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Brits oblivious to roaming fee regulations

but 60 per cent still believe charges are too high, says budgetplaces.com research

UK - March 24, 2010

Almost 60 per cent of UK travellers are not aware of the new EU roaming cap for Internet access within Europe. This is despite over half regularly accessing websites from their smartphones when on an overseas trip.[1]

Research carried out by budget accommodation portal budgetplaces.com discovered that, despite over a quarter of people making between five and eight trips abroad per year, 74 per cent of travellers do not contact their network operator to get the best deal before hopping on a plane.

A further 90 per cent confessed to not having any idea what their operators charge for accessing the web when overseas, with 60 per cent saying they considered the £45 cap too high and would be upset if charged this amount.

“The roaming cap is a positive step to prevent enormous bills on returning home, but it’s clear travellers don’t know exactly what they are paying while abroad. This is leading to unexpected, yet avoidable, costs on top of their holiday,” said John Erceg, MD at budgetplaces.com.

Based on its experiences helping travellers to find the best-value accommodation and activities to make the most of their holidays, budgetplaces.com has put together its top three tips for cash-conscious consumers:

Check before you travel – call your operator and find out what its pricing structure is. Quite often, they will have add-on ‘bundles’ available, meaning you’ll know what you’re paying before leaving the UK.
Use smart apps – find the quickest and easiest apps to use, such as those that allow you to complete actions without using additional sites, minimising time online and therefore cost.
Shop around – find areas that offer free Wi-Fi facilities, your hotel may have this (as do the majority of hotels bookable on www.budgetplaces.com), or cafes often allow customers access. Then you can surf to your heart’s content for the price of an espresso.

Executive quote

“By planning ahead and getting the best deal, travellers can ensure that more of their holiday budget goes on experiencing different cultures and exploring the sites rather than worrying about unexpected bills when you get home,” added Erceg.

About the company

About budgetplaces.com
Budgetplaces.com, part of the EnGrande network, is an on-line booking platform for centrally located quality accommodation at budget rates. The Barcelona based company offers more than 4,000 establishments of different categories in over 70 destinations. This means 60,000 hotel beds are available at very reasonable rates in the most popular tourist destinations including Barcelona, London, Paris and Madrid.

Budgetplaces.com aims for a target rate of 30 Euros per person, per night, saving travellers an estimated 37 per cent compared to the European average daily accommodation rate (ADR). Budgetplaces.com is expanding rapidly, adding more establishments every day and opening up new destinations regularly. More than 16,000 reservations are processed every month and EnGrande websites register more than 1.2 million hits per month. The forecast turnover for 2010 is 60 million Euros.

You can follow Budgetplaces.com on Twitter and Facebook

Contact details

For further information and enquiries, please contact:
Lauren Hoult at LEWIS, the PR agency
Tel: +44 (0) 161 457 2050
Fax: +44 (0) 161 457 2051
Email: budgetplaces@lewispr.com
Website: www.lewispr.com

Supporting materials

[1] Survey carried out March 2010 via email. Budgetplaces.com questioned a sample of 7,000 UK consumers

Technorati tags: budgetplaces.com | budget travel | mobile roaming charges | accommodation booking platform |

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