Olympic Holidays

Went to Zante with Olympic June 2013. I will not go into all of the details but will briefly outline the more major issues. So briefly, we were initially inconvenienced when our flight with Small Planet was cancelled the day before flying and we flew with a different company at an earlier time, resulting in us losing half of our first day in Zante. Then our return flight was cancelled the day before returning again and we were booked onto an earlier flight to a completely different airport, Manchester, and without any prior consultation. Then we were put on a minibus for over 5 hours to Gatwick. We were told the flight could not be changed as we were already booked on and that no alternative flight to our original airport, Gatwick, was available, even though Flybe had available seats the same day. So we had to leave 5 hours earlier than scheduled, resulting in losing half of the last day we had in Zante again (not to mention the 2nd to last day being lost through upset, phone calls, meetings etc and my mum spent most of that day crying as she was so distressed). She has severe arthritis, is registered disabled, has recently had a hip replacement and is waiting for the other hip to be done, and was not able to take a journey of that many hours we left the resort at 1.30 pm and arrived home at 2.30 am (ridiculous by anyone's standard), without severe discomfort for several days after, not to mention the distress it caused her at the mere thought of it. I am having physio on my back and also am suffering. It caused us all a lot of distress, my son had college at 8.30 the next morning and myself, my partner and my daughter all had to get up for work early the next morning and arriving home 2 hours later than scheduled which with work the next day, 10.30pm was already late to land considering we had a 2 hour journey home, let alone arriving home at 2.30am after 14 hours of travelling. The rep and Olympic provided terrible customer service with no compassion whatsoever. Avoid them like the plague :(

Just returned from Zante after our fourth visit to the manousis apartments in Tzillivi, as usual had a great time meeting old friends. Many thanks toYanis sakis and Rula for the Geek night and free buffet quiz and sumba night, two crazy nights.Special thanks to Lauren are rep for the last few years she is a credit to company, good and knowledgeable at her job happy and cheerful even when stressed out. Must say we had a much better flight now Olympic are using Germania instead of Strtegic.Looking forward to booking again next year. Pam and Peter Preston.

Had a very good holiday with Olympic Holidays to Paxos - their Paxos Rep was excellent - however their customer service department will one day bring this company down. Having paid upfront a supplement for my wife and I to sit together, I was wasn't too chuffed to find we weren't seated together on the return flight. My wife is not a good flier and this added even more to her stress and rather spoilt the end of the holiday. On principle I wrote to Olympic Holidays customer service and requested they refund the charge pro rata that I had paid for the seats together. The response from Ashmita Bhimji to my letter '45919' which rejected my complaint included the following; 'In regard to pre-bookable flight seating, we are careful to advise within out holiday Information brochure and web pages that some members of of your party may be seated in front, behind or across an aisle depending on party size, aircraft configuration and window seat requests.' As the 'members of my party' consisted of just myself and my wife I find Olympic Holidays' attitude rather disingenuous. I expect we will return to Paxos (it's a wonderful island)but it will not be with Olympic Holidays.

Avoid this lot like the plague. 13 hours delay on the way out to Cyprus, 3 hour on the way back. No rep at the airport or resort. Now a protracted exchange trying to get any recompense. Useless  

Will never use Olympic holidays again for a holiday there customer services are only interested in taking your money but not the slightest bit interested when you have a problem. Took deposits on holidays back in 2010 using monarch flights before they had sealed the deal with monarch and then proceeded to stick people on later flights with another company so you in effect lose a day of your holiday even though you had to pay extra when booking for the earlier flight but were still selling holidays with earlier flight times to the same resorts and apartments after they had done this. Which if you read the small print they are quite within the rights to do. Its a massive shame as the apartments I use is an Olympic resort, I will return to Tsilivi but will do it all independently it may cost more that way but if that means not dealing with Olympic it will be money well spent.

Provided you don't have the misfortune to of booked the Alamis with Olympic and get the old block they are generally good, but as long as they use the old block without admitting the difference and charging the same. SHAME ON YOU

Have just spent 2 weeks in Tsilivi at the Alamis Apartments, Steph our rep was at the hotel every day and was on hand for any questions or queries.

i have worked as a rep and i know that it can be very hard top get information out of the airport in regards to delays.  it is not our fault but i know that as soon as the reps have any info then they tell the guests.  also i also amazed that they are able to keep their cool when they are been shouted at and sweared at.!!!!!!!!!!!!

 We suffered an 19hour delay  on a return flight to Gatwick. Asked reps what was going on, was told they didnt know however other passengers rang Monarch in England (who olympic holidays flew with) and were given more information than the Reps were telling us! Asked monarch why the reps didnt know, were told that they had informed the reps of the situation!  We thought the reps were great and the company as a whole were good however we felt let down at the end of the hoilday. Wish they could of had better communication skills when dealing with situations like a delay instead they were trying to avoid us! Just tell us the truth next time insead of lying to us!

Olympic holidays have always been very good , great value,and they have the best and most appartments and studios, I have been a holiday rep for around 8 years and had to leave due to the stress from moronic penny piching loser familys who spend there holiday screaming at each other and then take out there misery on the rep,,,these people are normally from yorkshire by the way ,,but every town has its idiot,,,,and as reported by another person on this site it is allways the scum that pay 99 quid for a holiday and expect the earth ,,,such a sad society we live in im afraid,,weak minded people indoctrinated by the media.I am going to laganas again with olympic tomorrow ,,,I wished I had worked for them and not all the other tin pot money hungry companies like Kosmar,First Choice, JMC ,I am afraid my patience ran out a long time ago to be a rep or in that case ,work in any job where you have to cater to the needs of the british general public. Fortunately I now own a debt management company so I make money now clearing up peoples financial mess.

whole experience very good. tickets arrived well in advance of holiday. hotel was as described in brochure. were given a pool/sea view room although itinery states inland view. still find it very annoying having to pay under occupancy supplement when the sleeps four room is occupied by 2 adults and 2 children (boy 10 and girl 12). all i can say is if four adults share they need to be VERY FRIENDLY!!! trips bookable with rep too much geared to 18-30 group and expensive compared to local companies. rep at our hotel Victoria helpful and pleasant, always there when she said she would be. transfers okay although at 3.30am i didn,t think we needed to be told that outside waiting at the airport was undercover in the shade!! flights with monarch on time. great holiday thanks

Not impressed with Olympic

This is just a short message for Mr. Victor Sharman who posted his long list of complaints about olympic holidays in July 2006, i would suggest that if it was myself in your shoes and travelling with a young family i would when booking my holiday be firstly using the the tongue in my head and asking the tour operator exactly where i was staying and secondly realising that allocation on arrival means exactly that, if you pay cheap and last minute what are you exactly expecting!!!!!  I would strongly advise that if you are going abroard again in the future you book your holiday more that 2 hours before departure time, i am 30 years old and travelling abroard with my girlfriend for the first time in a few weeks and i would never dream of booking my holiday that late you must be insane!!! I would suggest that if you go abroard next year and you still find something trivial to moan about then you maybe more suited to a holiday in blackpool or self catering in a caravan.!!!!

We travelled with Olympic for the first time in May (although we have been to Zante 6 times before) and didn't have any complaints.  Admittedly our flight was changed just after we booked it, to fly 5 hours later in the day, but at least we knew before the day of departure (approximately 2 weeks before).  The reason was probably for the same reason that most operators do this but don't tell you, that it's because they can't get a full flight and they combine 2 - easy to understand in low season. 

People want to lower their expectations in relation to what they pay and they might even enjoy a holiday - if not why bother!!!!

i just want to put things right about what this victor bloke had to say.i was there when he was.first of all he paid 240 pound for him and his young family and he expected a five star hotel he then complained about anything and everything he could.he even went to an indian restaurant then complained the food was not up to his standard so they gave him discount then he had the cheek to go back the next night but they asked him to leave.then at the maria apartments he tried leaving without paying his tab.he told me that people said the water park was expensive and rubbish but he has never been there and i had just come back from there so u cant believe anything this guy says.i had a great time and olympic reps made me feel very welcome

forgot to rate itso here we go!

Me & my boyfriend booked with Olympic and flew with Aestreus (however you spell it) airlines. We were delayed an hour on the way but everything was fine and we even set off early on the way back. The plane was like a coach and had no entertainment but i wasnt complaining, it was fine. 

Anyway, overall all was v good, especially for the price we paid! Can't complain!

  this holiday was far the best ive ever had! All 8 of us loved it, the holiday reps made us all have the best holiday we could. the reps jenna n kristy were wicked.

Here are our concerns about crappy olympic, who have also destroyed the holiday of a disabled lady, 2 oap's another young family, just to mention!

This was a late booking "cheapie", and the price offered by Olympic was excellent, with brilliant day time flights out of Manchester flying with Monarch. Check in at terminal one was a nightmare, took us half an hour to find that check in desks are upstairs, no signs over any of the desks to inform you which desk to use. Eventually checked in, went for a drink in departures, Monarch flight showing on board but no gate number identified. Continued to check board regularly, then 35 minutes before departure time the flight was showing "now boarding". In the time it took us to walk round to the gate an announcement was made "final call for flight MON 1216", at no point had any other call been made !! Good flight out, met by Olympic rep, Karen, for transfer, very informative during the journey. Karen was our rep for the duration of our stay, welcome meeting continued to provide good and useful info for the area and the island as a whole. At no point was there any attempt to coerce you into buying trips, for this we thank the company. Karen was a very good ambassador for Olympic, always present at our apartments when she was due to be there, and a pleasant and polite attitude. We would book with Olympic again, and if Karen reads this, thanks, and all the best for next summer, even if you go to Halkidiki!!!

I WENT TO ZANTE FOR THE 4TH TIME IN JULY AND WE STAYED IN THE ZANTE DORO STUDIOS WITH OLYMPIC FOR 2 WEEKS.  HAD A FAB TIME WE HAD JESS AS OUR REP AND WE FOUND HER SO SWEET. SHE WAS NEW SO WAS VERY NERVOUS BUT WE SAW HER MOST DAYS AND SHE HAD A SMILE AND WAS VERY NICE OUR FLIGHT HOME WAS AT 7AM AND WE DID NOT HAVE TO BE OUT OF OUR APPARTMENT TILL THE PICK UP SO NOT SURE WHAT WENT WRONG WITH OTHER PEOPLE.  WENT TO PALMA WITH THOMSON A FEW WEEKS AGO AND THEY ARE CRAP NO REP TILL YOU GET TO HOTEL LUCKY WE WENT FREESTYLE AS OTHER PEOPLE DID NOT SEE REP FOR WEEK ONLY HAD A 24 HOUR HELP LINE NUMBER.  SO I THINK OLYMPIC ARE COOL THEY ARE KEEPING IT REAL.  DID A FEW EXCURSIONS WHICH WERE VERY GOOD.  VERY IMPRESSED WITH OLYMPIC WE HAVE BOOKED TO GO TO KOS WITH THEM NEXT AUGUST JUST HOPE THEY ARE AS GOOD AS THIS YEAR.  THANKS FOR A GREAT TIME.

CLARE, PETE AND DEE.X