Technology does not stand still and there is no need to go to a travel agency to buy a tour. Everything can be done at home with a cup of tea and in your comfortable chair. All you need is internet and bank card.
Even in my 60 years I was able to figure everything out and buy a tour in the UAE, where I had wanted to go for a long time. Now I am writing you step-by-step instructions on how to buy a tour. Looking ahead, I will say that the trip was great, here my detailed review.
The content of the article
- one Preliminary search
- 2 Choosing a specific tour
- 3 Booking and payment
- 4 Receiving a package of documents
Preliminary search
We go to the website of the online store of tours Travelata.ru, where we are offered tours at prices of tour operators or below. And they even promise that «if you find a specific tour cheaper than ours, we will refund you the difference in double size» and what to do to make the difference back. It is tempting, but I could not verify this information, since the tour that I chose was the cheapest here..
We look at the Calendar of low prices for the current month or another period for the country where we want to buy a tour and determine the dates.
We also look at Popular destinations for a given period of time. Until you start the search, you can change the country to a cheaper one.
Choosing a specific tour
So, if we have decided on the dates and the country, we start the search. We apply filters (beach line, budget, hotel class, meals, etc.) We receive a list of tours, the price of which includes flight, transfer, hotel accommodation, meals, medical insurance).
Pay attention to the rating of the hotel and the number of reviews, for example: Rating 4.3 out of 5 (123 reviews).
View tour prices>
We also look at the distance from the airport. The duration of the transfer from the airport to the hotel depends on this, 30 minutes or 3 hours with arrivals to all hotels along the way. For those who travel for several days, it is undesirable to lose two times three hours.
We read reviews of real travelers and make a decision.
We select several tours we like and subscribe to the newsletter in order to catch a favorable price for these tours. Suggestions will be sent to your email until you unsubscribe.
If you have already found something suitable for yourself at this stage, then proceed to booking a tour and paying. If not, then we continue to search: we read the newsletter, monitor the prices, periodically go to Travelata and check if there is anything new.
Booking and payment
When the tour is selected, proceed to booking. I chose a tour for 5 nights at the four-star Al Bustan hotel in Sharjah for 41 377 rubles for two.
Hotel rating 4.4 is a good choice and reviews are ok too. Yes, Sharjah is not such a developed Emirate as Dubai or Abu Dhabi, but the price tag for tours is lower.
Ideally, do not slow down with the decision for too long, otherwise the price may change for the worse. As it was with me, the New Year was just around the corner. Quite lucrative offers go away pretty quickly, because many are already booking this way through the Internet in the way I described..
We fill in all the fields: full name, passport number, date of birth, etc. We add additional wishes to the order, if any. In principle, everything is standard, as with any purchases, such as airline tickets or insurance..
You have to pay with a bank card, I paid with a regular Sberbank card. Initially, you enter the card details to guarantee the reservation, that is, the amount is not debited, but frozen on the card. The money will be withdrawn from the card only when the tour operator confirms the tour.
Each stage is accompanied by an SMS alert and an email message.
IMPORTANT! A couple of minutes after creating an order, a booking sheet comes, which must be checked and unsubscribed about the correctness of filling in all your data.
Four hours later, a booking confirmation and a cashier's receipt arrived by e-mail. Very prompt.
Receiving a package of documents
Soon the whole package of documents was sent: itinerary receipts, insurance, voucher, tourist memo.
I ordered and paid for the tour on December 4, 2018, the documents came by email on December 6 with a preliminary SMS notification, three days before departure. This is even faster than promised, 1-2 days before departure. Checked and confirmed receipt. In general, it is convenient, notification at every stage (confirmed reservation, payment, sent documents).
In addition, an offer to add a paid service comes to the mail «Personal Travel Concierge» for 990 rubles if you feel insecure about the trip. The letter contains a list of services provided by the Personal Travel Concierge. But everyone decides for himself whether to use this service or not. To be honest, I doubt she's needed.
The site also has a free service, round-the-clock customer support, you can ask a question by phone, in social networks and instant messengers. This is a good thing, especially when you can write in Vatsap, because calling from abroad is expensive, and there is Internet in any hotel.
To be honest, there were no questions, since all the steps are very detailed on the site. «chewed». But I decided to check how quickly they would respond. I asked if it was possible to use free round-the-clock support already on the tour. I received an answer in a few minutes.
Documents on hand, you can fly. I had a charter flight with AZUR air. The day before I received an SMS confirming the departure time. In addition, you can go to the airline's website yourself https://www.azurair.ru/ and look at the online scoreboard and go through online registration.
See prices for tours in the UAE>
By the way, as of December 2018, online check-in was only possible from Russian cities, so on a return flight from the UAE, I had to check-in at Dubai airport. However, I still flew with my luggage, so it's not so important.
P.S. Read about how the tour went in my post. Go for it! If I figured it out myself and traveled perfectly, then you can too..
