Another one of those loca trave agencies with all of the offers up in the window to tempt you as…read moreyou walk past.

Blue Skies specialises in tailor made holidays - especially in the Far East, USA & Canada, Dubai,…read moreAustralia & New Zealand, and the Caribbean. They are keen to emphasise the fact that they are NOT one of the many travel agents owned by tour operators who need to sell their own packages. Instead, they can give you impartial advice and put together bespoke, multi-centre holidays and cruises that suit you, looking at a wide range of options and suppliers. You can go to them with a list of destinations you'd like to visit, for example, and they'll come up with a proposed travel itinerary to suit. Or if you're getting married and want a foreign wedding, you can ask them to help you create your dream wedding abroad, suggesting locations ranging from luxury beach resorts in tropical destinations to USA cities such as New York. They can also set up a a Wedding and Honeymoon Fund where your guests can contribute to paying for your honeymoon rather than buying items off a traditional wedding gift list. Their confusing and poorly designed website is unlikely to fill you with confidence, but having made a call to them to ask for some ideas about a multi-centre holiday I found them very friendly and helpful - so perhaps they're busy channelling their energy into good service and customer care rather than their company web design? As they say on their website, their reputation "means a great deal" - and for local travel agents word of mouth recommendations must be of huge importance. You can follow them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Whitchurch-United-Kingdom/Blue-Skies-Travel/138144371865?ref=ts

Excellent service! Alex the manager organised everything for us and gave very good advice when…read moreasked. I highly recommend this travel company and will definitely use them again. There are parking facilities behind the agents premises and the staff inside are all helpful and very pleasant.

I bought my flight to India last year with Co-op Travel... they were amazing! I normally buy all of…read moremy flights over the internet, but called into the Co-op on a whim one day, just to see how competitive they could be... I had no intention of booking a flight through them at the time. I'm pretty well versed in buying flights off the internet on the cheap and so I guessed that you'd be expected to pay a hefty premium for using the Co-op... surely manning an office on the high street, where business rates are exceptionally high, would mean that their service couldn't compete with a dingy office in the middle of nowhere, that only has an internet presence...? But I was really surprised! Not only did they take away all of the hours of infuriating web-searches that I would have had to put myself through, but the price of the ticket was the cheapest that I'd seen. The person serving me was a woman in her forties, and with plenty of experience under her belt, she made light work of the process. I bought my ticket there and then... I'd have been foolish not to!

If i could leave a minus score for this company I would. This is the first time I have ever left a…read morenegative review. Do not book a holiday with this company! Very unprofessional. Holiday of a lifetime booked in Nov 23. No information, confirmation documents or itinerary received until April 25 and that under duress. No communication no correspondence, no information or support. VERY poor management and customer service would not recommend ever.

Do not use - horrific experience - check who your online agent is booking through first - I booked…read morea hotel for 4 nights for myself and my 2 children in Turkey - received a confirmation from Holiday Elite and they took my money. Upon arrival the hotel said they never accepted the booking and they were on stop sales at this time. The hotel was full and I was left for 4 hours not knowing what was going on as every time travel republic tried hotel beds they either got cut off or could not get an answer. Thank goodness my friend was also staying at the hotel and with a lot of persuading the hotel let us stay in their room. At one point I was offered my money back and that would then mean I would have to sort myself out. A formal complaint has been made to Holiday Elite - This should not happen in this day and age - it was majorly stressful for both me and my children and not one apology or call has been made from Holiday Elite

Award winning travel agent. The best customer service you will find. Also have a lot of…read moreexperience with finding the best deals and prices for Solo Travellers Highly recommended

I am a massive fan of everything STA has to offer. They have seen me through many independent…read moretravels in the last five years, and they have always been top notch. Recently I went in to ask about options for travelling around USA, Canada and Alaska (they don't think of themselves as the USA, so I won't either). The staff member I spoke to was extremely well informed, although he admitted that he had not himself been to these places. He was very considerate and really listened to me before making suggestions. I always come out of this place feeling like they have created a holiday just for me, rather than persuaded me to do something I'd not really wanted to do (as has happened before with other agencies *cough* Thompson's *cough*). STA specialise in travel for students and young people, meaning that they have a great range and knowledge of backpacking and lower budget tours, travel and accommodation. I'm not quite sure what I'll do when I grow up and can't really use their services any more.

Wonderful and helpful staff…read more I have been booking flights with STA travel in Cardiff and have been always amazed by their dedication to satisfy their customers. Many times I tried to book a flight though online with other agencies, but always have been disappointed, but STA travel is a brilliant agency to arrange your holidays and flights, as staff will try and help you to find a good, comfortable and cheap flights.

I have only ever flown with Thomson, the Swedish travel company, but this isn't unusual. I never…read moreuse the allied services of companies that operate an airline as well as arrange holidays, rental cars etc etc... My approach to going on holiday is to book the cheapest flight that I can find on the net, and then wing the rest when I get there. To my mind it's more fun this way, and not in the least bit scary as I've done it enough times to know that I'm pretty unlikely to come a cropper, and will always find somewhere safe to stay... even if it's a bus station! I have had a few close calls, and have also ended up paying a lot more money for accommodation than I'd like, but all in all, I've definitely saved money on average, and have met some really interesting people that I wouldn't have had cause to talk to had I booked everything in advance. So, Thomson! Great company! I've flown with them a few times and I've never been disappointed. The standards are high, and difficult to beat. The budget airlines like Ryan Air don't come close. I'd be a happy person if my internet searches came back with Thomson offering the cheapest flights to my desired destination every time!

Thomson offer some great late deals, city breaks and package deals. I wouldn't choose them for a…read morelong holiday but for great late packages you can get a real bargain. I prefer to arrange flights and accommodation myself so the idea of paying extra for a middleman to book these for me seem wrong, also you can spend much more time planning the journey which ends up being more enjoyable than a 20-30 minute conversation that is supposed to try to help you find the package you want.