use the expertise of a Wholesaler, (or just lift the ideas!), as they have the knowledge to put together some inspiring itineraries and select some very good quality hotels. This of course an obvious thing to do, as they want your business year on year, and not just for a one off experience. As always, yet worth repetition, these are purely personal opinions, and no company has offered me any incentive to point you way to a particular product.

Strictly in alphabetical order...

Action Tours / Action Europe

For almost twenty years Action Tours have been offering a, shall I say, more select choice of holidays, and their brochure for 2011 is no different. I loved the selection for the Isle of Man, where three tours are on offer, and besides the well known Rutland and Chesterhouse Hotels, they are dealing with The Mount Murray Hotel, a very good four star set in 200 acres of countryside. (200 acres on any island is quite a chunk!). Noticeable too are the selection of Irish holidays, perhaps understandable with Action Tours heritage, but added to a great choice of quality hotels are some imaginative and thoughtful itineraries. The selection covers north to south, east to west, city, town, and country, and is well worth your attention.

Chris Bligh and his little team continue to explore Europe using mainly three star hotels in France, and four star elsewhere, so quality will never be an issue, and again it is the attention to the quality and choice of included visits that makes Action Tours so popular.

It is the tours in France that caught my eye, as they offer a great chance to explore our nearest European neighbour (and therefore cheapest to get to) and offer an imaginative choice. The difference is with the included admissions to gardens – some new to coach touring in Britain, wine tasting, and most hotels offering a choice of menu for dinner. I would gladly include any of these tours, if not all, and hope that they are as successful as they deserve to be.

A special mention for the design of the brochure, which is very easy to follow and understand, is uncluttered so appears clean and crisp, and includes some excellent transparencies. A little gem!

Albatross

When it comes to selection it is difficult to beat Albatross, especially with single rooms free of supplements on UK holidays, and a No Currency Surcharge Guarantee. I like the inclusion of a full cooked breakfast in all hotels, including those in London, although would have expected tea/coffee after meals and Porterage to pretty much be a standard inclusion, and not form part of a Key Feature.

The selection on offer is mind blowing, and the 100 page United Kingdom brochure alone takes some beating. I am especially impressed by the choice of Themed Breaks, and hotels offering £1 per pint or all inclusive deals. My thoughts on hotel bar prices are well documented, and it is good to see this appearing in brochures as an added incentive to gain sales. The contents and intro pages are crystal clear, and at a glance you can see what is new, or go directly to your favourites. Interesting to see two full page promotions for linked events, which I presume means that a contribution was made to the printing costs! Could this be the start of brochures being more magazine looking in the future, with adverts for anything from a resort to health insurance? We will see, but if it lessens the cost of providing such high quality brochures free of charge, it is surely only a matter of time!

Every major hotel operator appears to me included, with the favourite Ramada’s and Holiday Inn’s vying with the four star Barcelo’s for business, and some other very fine four star hotels included for the first time. I personally tend to see the difference between a good three star and a four star as what time you can eat dinner. The rooms and facilities tend to be the same, with the four star offering a better quality, and it will be interesting to see how the sales compare. Clearly the clients like both, but are they willing to pay the difference?

Everyone has their favourite hotels, and some of mine are featured in this new 2011 brochure. The Cliff Hotel and Spa near Gwbert, Cardigan overlooking Cardigan Bay has to have one of the most impressive locations in Britain, never mind Wales, and although it was very nice when I last booked it in the late 1990’s, it has had shed loads on money spent on it to make it even more impressive today. This is something very special, and has the benefit of enabling you to explore parts of the Principality off the regular tourist tracks.

Good to see the Loch Fyne Hotel in Inveraray, (and congratulations to the copy writers for getting the spelling correct), for this is an excellent hotel on the outskirts of the loch side village, famed as much for its fairy tale castle as anything else. Keeping in Scotland the two centred “High and Low in Scotland” tour should get over it’s terrible title with the two hotels chosen. The ever popular and excellent Winnock at Drymen by Loch Lomond is put with the Columba in Inverness, which is set by the River Ness in the town centre, and is a match made in heaven. There will be no complaints on this tour, and it should prove a winner.

Albatross has its own dedicated 28 page brochure covering Ireland, and once you get past some of the tour titles – “Craicing Treats” – whoever thought of that hang your head in shame (brilliant – too clever by half in my book), you will find a truly comprehensive selection of holidays, and the Craicing Treats have some great inclusions to add sellability.

My eyes were also drawn to The Dubliner. This option offering a choice of two hotels with prices from £129 for two nights and including ferry is true value, and is perhaps a good way of introducing Ireland to your clients if you don’t include it now.

I appreciate that with the power of the Euro Ireland can be a difficult one to sell, but thousands travel by coach year on year, and the hotel standards are very high. The whole country is geared up for tourism, and the welcome is genuine and true.

In all a stunning brochure with much to be applauded and considered.

Greatdays Holiday Group

Now it is no secret that I have done some consultancy work for Greatdays in the past year, but those of you who know me personally also know that will not stop me voicing an opinion!

Gobsmackingly Good! This is a brochure where you want to turn the pages just to see where it takes you next, and just as importantly, what ideas they are suggesting. Greatdays have included some stunningly different and innotive itineraries for you to think about. A Highland Safari in a 4x4 in Scotland, the Little Trains and Boats of Germany, Treasures of France with a Candlelit Chateau, Girls Getaways to Milan or Spain, and a great selection on Scandinavia, which includes the ‘Wonderful Copenhagen, Sweden and Hamlet’s Castle’ tour. Now this one has to be a winner, as it encompasses something new, old, tradition, and innovation.

Page after page is filled with ideas, and each is clearly costed with prices shown, and is easy to read, understand, and follow.

When it comes to the Rest of the World tours on offer, no prices or details are offered, and to a certain extent I can understand that, as it will depend on when you fly, where from, and the itinerary you wish to include. I suspect this was only to offer a flavour of what could be achieved, and perhaps a more detailed Worldwide brochure will appear in the future.

The section colours at the start of the brochure too misled me, as one colour covered everything from UK flower Shows to Scotland, Ireland Wales and England, and perhaps different colours could have separated these.

However, finishing on a high note, Greatdays have introduced a Premium Selection, where specific attention is paid to the detail of included visits, some of which I suspect are only available to Greatdays clients. Bookshelf Tours (great title), offers a guide to the likes of Jane Austen and Shakespeare, and the Garden Tours include so much it is difficult to see how they plan it all in! All of these tours are available by coach and rail, and considering where they stay and what they include are a bargain.

I also like the inclusion of a 2011 calendar, which separate from the brochure on card is a great way to keep your name in view.

Greatdays is clearly a family company, with family values, and this brochure is the best they have produced. In this, their 25th year and Silver Anniversary, could they do anything other than to offer their expertise in their best ever production?

Leisure Breaks

OK, I know that Leisure Breaks are part of the Albatross family, but they are still producing a separate brochure, aimed – surprise surprise – at breaks to London.

They are one of the experts to our capital, and their new brochure dated April 2010 is a testament to the team that put it together. The wealth of experience is evident as you turn the pages, and besides the theatre breaks and Garden Shows for which they are so popular, the Royal Collection , the London Showboat Dinner and Dance Cruise, and a couple of All Inclusive deals stand out from the crowd.

I have to add congratulations to all of the Wholesalers for including a hot, cooked breakfast on every deal I could see. Continental Breakfast is for those on the continent – not for the UK. Even Express by Holiday Inn, who refused to change their good but cold option, are now including hot choices. Well done them – eventually!

On the whole us Brits do not stay in a hotel and start the day on a rusk and coffee, we like a hot, cooked breakfast, so again well done to the planners and contractors for getting this included.

ICT

ICT continue to offer quarterly brochures, and the February 2010 edition covered tours available in 2010 and 2011 – so far. This IQ brochure covers land tours by ICT, and air tours and cruises by their sister company, South Quay Travel.

When it comes to the UK, all the favourites are there, including some very good value tours to the Windsor Castle Royal Tattoo, and the growing in popularity Birmingham Tattoo. The latter, now operating for more than twenty years, is at least indoors so no danger of getting drenched as in Edinburgh! It is however the European angle that caught my eye, and I must admit (again) to being drawn towards the idea of sleeping in Paris on a river cruise ship. Hotels in Paris can be so expensive, this makes a pleasant and attractive alternative. Someone has been busy to put together the Wiesbaden and Rheingau Vineyard tour, and it comes with quality accommodation to in the shape of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Wiesbaden. With prices for a 5 night break starting at £275, this is a real bargain.

Someone at ICT is a wine buff, as the selection of tours offered encompassing wine, truffles, and gourmet themes is comprehensive and very tempting.

When it comes to groups wishing to go to a Santaland, surely one of the attractions has to be snow, so why they visit UK destinations is beyond me, and the bad press associated with some examples of this are well documented. ICT however offer Santaworld in Sweden, with prices starting at £399 including flights, accommodation, admission plus other benefits.

When it comes to the UK and Ireland new ideas are there too, and good to see one of my favourite areas, Morar, included. The tour to Kinsale is especially worth noting, as based in a harbour side four star hotel it is clearly something very different that will not break the bank.

South Quay Travel has a no minimum numbers policy, and with no less that eight UK ports to choose to depart from, is able to offer a good selection of cruises aboard either the Marco polo, or Ocean Princess. Prices appear very affordable – 2 night Holland in bloom from £129, Springtime Fjordland from £449 up to a Christmas Caribbean 35 night cruise from £2599, so it has to cover most pockets. The destinations too are varied and interesting, and if you are thinking about a cruise – especially one without flights – this a brochure for you and your group.

ICT also offers a web based Product Wizard, where you can put together your own itinerary using the facilities of the ICT database.

I also like the idea of overnight crossings to Ireland from Swansea, which are very realistically priced, and eliminate those overnight hotels in South Wales, arriving bright eyed and bushy tailed in Cork the following morning. What a great way to start your holiday, especially if travelling from The Midlands or South of England.

With trips to the US with no minimum numbers, and a comprehensive selection of tours on offer, this is a brochure packed with ideas, and ticks most if not all of the boxes!

Conclusion

Oh it is so easy to sit and pick fault or praise, but that is not the point of this article. These are purely the thoughts of a sad old man nearing his dotage, who shortly will be in the permanent need of a commode and full time nurse!

I know of course many of the teams at of these companies, and am not having a dig at any of them, these are just my opinions, not those of anyone influential or important, just me. I thank them all for sending me their brochures with the knowledge I would be picking through them. This shows great trust, not only by the wholesalers, but also by the publisher, as both have given me carte blanch to say exactly what I think.

Would I use the services of a wholesaler – too right I would. All the work is done for you, the ideas, planning, and negotiating, and all you have to do it pick out which you want, and sell it!

All of these brochures are different, yet the same. All offer something new, something exciting, and most importantly, something sellable. They are, all of them, continuously thinking outside the box, and producing new ideas and itineraries for the coach and group operator to offer. They all have different ways of attracting your attention, or offering guarantees or sales promotional material, and they all – like you – offer a service. I hope I haven’t upset them too much, (!), and I will be following up on this article with comments about Success Tours, Norman Allan and others if they could send me their new brochures when issued. My email address is jon@jonhartleysolutions.co.uk .

I urge you to take a look at all of these brochures, and take in the quality and time that has been put in to enable you to offer your friends and clients a truly memorable holiday. There is certainly something for everyone, and the very evident care that they show in preparation, planning and production deserves success – which you can share in too.

Airedale Tours

Every company goes through its ups and downs, and the multi award winning Airedale Tours has had far more of its share of personal tragedy over the past twelve months. My sympathy goes to all concerned with the loss of Tony Padgett and David Kettell. Both will be sadly missed.

Airedale have a very strong following with private and ad hoc groups, and it is the 2010 brochure that I have been looking to see what is on offer. It is clear to see why Airedale is mentioned so often in the Best Printed Information Product section of the Group Travel Awards, as whilst some may snipe at a traditional brochure – it couldn’t be clearer! The UK tour section offers a great selection of the more traditional and privately owned hotels both in regular resorts, and the not-so-regular, Barmouth, Gilsland Spa, and Wrexham to name but three. Closer examination however on Wrexham shows the tour is based in Rossett, at the lovely Rossett Hall Hotel, but the tour which stood out for me was to Southend, and the band new Park Inn hotel. All tours are very keenly priced, especially some into Europe.

Whilst other wholesalers may offer alternatives, there will always be a place for the traditional, and Airedale covers this as well as anybody, and better than most. This does not mean that they shy away from new tours however, and Secrets of Hidden France to Rocamadour, and to the Hotel Kolping in Linz have been put together with an imaginative excursion programme, and I would happily go on both.

I suspect another successful year for Airedale Tours is on the cards, and deservedly so.