27 November 2020

For many of our clients, we have unintentionally become their own internal corporate Travel Management division. For example, over the last three years, we have been arranging monthly business trips for ten members of the senior team at an Oxfordshire-based engineering firm. They have been growing rapidly and have now expanded their operation across Europe, USA, Asia, and more recently South Africa. So, whether they need a day trip to Valencia, three days visiting their German distributors in Dusseldorf, Munich and Hamburg, a two weeks installation project in Hong Kong or multiple site visits across the East coast of America starting from Denver, Colorado and travelling down to Miami, Florida, we are their first port of call! Whether it is day or night, weekday or weekend, we are on speed dial for all your business travel! This actually makes great business sense for these engineers. It's not just about the ease of organisation and the huge time saving that entrusting us with their business travel brings them. They also appreciate the many thousands of pounds that we have saved their company by finding the most cost-effective routes and the best value airlines that coincide with their business appointments. Finally, as you have seen from our other case studies, we are experts in coping with the unexpected. Should anything untoward happen or your plans change at the last minute, you have the confidence to know that we are always on hand to find you the best solution.

27 November 2020

This case study is all about a family holiday to Egypt. The father serves in the RAF and had previously been posted both to Afghanistan and Iraq and so having a real family holiday was incredibly important to them all. The five of them arrived at Birmingham airport in plenty of time to board their aeroplane only to be told at the desk that, as the passport for their 15-year-old daughter would expire in less than six months, she would be unable to board the plane. The family were understandably distraught and decided they wouldn't holiday without their daughter and reluctantly left the airport. Back in their car, they rang us. We had previously checked all of their documentation and were quite sure that their daughter's passport was valid. In fact, the airline staff at the airport gate had misread the passport and should have allowed their daughter to board the plane. We told the family that we would sort this out for them. After six hours negotiating with the airline, we persuaded them to fly the family out to the same hotel in Egypt the following morning. The family returned to the airport the next day and flew out to Egypt. Although they did lose a day of their holiday, the rest of their trip went brilliantly and they had a truly fantastic holiday. However, that wasn't the end of it. We continued our discussions with the airline and they offered a 50% refund. Eventually, we succeeded in winning £2,000 compensation for the family that almost paid for their entire holiday! If you had booked your holiday over the internet and something had gone wrong in a similar fashion to our clients, would you have been able to persuade the airline to fly you out the following day? Would you also know that a "denied boarding" penalty exists under certain circumstances? Would you know what other refunds and compensation you would be entitled to claim and how to go about it in the right way to ensure success? Finally, would you have the patience, resilience and self-control to spend hours of telephone calls and emails to secure the best outcome? In this example, at first glance, an internet booking may have looked slightly less expensive. However, by choosing Travel Counsellors, this family had our team in their corner looking after all their interests at every single turn.

27 November 2020

Busy entrepreneurs, Lorna and Bryan, both run their own successful businesses and cope with the daily stresses that most directors endure. They both work really hard but also understand the need for a work/life balance and so, whenever possible, they like to play hard too. In 2018, they really fancied a weekend break in Berlin and invited another couple to join them. They asked us to find them a great hotel, some entertainment and all the necessary transfers etc. This is bread and butter to us and so after discussing whether they wanted some night life with dinner and dancing, or some theatre, museums and culture, or a city tour with a river cruise on the Spree or Havel or even tickets to see Bryan Ferry, who was playing at the Tempodrom, we created an itinerary of fun activities for them to choose. Our preparatory discussions proved fruitful as they choose almost the exact itinerary that we had suggested and so we made the bookings on their behalf. On their return to the UK, they told us that they had had a fantastic time and were really grateful for our help. Well, they say the proof is in the pudding and sure enough the following year, they wanted to plan a similar weekend with their same friends. Whether it was the Game Of Thrones "King's Landing" effect, which definitely has made an already desirable destination even more popular, they chose three days in Croatia's fabulous Dubrovnik and, once again, instructed us to create a fabulous trip for them. After arriving and settling into their hotel, they met downstairs in the bar, which, by the way, is an amazing converted cave hewn directly into the rock of Dubrovnik. After ordering a cocktail or two, they sent us the following text: "Hiya Mate, You've Done It Again!" The following afternoon, they sent us an additional text: "Wow, fantastic hotel, even better breakfast. You've even topped last year so have a fantastic weekend and get yourself a beer!" Bryan then added: "So, where are we going next year?!" (And if you keep reading our blogs, we'll tell you where we sent them next...) Obviously, we were thrilled that they are having another great time and, actually, it is this great feedback that gets us out of bed on cold, dark and wet Wednesdays and why we love what we do for a living. However, there is a serious point here. Lorna and Bryan work extremely hard and often have to work long hours and cope with their team's personnel issues on top of the daily grind of corporate life. By having set holidays and fancy trips planned and booked in advance they are helping themselves to keep a healthy work/life balance. This is proven to lead to improved performance at work, helps minimise stress and also reinforces the tight bond between partners with often hectic lives.

17 April 2019

You are only 50 years old once and so we are delighted to tell the story of an amazing husband who wanted to celebrate his wife’s significant birthday in true style. Our client knew that you could ride a train through the Canadian Rockies and so approached us and asked us to arrange a magical experience for them both. Their holiday of a lifetime started off in Calgary, Alberta where they headed off on a self-drive along the TransCanada Highway that winds its way through the Canadian Rockies towards the famous Banff National Park. They stopped at the Banff Sightseeing Gondola which floats gracefully up Sulphur Mountain in four-seater cabins and ends up at a lofty altitude of 2,281 metres. Once at the top they enjoyed a short hiking trail before refuelling at one of the restaurants with truly breath-taking views! Their overnight destination was the iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel, which is surrounded by soaring mountain peaks, the majestic Victoria Glacier and a glistening emerald lake. This hotel is world-famous as a year-round luxury mountain resort offering guided mountain tours, world-class skiing in the winter, a luxury spa, and exceptional dining experiences. They continued their amazing drive into the Rockies towards to the Jasper National Park via the Icefields Parkway. The Icefields Parkway is one of the most extraordinarily beautiful car journeys in the world! With steep climbs and dramatic views around almost every corner, our couple saw the ancient glaciers at the Columbia Icefields, the bright, turquoise Peyto Lake, some thundering waterfalls and roadside viewpoints that extend for miles. They stopped off at Bow Lake to see the Crowfoot Glacier, which, as the name suggests, really is shaped like a crow's foot. They saw the Saskatchewan River Crossing where three different rivers meet and marvelled at the Weeping Wall that resembles a mountain with a river of tears. At Big Hill, the road descends into Big Bend, the famous hairpin turn that wraps round in a circle and showed them expansive views of the valley and river below. They then spent two days relaxing in the Jasper National Park enjoying walking wildlife expeditions and they particularly loved their elk spotting trip! At Jasper they boarded the Rocky Mountaineer; a two-day train ride travelling deliberately slowly through the Rockies at 30 miles an hour. We had booked them on the GoldLeaf Service experience so they could enjoy breath-taking panoramic views from the glass-domed carriages on the top level of the train. Their carriage also boasted an outside viewing platform – perfect to capture some amazing camera shots. With 5-star breakfasts and lunches served in the luxurious dining car downstairs, they were well looked after. As it grew dark on their first day, they stopped off and stayed the night at Kamloops. The trip was deliberately designed so all travelling was done during the daylight hours to maximise the views of the amazing scenery. Back on board for breakfast, their journey of a lifetime continued… Another highlight was arriving in Vancouver and then taking a seaplane tour along its glorious coast. They also visited North Vancouver’s Capilano Suspension Bridge which gets 800,000 visitors per year and boasts amazing views of kayakers way down in the river below and eagles perched expectantly in the trees. Their trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island was ideal for a spot of whale watching before they made their way to the island’s Campbell River for some salmon fishing. Remarkably, we had managed to pick one of the only times of the year when the salmon stream upstream to spawn, which, of course, attracted a party of grizzly bears, who showed off their fishing skills (good and bad) which really topped off the river experience. You won’t be surprised to hear that our couple loved every single minute of their amazing trip. The good news is that you don’t have to wait until you’re fifty to have the holiday of a lifetime! So, give us a call and see what we could offer for your next amazing adventure on 01865 987310.

27 November 2020

Another success story features a family of four, who were flying to the UK from New Zealand. For starters, we had already saved them $5,000 on the cost of the flights and had also booked them a lovely apartment in London - perfect for seeing the capital's sites. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the London accommodation provider had had to switch the apartment location at the last minute. In fact, this happened whilst the family were in the air and on their way! Knowing that the family didn't know London at all and were arriving at 9pm at night on a cold winter's day after a 32 hour journey, we got straight into our car and drove 80 miles to Heathrow to meet them straight off the plane. We greeted the sleep-deprived family and arranged for an executive taxi to transport them in style to their new apartment in Central London. As we anticipated the family may have been tired from their journey, we had also provided a welcome basket of groceries and the basics of wine, milk, and bread etc. Doreen was clearly worried about taking three small children across a strange capital city late at night on public transport. So, they were absolutely delighted to see us at Arrivals and so impressed with our personal care and their extremely warm welcome to their first visit to England. "We've holidayed many times before", says Doreen, "using the larger tour companies and we can categorically assure you that they would never have sent someone to meet us at nine pm on a Friday night whatever misshape had occurred. This was a classic example of the care that Ian and Barbara clearly take of all of their clients and we look forward to booking more trips with them again in the near future."

27 November 2020

A major aspect of our work is booking regular business travel for many of our corporate clients. Take Charles Greening for example. He was travelling on business from the UK to Los Angeles, then on to visit another client in North Carolina, with a final flight to New York before returning to the UK in time for the weekend. This wasn't the first time that Charles had made this trip but on this occasion a major storm hit New York and his flight from Greensborough, North Carolina, was cancelled. Within thirty minutes of notification, we had rebooked Charles onto another flight on another airline a couple of hours later so as to give time for the storm to pass. Just then our mobile rang. Charles was on the line and clearly upset as he had just heard that his son had had an accident and had been rushed into A&E back in the UK. All bets were off and our new challenge was to get Charles back to the UK as fast as possible. The bad weather had really set in by now and all flights from North Carolina had been grounded so we mobilised our Travel Counsellor duty desk to look at every flight from anywhere on the US East Coast to London. There was absolutely no availability until after the weekend, which frankly was hopeless. With determined persistence, we eventually unlocked one single seat to London leaving on the following day from Atlanta Georgia! However, there were now no flights from Greensborough to Atlanta. So, we arranged a taxi to drive Charles to North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas airport, which was over 100 miles away, and we also booked him on a direct flight to Atlanta. Arriving at Atlanta in plenty of time for that hard-fought last seat on the UK flight, Charles was at his son's bedside the following morning. We are delighted that his son made a full recovery and that we were able to support Charles in getting him back to the UK as quickly as we could. "Ian and Barbara really pulled out all the stops to help me overcome my challenging circumstances. The bad weather, lack of flights, and other complications didn't faze their team and they strove tirelessly to get me home as fast as physically possible. My family and I are extremely grateful and we continue to recommend you to all our friends and business colleagues." In fact, since that dramatic incident, Charles and many other people from his company have booked both business travel and foreign holiday trips through us ever since!

27 November 2020

This case study really is in two parts. Firstly, we want to give you a flavour of another amazing bespoke trip that we arranged for a group of friends around South America. The second part of this story shows how working with us and the Travel Counsellors' team prevented an unfortunate event from ruining their trip. A group of friends asked us to organise a 28 day trip to South America taking in some of the most amazing sites and experiences of the area. Some of the highlights of this amazing holiday included: a trip to the best ranches in Mar de las Pampas an Argentine tango dance exhibition a cruise around the glaciers of Cape Horn a night in EcoCamp in the National Park of Patagonia (voted one of the best hotels in the world) a sightseeing trip around Santiago in Chile an adventure across the Atacama Desert a visit to the salt flats in Bolivia a cultural extravaganza in La Paz… And that's just mentioning eight of the exciting events! All in all, we actually arranged and booked 37 different events and eight flights and created a truly amazing holiday for this group. Unfortunately, there was one mishap during their trip. Whilst they were waiting for a train in Buenos Aires, a rucksack belonging to one of the couples was stolen. They contacted Travel Counsellors' local ground support partners, who assisted the couple as they reported the theft to the police and sorted out all the insurance coverage. The main item of value lost in the theft was a camera and, whilst this was covered by the insurance, the camera was full of photos that they had taken the day before in Buenos Aires. So we then re-evaluated their schedule and managed to rearrange their final day so that it could include a bespoke taxi journey. This trip was specifically tailored to take the couple back around those tourist sites that they had originally visited so they could retake all of the lost photos before catching their flight home. Who else would've gone to so much trouble to help recreate all of the memories of their holiday of a lifetime?