The location: Kingston Upon Thames and New Malden
The brief: A couple want to book a few days in the south of France in July, travelling by rail. The budget is around £750 for five nights. They are flexible on destination, but want sun, culture and good food.
The verdict: Most agents relied on brochures for this enquiry, but Flight Centre won because of the extra effort the agent put into researching the request.
Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook4 Church Street, Kingston upon Thames
Score: 51%
The consultant was polite and warmed up as time went on, but her enthusiasm was very low. After explaining the request, I was given two brochures: Cresta France and Inghams Just France 2010. All of the holidays in the brochure were over budget, but the consultant said they would be able to get the trains cheaper, via Trainseurope.
She also offered to make the train and hotel one product, which would probably work out cheaper than buying them separately. No product was really recommended and it appeared the consultant expected me to read through the brochures and decide for myself.
The agency scored well for appearance, but the agent lost marks due to lack of advice and apparent lack of product knowledge.
Travel Harbour
Travel Harbour180-186 Kingston Road, New Malden
Score: 53%
The agency isn’t situated in a central retail area and is on a busy road. Outside it looked a bit tired. Inside the brochures are laid out in an accessible way.
The consultant was polite, professional and answered all questions honestly, but no service was really provided. Although she had some knowledge about the south of France and was able to suggest a few places, it did not seem as if she was working towards selling me a holiday, but simply giving out brochures.
The agent didn’t offer more than what was in the brochures, which were Cresta’s France and Cities brochures. She suggested searching online might be better suited to this request.
Thomson
Thomson109 High Street, New Malden
Score: 61%
The agent was friendly, welcoming and eager. She confessed she didn’t know much about France and said the agency didn’t have a broad range of hotels and packages because demand was low.
Despite this, she did well in convincing me that booking a holiday with Thomson would relieve some of the stress should anything go wrong, and that Thomson would fix most problems.
At first glance, the brochure she gave me, which was Superbreak’s ‘Cities’ brochure, seemed inadequate, but when I read it later I found there were a few potential hotels.
Overall, the service was better and the agent had a friendlier demeanour than the two lower scoring competitors.
Flight Centre
Flight Centre51 Fife Road, Kingston upon Thames
Score: 87%
The consultant could not have been more eager to help, was exceedingly amiable at all times and went to a lot of effort. She had researched suitable locations online to fit my criteria and among her suggestions were Marseille, Bordeaux, and Toulouse.
She hadn’t managed to do all the research before I arrived, so I had to sit and wait a while as she looked through the information online and looked at Eurostar times and prices.
However, she clearly understood the type of holiday I was looking for and printed off the two best hotel options for me – these were excellent choices that fitted my request.
Quotes included the Hotel Continental in Bordeaux at £230 per for five nights including breakfast, leaving enough money for Eurostar costs.
Winning agent: Sarah-Jane Mulryan, international travel consultant
“Mystery Shopper gave me a really interesting brief and I enjoyed doing the research.
“When she came in I gave her a few options to choose from and put the trains together with a lovely boutique hotel. I can certainly suggest this itinerary for future South of France enquiries.”
Tips: Selling France
- Destinations that are easy to reach by train in the south of France include Aix- en-Provence, Nîmes, Montpellier, Marseille and Toulouse.
- These destinations can be reached via Eurostar from Kings Cross St Pancras in London, changing at Lille in France to a TGV to the south of France.
- A typical journey from London to Aix-en-Provence takes just over six and a half hours. If the Eurostar journey is disrupted and customers miss their connection at Lille, they can use the ‘hop on next’ service and just get on the next one.
- Eurostar is changing the name of Leisure Select class to Standard Premier, where customers are offered food and refreshments during their journey.
- For access to resort and hotel reviews on the south of France susbcribe to gazetteers.com.