Olympic Holidays

I also am an ex rep of olympic holidays and a very good friend of michelle's. I agree totally with what she is saying, Times were hard and the job was tough but we all knew what we were getting into before we signed that contract. Some of the accommodation was pretty shabby but you get what you pay for. I know what kind of prices people were and still are paying cos i work in travel agent and have been for the past 3 years. Still Olympic is one of the cheapest and most popular Greek tour operator and I myself book plenty of people so if things are that bad why do people still book??? Us reps did get paid peanuts but like michelle said you made your money on commission, if you work hard you can play hard too!!! If you are considering applying for olympic then go for it but be warned read the contract before you sign and believe me be prepared the hardest but the most fun year you will have!! I also have had a better offer from a different company but I dont regret my time with olympic, i made some great friends and i have some fantastic memories!! Michelle you moose ill cya on the 7 march. Miss you loads- have the retsina at the ready!!!

Claire Boon ex olympic rep

I repped for Olympic Holidays in 2004 and they really aren't as bad as people make out, even towards their staff.

I'm sure that at the beginning of the season when they're in training all reps are informed that should they wish to leave before the summer season ends then they will unfortunately have to make their own way back to the UK, which I think is fair enough.

I always had all the help and guidance I needed to succeed in what I was supposed doing and there was usually someone to talk to if I had a problem.

Reps wages are renowned for not being all that great but its a job that you do out of love not for money I think. Even so, if you work hard there are lots of cash incentives to achieve.

The training I endured before I started repping was very intense yet relevant for what I was about to embark on and I felt adequately prepared for my first season as a rep with Olympic Holidays.

I shan't be working for Olympic Holidays this year, simply because I would like to broaden my horizons with winter seasons as well as summers which I will be able to do with tour operators which aren’t specialists.

I would just like to end by saying that Olympic Holidays taught me a lot, I made some great friends and I thoroughly enjoyed my time working for them.

I AM A FORMER OLYMPIC REP!! This is a message to anyone who has posted on this page, or is considering travelling with Olympic Holidays. If you are a former guest, i understand how angry and upset you will be after spending you money on an Olympic Holiday, I hope this goes a little way to maybe at least understanding, on the part of the rep's the treatment you may have received.(I do understand that it is the nature of the job to undertake blame on behalf of the company, but the illustrated working conditions speak for themselves).I worked for them this summer(I don't wish to name accommodations, and this is a pseudonym, you will see why).I am a Primary School teacher, and an experienced rep having previously worked for genuine companies including First Choice and Thomas Cook, but decided to work for Olympic on the promise of a fantastic summer package. The following is an account of the treatment I (and other reps and guests) received during my 3 month stay.
*I have never been payed a single penny,EVER.
*We repeatedly had to work 36 hour shifts, with NO break, or relief.
*They withheld a colleague's passport to prevent him leaving the country, and entered my accommodation to attempt to do the same.
*When we failed to reach our sales targets, our 1 day off was removed, even if that meant working for a summer season without a day off(which is why Olympic reps are so pushy about trips).
*The Customer Feedback Questionare that you may have been asked to complete with promise of a prize holiday, according to head office does not exist!
*Any complaint report, once written, is re-written in Olympic's favour.
*Company car's are given out, with no paper work, resulting in fines from the local police, obviously a fine you have to pay.
*The company accept money to recommend a Dr's surgery, and actively discourage you from visiting others.
*Guest's are left for hours on long transfers, often combined with other companies, such as Libra holidays, to save money(common journeys are around 4-5 hours).
*The worst case of guest treatment I knew of was when a guest was badly injured, at fault of the company, and left in hospital with awful treatment from the company, (by that I mean none).
*As a staff member or guest you may come into contact with incompetence, intimidation and bullying!

You may read this and think, why notgo home. The answer is that the company refuse to pay for return flights, if you wish to resign, (even when following contract procedure). Fortunately I was in the position of being able to pay for one myself, but Olympic also like to inform all of the local excursion shops not to sell flights to ex-reps (of which there are obviosly many!), in return for favours, so finding a flight is very, very difficult.

Please take my advice and do not waste your money travelling with Olympic Holidays. I know from experience that this is not typical of holiday companies, they are cow-boys. The other postings from guests below are not rare examples, these are COMMON occurences.

(if anyone has any advive of where I stand on legal grounds, i would be very grateful).
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I also e-mailed olympic,but they did not have the descency to reply.
We have booked for 3 wks next june through manos and got an excellent deal.
So there you go olympic,more customers lost,you really need to sort out your customer services(thats a joke)and also the could not care less reps.

Totally agree with those comments which were critical of Olympic. Flo and I travelled with them July 2003. The rep kept us on the bus for 45 mins while she waited for her brother and his girlfriend to arrive. They were not Olympic guests. She gave no info to the new arrivals and we never saw her during our 2 week stay. I wrote to Olympic complaining but they did not want to know. That's why we booked our own flights and apartments this year and it paid off. We saved on the flights & apartments. Ian of the Paradise Village had a taxi waiting. We have done the same for 2005 & for 4 weeks again.

We have been going to corfu for 19 yrs,we know more than the reps and that is a fact.
We stayed at the fiona,the first week was fine but the second week the son of the owner,theo decided to play really loud music every night in the pool bar till 3 and 4am.
I asked him nicely to turn it down but he refused,so we looked for the rep Laura and low and behold she is in the pool bar with them.
She took sides with theo,to my amazement,she could not give a damn about the customers she is supposed to represent.
This rep was more interested in keeping in with theo,as long as she was having a good time, sod her customers.
How she is still working as a rep there after all the complaints we heard i will never know.
Then the greeks sit and moan about the resort being quiet,is it any wonder.We will never use olympic ever again or stay at the fiona and other guests we spoke to say the same.
Olympic,wake up before you lose all your customers.

Flew with Air Monarch good flight excellent meal no problems at all. Staff at arrivals were not very helpfull coach waiting to park rep directed us to sit down and wait and then forgot to tell us that the bus was ready. Accomodation was excellent and Cheryl the rep at Seascape Apartment was great her welcome meeting contained plenty of information and she was there everyday. Cheryl always took time to talk to everyone and had a very good knowledge of corfo.

I too had problems with olympic last year. But there is no point in complaining to them as i did and recieved a letter back from them finally after about 5 months to which everything that i put in my letter was turned back on myself and they took no blame for anythink i would never travel with olympic again and would not recommend them to anyone

We recently travelled to Sidari with Olympic Holidays, even though we had a brilliant holiday due to the resort itself, the treatment (or lack of it) from Olympic Holidays was disgraceful, firstly the journey from the airport took four and a half hours instead of three, due to disorganisation, arrived at Sidari at 4.30 in the morning and were told the welcome meeting would be at 10.30 the next morning, Got up for the meeting after a long night of travelling but the rep failed to turn up!! and we did not get our welcome pack until the 2nd day into our holiday. One night the electricity went off in out apartment, we were told we had to contact our Rep, but after trying she was no where to be found, then my ring went missing from my apartment and the rep was again no where to be found. To top it off, we recieved a letter through the door stateing that we would be collected from the apartments at 8.30pm, we arrived back at the apartments at 8.20pm to be told back fellow holiday makers that the coach had been and gone. We then had to ring the rep, who had to come back for us saying there had been a misprint on the letter.

i would like to now were the olive grove apartments are situated in kavos? are they noisey? email me at pattersone@aol.com many thanks

I've booked to stay at the christakis hotel in sidari in september. was wondering if anyone has been or knows what it's like??!! hope i don't have the trouble with olympic that other people have had!

the Flight was excellent, we werent expecting food and got given a lovely meal. we flew with Monarch airlines. we had been travelling all night and then had to wait 1 hour and a half for our baggage at the airport, which isnt their fault. we then had a 2 and a half hour transfer to Sidari as we were the last stop. the only complaint about that was we saw our accommodation 30 minutes before and then drove around for another 30 minutes for some reason. once we got there we were booted out and just given a room number and were just left to it. if we'd have had any problems we wouldnt have known what to do. we attended the welcome meeting where our rep kevin tried to get us to buy trips. we said yes to the bbq but later found it for half the price and changed our mind, which he got really pissed off about. he was around at the times stated but when there i didnt feel that we could approach him or that he wanted to help us. on our last day which was the friday we werent due to leave until 1.20 am saturday morning but still had to be out of our room at 12 noon on the friday. we approached him about this matter as we had therefore only had 6 nights sat-thursday night. he didnt even check this out and just told us to arrange a late check out with kate who worked there. when she cam to do it she set it all up and then at the end informed us we would have to pay 20 euros which he had not even mentioned. Overall everything was ok except out rep who was most unhelpful.

Have just come back from holidaying with Olympic in Ipsos. All I can say is WOW. We had an absolutely maaaaaaaaaaaaarvelous time! Such a professional and attentive company. Our Rep Michelle was fantastic, nothing was too much trouble. And you could see just how much pride she took in her work and how she loved it so, which just added to our overall enjoyment.

We booked on most of the trips Olympic had to offer and although some of them may have been 1 or 2 euros dearer than other excusion outlets it was defintely worth booking through them as we received quality, comfortable, prompt and guided transferes to and from the Venue's and they were thoroughly enjoyable trips.

Thanks to Michelle and Olympic for making our holiday a very special one...looking forward to my next Olympic Holiday...bring it on!!!

Sally

what a bunch of clowns arrived at 4am no electric in apartment i hav a 1 year old son the rep said another rep would be down 2 sort it didnt show sorted it myself then appartment was a p**s corner filthy cleaners my a**e then had an accident owed the local dodgy doc 100 euros bcause he wouldnt take my insurance so i missed the appiontment to go back dodgy doc was brickkin it thinking i wasnt payin and who turns up at the appartment first thing a rep who looked like somthing out of s club juniors sayin u hav got 2 pay dodgy doc its amazing how olympic can leave a 1 year old child without electric .but can chase up a poncey ripp off docs money .and then c*mmin back another no brain rep booked different people on our coach if we hadnt of showed her wot a no head she was we would probably still be there now .ive got more which i will tell another time

Can anyone tell me any info on the Rebeccas village hotel apartments in Sidari? I'm going on Friday 30th july 2004.

well i flew to corfu on 31st may with my travel...wen i got to roda i found to reps were very unhelpful...2 reps we had laura and a g*y baldy man! i did not get the coach to my destination i got a taxi...but there service is very bad...they were never helpful with people and laura the rep flirted with the waiters and gave me dirty luks she was more interested in wot she looked like! shes really unhelpful and seems to have no time 4 people!

This is the worst tour company i have ever travelled with!!!!!!!!!!!

great holiday from start to finish

Not the best. We had an incident free holiday, staying in the excellent Loxides apartments. Kenny our rep had the personality of a stuffed animal. No organisation at the airport, and a general feeling they didnt know what they were doing.

Highly over priced excursions, we booked on the main strip instead and saved 140 Euros.

it was ok, kevin the rep was great, but the airport staff was really bad, would go to the apts again though.

Never book with olympic Holidays there useless, we had a problem with a hotel and couldn't find any reps and when we finally did they were helpless. On the way home the rep didn't no whitch Queue we had to go in to get the plane home we stood in one queue for about 45 mins and it was the wrong one. Were going Back to Greece this year and were defo not travelling with olympic holidays.

Phil-you rock-sorry bout the flaming lambourghinies-you had to have one! loved you in my pretty yellow hat! just wanted to say you did an amazing job for you second time and you made the 'naughty' bournemouth girls holiday amazing. thanks a lot!

What a bunch of jokers. Do not book with this company. We have been expecting a refund for over a month now and this is because a few days before our holiday they decided to cancel our flight home.

We have just arrived back from Arillas a matter of hours ago and came onto the site to have a nosey and see what we are missing out on. Just thought that we would add our comments on Olympic, they were excellent to travel with and we will be using them as our first choice from now on. Our rep (Colin) was excellent he was always there for us whatever we needed and nothing was too much trouble. We have nothing negative to say and would reccomend Olympic to anyone!

i agree with the two comments below the rep was totally useless we complained to olympic when we got back and was given refund it was yhat bad

THIS was the worst company me and my family have ever flown with! THE FLIGHT there AND back was dellayed. The coach was ROASTING and we never once saw our rep!!!!!

Well what can we say! Last year was the first time we travelled with Olympic and NEVER AGAIN. This was our third year in Roda and previously we have travelled with First Choice who were excellent. Where do we begin? Towels and bins (including toilet bin) were not changed for the two weeks we were there even though we spoke to the rep about this problem every day. Bed sheets were filthy and were not changed either. Floors were discusting and unhygenic. The rep was very rude and unhelpful, I think she goes by the name of Melanie. Overall travelling with Olympic ruined our holiday so this year we're taking the safe bet of going with First Choice. BE WARNED.

Our olympic rep woz brill with us always there on time very helpfull we had a complain about our room and she sorted it out for us.we were staying at the eleanna appt there were ok apart from the owner.our rep was chrisie

Booked a late deal with Olympic Holidays 3 weeks prior to going. The flight was with exelair and was excellent and both inward and outward flights were on time. Transfer from airport to Sidari should have took 11/2 hours but took 3. The bus was that late that a rep had to run me to my apartment as the bus driver had another booking. The rep for the apartments didn't turn up for the welcome meeting, just left info outside apartment door. He constantly got my apartment mixed up with some elses and therefore pick time information went to someone else. Don't book excursions with Olympic the are all most double the price of the local travel agents. Return transfer took just over an hour but the bus was supposed to collect us at 8.15am and didn't turn up till 8.50am. Did not receive travel insurance from Olympic prior to going on holiday and would therefore advise to get your own before traveling. Overall I would travel with Olympic again but the reps need to buck their idea's up

Flight with Monarch - excellent, reps at the airport did not have a clue which coaches were going where, hence delay from leaving airport.
Travel to Sidari very quick it only took 30 minutes but then took 1 and half ours to get to our apartment - Christakis. Coming back picked up an hour before they should have but lovely trip to airport going along coastal roads. Let us wait inside airport not outside like other operators. Overall brilliant will travel with them again.

well what can i say it has to be the worse holiday i have had i would never travel with olympic holidays again The only thing that was good was the flight and that was with Monarch airlines
I dont think olympic got anything right they say in there brochure that it will an unforgettable holiday it was that alright but not in the way the they hoped

Shocking... Brian the Rep at Nicos appartments was no help to us at all. Any one that has ever visited Kavos would know that you need alot of support from the reps just to ensure you dont top your self before you have the chance to get the 1st flight home. We found the rep to b unavailable, unreliable and outright rude. THANK YOU BRIAN for helping to make the worst holiday in the world a complete tragedy.

Reps did their job but to the minimum. Olympic Holiday Policies are more at fault. Accommodation alternatives unavailable, not concerned of our welfare, had to fly home early and pay for own ticket.

We booked a very late booking only a couple of weeks before we went and found the website and company easy and friendly to use. The flight over to Corfu on Monarch was probably the worst i have been on but it was not the fault of the cabin crew who were all very happy and friendly throughout the turbulent journey, in which the televisions and music was all not working!

When we arrived to the airport in Corfu we were a little early and the bags got off before us, as they didnt have stairs ready for us to get off the plane so we had to wait 20 minutes after landing to get off. However, eventhough the bags had got off the plane before we did, they failed to arrive on the baggage carousel for over and hour later. There were people on earlier flights who were still waiting for luggage 2 hours after their flights! You could hardly move in the baggage hall with at least 4 big flights unpacking bags onto two carousels.

When we finally got our bags we met the rep who would be going some of the way on the transfer. However, becuase the bus driver didnt know where the hotel we were staying at was he had to stay on longer than he was expecting but this was never a problem for him as he wanted to make sure we were sorted and got to the hotel before he left us! The journey to St. George didn't take much longer than an hour as we had a mini bus with one other family as no one else was going to our resort at the same time.

When we arrived at the hotel the owner was very pleasant and friendly giving us all the information we needed.

The rep at our hotel was very different to the one on the transfer and was not very helpful. For example, we asked about hiring a car and she didnt know anything about any cars available and said to see her the next day when she sorted something out. That night we saw her out in the resort, and the next day she still didnt know anything about the cars so we went to one of the hire companies on the island and got a Citroen C3 for 4 days for around £100. A number of times when she was supposed to be at the hotel we waited to speak with her but she never turned up and the details for our departure were left on the reception desk eventhough we had been told she would see us at least two days before.

We were picked up 5 hours before our plane was due to leave, and when we got to the airport we realised we had been placed on a coach with people going to Manchester as we were the only people from our resort and the company going to Birmingham. We were told to go inside and wait for a checkin desk for our flight to open (as they had no information for our flight) while the reps would wait with the Manchester departures. Over 2 hours later a desk opened for our flight and we quickly went to sort out our tickets. The departure hall was very crowded with lots of delays (Air2000/First Choice even took passenger out of the airport and put them on coaches and took them out for lunch becuase their plane was delayed and the airport was getting so crowded) but our flight left just 5 minutes late as we had to wait for people who were late arriving at the airport.

The flight back was much better in a newer plane than before and the crew were again all very helpful...

We had a good holiday despite the rep at our hotel, as we would just see the owner of the hotel if we needed anything as he was very helpful and always around for the guests. Olympic is not a bad company but the good hard working reps are let down by the others who dont try and probably dont care that much either.

The apartments, Mavronas, were the worst we have ever stayed in and the rep had the nerve to say that the excuse for a bathroom was so fitted out as to be hygenic as to the way the Greeks live. I am surprised we didn't all contract dysentry or any other serious disease. An insult to the Greeks. Five of us had to share a weak tap with a shower head that was dreadful. The fifth bed was a "Put me up" which even the rep admitted he would not sleep in, our 17 year old had to endure it. The pool use was appalling and charged @ E2 per day but fortunately we found the Solaris pool and spent our holiday there which was free. Kassiopi was very good and we would strongly recommend it to anyone and made it possible for us to cope as we only went to the accomodation when necessary. The noise was unbearable throughout our stay in the evenings due to the closeness of the other apartments.

We felt very sorry for our rep. He arrived in Kassiopi the day before us. He had 6 sites to look after on his own and this was his first repping job. He tried very hard and we found him very pleasant. I would say Olympic expect a lot from their reps. The transfer from the airport took over two hours for what is a 45 minute car journey. We had lots of drop offs first down very tight roads and drives which was very slow. We had problems with the car hire we booked through Olympic as the hire company told us we had paid no insurance at all and demanded 170 euros before they would leave the car. The Olympic office in Paleokastritsas told us we would have to pay and see what we could claim back. Not very impressive. All in all the holiday was good value for money because we liked our accomodation and resort, but I would hesitate about going with Olympic again.

Natalie the rep at the Jason was sooooo miserable. Hardly there when her visiting times were and she didn't seem to enjoy her job. Quite unapproachable really. Olympic overall very good, no other complaints - apart from none of the reps at the airport on the way home knew what check in desk we all had to check in at, resulted in us waiting outside in a huge queue for about two hours, hence our flight delayed! Would def use Olympic again though!

Can anyone give me any info on the Mathraki Studios on any extras I would need to take.
Many Thanks

none of the olimpic reps were very helpful i dont really know why they were there a totaly hopeless bunch and not the least bit friendly.

Our rep was always moaning, and was always miserable! Never really joined in with the holiday sprit!

Flights were with Excel and were excellent.

The rep was absolutely useless. She misinformed us of the time of the welcome meeting, and then had no welcome packs left when we saw her. She promised a pack would be left in our room and nothing ever arrived. She was seldom late to arrive at the hotel.

The transfer took just over 3 hours to Sidari and this after waiting for 45 minutes on the bus at the airport! The return journey only took around 1 hour though.

Despite twice informing Olympic of requirements for a veggie meal on the flight, and once by phone, no meal was available on the flight!

I'd use Olympic again, as the accomodation they offer appears to be very good, shame about the rep though! :-)

Flights... ok, accomodation... ok, transfers... loooooong and boring coach rides, overall... saw the rep for the introductory meeting and that was it until the day before our flights back home.

We have just been to Ipsos and had a funtastic holiday, it is our forth time in Ipsos our second time with Olympic. The rep we had with the Jason was so so, but the rep we had this year KAZ was brillant, not pushy at all and even came out for drinks at night with us. She made the effort to come to my birthday party which was at Tiffany`s. We had no delays until we got home.One thing i do want to know is y arn`t olympic goin to SEASCAPE next year ?????? Olympic you picked a good rep in Karen don`t losse her.

The transfer to the airport from Paleo was a nightmare, going to Sidari, Dassia and then on to the airport. The journey took over two hours for a forty minute direct transfer.
The knowledge of the staff at the airport left a lot to be desired. They did not have a clue which check in desk it was, when all other companies already had this information.
On checking out of our apartments, we were expected to walk exactly one kilometre to pick up our tranport. Our cases had been collected five hours before this.

Our rep. Neil was brilliant, fun, approachable, helpful and attractive. accomodation was great. everything went smoothly. great value for money.

the rep was crap and the accomodation extremely basic. not enough in the self-catering apt to self cater but okay as arillas has many restuarants serving fine food. definitely don't book your holiday insurance with them, we never received ours!

The outbound flight was delayed but we weren't really kept informed of what was happening, and the reps at the airport didnt seem to know why it took them two hours to unload our baggage at the other end! Still, transfer was ok on outbound but late to pick us up at 1am. The accom. was as described although the 5person room was v squashed. Good location, and food def cheaper in San Petros than Kavos