Staycations? Beware the stats

Beware tourism statistics. According to a newspaper report, research shows UK seaside resorts are enjoying a huge bounce, with visits up 16% in two years. This is taken as a symptom of the “trend” towards so called for staycations. But according to the Great Britain Tourism Survey the number of domestic overnight trips to the seaside fell last year by 11% - representing a big reversal of fortunes on the previous year. You pays your money and takes your choice. But as I have noted previously, despite the weakness of sterling against the euro the boom in staycations is mostly myth.

Early booking ski deals

Early booking ski deals are starting to emerge as tour operators seek to stimulate the market. Some tasty looking discounts on North American ski holiday deals are on offer from Crystal. Skiers and snowboarders booking by August 31can get up to £700 off a at Pines Lodge in Beaver Creek, Colorado, for example. That brings the starting price there down to £1130 including British Airways flights. And there are savings of up to £450 on packages to Whistler, British Columbia, where a week at the 5 star Château Whistler starts at £1117 – with Air Canada flights. There are also significant early booking discounts on holidays to Banff and Lake Louise and Aspen.

French holiday leaves sour aftertaste

Great holiday – shame about the aftertaste. Our pleasant memories of a summer break in France have been soured by an extraordinary letter from the owners of the house we rented.

The property was in Charente, not far from the Cognac vineyards. It was superbly maintained and equipped and, fair to say, not unreasonably priced. We rented it for a week with our son and daughter in law and two small granddaughters. We liked it so much that on the drive home we discussed a repeat booking for next year – this time for for two or three weeks.

I had paid a £200 security deposit. The owners warned, unsurprisingly, that there would be a charge if the place was not left clean and tidy. And so it was. But they deducted £50 from the deposit, claimed, ludicrously, that it took two of them three hours to render the property fit for the next guests and that it would not have been ready for those guests had they not been late – even though they were not scheduled to arrive for six hours after we departed.

The catalogue of justification from the owners was mind boggling. OK, hands up, we may have missed a couple of things in the scramble to get out with kids by the 10am deadline. We did forget to clean the gas barbecue and there might have been the odd wine stain somewhere (though not on anything which couldn't have been wiped clean in a flash). And we did forget to mention breaking a small, very cheap wine glass, a slip about which I immediately emailed and apologised on return. But to suggest there was food and crumbs through the ground floor, when we had vacuum cleaned and mopped, was fatuous. And fingers marks on top of the TV? Do me a favour.

We didn't care about the £50, even if we did feel it had been deducted under false pretences. But we were upset and outraged by the pettiness of it all. You'll just have accept on trust the truth of what I write. However it is worth noting that we have rented upwards of 30 self catering properties for holidays over the years – the latest before this a lovely house on a lake in Maine (north east US) – and have never hear a whisper of complaint.

The question we asked most often as this nastiness festered in our minds was: how do they ever expect to get any repeat business. We would have reurned. We would have told our friends and relatives. Though they weren't to know this, I would have given them a glowing testimony. All lost. We remain bewildered.

Turkey holiday firm goes under

Tens of thousands of holidaymakers bound for Turkey saw their plans thrown into disarray today when specialist tour operator Holidays 4 UK ceased trading.

Around 13,000 of the Sussex-based company's customers were already in Turkey.

The firm, which traded as Holidays 4 U and Aegean Flights, had taken 20,000 or so forward bookings, but many of those will have been for more than one person, suggesting that the number left looking for refunds could be upwards of 40,000.

It is unusual for a tour operator to go under slap in the middle of the peak summer holiday season. The collapse is a symptom of the current, severe difficulties facing the travel industry with many consumers, nervous about the impact of the economic downturn on their jobs and finances, reluctant to splash out on holidays.

Customers now abroad should all be able to finish their holidays as planned. The Civil Aviation Authority will arrange for them to fly home. Those still due to go will get their money back from the Air Travel Trust Fund, set up through a levy on package holidays.

For further information customers can go to the CAA website at www.caa.co.uk

Swiss lift pass deal

Two lift passes for the price of one in Swiss resorts are on offer to customers booking holidays with Crystal by September 10. The deals represent savimngs of up to £280, says the operator.

Annoying extras earn airlines billions

How much money do airlines make out of those irritating extra charges for anything from checked bags to advance seat selection? New research shows that last year 47 of them earned a collective €15.11 billions – an increase of 38% over 2009 and almost double the total in 2008. It may not surprise you that These extras are known in the industry as ancillary revenue. When this is calculated as of as a percentage of total revenues airline flying from the UK figure prominently. Irish carrier Ryanair was third biggest earner among the airlines surveyed, making 22.6% of its income from ancillaries. Jet2.com was fourth with 22.1%, easyJet sixth with 19.2% and Flybe ninth with 15.7%. US airline Southwest, the grandfather of low cost carriers, was way down the list at 4.3%. But when it comes to extras per passenger Jet2.com beat its UK based rivals out of sight, earning €24.20 for every e more obvious cash cows such as sales of in flight food and drink. ticket it sold. Flybe and easyjet made €14.84 and €13.42 respectively. Surprisingly Ryanair earned only €10.90 per customer. One important footnote: the report, conducted by Wisconsin-based IdeaWorks and published by the computer reservations giant Amadeus, notes that they can include advertising sales, commission on hotel or care rental bookings, the sale of frequent flyer points to partner companies and other non fare income as well as the more obvious cash cows such as sales of in flight food and drink.

French self catering deals

Three bedroom villas in the South of France for £1640 a week – down from £4216 – will be on offer in the next sale from Langrange Holidays. The firm will also offer studio apartments in the Alpine spa town of Brides-les-Bains for £220 a week. The sale will run for two days from next Tuesday (August 9) Available properties will be listed on line from next Monday. Deals will be for one or two weeks starting on August 13 or one week starting the following weekend.

AITO suspends consumer promise

The Association of Independent Tour Operators has suspended its 100% financial protection guarantee to travellers amid concern that insurance companies could suddenly withdraw cover which ensures customers get their money back if members go bust. The move follows the withdrawal of cover from a schools skiing operator which ceased trading, leaving its clients out of pocket. AITO says the insurer blamed the operator for failing to disclose certain facts when organising its policy. The insurer was able to do so because of a badly drafted clause in the Package Travel Regulations which left open a previously undetected loophole. AITO says its individual member operators will continue to offer their own guarantees but that it cannot continue to do so as an association because of the remote possibility that customers of another company might be similarly hit. Many of those members hold bonds approved by the Civil Aviation Authority, which can be used to refund customers due to travel or rescue those abroad when company goes bust. Those companies and their clients are not affected. But 23 AITO member firms have resorted to the perfectly legal, Government sanctioned alternative of taking out insurance with the same aim. The Association is exploring ways of plugging the loophole and hopes suspension will be temporary. Meanwhile it has asked all relevant insurers to “sign in blood” confirmation that they will not cancel polices in similar fashion and will honour them if operators go under.