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National Holidays Reviews

2.0 Rating 81 Reviews
21 %
of reviewers recommend National Holidays

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National Holidays 1 star review on 16th November 2022
NICKY
National Holidays 5 star review on 18th July 2022
Anna Clewlow
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
Three of us went on holiday to Torquay so I had to have.a single room which I paid an extra£80,fine because you pay a supplement if you are a single person in a double or twin room. But I had a single room. So on return sent 3 emails got no reply. So phoned and spoke to Simon he told me the extra £80 was for cleaning my room and the electricity. Heard so daft charges for a room but this takes the biscuit.
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Posted 2 years ago
An absolutely disgraceful company. We used them for the first time. We have written two letters of complaint and all they do is reply with excuses. We could smell drink and asked him if he had been drinking he obviously denied it. The driver who overslept and was two hours late even picking up clients. Our tours were cut short, the hotel was rough. We would have arrive back to our home destination on the day of leaving at between one and two am in the morning and they didn't care. My list goes on and on ,if you're thinking of using them don't ! Over three quarters of our coach were complaining. It was a trip to Edinburgh and I don't expect to be sat on the coach for 12 and a half hours no excuses. With an unsafe driver we ended up having to get a train back off of our own back because they didn't care. Customer service is the worse I have ever experienced.
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Posted 2 years ago
Just had a 2 day, 1 night break in Scarborough and Whitby. The brochure stated that Scarborough Sunday 13/8/23 time to explore and then Sunday 14/8/23 a day trip to Whitby Regatta. Was the regatta on this day? No sign of a regatta!!!! Just a fun fair, no parades or anything to indicate a regatta being on. Apparently, Saturday was excellent, with parades and the Red Arrows display ending with fireworks, what happened Sunday then???
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Posted 2 years ago
Driver very rude swearing putting cases in the coach vaping looking at his mobile reading slip of paper while driving never said in case of accident how to get out
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Posted 2 years ago
Holiday to Folkestone on 6th/11th August 2023. Hotel basic which is usually ok if clean. Food fine. Trips fine, Bruges - too many passport checks but appreciate this is now the norm. Coach was comfortable, however it took 11 hrs from pickup to destination - didn't realise how long it would take with other pickups (own fault for not asking) Here is the real downer for us. My husband as many others on the holiday were bitten - several people quite severly. On the return journey they showed us pictures from their room of bed bugs, which we found sickening. We'll never know, but how shocking if bedbugs were responsible for all passenger bites!
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Posted 2 years ago
Good points first- fantastic driver and nice destination to enjoy exploring with the people I was travelling with. Negatives- As others have said previously this company has gone massively downhill since its takeover! Had the following experience, Booked and paid for a two day trip which included add-on extras at added expense. Office staff didn’t send the tickets for these add-ons so we had to call to chase these up during office hours when not working which was difficult due to working full time during office hours, not the best start but never had a problem with this company before (before takeover) so we persevered, the day before the trip spoke to a member of customer service to chase things up and only then did we finally receive an email with a pickup time/location & an attachment for our add-on tickets- this turned out to be an invalid attachment that didn’t work we found out on the day, didn’t think we’d need to check the link worked because we’ve never had a problem with a link from them or anyone else before! On day of journey got to a drop off point & our driver said that our booked and paid for extra destination wasn’t included in his itinerary and it was a long distance away from the drop off so he filled in a form to inform the office staff that we were entitled to a refund as we hadn’t received the service we had booked two months previously and had paid for, the driver also tried the link we had been sent which again not surprisingly didn’t work, but they had no problem taking money from our account. We got home after our surprisingly disorganised trip and rang the office staff to be told “you’re not entitled to a refund we sent tickets” even though they admitted seeing the driver’s report to say we hadn’t received the service we had paid for. The driver also told us at the time he would have had the tickets to give us & that he would have taken us to the paid destination had the office put it on his paperwork for the itinerary. We received terrible customer service from an arrogant, vacant staff member who had a prepared script to try wriggling out of returning our money, which they are still trying to do, and underhand insults inc. do we speak English and also our ability to open emails which clearly wasn’t the issue. So in conclusion we won’t be travelling with this thieving company again and would advise others to be very wary if they do, personally I prefer to spend my hard earned money with an honest travel company which is what we will be doing in the future!
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Posted 2 years ago
We have booked a trip to Torquay on Monday 6th May. On receiving our travel arrangements, it seems we have to get up in the middle of the night to catch a feeder vehicle from Dewsbury to the coach, which then calls at 4 other towns on the way there. Presumably, we will be travelling for at least 10 hours. This is appalling!! Why wasn't this mentioned before hand? My wife has Alzheimers and will find this totally confusing. There is no way I would have booked this holiday knowing the shambles of the travelling arrangements. We have been on lots of good holidays with National travel in the past, but since takeover things appear to have gone way downhill. I can't imagine booking with them again!!
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Posted 2 years ago
Awful. Awful. Awful. Awful. Used to be good until they got taken over. Now just rubbish.
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Posted 3 years ago
we have had two horrible experiences with national holidays but have to use vouchers but once used we and 20 of our friends will never use national again 1st problem Emerdale weekend arrived hotel the food offered was inedible, complained to national response was tough. 2nd we paid for new year at folkestone, we received a letter to say we had to go to castleford 45miles away to get the coach which was impossible still no refund so we are unable to book with anyone terrible as they would not refund us from hull shop. customer service is ZERO.
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Posted 3 years ago
/Users/Nicky/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/Thumbnails/2022/09/22/20220922-160429/xz4QagdsTTaO2uYsfA9beg/thumb_GBTW5587_1024.jpg Beresford Hotel Newquay worst Hotel we ever stayed in> Message Subject: Complaint booking To: customerservices@justgoholidays.co Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2022 15:03   To National Holidays This is a complaint from the whole group of 18 people, on booking ref S892373 Newquay & Eden Project from 15th Sept to 19th Sep 2022. Beresford Hotel Newquay. We were group of 18 people on this Holiday and we all were very disappointed with lots of things. It just ruined our holiday. Two people were celebrating theire Special Birthdays and all was ruined due to third class hotel. We just can't believe that a big holiday company like you are using this hotel. This hotel was not 3 star it was more like 1 star. Never have we experienced this type of hotel. We have in the past been on National Holidays and we've been very happy with everything. Day 1. We arrived first day at the hotel at 4.30pm and our dinner was at 8pm bit late but didn't mind. When we sat down to eat on the menu we were given a choice of four starter, four main course and pudding. When we were ordering our starter the waiter said they run out of what we wanted. Secondly we ordered the main course it was dry and not hot at all just warm, we couldn't eat it. Pudding again we wanted bread and butter pudding but no custard left. This was on our first day so we didn't complain much because we were hungry and tied from Leeds eight hour drive. Day 2. Breakfast no Vegetarian Sausages we had to order day before which we didn't know. No fresh fruit at all everyday. No Croissants last two day. Dinner again we complaint to the Restaurant manager she said we should complain to the waiter if the food is not hot and they will sort it out. We ordered soup it was warm so we told the waiter and they took it back and warmed it up in microwave. Today our dinner was early so we went at 6.30pm and by 7pm they ran out of breaded Place, chips with Mussy Peas. My friend asked for Mayonnaise with her dinner the waiter replied they don't have any, so my friend said we've seen it at breakfast so waiter went to kitchen and got the pk of mayonnaise. The food was very very dry every day there was no gravy. We complained to the Reception and spoke the the hotel manager but there was so much disappointment. We did not enjoy at all. Day 3. Everyday there was lots of complaints we were very very unhappy. My friend got the room that smell of gutter and sewage, they got another room last two nights. Day 4. The driver LEE got burnt with hot shower. My friend got warm water in her shower every day and the cubical was very small no bath. Overall we experienced very badly with this hotel there was so many complaints from my group its unbelievable. But We are very happy with Driver Lee and itinerary was excellent, thank you Lee for looking after us. We had no entertainment until Sunday night Bingo and a singer at the hotel. The fire 🔥 alarm went off around after 9pm most of us were downstairs so we went outside. My friend who is 74 was a sleep 😴 no body knocked on her door to get her out. Luckily my friend got up and manage to come downstairs from 1st floor she struggles walking, She has Arthritis and cannot get ready quickly, we were not allowed to go and get her. Anyway we experienced that safety is also an issue with this hotel, this is very very dangerous. My friend was shaking when we got in hotel I dropped her off in lift and I found elderly couple who couldn’t make it outside the hotel and were very worried 😧 that nobody came to help them. We would like half of our money back please this is not exceptable, it ruined our holiday completely. Also it is not fair when we all paid the same amount of money and yet half of the people from our coach were staying in Kilbirnie Hotel were very happy, this was an excellent hotel. This Holiday has put as off from booking next holiday with National Holidays and its a shame. We are kindly asking you to compensate for ruining our Holiday. Thank you i look forward to your reply. from Mrs N Mistry Reply Message View Subject: S892373 - ID: 32422 From: National Holidays - Customer Services Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2022 9:24 Dear Mrs Mistry, Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your feedback, including details of your complaint. I am sorry to hear that your expectations were not met on this occasion; we understand how all aspects of your holiday are important to you and would like to assure you that all comments raised have been taken on board and forwarded to the relevant internal departments for their future planning. We run weekly Quality Control meetings where flagged customer comment is discussed and online questionnaire feedback reviewed, so please know that the information you have provided about your experience is valuable to us. I am sorry to hear that you were unhappy with the Beresford Hotel in Newquay. This hotel is seen as suitable accommodation for the tour and the standard is reflective of the tour price. We have worked with the Hotel for many years and continue to do so because feedback in general is positive so I assure you this letter will be taken into consideration in order to maintain that the hotels we work with remain at the standard we expect for our customers. We are also sorry you did not like the food served. Feedback about food served is important and we will always pass this to the hotel if we feel there is a problem with the comments received from a particular tour. Expectations concerning food can be subjective and although the hotel caters for guests night after night, we realise it will not be possible for all of what is served to meet with everyone’s tastes or expectations. I am glad to read that you brought your concerns to the attention of hotel and waiting staff. I was disappointed to learn that the room one of your party was allocated was not to your standard of cleanliness and had a funny smell. I agree this must have been unpleasant. Regardless to the star rating of our hotels, rooms should be clean and staff available to assist with any issue. However, the facilities of the hotel such as, cleanliness and room allocation are the responsibility of the hotel and any issue with the facilities need to be taken up with Hotel staff at the time of your stay. I am sorry to hear that you experienced a fire alarm at the hotel, and that this disturbed a member of the party who was sleeping. Whether a fire alarm is a drill or an emergency, a specific fire safety procedure is required to be followed by the hotel staff. Once an individual has left the premises where a fire alarm is being sounded, it is procedure to congregate at the hotels designated Fire Assembly Point. They would not be allowed to re-enter the building until it has been confirmed to be safe by the hotel’s fire warden and/or the Fire Brigade. It would also not be the procedure for hotel staff to return into the building when the fire alarm is still sounding to knock on the doors of guests. It would be the Fire Brigade who would enter the building to retrieve anybody who had been left behind. I understand this is a frustrating and unfortunate circumstance however after investigating the situation thoroughly we will not be refunding the price of the tour or sending compensation. I appreciate this is not the outcome you will have been anticipating and again would like to stress how disappointed we are that you didn’t get to enjoy the tour. Once again, we would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us with your feedback. We hope that you still had a lovely time on tour with us and we hope to see you again very soon. Yours Sincerely, BILLIE-RAE SIDES CUSTOMER CONTACT ASSISTANT Tel: 0333 321 2772 Just Go! Holidays 1st Floor, 111 High Street, Cheltenham GL50 1DW This email and the information it contains may be privileged and/or confidential It is for the intended addressee(s) only. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Just Go! Holidays. The unauthorised use, disclosure or copying of this email, or any information it contains is prohibited and could constitute a breach of the General Data Protection Regulations. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and securely delete the message from your system. not happy with the answer so will not be travelling with NATIONAL HOLIDAY
National Holidays 1 star review on 16th November 2022
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Posted 3 years ago
The Scottish Highlands super deal staying at the coylumbridge hot was brilliant I've heard a lot of bad reviews about this hotel but we had a great time . hotel was good staff were friendly food was excellent rooms are clean shower red hot .the driver was one of the best so friendly loads of information nothing was to much trouble. .the one complaint I have is the coach .the seats seemed smaller not much leg room I have travelled a lot with national holidays and always been comfortable but it was very cramp I'm 6ft 1"but there no leg room at all
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Posted 3 years ago
if your travelling as a family don't book with national holidays!!!even though on booking you book allocation of seats we ended up doted around the coach!! Not sat near each other!! Response was we don't Garentee seats service has gone shocking!! When travelling quite a distance as a family with 5 yr grandson and can't enjoy the trip together. I won't book again!!
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Posted 3 years ago
A brilliant trip to the Isle of Wight… A brilliant trip to the Isle of Wight with three other friends. Excellent value for money:- coach and ferry, two star hotel (which was very clean and well run with friendly, helpful staff) three 3 course breakfasts, three 3 course evening meals (all delicious) three nights of entertainment and entry into Osborne House. What made the trip most enjoyable was our coach driver and ‘hostess’ Martyn and Karen. They were helpful, did everything they could to get the best out of our holiday by slightly changing the order of excursions to suit the weather, were informative about the places we were visiting and always cheery and entertaining. I would go National again especially if Martyn and Karen were our coach team. Well done you two from “She who likes her whiskey and falls out of bed” Date of experience: 30 September 2022
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Posted 3 years ago
My partner and I went on a Mystery Weekend 24th&25th September 2022. We have been on several of these before but never had a bad experience like this.Firstly,the driver named John showed up 40 minutes late for pick-up,told us he'd been given the wrong postcode. He was not welcoming at all and did not even have the decency to apologise for being late! Our first destination was BIRMINGHAM. Unbeknown to all of us,it was Birmingham Pride weekend so understandably the roads were gridlocked and everywhere was extremely busy. The driver stopped the coach near to the Bull Ring and dropped us all off. Said,"I'll meet you somewhere around here at 5pm. Then at 5pm my partner and 2 other passengers that we met looked out for the coach but there was no sign of it. We must have waited over an hour to an hour and a half,kept checking the location where the driver had said he'd pick us up but still no sign of the coach! Apparently he had parked elsewhere but we had no idea as we hadn't been informed. Another passenger came and found us and directed us to the coach. She said that they had suggested to the driver that he rang us to let us where he was but he wouldnt ,yet he had access to everyone's contact numbers. Another person told us that they rang National office who then apparently had to track the coach down.When we finally located the coach,the driver said very sarcastically,"Ah well,better late than never!" We were not amused one bit! Fuming infact! This is the worst experience we have ever had with National holidays. Many of the passengers on board said the same. We really enjoy our breaks away,even have another one booked for a few weeks time. I sincerely hope that John us not our driver next time! We certainly would not like to endure a poor experience like this again.
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Posted 3 years ago
Chatsworth House Country Fair weekend September 2022. We had been picked up on a feeder coach from Oldham to meet the main coach in Stockport. When we transferred onto the main coach it was was hot. There was people already on the coach who had been picked up from Blackpool, Blackburn, Bolton Altrincham so many pickup points!! . 1st day was a trip to Buxton We arrived at lunch time. We were supposed to have been staying at The Palace Spa Hotel in Buxton but was informed it had been changed to a Hotel in Doncaster, so disappointed as We had plans for Buxton that evening. Our day was cut short as we were told the coach had to leave early in time for us to arrive at the hotel in Doncaster which took 1.30 hours journey on a hot coach. So a wasted day really. The Hotel was nice, however, the food was appalling. There was no nearby facilities to enable us to seek out other places to eat. The only consolation was the next day Chatsworth lived up to our expectations. This was the 2nd holiday this year with National Holidays which we found really disappointing. We are not booking with them in future.
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Posted 3 years ago
Stayed at the Adamton Country House Hotel for 3 nights on the Edinburgh Tattoo tour..this hotel is filthy and the food appalling! National Holidays should be ashamed to send people to this hotel!
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Posted 3 years ago
Adamton Country House Aggressive and rude general manager. when your guests are scare to complain as realise manager will call everyone liars and blame his faults on national holidays failings. he could not organise the basics in a hotel . Filthy place , food was basic and bad.
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Posted 3 years ago
I had booked for to go to Canterbury and Bruges,but it was cancelled, on me the 2nd time and then i vowed i would never go back to Natioinal Holidays, as if they can do that then i shall have to wait and see what else, they are going to do , anyway i have now gone with SHEARINGS, and they are a much better company, and deal with all the complains, and never let you down, or let you wait for at least 18months, for your money back, TERRIBLE, Company,,,,never ever again,
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Posted 3 years ago
Did not deliver good experience. Went to Superbloom at Tower of London 6th August. Instead of being dropped off at Tower Hill driver stopped in Park Lane and we were told to make our own way. as the Embankment was closed for a Triathlon. Made no attempt to get us nearer so had a 20min walk to Victoria and took the tube at a cost of £25.20 It took an hour each way to travel and really cut down our time at the Tower. He added insult to injury by telling us he was leaving earlier than the itinerary stated which resulted in visit cut short and connecting coach being 1.5 hrs late picking us up - shocking !
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Posted 3 years ago
Worse driver we have ever had name PAUL FROM WORKSOP. As soon as everyone was on the coach he told us NO EATING ON THIS COACH ! bearing in mind we were travelling from barnsley ro Aberdeen and mostly elderly people who have underlying health conditions and have to eat at certain times he said because of covid he wasn't touching waste. It was just an excuse so he didn't have to get rid of any rubbish. Someone then asked for the radio to be put on NO RADIO ON THIS COACH ! He said you'll all be arguing wanting different channels on or it'll be too loud. So started off talking like we were 5 year olds. On a trip to Bramaer he said i hope you've all got warm clothes as it's coldest place in Scotland! So why didn't he let us know the day before ? On our way home an elderly man had fallen and suspected he had broken his shoulder. No sympathy from this coach driver he didn't even tell the change over driver that there was someone injured on board. From start to finish he never smiled or had a nice word about anything you just had the impression he couldn't wait to get home. Puts you off booking another holiday with Nationa incase you end up with this miserable driver. What could have been a lovely holiday was ruined because of him. l
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Posted 3 years ago
National Holidays is rated 2.0 based on 81 reviews