Is Viva holidays a scam?
Firstly, I am one of them people who relies on review websites, my search history is usually full of websites such as Trip advisor and Feefo. However I decided to go against my usual ways for once..
Me and my partner decided after a tough year completing my teaching degree and a tough year of him putting up with me completing my teaching degree, we would book a three week summer holiday. Around this time our friend told us about a company called 'Viva Holidays' his exact words were "it's called viva holidays, don't know if its real or not though" - this gave us loads of hope as you can imagine. I thought I'd check it out for myself and at first glance I thought our friend was completely right to presume this company is a scam. When you first go on to the viva holiday's website you'll see some really cheap deals, ridiculously cheap and this is actually a bit of a put off. The Website also seem to use stock photos to sell their holidays, them sort of photos that look fake and could have been taken from google images you know the ones. So, I decided to investigate further *inspector gadget music plays*...
Viva holiday's full name is Viva Tours and Travel Ltd. It is an accredited body member of Hays Travel Limited (their website is - https://www.viva-holidays.co.uk). Anyone ever heard of this company before? no, me neither.
I did the standard https://www.google.com search 'is viva holidays a scam?' and some of the comments I found were worrying to say the least. People were writing on the review websites with comments such as "AVOID AT ALL COSTS" and "DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD THEY SAY" very, very off-putting. For some crazy reason we decided to book anyway (the bargain prices got the better of me). But joking aside, I knew this could have been a bit of a risk but something said for me to book it and to our surprise viva holidays provided me and my partner with a holiday of a life time!!
The first agent I spoke to over the phone was the woman (Kamilla) I ended up booking the holiday with, don't get me wrong we didn't book on the first phone call (oh no no, the very opposite). I first called to enquire about a particular holiday they advertised on their website to Dubai, Hong Kong and Thailand for 2 weeks, hotel and flights included, the price was £999. The very polite and VERY patient lady on the phone informed me that she could adjust the holiday to suit us (I say patient because this woman truly must have been sick of my voice by the time we actually booked - I'd say around 20+ phone calls she endured). So we decided to do just what she suggest and adjusted the holiday to suit, we asked if Kamilla could plan a 3 week trip instead of a 2 week trip, we wanted to travel to to Dubai, Hong Kong, and Thailand but instead of the one destination in Thailand, we wanted 3 destinations instead - Phuket, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. We also had really specific dates for when we wanted to go away so she had to work around this. Off Kamilla went to plan our holiday, she came back with the exact dates we wanted, to the exact destinations we wanted, with the quote of £1699 per person. Yes, £1699.. 7 flights, 5 hotels, 2 ferrys and 8 transfers. Yes please.
Let's be clear, this is a lot money but for what you're getting it's a bargain, you'd pay this much for a one destination, 2 week all inclusive holiday. In the end we actually paid £1600 per person, she did the "if you book now I can give it to you for this price" - great technique Kamilla.
5 months later we hadn't been scammed and were boarding our Manchester to Dubai flight. Up until this point I was pretty sceptical as to whether the holiday would actually go to plan or if we were even booked on the holiday for that matter, but we was and I can honestly say that viva holidays provided myself and my partner with the best holiday we've had yet.
The company kept in contact with us right up until our flight, they sent us our holiday documents well in advance, they also sent us their terms and conditions and their ATOL certificate straight after booking.
The reason I've made this blog is because so many of my friends have asked who we booked our multi-destination holiday with. Most people have said "wow I bet that was expensive wasn't it?" well yeah it was, but not as expensive as you'd think. I want other people to be able to go on their holiday without spending every penny they've ever earned. I also want people who are dubious about booking with viva holidays to have some faith, I was in your shoes googling the exact same thing. My advice to you is do your research and book the holiday (I promise I haven't been sponsored by viva holidays for this blog).
Tips for booking your holiday with viva holidays:
I did the standard https://www.google.com search 'is viva holidays a scam?' and some of the comments I found were worrying to say the least. People were writing on the review websites with comments such as "AVOID AT ALL COSTS" and "DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD THEY SAY" very, very off-putting. For some crazy reason we decided to book anyway (the bargain prices got the better of me). But joking aside, I knew this could have been a bit of a risk but something said for me to book it and to our surprise viva holidays provided me and my partner with a holiday of a life time!!
The first agent I spoke to over the phone was the woman (Kamilla) I ended up booking the holiday with, don't get me wrong we didn't book on the first phone call (oh no no, the very opposite). I first called to enquire about a particular holiday they advertised on their website to Dubai, Hong Kong and Thailand for 2 weeks, hotel and flights included, the price was £999. The very polite and VERY patient lady on the phone informed me that she could adjust the holiday to suit us (I say patient because this woman truly must have been sick of my voice by the time we actually booked - I'd say around 20+ phone calls she endured). So we decided to do just what she suggest and adjusted the holiday to suit, we asked if Kamilla could plan a 3 week trip instead of a 2 week trip, we wanted to travel to to Dubai, Hong Kong, and Thailand but instead of the one destination in Thailand, we wanted 3 destinations instead - Phuket, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. We also had really specific dates for when we wanted to go away so she had to work around this. Off Kamilla went to plan our holiday, she came back with the exact dates we wanted, to the exact destinations we wanted, with the quote of £1699 per person. Yes, £1699.. 7 flights, 5 hotels, 2 ferrys and 8 transfers. Yes please.
Let's be clear, this is a lot money but for what you're getting it's a bargain, you'd pay this much for a one destination, 2 week all inclusive holiday. In the end we actually paid £1600 per person, she did the "if you book now I can give it to you for this price" - great technique Kamilla.
5 months later we hadn't been scammed and were boarding our Manchester to Dubai flight. Up until this point I was pretty sceptical as to whether the holiday would actually go to plan or if we were even booked on the holiday for that matter, but we was and I can honestly say that viva holidays provided myself and my partner with the best holiday we've had yet.
The company kept in contact with us right up until our flight, they sent us our holiday documents well in advance, they also sent us their terms and conditions and their ATOL certificate straight after booking.
The reason I've made this blog is because so many of my friends have asked who we booked our multi-destination holiday with. Most people have said "wow I bet that was expensive wasn't it?" well yeah it was, but not as expensive as you'd think. I want other people to be able to go on their holiday without spending every penny they've ever earned. I also want people who are dubious about booking with viva holidays to have some faith, I was in your shoes googling the exact same thing. My advice to you is do your research and book the holiday (I promise I haven't been sponsored by viva holidays for this blog).
Tips for booking your holiday with viva holidays:
- Adjust the holiday to your own preference, if you want to add a destination add it! (we regret not making our holiday longer and seeing more places, so take advantage)
- If you don't like the look of one of the hotels change it (I looked in depth at most of the hotels bar one in Koh Samui - we ended up actually booking another hotel when we got there)
- Ask for your transfers to be included in the quotes if you want them, other wise they won't be.
- Ask for early check ins to your hotels especially if you've been on a night flight. We didn't have to ask, Kamilla had already done it for us, but the sales agents may not always do this.
- Be cheeky, ask if the price can be cheaper! What's to loose?
- Whilst on the subject of being cheeky, email all of your hotels and ask for a free upgrade. We were upgraded for free in all hotels bar 1.
- Double check your holiday vouchers are all correct. Particularly the transfers, be sure that they are collecting you from the right places and at the right times.
- Don't book until you are completely happy with your holiday, don't be afraid to ring lots of times to double check things.
- Research the exact location of your hotel, ask friends, ask google, ask me. (This is important if you don't want to be completely out of the way or completely in it).
- Try to book on a week day as prices always seem to be lowered, particularly on a Wednesday it seems.
- Before committing to your holiday, make sure of the dates you leave and arrive home. (handy tip is to arrive home on a weekend if you work mon-fri as this gives you the weekend to sleep and recover).
- Really consider if you want a night flight or a day flight if you are travelling far (we struggled to sleep on the night flights even with comfy emirates planes)
- Check in early and get that window seat!
- Do not swap seats with strangers when your on the flight. (If you do this you might end up like us and have a lady being sick next to you the whole time whilst being sat in your window seat- this is a story for another day).
- For the vegetarians - book in flight meals in advance but do not book the raw vegetarian option on the emirates flights unless you're happy with a plate of basic salad and a side of basic salad oh and an apple for dessert.
- Have faith in Viva holidays.
Dubai Mall - June 2018
Hong Kong Victoria Peak - June 2018
Phi Phi island tour from Phuket- July 2018
Koh Phangan Nikki Beach- July 2018
Koh Samui Big Buddha temple - July 2018
Thanks for reading.
Josie
X
Love this! I wanna know more about do's and donts when travelling. Most importantly how did you fit 3 weeks worth of clothes in one case etc! Xx
ReplyDeleteThank you! you'd be surprised, I ended up packing way too much! I've got some hints and tips for that, and for getting free extra baggage allowance, ill do a blog. X
DeleteAmazing blog Josie. I will be sure to check these out xxx
ReplyDelete