Great British Holidays on BBC4

[juliebro]

Did anyone see the programme about MyTravel and Florida? It was first shown a week ago, I think, and repeated at 11:30 last night.

I recorded it but haven't watched it yet. Just wondered what people thought of the programme and whether it was a fair reflection of British package holidays in Florida.

Julie

 

[Giddy Kipper]

I think there is a thread on this on the community board

 

[Ralpher]

Dh and I watched it and we thought it was rubbish..... Sorry!

 

[juliebro]

Thanks - just found the thread on the Community Board.

Ralpher - no need to say 'sorry'. You're entoitled to your opinion. I wonder if we'll think the same!

Julie

 

[wayneg]

I thought is was really interesting looking into a bit of background to Airtours/Mytravel. Thought it was great seeing the rep not understanding why everyone was avoiding him.
Are we all booked for China yet?
Anyone with a brain and can read these boards knows more info than tour reps in Florida.
Worth a watch for a laugh.

 

[dossie]

I comletely agree - If I had never been to Florida and was watching and considering going with My Travel, I would probably have booked for Butlins instead!!!

I hope very few took what they saw as an accurate account of holidaying in Florida - either package or independently. Disney came out of it ok (of course!!) which was good.

 

[igk]

I have to say it was admirable for the company to allow such a programme to be made and to give as much access as they did.
What it shows is that they really missed the point about what people who go to Orlando and WDW actually want out of their tour operator.
Most people that go to the US know they really need to hire a car to do anything (although a 100% WDW trip you don't really, but Disney can do all that for you), so it's hardly surprising that most people head straight for the car rental office once they get off the plane and are never seen by the rep.
That said I still think that a traditional tour operator can add value by packaging together flights, accommodation, car rental and theme park tickets in an easy way, that, importantly, offers good value and ease of use compared to doing it yourself.
It can be a daunting task for the first-time visitor to put all that together so surely they can add value somewhere.

The programme also reminded me of The Office a little bit... the Christmas dinner show thing was so cringingly embarrassing I can hardly believe it was actually real!

Can't say I'll be signing up for a My Travel China trip either!