DIY HOLIDAY - had any problems?

what do you do if become ill or have to return home?

or have you had any other problems needing sorting out

without the help of a rep.

To be honest all the reps I have dealt with in the past have been useless. If you fall ill your insurance company will take over for you (provided you have good cover). for the past 20 years we have been doing DIY holidays all over the world and never had a problem. That includes travelling with disabled and sick children too.


<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by tezz7628
what do you do if become ill or have to return home?

or have you had any other problems needing sorting out

without the help of a rep.
[/quote]

we did DIY for florida and was panicky the first time as we didnt understand how everything worked there, all was perfect the 1st, 2nd and the 3rd time i was in hospital and i have learnt from that episode, i usually have my travel documents on me but this particular holiday i had put them in the bottom of my case and didnt say to anyone where they were, it came back to haunt us for about 4-5 months now if we took them in my hand luggage we couldve presented as and when they were needed so lesson learnt, all is great doing DIY.............reps arent that helpful when really needed anyway!!!

If it is a Florida DIY I have found that the local Management Company have been very good in helping out with advice and support.

I know several owners have had guests that have been "in difficulties" and have found their MC very good support.

On two of our Florida holidays we have had to seek medical attention. The first time I awoke and looked in the bathroom mirror to find a very spotty person looking back at me - chickenpox! I went to the local hospital (Heart of Florida on US27) A&E and they assessed me and gave me a prescription for anti-viral medication. I gave them my insurance details and they organised everything, all I had to do was pay the excess which the insurers asked me for when we returned. (lovely A&E BTW!)

The second time we had forgotten to take some regular medication with us - again a trip to the Heart of Florida A&E and a prescription later we were sorted. This time we paid everything ourselves as it was our fault that we didn't have the medication and we did not feel that it was appropriate to claim on the insurance.

I think that, just as with organising the holiday, DIY-ing it means that you are in control of the situation and you can access the resources required for any situation. A little bit of common sense and thinking through of the situation is all that is needed. I also think that by taking control of your holiday any problem will get resolved much more quickly than when you rely upon a rep. This problem is the priority for you to resolve, who knows where your problem figures with the rep?

we have decided never to book thru travel agent ever again when visiting popular places like Florida, New York, Las Vegas, Paris e.t.c. You book the flight yourself If you rent the villa yourself, (especially thru a good site like this one) the owners or the management will sort our any problems that may arise. You also tend to get better standard of villas. Always have travel insurance, car hire insurance (all in the same folder as tickets and passports. You get better value, you can check the standard of the villa, hotel or car, you choose what you want yourself. Before deciding on a hotel or resort check at tripadvisor dot com for comments of people who have stayed there. All the resorts for villas and hotels are there.
Best of all, you get it cheaper.

One good example was once trying to book first trip to Las Vegas thru a travel agent who tried to convince us that Circus Circus 3* was the best hotel on the strip (looked stunning on the brochure) I then decided to check [website edited], to see peoples opinion, found out it was the worst one on teh strip that smells of [bad language edited out] and sick. Decided to book ourself and booked the Venetian 5* and it was about £500 cheaper than the price they gave for all of us. The most important things not to forget are Life insurance and car hire insurance.

Also this is what site like this are for to ask questions. No question is silly or too simple, people will answer you nicely without bing snobbish (like some sites -wont name names)and give you good advice.

Good Luck. We leave in 6 days time

I would agree that reps are not up to much when there's a real problem needs sorted out, don't have any experience of them in Florida mind you, just in Europe. Our management company were a god-send when our villa ceiling fell in during Hurricane Frances - they had us re-housed within hours. One year in Turkey our apartment was crawling with critters of some kind ( the biting sort!) and the rep said he couldn't find us another place - in the whole resort!!

There are clinic all over FLORIDA for advice if need and they will advice you if you need to go to hospical ,also in your villa will be a management book with phone numbers for all local places and the managemenet will help .
Enjoy your holiday .
MAUREEN
www.onlinefloridavillas.com/villas/1683.aspx

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by MTP
The second time we had forgotten to take some regular medication with us - again a trip to the Heart of Florida A&E and a prescription later we were sorted. This time we paid everything ourselves as it was our fault that we didn't have the medication and we did not feel that it was appropriate to claim on the insurance.[/quote]I'm so glad someone else has done this Euan as it makes me feel better about our trip before last when my Mum miscalculated her (essential) tablets and ran out with another three weeks to go in Florida. Unfortunately, her exact medication isn't available in the US so she ended up with a substitute. Make a note everyone that you've calculated your medication to cover your holiday (plus a bit more in case of delays)!

We've been on two holidays with reps to Florida when we first came here a long time ago. Apart from the welcome meeting where they were anxious to sell excursions, we never saw them again and they disappeared into the ether. No contact details left either.

As suggested above, management companies have probably seen most holiday emergencies and can help you with advice. Unlike reps, they provide 24/7 emergency call out service and should never mind you contacting them at 3 am with a genuine emergency - as long as it's not to tell them something like that the fridge isn't working!

You can always contact an owner if there are internet facilities in the home where you're staying. They also have probably come across most emergency/problem situations, are experts on their community area and can provide advice. We have an emergency help info service which covers most potential occurences from weather to insect bites with our online assistance so you'd just need to surf - if we haven't heard of it, we'll find out for you.

So there's a much wider network of info by DIY than there probably is by going with a company with a rep.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jtijani
we have decided never to book thru travel agent ever again when visiting popular places like Florida, New York, Las Vegas, Paris e.t.c. You book the flight yourself If you rent the villa yourself, (especially thru a good site like this one) the owners or the management will sort our any problems that may arise. You also tend to get better standard of villas. Always have travel insurance, car hire insurance (all in the same folder as tickets and passports. You get better value, you can check the standard of the villa, hotel or car, you choose what you want yourself. Before deciding on a hotel or resort check at tripadvisor dot com for comments of people who have stayed there. All the resorts for villas and hotels are there.
Best of all, you get it cheaper.

One good example was once trying to book first trip to Las Vegas thru a travel agent who tried to convince us that Circus Circus 3* was the best hotel on the strip (looked stunning on the brochure) I then decided to check [website edited], to see peoples opinion, found out it was the worst one on teh strip that smells of [bad language edited out] and sick. Decided to book ourself and booked the Venetian 5* and it was about £500 cheaper than the price they gave for all of us. The most important things not to forget are Life insurance and car hire insurance.

Also this is what site like this are for to ask questions. No question is silly or too simple, people will answer you nicely without bing snobbish (like some sites -wont name names)and give you good advice.

Good Luck. We leave in 6 days time
[/quote]

i totally echo this, we booked for the firt time through vigin for a fly drive and then our own choice of villa and everything went extremely well

we are back out in march and this time we booked everything seperately, i like the freedom of choice that independence gives you

i'm now another who will never use a travel agent again, with the internet as a fantastic resource at your fingertips, why bother?

we did brussels on our own in the summer with no problems and disneyland paris too

now i'm just wanting to find a site similar to this for villas in Italy, i'm thinking next sept/oct, although haven't told dh yet[msnwink]

Mizzy