Halsbury Travel Group Reviews 234

If I could give a zero I would.
Less than 24 hours away from travel and they discover they haven't secured the coaches for the school ski trip. 5 schools without coaches for a trip to Italy! Basic elements for a established school travel agent you'd think.
My child is beyond upset, its been the first opportunity to travel abroad with school due to COVID. First ski trip, he's had lessons, money spent on equipment and clothing and was all packed to go. This was booked and planned 18 months ago and we get 24 hours notice. Yes, they tried to make alternative travel arrangements but due to air strikes this wasn't possible, but it should never have got to that. The poor teachers are the ones who have put in all the effort and planning and they were the ones who had to tell the kids they were not going whilst Halsbury Travel get to stay arms length away from this disappointment and anger from the pupils, parents and staff.
A full refund does not make up for the lost opportunity, expense and disappointment. What are you going to do about this Halsbury Travel?

My daughter was meant to go on a ski trip this afternoon with her school and it was booked via Halsbury. Twenty minutes before she was due to leave they contacted the school to advise that the coach company had cancelled and they would not be able to go on their ski trip.
To say she is devastated is an understatement. Months of planning by the school, 80 children due to ski and teachers giving up their time and Easter holiday to take them. What a shambles and totally unprofessional.
Steer clear of this company.

My daughter was due to travel on a ski trip today - they have totally messed up and pulled out of the booking today with no notice on the day of travel, leaving 3 coaches full of children devastated after many months of planning and build up, emotionally drained, parents out of pocket, brand new ski gear wasted. Children all stranded in the school hall.

As a parent of a child waiting to go skiing to Italy in the morning , to find our less than 24 hours before departure that the coaches have not been booked and so the whole trip is cancelled is a complete farse!

Our son has been looking forwards to this trip for months. He has been unwell and this is the one thing motivating him forwards.

In addition we have spent hundreds of pounds on our son for this first ever ski trip for clothing and equipment, and all this will be lost as by next years trip he will have grown and will need all new again - who is going to cover these costs?

Stand up Keith Sharkey and take accountability for this complete mess and make it right for the schools, the children and the parents. If you work in this industry you have a duty of care to take responsibility when things go wrong, just like you take the profit when they go right.

If you have a look at Companies House at this business you will see that Keith Sharkey (MD) and his wife (Director) are no longer registered as named Directors and the company is now under the control of 'Huron Bidco Limited', - which has a MR01 Charge against it, which basically means the company is owned by the Bank and it's running on borrowed money from Natwest? Is this why the busses were not booked? Did you book them, just not pay the bill?

Dreadful

Cancelled school ski trip to Italy less than 24 hours before departure.

They forgot to book coaches to drive children to ski resort only informing school with a day to go
Pupils beyond upset and parents plans in tatters

Totally unacceptable

Would Halsbury Travel like to explain in a public forum how a school ski trip can be cancelled hours before departure?

Teachers - avoid like the plague.

I cannot stress enough to any teachers considering taking a trip of pupils on trip to AVOID this company.
Firstly, the itinerary i only received at midnight before we fly in 2 days. There have been multiple mistakes that I have picked up on. Members of staff are regularly not available or on long term sick. Activities that we paid for are now not available such as the closing of Positano port and boat trips. I cant imagine not fulfilling my job role or responsibilities. If you want to chase up people every single day, experience sleepless nights and upset parents then go ahead use Halsbury.

Today is Monday 1pm. We travel in less than 5 days. We still do not have our tickets for the flights. No information for rooms, so I cannot even start the task of keeping 44 fourteen year olds appeased. We paid £19 for an apres ski activity of bowling in a local town, including coach there and back. The bowling has closed down. I accept nothing Halsbury can do about this, however a replacement of 'bumboarding' does not quite match the price! The Itinerary coordinator and point of contact for the trip, is out of office or unavailable 50% of the time I call. E mail correspondence goes days un-answered. I have asked to speak with someone else to obtain details for our imminent stay, but no one seems interested. I've run ski trips with other companies before and they were far better. I would not use Halsbury again.

Friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. Happy to tailor-make a trip and always available for help and advice. I couldn't have been in better hands.

What a trip, 10 out of 10! It felt like Halsbury arranged the sunny weather too!! This is my 11th school ski tour, first time with Halsbury and this was the smoothest run tour, ever. I took a school group skiing from Cork, Ireland to Passo Tonale in Italy with Halsbury over the Easter break. It was arranged at very short notice and Halsbury were terrific to deal with. Because of the short timeframe, we still had to sort a few things locally when we arrived like an evening swimming, an evening bowling and a pizza night and the Halsbury rep Olga did all of this for us without any hassle.
The hotel Albergo Angelo was spotless and the food excellent, catering for a number of vegetarians and coeliacs without any issues. The hotel is located 300m from the ski-fit and the slopes so it was really convenient to walk the students to their lessons. Ski instructors were as good as we have ever had and the ski-fit shop were very accommodating, keeping our skis and poles overnight so again less hassle for our students.
At no point was there a hiccup!! The skiing was brilliant too!!
On our last day we had 3 hours to stroll around the old town in Bergamo before our flight at 8pm. This was a really relaxing way to spend the day, having pizza in one of the old squares and ice cream overlooking Bergamo from the heights of the old town. Magnificent views!!
Couldn't recommend Halsbury highly enough, like I said 10 out of 10!!!
Donal O'Callaghan,
Christian Brothers College, Cork.

The ONLY company you should consider using for a school trip. Professional, dedicated and brilliant with sorting any little detail you need. Amazing support whilst out in resort, Halsbury are fantastic

We was very happy with how Halsbury travel dealt with our cancelled school trip. This was a very unpredictable time and the company always kept in the loop regarding our options and changes. They were very assuring and kept to their word regarding everything they said and promised. A great company with experienced people running it! Would certainly advise booking your school trips through them!

The organisation and pre planning of the trip was absolutely superb. Attention to every detail which is s important for our huge group. The response in rrsort was also excellent quickly arranging alternative transport to help ease the snow conditions and rearranging evening activities due to some unseasonably warm weather.
Well done Halsbury

This was a difficult trip with all of the exciting fashion museums from planning last year actually being closed. So no Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin and Christian Dior. However we still managed a good selection with Balenciaga and Azzedine Alaia and L'histoire de Chaussures.
Great hotel and good selection of restaurants, selected by Halsbury, for dinner out each night.

Fantastic company who really go the extra mile to make the trip the best it can be. Having taken school groups on European trips with them for a number of years now, I am always impressed with their attention to detail and availability in the organisation of and during the trips. The trips are always good value for money and the people who help plan the trips are able to suggest new activities or possible changes.

From day 1, the contact from Halsbury was helpful and positive - they are very patient in dealing with busy teachers! Our trip was seamless and all documentation in the final pack was excellent. Thank you!

Great staff, very helpful and efficient. Always put needs of customers and children first at no extra expense.

Very well priced. Great coach company used and very knowledgeable driver.

Good performance venues.

Would recommend.

Very helpful friendly staff, keen to tailor make a programme that works for us rather than a generic one-size-fits-all trip
School trips are not really holidays but I like the alliteration!

Halsbury are a "realist" company who understand your needs as a teacher, they listen to what you want and advise accordingly, they look for flights at the most suitable times and their support throughout is a real credit to them. Halsbury "Get" what leading a school trip is about and how you have to work around students and Management.
I have used other companies in the past but Halsbury are now my Go to company as they are always ready to help.