 Poster: A snowHead
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@musher, shoot me now!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@chrisrawles, i guess by the fb post, you still have no answers?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@ansta1, Don't get me started! I have just got off the phone to them an been fobbed off with "We are still looking all the issues that occurred and will be sending letters out in due course". 23 days for a reply is just bad customer service full stop.
One of the managers is meant to be calling me back today but I bet this wont happen. I am so disappointed with them. Especially since my main reason for emailing them was not to do with the snow conditions on the day!.
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Bloody hell, over 30 mins on the phone again and good old "Sandra" is still not back from her 3hr lunch break. The advisor I was talking to was working from home and probably dunking biscuits while talking to me. Anyway I let fly (in a polite way) and told them a few things that I thought about them. I asked to speak to a manager about the cancellation charges for the next trip then suddenly my response to my initial email was being posted out tonight!
They are going to bend over backwards for me and attach a copy on email tonight. Is it really that difficult????
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Not that I'm overly bothered but it's now 22nd Jan and we got home from La Plagne on 2nd. We were told in the resort by the reps, and in two generic mass emails since we got home, that Crystal would be contacting everyone by telephone within 14 days of their return. So far no contact, quelle suprise!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Ravelin, Exactly. In fact I never received anything from Crystal. The girl I spoke to on the phone said they never put a time scale on the response times! Which i pointed out was wrong as they publicly announced they were hopeful of 14 days.
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Finally got a response from Crystal which as I suspected was a general cover letter sent to all customers affect. They did not even bother to address the main issues of food hygiene skills and other Chalet issues I had. 23 days they took to type that letter. wee wee poor customer service.
Guess i will be back on the phone later.
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@chrisrawles, I spent probably about 20 hours on hold or on the phone regarding my issue - and a few letters too. When I asked for the telephone transcripts of my booking phonecall (as this was where the sales person told me the creche was next to the hotel when it was actually the other side of the resort...far end of Bergers to the furthest other end in ALpe d'Huez). They sent me transcripts for every phonecall except the booking one. It was at this time that I decided I would not waste another minute on them. That booking was £11k. Theyve lost a fair bit in unmade bookings off me since.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I got a great nosh off a Crystal rep in Falaraki once.
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@cameronphillips2000, photo evidence or it didn't happen!!! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@cameronphillips2000, Male or Female? ( thought I'd get this in before anyone else does  )
Reps are useless to smutt in 2 steps !
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| ansta1 wrote: |
| @cameronphillips2000, photo evidence or it didn't happen!!! |
In all honesty, I've never been to Falaraki, or met a Crystal rep. I just thought I'd post a stupid statement to show how ludicrous this thread is.
Go on holiday and take responsibility for yourself. Reps are not foster parents whilst you're away. Toilets on coaches are there for long hauls, not for a couple of hour drive through the Alps. Go before you get on.
Reps are there for the skiing and the sex, not because they're paid to harbour any great amount of responsibility.
They can tell you where the chemist is, where to buy your lift pass and take you on a bar crawl. If you want more than that, hire your own PA/nannie/mother for the week.
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| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
| @chrisrawles, I spent probably about 20 hours on hold or on the phone regarding my issue - and a few letters too. When I asked for the telephone transcripts of my booking phonecall (as this was where the sales person told me the creche was next to the hotel when it was actually the other side of the resort...far end of Bergers to the furthest other end in ALpe d'Huez). They sent me transcripts for every phonecall except the booking one. It was at this time that I decided I would not waste another minute on them. That booking was £11k. Theyve lost a fair bit in unmade bookings off me since. |
One might suggest you've wasted many, many more minutes on them on this thread.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Dav, Yes I know!. I have decided to just let it go. If I get a further response from my mail yesterday then great, if not then the next trip with them next month better be good!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@cameronphillips2000, good lad!
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Poster: A snowHead
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A wise old chines man once said , hind sight is a wonderful thing
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dav, ah but these are fun minutes  the ones on hold to crystal customer services certainly weren't.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Here's a current advertisement for Saturday Reps
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I`m looking for 3 airport reps to work at CMF airport for the next few weeks.
Must be switched on, very presentable (can shave and comb hair on a Friday night), have black footwear and posses a smile. No facial piercings.
Job includes
- Repping a coach to and from the airport - resort speeches, selling of ski equipment and giving resort info
- Working smilie doors - when customers arrive you greet them and give them directions to their coach.
- Seeing off coaches - you give a brief of the resort and transfer time and take a few vital details
- helping customers fill in lost luggage forms.
The job is very easy however quite repetitive and its a long day.
70 Euros (cash in hand) for the day - transport from your resort (aprox 4am) and back (aprox 19.30, depending on delays).
Give me a shout if interested. |
So approx €5/hr
Has this company not heard of Minimum wage ?
Has this company not heard of Tax & NI ?
No mention of a mobile phone, so now you know why the Reps are not very well informed 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@stewart woodward, was this written on the back of a fag packet and stuck on the hostel notice board?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Wher do I apply?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| dode wrote: |
| @stewart woodward, was this written on the back of a fag packet and stuck on the hostel notice board? |
Facebook
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I have zero complaints about the Crystal Reps in La Tania, they already organised a hotel in Albertville and asked me about potential Airports for me to be flown back to the next day after the potential fire in the channel tunnel, they even apologised to me for the inconvenience it was causing me!
Thankfully in the end, the Eurostar night train ran, arrived into St Pancras 20 minutes early and I was back in Darlington at quarter past 1 in the afternoon.
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| cameronphillips2000 wrote: |
..........Go on holiday and take responsibility for yourself. Reps are not foster parents whilst you're away. Toilets on coaches are there for long hauls, not for a couple of hour drive through the Alps. Go before you get on.
Reps are there for the skiing and the sex, not because they're paid to harbour any great amount of responsibility.
They can tell you where the chemist is, where to buy your lift pass and take you on a bar crawl. If you want more than that, hire your own PA/nannie/mother for the week. |
But that is not what the TOs tell you when booking. They promote a service where you will be taken care off so you can forget all your concerns and worries and leave it all to the 'experts'.
I have never had a problem with a Crystal rep. But we experienced the company's poor customer service some years ago. Would never use them again. Our group has now spent 50K plus in the subsequent years with anyone other than Crystal.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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[quote="Mr Marmot"][quote="cameronphillips2000"]
But that is not what the TOs tell you when booking. They promote a service where you will be taken care off so you can forget all your concerns and worries and leave it all to the 'experts'.
In that case, it's about managing expectations. A package deal is a package deal.I rarely use package deals but, when I do, I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see a rep as I've never really seen the point in them. A decent set of instructions given to customers, bus drivers and hotel managers and the whole thing could work very well without them.
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@cameronphillips2000, it's a fair point but no. You'll be amazed at the amount of utter imbeciles who check their brain in with their luggage at the airport and need to be spoon fed every single minor detail while away. It's truly something to behold how presumably reasonably intelligent adults get so utterly befuddled by so trivial items such as actually picking up their luggage from the carousel in arrivals through to not being able to find a ski shop that is literally opposite their accommodation. Some people really do need to have their hand held all the way from arrival to departure. I wish I was kidding, but sadly I'm not!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Dav wrote: |
| @cameronphillips2000, it's a fair point but no. You'll be amazed at the amount of utter imbeciles who check their brain in with their luggage at the airport and need to be spoon fed every single minor detail while away. It's truly something to behold how presumably reasonably intelligent adults get so utterly befuddled by so trivial items such as actually picking up their luggage from the carousel in arrivals through to not being able to find a ski shop that is literally opposite their accommodation. Some people really do need to have their hand held all the way from arrival to departure. I wish I was kidding, but sadly I'm not! |
Fair point. As Einstein once said "The only thing that's infinite is the scope for human stupidity"
actually, I'm not amazed, just saddened.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Mr Marmot wrote: |
| cameronphillips2000 wrote: |
..........Go on holiday and take responsibility for yourself. Reps are not foster parents whilst you're away. Toilets on coaches are there for long hauls, not for a couple of hour drive through the Alps. Go before you get on.
Reps are there for the skiing and the sex, not because they're paid to harbour any great amount of responsibility.
They can tell you where the chemist is, where to buy your lift pass and take you on a bar crawl. If you want more than that, hire your own PA/nannie/mother for the week. |
But that is not what the TOs tell you when booking. They promote a service where you will be taken care off so you can forget all your concerns and worries and leave it all to the 'experts'.
I have never had a problem with a Crystal rep. But we experienced the company's poor customer service some years ago. Would never use them again. Our group has now spent 50K plus in the subsequent years with anyone other than Crystal. |
After the way they treated us, its this kind of post that makes me smile...as I hope someone from Crystal reads this and starts re-thinking their business plan. Its so easy to research and organise DIY trips these days that they really do need to up their game.
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| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
| After the way they treated us, its this kind of post that makes me smile...as I hope someone from Crystal reads this and starts re-thinking their business plan. Its so easy to research and organise DIY trips these days that they really do need to up their game. |
You seem to be taking your disappointment with them really, really badly. It's like you're on a crusade to stop them from getting business. From something that happened six years ago.
I've been going on tour operator holidays for 20 years now. I've worked for tour ops too, for 2 seasons. On holidays I've had great experiences for the most part, 1 bad holiday with Crystal, 1 exceptionally terrible one with Neilson.
My opinion? Get on with it. I'd book with any of them again. They're all the market leaders for a pretty good reason; they get much more right than they get wrong, and to suggest otherwise is lunacy.
Don't like TOs? Fine, go DIY. Or go someone else, you'll get a similar service (unless you pay double and of course you'll get a better service)
Quite why there's an overt tendency to prove a point about a disappointing holiday 6 years ago, that smacks of bitterness to me.
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You know it makes sense.
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I went for a crystal interview day for resort rep in September last year and never made it through the second stage. I should point out that I'm 44 and on a year out having run my own business for the past 15 years. Clearly I wasn't the right calibre to be considered to be a rep for them and it was a relief to be rejected as I knew it wasn't the company for me. I'm now working for a small independent company that values the fact I have some common sense, life experience and go overboard for our guests. It's hard work but good fun at the same time.
I'm sure there are some very good crystal reps but on that interview day they seemed to take on the people who were the loudest and could deliver the best rehearsed speech, whist selling ski packs.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Davecon70 wrote: |
I went for a crystal interview day for resort rep in September last year and never made it through the second stage. I should point out that I'm 44 and on a year out having run my own business for the past 15 years. Clearly I wasn't the right calibre to be considered to be a rep for them and it was a relief to be rejected as I knew it wasn't the company for me. I'm now working for a small independent company that values the fact I have some common sense, life experience and go overboard for our guests. It's hard work but good fun at the same time.
I'm sure there are some very good crystal reps but on that interview day they seemed to take on the people who were the loudest and could deliver the best rehearsed speech, whist selling ski packs. |
Dave. I was 36 years old when I interviewed for Crystal, and had owned my own business for 11 years, and like you I was looking for a year out. They accepted me with open arms. I went to Les Arcs, I roomed in a 4 bed apartment with lads who were 21, 22, 27 and me. I loved it.
Last year in Sauze, we had Crystal rep who was 43.
Sometimes you don't make it. Don't take it out on the company who reject you.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Whoops. I didn't me to sound as if i was taking it out on the Crystal. Had I not been rejected I wouldn't have ended up with the company I'm with now. I didn't feel comfortable with the set up so things worked out for the best.
I have to say that in all the years I've been on large tour operator holidays I've rarely had a good resort rep. Just my own observation but one which I think a lot of people would agree with.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Davecon70 wrote: |
Whoops. I didn't me to sound as if i was taking it out on the Crystal. Had I not been rejected I wouldn't have ended up with the company I'm with now. I didn't feel comfortable with the set up so things worked out for the best.
I have to say that in all the years I've been on large tour operator holidays I've rarely had a good resort rep. Just my own observation but one which I think a lot of people would agree with. |
Again, speak for yourself pal. I'm 40 years old and I've been going out tour op holidays for 20+ years. Most of the reps have been perfectly fine for me. The odd very bad exception of course. I'm yet to meet someone who would say they have rarely had a good rep. Apart from you.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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TO reps are like insurance. You've no idea if they're good or bad unless you need to use them for some reason or other. I'd guess most snowHeads who go with TOs don't.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
I'm yet to meet someone who would say they have rarely had a good rep.
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Well isn't this your lucky day. Now you've met two.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Dav wrote: |
| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
| After the way they treated us, its this kind of post that makes me smile...as I hope someone from Crystal reads this and starts re-thinking their business plan. Its so easy to research and organise DIY trips these days that they really do need to up their game. |
You seem to be taking your disappointment with them really, really badly. It's like you're on a crusade to stop them from getting business. From something that happened six years ago.
I've been going on tour operator holidays for 20 years now. I've worked for tour ops too, for 2 seasons. On holidays I've had great experiences for the most part, 1 bad holiday with Crystal, 1 exceptionally terrible one with Neilson.
My opinion? Get on with it. I'd book with any of them again. They're all the market leaders for a pretty good reason; they get much more right than they get wrong, and to suggest otherwise is lunacy.
Don't like TOs? Fine, go DIY. Or go someone else, you'll get a similar service (unless you pay double and of course you'll get a better service)
Quite why there's an overt tendency to prove a point about a disappointing holiday 6 years ago, that smacks of bitterness to me. |
Im not bitter at all. It happened, they didnt care, I moved on. When other people are treated badly by them then those people whole heartedly have my support and sympathy. This is not about receiving bad service...you are right that that can happen despite the best of intentions. What matters is how a company tries to deal with, rectify and learn from those problems. In my case, Crystal did not give a toss...so I can understand other peoples frustrations. Ive worked in the service industry for many many years, their customer service is shocking.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| mozwold wrote: |
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I'm yet to meet someone who would say they have rarely had a good rep.
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Well isn't this your lucky day. Now you've met two. |
3 in one day!!!
Have to agree the only reps I have met (both Summer and Winter hols) are the ones who are trying to sell you stuff at the start of the holiday and then you never see them again. Ive also had loads of TO hols where I havent seen a rep at all.
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Maybe TOs should charge a premium for special packages and call it 'We're pretty f****** useless and need our hand held every step of the way'
I've never been a rep, don't work in the industry but keep it real folks. You go with a TO because they buy accommodation, flights and transfers in bulk allow you significant savings when it's all put together. You are not children on a school trip who need looking after.
There is a massive disease in this country called 'Looking for someone to blame when something goes wrong' - Look at the BBC website and see how obsessed they are with enquiries into past events.
Get over it and move on!
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I stand corrected then but I still think there's a big scope for improvement. I also agree with:
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Have to agree the only reps I have met (both Summer and Winter hols) are the ones who are trying to sell you stuff at the start of the holiday and then you never see them again. Ive also had loads of TO hols where I havent seen a rep at all
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anyway it's been snowing and i'm on breakfast duty now.....
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
I've never been a rep, don't work in the industry but keep it real folks. You go with a TO because they buy accommodation, flights and transfers in bulk allow you significant savings when it's all put together. You are not children on a school trip who need looking after.
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IMO you are wrong here. Many people go with TO because they want the added security of being covered by ABTA and ATOL and have the added protection of it being a package holiday.
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| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
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I've never been a rep, don't work in the industry but keep it real folks. You go with a TO because they buy accommodation, flights and transfers in bulk allow you significant savings when it's all put together. You are not children on a school trip who need looking after.
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IMO you are wrong here. Many people go with TO because they want the added security of being covered by ABTA and ATOL and have the added protection of it being a package holiday. |
You believe that TO packages underwritten by ABTA and ATOL give buyers the right to behave like infants who need mollycoddling ?
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FAQ
