Golfbreaks/Turkey

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njc1973

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I used Golfbreaks to book a trip to Turkey next April, I’ve used them previously with no issues, but this time it has been a catalogue of errors culminating in our all of our confirmed tee times being rearranged without notification (I only found out when I was looking at the trip details on the system).

The most annoying this is that 2 of the tee times were moved to after 2pm, which based on previous experience would mean we’d be lucky to get to the 14th hole.

I’ve had similar tee-time issues with a different golf holiday company when booking in Turkey so would guess that it’s the local agents just playing fast and loose hoping that no-one complains or just not caring either way (although I would still expect the Golfbreaks experts to pick up on this).

They seem to be trying to sort out the issue but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, if I hadn’t of noticed the changes by pure luck we could have had a 5 day trip where 2 of our rounds wouldn’t have been close to finished.

Has anyone had similar issues or have I just been unlucky?
 
I had similar with bilyana a few years ago. They also tried to get me to pay for the holiday and book golf before they could tell me what the confirmed tee times were. Their reasons were that when they send the tee times to me they are available but sometimes by the time Iv answered and they go to book them they are gone so they just book whatever is available.
 
A few years ago we were moved from one course to another and the tee time was changed from 9am to 1.30pm, 3 1/2 hours later we finished the front nine & it was dark by the 13th. The first we knew about the change was when we were picked up from the airport in Turkey. It does grate that the booking agents seem to be very blase about it.

We thought it was worth trying again but I think this may be the last trip to Turkey.
 
njc1973 said:
I used Golfbreaks to book a trip to Turkey next April, I’ve used them previously with no issues, but this time it has been a catalogue of errors culminating in our all of our confirmed tee times being rearranged without notification (I only found out when I was looking at the trip details on the system).

The most annoying this is that 2 of the tee times were moved to after 2pm, which based on previous experience would mean we’d be lucky to get to the 14th hole.

I’ve had similar tee-time issues with a different golf holiday company when booking in Turkey so would guess that it’s the local agents just playing fast and loose hoping that no-one complains or just not caring either way (although I would still expect the Golfbreaks experts to pick up on this).

They seem to be trying to sort out the issue but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, if I hadn’t of noticed the changes by pure luck we could have had a 5 day trip where 2 of our rounds wouldn’t have been close to finished.

Has anyone had similar issues or have I just been unlucky?
Click to expand...

This isn't a surprise as I've had first hand experience of dealing with them where they've told me lies to get me to book with them and pay the money for the trip, oh for me to find out things are different when I arrive at the destination.

I won't use them again and would advise others against using them. YGT aren't any better.

With regards to tee off times in turkey, a lot if it depends in which course you play and which hotel you stay in as some courses are affiliated to specific hotels. I couldn't get the Sultan earlier this year unless we were prepared to play before 7am and I was told that this was due to the popular tee-off times (0900-1100, I believe) being prioritised for the guests of the associated hotel.
 
Ultimately, all these booking agents are, are brokers to make your life a little easier. They rarely get a deal that you couldn't get yourself. They simply remove the hassle of phoning up and booking the hotels, tee times etc. and often give you the ability to pay a deposit rather than the full amount in one go.

If you can be bothered to do yourself, I'd always sort it out directly than use these agents.
 
woody69 said:
Ultimately, all these booking agents are, are brokers to make your life a little easier. They rarely get a deal that you couldn't get yourself. They simply remove the hassle of phoning up and booking the hotels, tee times etc. and often give you the ability to pay a deposit rather than the full amount in one go.

If you can be bothered to do yourself, I'd always sort it out directly than use these agents.
Click to expand...

I realise this, but in this case they haven't done their job properly, they have at best blindly accepted changes to my agreed itinerary naively or they have deviously changed the intinerary knowing full well that it would mean incomplete rounds of golf and hoped that I wouldn't find out until it was too late or wouldn't complain.

The initial tee times were acceptable & they definitely haven't made my life easier as they have also incorrectly made changes requested and overcharged £50 each for an additional round that we included (again without notification).
 
njc1973 said:
Further to my semi-rant above, does anybody have contact details for one of the bosses at Golfbreaks so that I can make my frustrations known?
Click to expand...

I've seen people complaining on their Facebook page, they always seem to get a quick response.
 
I've always used Golfbreaks in the past and mostly been very impressed. But I tried to book a few months ago for either of a couple of weekends next June and they told me the tee times on my original choice (Forest of Arden) were already booked up! So I then told him my stipulations (mid day ish tee time on the Saturday and early ish tee time on the Sunday so we could get away by mid afternoon as people had along way to travel) and asked them to see what was out there, bearing in mind this was booking 10 months in advance. But they just came back to me with options where the Sunday tee time wasn't until around 1.30pm.

I went back and reiterated the need or an early ish tee time on the Sunday, but 2 days later they rang and kind of were semi-pressuring me to pay for one of their suggestions teeing off on Sunday at 1.30pm. So in the end I told them to stuff it and just booked direct with a course/hotel outfit who gave me the rough tee times I was after.

I also had one situation where our tee time was moved back an hour and a three quarters on the Sunday morning and we did not find out till we got to the course. Which meant that a couple of chaps could not finish their round Sunday and had to leave after the front 9. The course claimed they told golfbreaks, but who knows. When I complained to golfbreaks the said they'd get back to me, but never did, so in the end I gave up trying.

I get the impression the resort type courses they use a lot are getting a bit hacked off with them booking tee times on weekend mornings as they want them reserved for members, which is fair enough. I've done some secret shopper 'pretend to want to be a member' testing on a few of those courses that use Golfbreaks and mygolftravel and every one has said to me that they will be reserving more tee times for members at weekends in the future as they were not happy with the situation.

I may stick to Birchy-Liverbirdie-Lincoln Quaker Golf Tours Inc in the future, they seem to know what they are doing ;)
 
Last edited:
njc1973 said:
A few years ago we were moved from one course to another and the tee time was changed from 9am to 1.30pm, 3 1/2 hours later we finished the front nine & it was dark by the 13th. The first we knew about the change was when we were picked up from the airport in Turkey. It does grate that the booking agents seem to be very blase about it.

We thought it was worth trying again but I think this may be the last trip to Turkey.
Click to expand...

Mmm, we were looking at Turkey/Belek for the big golf trip when most of us hit 50 which will be a long long time away. OK in the next couple of years. But 3 and a half hour rounds for 9 holes does not sound like anyone's idea of fun, no matter how nice the hotels or courses are.
 
I think you should be fine if you book early & get tee times around 9, it means getting up a bit earlier but gives you all afternoon on the free beer and the rounds will be a much more respectable duration. As other people have said there are courses that are affiliated to certain hotels where you would get preferential tee times so be aware of that when booking.

It seems that you also need to watch out for your confirmed tee times being changed behind your back now as well!
 
I have booked tee times myself on 3 occasions upon arrival in Belek. Never had a snag getting a tee time prior to 0900 on any course. Also used Billyana once, needed to change a couple of courses and tee times once there, and found their responses always to be quick, helpful and not to much bother for them to re-arrange to better suit my needs.
 
They are just the same as any other sales companies. They will do whatever it takes to get your money. And once they have it, it's going be be pretty difficult to get anything back from them. Some people will rave about them being great while others wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Horses for courses.
 
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