The Mail on Sunday - 2 January, 2005
MAIL ON SUNDAY BEST BROCHURE - 2005
We were delighted to start the New Year with the publication of the following article which appeared shortly after the launch of our 'Hidden Turkey 2005' brochure.
You can’t beat a good brochure. Despite the net, they are still the most popular way to book a break. Here is our guide to the best… and the worst.
Looking for the inspiration for your travels in 2005? Despite the increasing importance of the internet as a medium through which to sell holidays, brochures still serve as the main shop windows for most holiday companies.
The Mail on Sunday Travel team has reviewed nine brochures that have caught our eye recently. We’ve analysed each for its allure and quality of information, and converted our judgements into a percentage score.
EXCLUSIVE ESCAPES 87%
The Company
Specialist in upmarket Turkish holidays (mostly to the Lycian coast) which was recently set up by a former director of Tapestry Holidays. This summer will be its second season.
The Brochure
No one had anything but praise for it. We liked the stunning photography, the excellent information on each featured region (including lengthy descriptions of resorts and beaches, the summaries of cultural sites and activities on offer nearby), the amount of details on hotels and villas and the clear pricing.
‘Very professionally produced,’ was one verdict. However, a caveat was voiced. ‘The company is virtually unknown. Will its holidays live up to what the brochure promises?’
OTHER RESULTS
For reasons of politeness we have chosen not to reproduce the editorial on other companies, electing simply to provide their overall evaluation.
Aspire - 40%
Seasons in Style - 50%
Audley Travel, Africa & the Indian Ocean – 52%
Simply Travel, Portugal & Madeira – 62%
Tapestry Holidays, Croatia – 65%
Classic Cottages – 70%
Trips Worldwide, Mexico & Central America – 77%
Laskarina Holidays – 82%
A GREAT ESCAPES SUCCESS
CONGRATULATIONS to Exclusive Escapes. That it and Laskarina Holidays scored so highly shows how brochures that concentrate on one country or region have a much easier task of conveying memorable flavour of what they are offering than those that cram the world into one tome.
It was also noticeable that the higher-scoring brochures tended to be those that were good at demonstrating the companies’ expertise.
These days, when we can arrange our own trips by digging around on the internet, firms need to work that much harder at spelling out to us why we will benefit from entrusting our holidays to them.
A COMMENT FROM EXCLUSIVE ESCAPES
We are of course delighted to have received this recognition for our brochure which is the result of a lot of very detailed work by our team. However thorough our approach to the brochure and website we can assure you that it is merely symptomatic of the great care and pride we have in our levels of service both in the UK and Turkey.
We are delighted to report that feedback from our guests in 2004 - our first year - was exceptionally positive and we look forward to pushing the boundaries ever further in 2005.