Search Results for “Holidays” – Page 43 – Purple Travel Official Blog

Let us help you decide your cheap summer holiday

Jan 03 2012

Thinking of a cheap Summer Holiday but struggling to make a choice? Let us give you 5 tips to help you make your decision!

Family friendly: are you looking to get away with the kids? Want some downtime to read a book by the pool, while the little ones are being well cared for and more importantly well entertained? Choose an all inclusive trip to Lanzarote. It’s got the sunshine you’re looking for, the great beaches just a stones through away, full on kids club activities and a bit of banana boating for mum and dad if you’re feeling up to it!
Adventure sports: so you want a bit of sunshine, but want to combine it with something a bit different like getting up close and personal with a wild animal on safari, or you’d prefer some water skiing or mountain climbing? We want to let you in on a little secret, try out a holiday with a difference in Gambia. It’s got everything the adventurous spirit wants!
Foodie paradise: interested in locally sourced truffle ice cream? (Hmmm) Or maybe you’d prefer some wild boar pasta? How about some homemade wine? We are drooling just thinking about it. If that sounds good to you, check out the Istria Riviera in Croatia. There are some great all inclusive offers to set up your gastronomic adventure in the sun!
Adults only: That’s not some kind of code for naughty holidays. More and more companies have realised some people just want time on their own in a quieter resort, or tailored just for them. Adult only are packages designed especially for adults with great food, brilliant service, the quality beaches and resorts that you expect and of course what holiday would be complete without a bit of sunshine. Try Turkey for a special break and see how much it will suit you!
Beach break: Are you looking for that perfect beach, to spend a few days just completely chilling out? Maybe you’ll be able to drag yourself away for a cocktail in the evening, but this is all about topping up your tan and letting the sun melt away your cares. So head to Skiathos in the Sporades islands of Greece. With picture perfect white send slipping into beautiful crystal clear waters, it is the perfect place to unwind.

What do you think of our list? We’d love to hear your ideas too, simply leave a comment and we’ll post them on our facebook page.

Top Tips: Gran Canaria beaches

Nov 17 2010

The third entry in our 4-part series on the best beaches of the Canary Islands highlights the splendor of Gran Canaria beaches, the largest of the group.

Playa de Las Canteras

Considered one of the best beaches in Spain, Playa de Las Canteras boasts 3000 meters of golden sand and calm waters. The beach has a very good range of facilities for the entire family with restaurants, bars, and shopping in the direct vicinity. For the snorkeling and diving enthusiasts, the coral reef protecting the beach is about 2km for the shore. Something for everyone means windsurfers and body boarders will love it as well. Located in Las Palmas, this is the best and busiest beach on the island.

Playa de Maspalomas

Sand. Miles of sand. This is Playa de Maspalomas, home of the famous sand dunes of Gran Canaria. Stretching for 12km is a nature reserve of soft golden sands that leads down to the sea. This is a very busy beach as well, with different areas for families and nudists. Watersports enthusiasts will enjoy the winds in the as well. Hint: don’t bring anything to this beach you don’t want getting sand on.

Playa del Inglés

If you continue down the coast of Maspalomas, you will arrive at the highly organized and very busy Playa Del Ingles beach. This beach has plenty of facilities for everyone and quite a bit less sand than Maspalomas, which makes it more accessible to the surrounding restaurants, bars, and shops.

Playa de Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico beach is man-made and filled with white sand. Shaped to resist the winds, the waters are turquoise and calm as a result. This beach is very well organized and has all the amenities to make your stay both relaxing and entertaining. Ideal for families.

Playa Meloneras

On the other side of the Maspalomas beach is the beach of Meloneras, home to the outstanding H10 Playa Meloneras Palace. This is also a busy beach with golden sands, calm waters, and characteristically windy for this side of the island.

Explore: Holiday Companies Explained

Oct 08 2010

There are so many holiday companies nowadays doing so many different things that getting through all the names and their roles in your holiday booking can be extremely gruesome. This is especially true when you have a complaint to make about your hotel or you’re looking for compensation of some sort. This article intends to help you get through all the jargon and show you how it works. We’ll start from the beginning.

Travel Comparison Websites

If you’re doing an initial holiday search, chances are you’re using one of the many travel comparison website available online. These are websites like Teletext Holidays, Icelolly, Travelzoo, Travel supermarket, Kelkoo, Lastminute.com and many more. When you search these websites, the offers advertised are actually those of other companies and are not provided, organized or booked directly through the travel comparison website. All the offers you see are only advertisements for other travel agents or tour operators. When you call the number on the ads or click on a link, you are directed to the travel agency or tour operator who will give you the details and book the holiday for you.

Travel Agents

Travel agents come in many shapes and sizes. From your local independent travel shops around the corner, to your large travel agents like Hays Travel (Hays Travel is also our “parent” company – we work with them and other independent agents to get the best discounts and pass them on to you).

Travel Agents work like brokers, with access to all kinds of flights, hotels, tours, and tour operator packaged holidays. We work with commissions and discounts from these tour operators and various other suppliers that we can pass to the customer, meaning you get better prices than going straight to the source. Travel Agents are also helpful because they can provide you with a wide range of product availability and are not limited to booking with just one company.

Tour Operators

Tour Operators come in many shapes and sizes as well. The big ones are Thomas Cook, Thomson, and Cosmos. There are, however, other tour operators that provide great deals on specialty holidays. Tour Operators sell their holidays to Travel Agents with a discount and can also sell their holidays directly to you, the customer. If you go directly to Thomas Cook, for example, you will only be able to get the flights and hotels available through Thomas Cook and no one else. If you book a Thomas Cook holiday through a Travel Agent, chances are you’ve paid less for it and gone through all the different holiday options before settling on a Thomas Cook package.

Tour Operators like Thomas Cook offer flight-only and accommodation-only bookings as well, so it is very possible when you book through a Travel Agent, that you can be flying with Thomson because the flights are cheaper or more convenient and still stay in your preferred Thomas Cook hotel. The main difference between a Tour Operator and a Travel Agent is that Tour Operators often have their own flights and hotel contracts that have been paid in advance and are theirs, while Travel Agents purchase the available spaces one at a time and at the same time you book your holiday.

Bed Banks & Transfer Suppliers

Beds Banks & Transfer Suppliers are companies that provide only accommodation and/or transfers and nothing else. Some examples include Low Cost Beds, Alpha Rooms, You Travel, A2B Transfers and many, MANY more. These companies work in a few different ways. Mainly, they contract hotels and transfers either from a local (i.e. on location) broker or directly with the various hotels they provide. Because they contract large amounts of rooms, they often achieve great prices for accommodation and pass them on to you or to a Travel Agent with commission (even bigger savings for you).

Low Cost Airlines

Low Cost Airlines are just that, low cost. They don’t get any lower in cost and do not offer commissions for travel agents with discounts on flights or extras. Travel Agents can include a low cost airline in your holiday booking and still have your holiday financially protected. This is especially important if you are considering booking each holiday element separately and on your own. Booking each element on your own (not through a Travel Agent) affords you the least financial protection on your purchase and could potentially end up costing you hundreds or thousands of pounds.

Local Handling Agents

These are the agents who will be there, on location, while you are on holiday. They offer the hotel or transfer contracts to your tour operators, bed banks, and transfer suppliers. If you have a transfer booked through A2B Transfers, for example, you need to look for the local handling agent’s name (written on the voucher) when you get to your destination airport.

How This Affects You

Let us say that you’ve booked your holiday with us (a Travel Agent) and the food and service at the hotel is just unbearable. (By the way, we try not to sell these kinds of properties and we do this by asking our customers for their feedback – which is always appreciated). You complain to the hotel reception and they tell you to phone us. Once you call us, we need to send your complaint to the Bed Bank or Tour Operator who we booked your hotel with (since you are our customers, and we are their customers, you usually cannot contact the supplier directly). That Bed Bank or Tour Operator, depending on how they’ve contracted the specific hotel, will contact the local handling agent to pass along your complaint and come up with a solution and a response.

Although this process is time-consuming, we always work with our suppliers to develop better and faster ways of resolving problems. For emergencies, the number of the local handling agent is always on your vouchers. This is the same for any component of your holiday, whether it is booked as a package from one Tour Operator or as a “Dynamic Package” through many suppliers.

Purple Travel puts Greece back on the Map!

Sep 06 2010

Tourism in Greece has been on the rise and Purple Travel is working on increasing tourism to the beautiful Greek Islands even further. We believe in supporting the local economy where so many tourists have found everything from lazy beachside holidays, to lively nights out, to ancient wonders. In order to help support the cause, we sent out a video crew this past August to invade the best islands for tourism and get the British perspective on where to go and what to do when you’re there.

Greece is a beautiful country, full of astonishing beaches, quality hotels, amazing food and friendly people. The economic downturn put a damper on tourism in Greece at the start of the summer. The situation turned around quickly when Greece and Purple Travel came to the rescue of those who had lost their holidays to Turkey due to the collapse of Goldtrail and Kiss Flights (two tour operators who specialized in cheap flights to popular Turkish destinations).

Greece comes as the natural alternative to holidays in Turkey because of its similar climate, location, and beaches. However, Greece has a much better reputation when it comes to quality hotels – and the options are almost endless. In the past, Greece has always been a pricier destination for that reason. This year, though, because of the abundance of flights and lowering hotel prices to attract more tourism, Greece has started to rise from the ashes. Purple Travel wants to sustain the trend of increasing tourism in Greece so that you – the traveler – can take advantage of what this beautiful country has to offer. Purple Travel is making it easy for you to choose Greece as your next summer holiday destination, and by doing so, help to contribute to the economic recovery of the country.

Purple Travel is an avid supporter of Greek Tourism – so much so that we make sure all our travel advisors have more intimate knowledge of Greece than any other travel agent in the UK. If you’re shopping for a holiday to Greece – or just looking for some advice on the destination – visit Purple Travel. If your sights are set on a winter-sun destination, we have everything you need for that too!

To follow the making of the Video Invasion in Greece, subscribe to the newsletter here!

The Culture of Alcohol

Jun 29 2010

Drinking is a part of the culture in the UK, pubs are the best places to go and socialise, catch up on gossip and watch the match of the day on the TV, all while having a pint or two, or three, or so on….

Holidays are no different, as the number of people choosing All Inclusive (AI) hotels proves that even whilst abroad, people still want to have alcohol to end (or in some cases begin!) the day with.

In case you don’t know, AI means that free drinks, snacks and even ice cream are served throughout the day, not just at mealtimes. There are varying types of AI, which tell you exactly when they are served. While it is all day, most hotels do not allow free alcohol after midnight, so do check with your hotel before trying for an all night booze up!

To keep costs down, hotels don’t always give away popular drinks all the time, since they are fairly expensive to import. Instead they tend to use drinks that are either brewed locally or imported from nearby. Though it isn’t your normal pint at the pub, their own local flavours are worth trying.

Here is quick list of the different types and brands of local alcoholic drinks that you may get to sample at your hotel or resort. This doesn’t include the small shots you can get in every bar, since those are everywhere, but for the more sedate pace of drinking a can of beer, or glass of wine.

In Tenerife, they have a beer called Dorada which is exclusive to the island, and comes in three varieties, Dorada Pils (normal alcohol level), Dorada Pils (strong), and Dorada Sin (alcohol free). The neighbouring island of Gran Canaria has its own beer by the name of Tropical, and as the two islands are so close to each other, both beers can be found on either one.

The Canary Islands also have their own wine thanks to their climate, and asking for the house wine for a meal is not a bad choice at all. Red wine is more common here too, and may even be chilled, good for those boiling summer days!

Egypt, despite being a Muslim country, is fairly tolerant of foreigners drinking alcohol, and so they have a large selection available. The most common beer which can be found in almost every bar is known as Stella (yes, similar name, but this isn’t related to the Artois family). Two more varieties, Stella Export and then Stella Premium have higher alcohol levels. A European brand called Meister, licensed for and produced in Egypt is also available and Meistar Max, another type, has the highest alcohol level for beer in Egypt, good if you want a quick dizziness spell!

For the wine lover, there are some that try to capture the taste from the ancient Egyptian days, these include Omar Khayyam, Cru Des Ptolmees, Rubis D’Egypte and Abarkai. They’re called Giancils types of wines, so ask for one if you’re interested.

Greece is famous for Ouzo, highly alcohol with the taste of aniseed, thus giving licorice-haters less to drink. However there are other drinks too. For beer there is Mythos, the most famous out of all the brands, and is easy to find. Retsina is a white wine that can be served with a meal, however house wine does taste good on the whole.

Overall, a huge variety which should move you away from your current tipple of choice. You’re sure to get a hangover if you overdose on them too much, but then you can rely on your own methods to clear your head. The levels of alcohol vary so do check the amount before beginning another round at the bar. Be sure to follow the law with regards to drinking age, and drink responsibly. Ending up in a police cell or even a medical clinic overnight does not make for a good vacation!

So, happy holidays, cheers, and bottoms-up!

Real Reviews from Purple Travellers!

May 03 2010

Here at Purple Holidays, we pride ourselves on our exceptional customer service. So when we get good reviews from our customers online, we get all warm and tingly with pride! We thought we would share some of the great things our customers say about us and our holidays with you – just so we can bask in all of our hard work.

These are all real reviews by real customers. Some of them have been emailed and others have been posted on third-party websites. For those that have been posted, we put a link to the website so you can see it on there for yourself. All the reviews are in their exact words (so please excuse any typos).

“I should have been on holiday this week having booked a 2 week AI to hurgada in Egypt at the cost of 1400 quid, I should have been flying on the 16 but the volcano put an end to that.

After phoning several times to find out what was going on I was reassured not to worry, everthing was being looked into and they would get back asap after they heard anything, but they were near enough positive everything would be fine and told me i would probably be re-sheduled or even refunded my money.

so after dis-cussing this with my other half we deceided any later and egypt would be too hot anyway ,so we decieded on another destiation for later on in may . this morning linda phoned me back and on telling her of our decesion which even though was half the original price ,she very quickly sorted all the details out and got it booked up for us,and although the holiday we picked was not as luxurious as the hotel we were originally going on we deceided we were happy to just be going on holiday finally.

but i,m sat thinking about this company now and i can,t praise them highly enough they have been fantastic through out from the girl we originaly booked it with who gave us insurance cover and then discounted off the price,right through to the customer services,were brilliant and anyone thinking of booking a holiday you could do a lot worse, I’m certainly glad i booked with them.”

(Posted by “the big fella” on Apr 23, 2010)

“I want to thank Iva for being extremely helpful and prepared to look at alternatives when I was helping my son and his friends to book a holiday to Turkey. I gave Iva a number of challenges over best price and suitable accommodation for a group of 8-10. The actual group was reduced with work commitments and the need to check the ability to obtain the leave they required. She was helpful and friendly and gave me ways of helping the others to add on to the booking. Iva was very flexible and provided me with alternatives if the group were not happy. She then had to take payment from different cards and was so patient with everyone. I am extremely happy with the service Iva provided and would be happy to book a holiday using her help and guidance again.”

(Emailed by Barbara C. on Apr 28, 2010)

“This is just a quick email to say a big thank you to Leo who was my booking agent for the above holiday reference. Having booked through a number of different holiday agents previously, Purple Holidays has by far been the most helpful and friendliest company I’ve dealt with. I will definitely recommend your company to all and look forward to booking my next holiday with you. Thanks again for all your help Leo!”

(Emailed by Arlene D. on April 23, 2010)

“i booked a holiday with purple holidays on march 10 ,and we were flying to eygpt on a 14 night all inc, but on the 16 april we were struck with the volcano, the holiday had cost quite a bit of money and we were struck with panic thinking we would lose out.

we had to wait until the planes were given the all clear before we could re-book but any worries we had were quickly put to bed by purple holiday staff ,who reassured us there would be no problem in either getting a re-booking or if it came to that a refund. as it turned out we could not get the original hotel at the same price,but we managed to find another holiday that suited us.

i cannot speak highly enough of this company and would have no hesitation what so ever in booking a holiday with them . many thanks to linda, who tried so hard to get us another booking at the same destination and rosie ,both who were very polite courtious, and professional at all times through out my constant harassment, and also vicky who helped us with our original booking, best in the buissness. if you find a holiday with purple don,t even hesitate a fantastic company, and will most definatly be back.”

(Posted by Carl Peters on April 23, 2010)

“I`d like to thank very much to your travel agent Fiona who found me and to my boyfriend very fab holiday in Egypt, just got back and had a great time,its been as she said very good location close to the beach, shops…etc. we enjoyed our stayed there. I`ll be in touch with her very soon for my next holiday!!!!”

(Emailed by Dada F. on April 8, 2010)

“James was one of the most pleasent people I have had to talk to on the phone when it comes to ringing companies. He was polite, sociable and extremely friendly. I think he has amazing costumer service skills and made booking my holiday an absolute delight. I would love if you could make him aware of this and to pass on my compliments. So he remebers who I am, I booked today around 3pm, my holiday was to Rhodes, Greece for me and my partner Burhan. I believe that you have an amazing worker and would love for you to thank him for his great service. I would appreciate it very much if I could recieve an email back from you just to confirm you have read and acknowledged my email. Thank you very much.”

(Emailed by Camilla B. on March 31, 2010)

“Just wanted to pass on my thanks to the chap who booked our holiday didnt get his name sorry maybe you can tell from booking ref ###-###. It was greatly appreciated as he went out of his way to find our requirements and i know that he must have had to stay beyond his shift as it was going up to 22.00hrs on friday evening before we had finally finished booking. We are always quick to complain when things are not right but i feel he has exceeded his normal duties and thought he deserved a mention.Or maybe you have an employee reward scheme. I will definately look to book with you for the summer. Thank you from a very satisfied customer.”

(Emailed by Andrew T. on March 22, 2010)

“Within a matter of no more than five minutes Claire had not only e-mailed the confirmation details, tickets etc, to my e-mail address , she had also organised a hard copy of the details to be sent first class post as a back up following the e-mail problems that l had been experiencing,and they arrived as promised, on following day.

The way in which Claire was able to sort the problems o quickly is a credit to herself and the name of Purple Holidays.Throughout our brief conversation she was extremely courteous and professional at all times. Could l therefore ask you to thank Claire on my behalf. Given the service that l recieved from Claire, l shall certainly be booking further holidays with Purple Holidays.”

(Emailed by Alan M. on March 13, 2010)

“Just felt I had to write to say thanks to Robbie. We booked a last minute holiday through Purple Holidays who recommended Hurghada and the Stella Makadi Resort. We were surprised by how lovely it was, the servce the atmosphere and location. If you are looking for a relaxing holiday with simple food, drink, great service then look no further. We were able to have some well needed R & R listening to the ocean. The only thing I would say is that if your flight arrives in the day do not be disuaded by your journey to the resort, you will feel like it is either a war zone or a building site but when you get the resort all is well and you will not even know or care what is going on outside. There are 2 pool areas, if you are looking for quiet, go to the one nearest the spa, or you will be subjected to loud belly dancing throughout your stay. We also did the Quad bike trip from the beach which was great fun. We had a great, well needed holiday, purple were spot on with their recommendations.”

(Emailed by Amy T. on March 4, 2010)

Thanks to all our wonderful customers for giving us such great feedback! Your reactions are the reason why Purple Holidays will continue to strive for excellent customer service for all our present and future purple holidaymakers.

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