Travel House Group (THG)

[CheshireTom 1,377]

There have been a couple of recommendations on the forum for guys to book with THG in Swansea due to them regularly having the cheapest prices from UK to BKK.

 

It would be fair to say that I was pretty cynical about the set-up as I am aware that neither THG nor any other agent continually has access to cheaper flights on most of the main airlines. So, with an upcoming trip to book in order to secure my time off from work and no cheap fares appearing anywhere for travel on my regular carrier (Qatar from Manchester) I decided I'd give them a go and perhaps get and insight into how they operate.

 

The first thing I do is ring them and get quoted a pretty good price for my flights (489 quid, all in). Seeing that there is nothing available elsewhere approaching this price, I decide to take it. At this point I made sure that the guy doing my booking (Gary?) was aware that I was a Gold Card holder with Qatar so I wanted to make sure that the booking class allowed me to upgrade to biz class on my airmiles and that I would accrue the economy class airmiles on the ticket the were going to issue. Although he assured me that I would, I was still a bit cynical.

 

Two days later, I received my confirmation invoice/receipt for my flight (I also received a voucher for a couple of nights accommodation at the Sunshine Vista in Pattaya) but no tickets, without which I couldn't arrange my upgrade. I phoned Gary back and explained the situation and he agreed to send my tickets out there and then. I also queried the accommodation voucher and asked what the situation was with them. Basically, any agent can access what are known as IT (Inclusive Travel) fares which require accommodation to be booked with the flight. These tickets are normally 10-15% cheaper than "flight only" prices and it is those IT tickets that are issued by THG, but to comply with the accommodation requirement of the booking they throw in the voucher and hope that you don't use it.

 

Finally received my tickets and sent off my upgrade request to Qatar which I received confirmation for this morning so no problems so far. The only problem that could now crop up is if there is some issue with the flight as the flight ticket, having effectively been issued as part of a holiday, my contract is with THG rather than the airline.

 

So, if there are no "flight only" deals coming up for your preferred airline I would recommend giving THG a call as it appears that they will be able to come up with a decent price in that situation.

 

THG

 

Tom

 

p.s. I'm not on commission from THG or anything ...... probably just eating a bit of humble pie for being such a cynical bastard!

Edited November 2, 2005 by CheshireTom

[Matty 0]

Tom

 

I know you are a regular at the sabai place on soi 2 but the sunshine vista is a nice place ,i just spent 10 days there and highly reccommend it .

 

Regards

Matty

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Matty,

 

I had, by the time I got the confirmation, already booked a couple of nights at the JW Marriot in BKK but no worries since I was more concerned about getting my upgrade confirmed.

 

Although I like the Sabai Inn they only have one suite and it's not really worth the amount of money that they ask for. I would have looked at the options for a suite at either the Sunshine Vista or the Bella Villa on Soi 4 a bit earlier if it wasn't for the building work going on at Mike's Orchid Resort. I'll see what's available in the general area of Sois 2-4 nearer the time and I'm happy to spend around 2k Baht for a suite. Failing that, there's always Skytop!

 

Tom

[orientaltaffy 0]

Tom I have been using THG for about 4 years now and had about 6 trips and have never had a problem with them, only once have I and my mates been able to use the accomodation voucher and that was for the previously named Jade Pavillion in soi22 Bkk all the other vouchers were for unheard of hotels in places like Hua-Hin or Cha-Am, tried WestEast for last Aprils trip as they beat THG's price by £20.

[PATTAYA_MAN 0]

All you have to do is ask the AIRLINE what class they they will upgrade you.Then tell the TRAVEL AGENT you only want to buy that ticket.SIMPLE.

[Soi7 1]

I went into Sunshine vista to check it out for a board member Tom I am sure you will be happy there very good location just across the street to welcome inn and of late there have been some lookers there. Please take your camera so we can see the videos now that you are a proven film maker