Hoseasons

[NorfolkNog]

I seem to be getting a lot of emails from Hoseasons with various offers at the moment, almost every day. 

I wonder if bookings are a bit slow? 

I always book direct with Bridgecraft (as I did with Swancraft) so never really have any dealings with them. Just wondered. 

[Mouldy]

49 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

I seem to be getting a lot of emails from Hoseasons with various offers at the moment, almost every day. 

I wonder if bookings are a bit slow? 

I don’t think they won a lot of friends during the pandemic with the way cancellations were dealt with, or that’s the impression I got from reading so many instances of less than adequate customer care on social media.

We always used to book our next Broads holiday direct with Summercraft, but Sue used to phone Hoseasons to make the booking and told them what to invoice.  Not many folk used to argue with Sue!

I personally haven’t booked anything through Hoseasons since 2017 and frankly have no wish to now.  They’re a very different company to the one set up by James Hoseason as my last experience was not ideal, when they disputed an advertised discount and tried not to honour it.

[Hylander]

James Hoseason was a lovely chap.     A one off and really cared.      We had a bit of bother with a booking when going to the Caledonian Canal back in the day and when we arrived there was a box of chocolates waiting for me.     Can you imagine that now.

[NorfolkNog]

Going back 30 years Hoseasons were certainly very customer orientated as can be seen in their trade newsletter. 

 

Full Leaflet.pdf

[SwanR]

In fairness to Hoseasons we've booked through them the last couple of years with no problems at all. 

[Hylander]

This tickled me...   

 

[bucket]

We always booked through Hoseasons and almost always with Horizon Craft at Acle Bridge until they were moved up to Stalham. Back then, I used to thumb through a proper Hoseasons brochure, (always a thrill when it dropped through the letterbox) scribble notes at the side of the pictures of some of the more majestic craft, before deciding to book the one I had hired the year before, ......and the year before that.

And then I had to ring them up, generally on a Sunday lunchtime, hoping upon hope that no one else wanted my boat on my week.....and what a lovely feeling it was when she said "yes it is available, would you like me to book it for you?".

I can't remember ever not feeling valued by the lady on the phone, by the receptionist at Horizon Craft, or by the team outside, led by a gentleman called Buster. They always welcomed us and made a fuss of the children. Perfect customer care, just as described in the leaflet above.

My dealings with Hoseasons were always an absolute pleasure!

Edited January 30 by bucket
Missed ur off pleasure

[pastboating]

 

Posted May 5, 2020

Talking of Jimmy Hoseason 30 years ago I had booked a canal boat 10 months early and when the brochure came through the boat layout had been changed and was no longer suitable. A phone call arranged for a change with no problem but  I was concerned that if I had not studied the new brochure I would not have known. In those days there was a letter in the front of the brochure signed by Jimmy Hoseason. I did not know if he existed but decided to write to him explaining my concerns. Three days later I received a phone call from him thanking me for my letter apologising for not alerting me and saying he was pleased to know we had found another boat and wishing us a very good holiday. Three months later we went on the holiday and returned home on the Saturday. The very next day the phone rang it was Jimmy asking us if we had a good holiday and if everything was o.k. That was for me someone who however big his company was  still considered his individual customers. Those were the days.

 

 

[oldgregg]

On 27/01/2024 at 09:36, Mouldy said:

I don’t think they won a lot of friends during the pandemic with the way cancellations were dealt with, or that’s the impression I got from reading so many instances of less than adequate customer care on social media.

We always used to book our next Broads holiday direct with Summercraft, but Sue used to phone Hoseasons to make the booking and told them what to invoice.  Not many folk used to argue with Sue!

I personally haven’t booked anything through Hoseasons since 2017 and frankly have no wish to now.  They’re a very different company to the one set up by James Hoseason as my last experience was not ideal, when they disputed an advertised discount and tried not to honour it.

I did think it would come back to bite them.... 

They're a company that clearly spend a lot on marketing but they seem totally unable to understand that keeping customers happy is much more likely to lead to repeat business.

I had a run in with them a while back now over their 'Low deposit' BS. I booked with a £50 deposit (as I did with Ricko's at the time) and later needed to cancel / reschedule as we had other plans. To cancel would have cost another £100 as the 'full' deposit was £150, apparently.

I suggested moving the booking back a year as that's what I actually wanted to do, but they said to do that I'd need to cancel and make a new booking or take the holiday in the same year. I didn't have enough leave left to reschedule in the same year so it would have needed to be the one following.

I asked if they'd waive the £100 if I re-booked for next year and they said no I'd still need to pay it. Bear in mind this was some months before the booked date, and the booking was for a Silverline boat in june so there was no way they'd have struggled to re-let it.

In the end I said okay, I will pay as contractually I have to. But I made it clear that they took the payment on the understanding that I would not be re-booking for the following year with them and would not use Hoseasons for boating again.

[CambridgeCabby]

Sounds as if “the computer says no” attitude has become their practice now , they used to say that if we cancelled then we would have to pay the balance of the full deposit but if the boat was rented for the week we cancelled then we would get back all but the £50 early booking  discounted deposit.

[Broads01]

11 hours ago, bucket said:

We always booked through Hoseasons and almost always with Horizon Craft at Acle Bridge until they were moved up to Stalham. Back then, I used to thumb through a proper Hoseasons brochure, (always a thrill when it dropped through the letterbox) scribble notes at the side of the pictures of some of the more majestic craft, before deciding to book the one I had hired the year before, ......and the year before that.

And then I had to ring them up, generally on a Sunday lunchtime, hoping upon hope that no one else wanted my boat on my week.....and what a lovely feeling it was when she said "yes it is available, would you like me to book it for you?".

I can't remember ever not feeling valued by the lady on the phone, by the receptionist at Horizon Craft, or by the team outside, led by a gentleman called Buster. They always welcomed us and made a fuss of the children. Perfect customer care, just as described in the leaflet above.

My dealings with Hoseasons were always an absolute pleasure!

I too have happy memories of Hoseasons brochure growing up and as a young adult in the pre-internet world. As a child, I'd devour the Hoseasons and Blakes brochures more so than my parents felt inclined to do so I'd end up recommending to them what boat to book. I remember listening excitedly to their phone calls when they booked.

Horizon Craft were brilliant on the 4 occasions I hired with them but I always avoided Hoseasons once direct booking became the norm and booked with Richardsons for those trips. I still use Hoseasons now for convenience for boatyards that don't offer online booking (most recently Silverline, Bridgecraft and Caversham Boats on the Thames for this year). I've found them OK to deal with but no better than that.

[Bikertov]

For us, it was Blakes every time ... flicking through the brochure choosing a boat with as many symbols as possible.

Why we wanted something with an 8-track player, when we didn't have any 8-track tapes, I will never quite understand !

[Smoggy]

We only ever used hoseasons once and it turned out to be a very expensive nightmare, the boating holiday bit was good but the week after I wound up buying a little boat on our local river after looking at day hire prices, from there it just snowballed!

If I'd gone camping instead I'd now just have a slightly bigger tent collecting dust in the loft and a bank full of cash but instead I have to face the miseries of boat ownership and an alcohol problem (problem being too many riverside pubs closed).

[Andrewcook]

I can remember me being the 2Million person booking with Hoseseason years ago  and having the Pleasure meeting Mr James Hoseason him a great guy he was get a free photo taken  with Miss Caroline Moor and having the Boat for the Whole week those were the great days afloat on the Broads

[Happy]

1 hour ago, Smoggy said:

We only ever used hoseasons once and it turned out to be a very expensive nightmare, the boating holiday bit was good but the week after I wound up buying a little boat on our local river after looking at day hire prices, from there it just snowballed!

If I'd gone camping instead I'd now just have a slightly bigger tent collecting dust in the loft and a bank full of cash but instead I have to face the miseries of boat ownership and an alcohol problem (problem being too many riverside pubs closed).

I got rid of the last boat some years ago but have kept the alcohol problem!  

[Bikertov]

Mine was a slow-burn negative effect from hiring with Blakes.

It took 45 years for the problem to finally hit my bank account, but I'm catching up fast since buying my boat a few months ago.

As for the on-board drinking problem - that will start soon, once I can actually Cruise The Ouse from mid-March (hopefully).

[Smoggy]

23 minutes ago, Bikertov said:

As for the on-board drinking problem - that will start soon, once I can actually Cruise The Ouse from mid-March (hopefully).

You can practice during the winter months in your local pub, that way you won't stand out as an amateur when the boating starts.

It's a fine line between being a boater with a drinking habit or a drinker with a boating habit, we take it in turns.

[DAVIDH]

22 hours ago, oldgregg said:

I did think it would come back to bite them.... 

They're a company that clearly spend a lot on marketing but they seem totally unable to understand that keeping customers happy is much more likely to lead to repeat business.

I believe Hoseasons were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as were many other tour operators at Covid time. Many holidays had to be cancelled at the behest of the UK government. In many cases, the money paid by the customers to their tour op had already been handed on to the airlines, hotels and I guess, boatyards (all principles not agents). With no ongoing revenue to get them to the "sunny uplands" (to coin a phrase) post-covid, and limited cash flow to refund customers, these principals had to decide whose reputation they should protect. Their own by applying the refunds to those customers that had booked directly or their agents further down the stream. Hoseasons were caught in this way, as were many other tour operators at the time. 

This is just one of the many reports of airlines failing to refund Covid customers (and agents of course) you can find online.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/01/us-fines-british-airways-11m-for-failing-to-refund-covid-cancellations

[NorfolkNog]

Yet another email from Hoseasons today. I don't seem to remember this amount in previous years.

[vanessan]

23 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

Yet another email from Hoseasons today. I don't seem to remember this amount in previous years.

They’re getting desperate! 😉

[DAVIDH]

From what I can tell from my own tracking, based on Easter, Spring Bank, the summer school holidays and October Half Term, Hoseasons are showing 62% of boats still to book, as against 56% this time last year, which in turn was a big drop from 2022, where there were 44% of boats still available to book. 

Probably not that surprising given the economic position at the moment, though it has to be said, overseas bookings are still above the previous year. 

[Mouldy]

1 hour ago, DAVIDH said:

Although it has to be said, overseas bookings are still above the previous year. 

Most of the overseas package holiday operators that are advertising on TV currently are offering various incentives, including discounts, lounge access and free child places.  If the possibility of some warm sunshine wasn’t enough to spend your holiday cash abroad, all of these ‘little’ extras will probably help.

I’m getting frequent emails with special offers from Dolphin Holidays and Parkdean for breaks in the UK.  Clearly, Hoseasons aren’t alone in their attempts to encourage you to book with them.

[SwanR]

Talking of bookings ... Ferry Marina are advertising the following on Facebook. Nothing on the offers page of their website which is now well out of date.

Save 20% on winter breaks. Experience the piece and tranquility of a boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads from £500 all inclusive.

Holiday with us during February or March 2024 and save 20%.

Prices include fuel, collision damage waiver, car parking and WiFi.