I have just heard that Thomson Holidays are dropping serveral hotels in the Afitos/Kalithea area for 2013. They are not saying why but the most likely reason is that they do not want hotels that they have to share with other holiday companies because they are to tight to offer the best rates to secure all the rooms. I am asking anyone who visits this area or if you are a regular Thomson guest to look for Halkidiki holiday for 2013 and if your particular hotel is not showing to lodge a complaint on the Thomson website by going to the bottom of their web page and using their Facebook or Twitter feed.

The only reason I am posting this on a few sites is that Thomson's must take responsibility for the impact on tourism in Halkidiki on a whole and the Greek people who rely on tourist to fund their businesses


I hope whoever read this will take a little time to see if Thomson actually will listen to their paying clients

Hi,
We gave up using tour operators 3 yrs ago when we found out the pittance that they pay the hoteliers for the rooms, now we book our holidays independently with the knowledge that the money we spend goes straight to the hotel, we've also found that this way we dont usually get charged extra for air con, safety deposit box etc. It also works out a lot cheaper and if you dont want to stay in one resort you can book a couple of hotels in different places, to enjoy more of the beautiful Halkidiki.

i also book independantly,have done for many years,i use easyjet for budget flights to thessaloniki then rent a room when i get there,i know the owners of the hotels/rooms aren't being ripped off that way!

the only problem if not booking a ' package holiday' and you don't want too hire a car...the transfer costs can be very high going to say Hanioti

Brian,
That i do agree with, it averages 120 euro's each way, there really should be a public bus that runs directly from the airport, one for Kassandra and one for Sithonia, maybe every hr or 2.
Although we do hire a car for the majority of our holiday, Sakis at Kriopigi car rental picks us up and takes us back to the airport for the cost of the fuel, [about 30 euro's each way] so if you do intend hiring a car, that may be worth considering.

Hi

We have just returned from 18 wonderful days at the Hanioti Village Hotel also going independantly. We arranged direct with the Hotel owners who we now know well having been so many times before. We got a taxi to the KTel bus station from the airport (16 euros) and a bus to Hanioti (11.50 euros each). We went out with Easyjet and got a cheap and very good deal back with Thomas Cook and also got a transfer to the airport with them for 25 euros each.

Will check out Thomson though as we have been with them many times. It can be more convenient if we can only get two weeks holiday.

Shirls and Baz

I am finding that cheap flights are difficult to find, and the best are in conjunction with hotel offers. The only trouble I can see here is that the airline (usually Ryanair, Easyjet) gets quite high fares for the trip and yet again the poor hotel owners suffer with low prices. Because if the hotel aspect of the booking is so cheap, you can bet they don't get half of that. We would prefer to visit andpay locally to people we know, but the lack of cheap fares make it a more expensive option now. They soon caught onto that didnt they, these tour operators and airlines. This is not just Greece, it is Europe wide unfortunately.

Feel so sorry for the hotel owners. I forget who used to do Siviris, years ago, but once the UK tour operators walked away and left them, the German ones took over, and we lost a fantastic option for holidays just because of the greed of tour operators.

I hope it sorts itself out over the next few years

Hi Jane

we are Steve and Maureen from Sunderland we have been going to Halkidiki for 10 years and this year we wont be there as we cant get a flight from newcastle and Manchester flight with Thomson are on a Monday which is no good if you only have 2 weeks off work starting on a Friday we have looked at other ways of going but they are to expensive for us we would like to know if any 1 knows hotels which you can book with will miss my freinds this year Nick at the Horseshoe Kosta at he's giros place and Erico at Greek Art and many more hope to get there again some time

Brian the Gent and anyone else finding Xfers from airport to Hanioti/Pef etc, what you need is a friend with a car who will do it for you for a "consideration"..considerably less than a taxi fare..

Hi Steve & Maureen

We often go independantly staying at the Hanioti Village Hotel (on the main road below the Lesse and not far from the Horseshoe bar). Give them a ring - Perry normally sorts out the booking prices (0044-00302374052103) and see what they can offer. We went for 18 days this year, had a senior suite and got a really good deal (but we have been going there for 15 years!). We called in to see Nick at the Horseshoe bar and always call in to the Gyros place too. Miss it and wish we were back.....

Shirls and Baz