Price comparison is made difficult by hidden charges. sletoh displays the prices that supplier websites give to us but some websites exclude local country tax (VAT in the UK), credit card charges and other fees. Its similar to the airlines adding on fees for priority boarding, meals, baggage and even sitting next to each other – but that’s another can of worms for a separate blog!

In this entry I am going to focus on the after sales part of the equation and what happens when you want to speak to the website you booked with. Is it in the same country or do you have to call abroad at great expense? The scope of this matter is very wide so I am going to limit this blog to UK based websites and UK based customers. How much does it cost to call your travel company?

0870 Numbers

A friend of mine complained to me that he spent 45 minutes calling his bank to have an incorrect £11 fee removed from his account. The call cost him dear and a portion of it goes into the banks already bulging coffers. Its no wonder the banks are making record profits when they hide behind semi-premium rate numbers, keeping their customers waiting whilst clocking up more revenue.

0870 numbers are a problem because on average they cost a lot more than calling a normal UK phone number such as 0207 (London), 01422 (Halifax), 0113 (Leeds). 0870 are also excluded from most free call plans on mobile phones and landlines. Whenever you call 0870 and its cousins 0845, 0871 you are paying more than you should for the call.

Sadly, all but one of the websites that sletoh currently compares use 0870 numbers:

  • ActiveHotels – 0870 7120689
  • diytravel – 020 7183 7183
  • Laterooms – 0870 300 6969
  • OctopusTravel – 0870 1624033 or 020 7760 6051
  • Superbreak – 0870 234 0354

I had a scout round the web and found more companies using 0870 and profiting from customers calls:

  • reserveahotelonline – 0870 4215081
  • Alpharooms – 0871 911 0030 or 0200 200 9366
  • HolidayNights – 0870 027 2096

This is very disappointing! The use of 0870, 0871 is widespread in the travel industry and its not just for after sales care as I thought it would be – its for sales lines too. As soon as you make an enquiry with many of these companies you are paying too much for the phone call.

If you know of any other UK based travel websites that I should add to this list, please add a comment to this blog.