What a shambles

I have just booked a group fly/stay holiday with Norman Allen Travel Group, value £15,000 plus, after Condor Ferries took 11 months to release their ferry timetables for Easter 2012. I contacted Premier Holidays in January 2011, and had received an acceptable quotation from them to holiday for a week in Guernsey. However, they were unable to confirm ferry schedules because of Condor Ferries. I contacted Condor, who stated that they in turn leased one of the ferries to Brittany Ferries and were waiting for them. The whole thing is a shambles, and has ended up with Premier Holidays losing a sizeable chunk of group business - and after all its efforts, cost, and time promoting ferry travel - beware the enemy within.

Andy Booth
Sainsbury’s Staff Association
Hertfordshire

In response to Andy’s letter, Graham Hopcraft, groups sales manager at Condor Ferries, said:

Condor Ferries is committed to the group travel market and works with many operators to deliver a tailored service for group travel clients.

Confirming the sailing schedules is a complex process, involving many of our partner organisations, including the States of Jersey and Guernsey alongside the UK ports and harbour authorities. As soon as the 2012 timetable was confirmed in late November 2011, details were made available to travel operators and published on our website.

We are working closely with our trade partners, and are delighted that allocations for group travel in 2012 are up by around 20 per cent on 2011.