Some basic tips before catching a plane from Barajas

Are you one of those persons who gets nervous when having to catch a plane? here are some tips that will make it easier for you.

Many people don´t like travelling by plane. Some of them because they feel panic to fly, others just because of the fact of breaking their daily monotony. Either way, here are some tips that will relax you when having to catch a plane at Barajas airport.


Basic tips before catching a plane
Think about the time you will need to get to the airport, most airports are on the outskirts of the cities, Barajas for example is just 14km away from Madrid city. Airline companies always recommends to be at the airport at least 2 hours before departure. It´s advisable to add to this also the time you need to arrive to the airport.
Deciding how to go to the airport is one the thing that makes us really nervous. Loaded with luggage and having to take the metro, train or bus for example is not very advisable for our nerves. The best option is hiring a airport car parking at Madrid airport and leave our vehicle parked at the airport. Same way, when we come back from our trip we will have our vehicle at the airport parking waiting for us and ready to drive directly to our house.

Once you arrive at the airport inform yourself when you have to embark, by going directly to the correspondent airlines check-in desk where they will inform you at what time your flight embarks and which gate you will need to go too.

Go to the pre-boarding area at the predicted time. Remember that you will have to pass through the metal detector. Don´t get nervous when it starts beeping, mainly it is just due to the belt buckle or because of some trim on your shoes.

Relax yourself in the "Free Shop" area, enjoy the stores while waiting to embark, but do not forget the number of your boarding gate that must take because Barajas Airport is a hub airport and it might happen that your favourite store and your boarding gate are quiet away from each other.

Go to the boarding gate when it is the time, also, speakers and TV screens will always let you know when to embark. Don´t worry, normally there cannot go anything wrong by taking a boarding gate because there are always some airline staff that will check that our boarding pass corresponds to the wright boarding gate.

Relax and enjoy your flight, it might be that they bring you to the plane by bus, but only if it is too far away. When you enter into the plane go to the seat that suits you and stop worrying, it is done now. Just enjoy from your trip through the sky.


Victoria Parking
Parking Alicante Airport

The opening of our new Madrid airport parking service

Victoria Parking announces its new parking service for long and short stayments in the neighbourhood of Madrid airport - Barajas.

Being the biggest Spanish airport involves a very high number of air traffic. Every day thousands of passengers of any part of the world pass along the streets of these facilities in order to go and catch their plane.

For different reasons, many travelleres have to go with their own vehicle. This might be because of a lack of public transport in their own town any many others just because its more comfortable. This way you can leave home whenever you wish, and you do not have to worry about catching on time the train or bus that brings you to the airport, which also can be a inconvenient when you are loaded with lots of luggage. A parking service in Madrid airport at competitive rates is an essential service.

"These past few months we have noticed a considerable increase in people looking for parking space for long periods as well as for one or two weeks for Madrid airport. In almost all cases the customers contact us due that we offer very competitive rates for all our destinations and because of our good service" says Victoria Parking communication manager.

"Due to the high number of requests we decided to inaugurate our new service of  parking Madrid airport. Soon we can offer the same conditions to our customers that we are already offering in our other destinations."

Victoria Parking is a company dedicated to offer car parking service for long and short stayments at the airport of Barcelona, Valencia, parking Alicante Airport and now also in Madrid. The main objective of the company is to offer to its customers a car parking place in the vicinity of the airport at a very low rate.

Once the vehicle is parked the company is responsible to bring from and to the airport of its customers. Beside this it also offers various extras such as car wash, complete car wash cleaning, car covers and so on...

As every year the January sales have begun.

As every year, the past 2nd of January began the January Sales, starting this year with very aggressive discounts due to the crisis.

On January the 2nd they´ve started with the famous winter sales. As usual the autonomous region of Madrid and Murcia were the first who began with there winter sales, followed by one week later the rest of the autonomous regions.


What is the sales origin?
The sales history goes back to early 1930 when a very important department store businessman from New York decided to offer big discounts to reduce all the stock that he had from all of its fashion shops. This sector doesn´t allow to have much stock in their stores due to the constant change of their collections, which made this method to spread out quickly throughout the rest of the world. Nowadays it has become almost a compulsory practice taking place twice a year, one in the winter and one in the summer.

The main aim is to sell all there stock collection from the past season at lower prices, this way the want to give rise to the entry of their new collection.

In Spain, the January Sales were initiated as a result of a "rival war" for getting new customers between El Corte Inglés and its than competitor Galerias Preciados, stores that were scattered throughout all spanish cities. Obviously, the fact that these two major stores also made profit of this new tendence forced the little and medium merchants to join this trend as a necessitty.

Nowadays sales have extended over to almost all kind of sectors, you can find sales in fashion stores, real estate, business service and even in supermarkets.

How long last the January Sales?
In most autonomous regions, the winter sales start on the 7th of January and ends on the 7th of March, except in Murcia and Madrid where they began on the 2nd of January and will finish on the 1st of March and on the 31st of March respectively.

What do they offer during major sales?

The range of sales is very broad and can vary from each store. As general rule, all stores offer between 20% and 80% discount on top of the initial price. In addition, as a reult of the crisis, having important discounts is just not enough, that´s why in some cases promotions are launched even more aggressively. For example, the Desigual shop in Madrid made lately a special promotion that all female customers who entered to the store with its underwear could take there selected clothes with them for free.

If I´m going to Madrid, where about can I go to sales?
If you decide to go to the sales in Madrid, there are several places where you can go to. Among the most prominent ones we can find them at the Gran Via and Preciados street, as well as at the Arenal street. Here about we can find almost everything.

By the other hand, if our tastes are a little bit more refined and our pockets are better filled, we can find the best and most exclusive shops in Serrano street, Velazquez and surroundings.

We cannot leave aside the big shopping centres. Among the most famous ones you have Factory with shopping centres in San Sebastian de los Reyes, Getafe and in Las Rozas.

Where to go on sales in Barcelona?
On the other hand, if our destination is Barcelona, we also can find there a variety of stores with all kind of offers and discounts at this time of the year.

Among the most popular areas for going on shopping is at the centre of the city.

In addition we can also go to the Gothic area, to the Portal del Angel area, Aviñon street, Daigonal avenue, Paseo de la Gracia... If you are visiting the city, the most advisable thing to do is hiring a car rental in Barcelona, this way you can drive easily to all these areas.

Besides of all the shops that we can find among the streets, like any other big city, we can find many shopping centres. Among the best knowns are those of Illa Diagonal, Lamaquinista and Glorias´s.

Which are your favourite places to go shopping? or, which ones you don´t recommend us to go too?


VictoriaCars
Car Hire Alicante
http://www.victoriacars.com/
www.facebook.com/victoriarentacar

Key tips for hiring the cheapest car

Always when holidays are approaching we start to organise the voyage. We book the hotel room or the apartment where we will stay, the plane tickets and in case we are not travelling in our own car, the best option is to rent a car at the destination where we travel to.

10 tips for renting a cheap car in Spain.

1. Choosing the most economical pick-up location
Obviously, depending on the selected destination, prices for the same rental car will vary. However in addition, within the same destination in many cases we can find different prices depending on the point of delivery. Generally the cheapest pick-up points are usually the airports.

2. Book in advance.
Car rental prices, and specially in Spain, increases as we move into summer dates.
During the summer months there is such an important increase in demand which makes that the rental car price rises at the same pace than this demand. Booking a car in advance will avoid us now to pay such high prices. And also we will avoid the risk of not getting any car.

3. Prepayment of your booking.
During the low season we can find that most car rental companies launch tenders for "prepayments". For example, if the car is booked for June and paid in March we are usually presented with a significant discount. Reason of this is that these companies concentrate their business during the summer months but need to keep having incomes during the winter months, which is obvious.

4. 7 days rental or more.
Trying to save money by renting a vehicle for less days than what you need, will only increasing the daily price. At most car rental companies daily prices are less as longer the booking period is.

5. Making a booking through a provider with its own base at the selected destination.
It is advisable that the chosen company where you are booking your car with has its own base at the selected destination. This way we ensure that the rental price has no additional charges as for example extra commissions to third parties, intermediaries, etc...

6. Consult accurately the price of the extras.
Many times we make a reservation through a website where the car rental price is much cheaper than the own suppliers one, disregarding of the extras we need. However, by collecting the vehicle we are surprised how the price of the extras increases our booking price. It is advisable not to make any booking until we have checked the exact price of all the extras that we are going to need.

7. Hiring a fully comprehensive insurance.
Yes, oddly enough, by the end it will be much cheaper and will give us less headaches if we do not hire this insurance. In the first place we avoid holding onto our credit card the amount of the excess, which is the deposit that they charge us in case something happens with the car.

The credit on your credit card is to enjoy your holidays not to have a certain amount blocked on it that you can not use.

Secondly, in case of any mishap with the vehicle, and depending on the rental company, we can have the surprise that the insurance that is included in the car rental price does not cover that particular damage.

8. Hiring a fully comprehensive insurance once collecting the car.
Many intermediary car rental companies are offering full risk insurances at their own web site, which you can hire at the same time of making your booking.

Afterwards we find out that such insurance does not cover the totality of what the full risk covers from the company where we collect the car, who is the owner of the vehicle.

Therefore it is advisable that you hire the full risk insurance at the time of picking up the vehicle, this way we ensure us the maximum coverage.

9. Returning the vehicle at the same pick-up location.
Although that the selected company has an office where you want to return the vehicle, in most cases they will charge us a certain amount by returning it at a different destination.

This is because the rental companies have a determined fleet of vehicles for each of their destinations, calculated in base of the needs. The specific cases where clients require to return the vehicle to a different destination often involves that afterwards the car rental company must return the vehicle to its origin, having to assume this way extra personnel costs, fuel, increases wear on the engine and so on...

10. Fidelity has its reward.
Searching for any offer at the car hire companies website that they might have for their customers. Check their social networks, often just by becoming a fan on Facebook apply us discounts which at times can be up to 30%. In addition to discounts, some companies offer different awards, sweepstakes or contests only available for their clients.


VictoriaCars
Car hire Madrid
http://www.victoriacars.com/
www.facebook.com/victoriarentacar

VictoriaCars gives a positive report from their attendance at Fitur 2011.

Fitur 2011 has closed its doors for another year. This international tourism fair held in Madrid, has served as a bridge for VictoriaCars to get in touch with the major players in the car rental sector in Spain.

All agents attending this meeting; the celebration of the 31st edition of Fitur in Madrid, agree that it has been a resounding success. All factors involved in the tourism sector are pushing for a major comeback in the sector for the coming season in 2011.

Operators and representatives of the tourism industry, nationally and internationally, came together at this fair. The objectives; to network, negotiate and conduct business.

With these same goals came VictoriaCars to Fitur 2011, as a participant on the Costa Blanca Stand, in particular the Calpe City Council Stand. Attendance at this event has enabled them to present to the sector its new car hire in Barcelona and car hire in Madrid airport services, two of the destinations with the biggest boom in the market today.

Internet and the tourism industry

If something has been really evident in this edition of Fitur, it was the importance of the role that the Internet plays in the tourism sector. The social networking revolution has dominated this sector impressively.


Among the tourists who use the Internet to prepare their holidays in Spain, 96.1% used it to search for information about the destination, while 67.2% consulted the Internet to make their reservation on line (survey of tourist movements in Spain).

VictoriaCars; aware from the beginning of the changes in this regard, have already been underway with a major presence within social networks, with their Facebook account (http://www.facebook.com/victoriarentacar), Twitter (http://twitter.com/VictoriaCars), their journalistic contributions to blogs (http://alquiler-coches-victoriacars.blogspot.com/) and multimedia forays through Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/victoriacar) not to mention their participation in forums and social networks from the tourism industry, in its eagerness to bring the company closer to its customers.

How to book a hire car in Spain when you’re younger than 25 years old.

The vast majority of Car hire companies limit their services to only drivers who are older than 25 years of age. What are the motives behind this restriction?

You get to 18 years old and finally you can start to travel without the need to be accompanied by your parents.

You start to prepare what will be your first holiday as an adult; where to go, accommodation, how to get there and in most cases how to get around and get the most out of your stay once you get to your destination… but alas, the last part isn’t an option.

Being an adult does not imply that you have the experience and responsibility necessary for a car hire company to confide in your skills as a new driver, in fact, booking a car with most car hire companies is only available to those who are older than 24; but why is this restriction in place?

Is it legal to prohibit hiring a car to under 25’s?

According to the consumer associations, it is illegal for a company to not want to hire somebody a car due to the age of the driver, yet these hire car companies feel they need to have this restriction in place, why?

It’s very simple; the car hire companies are not directly responsible for this restriction. In the majority of cases it is the insurance companies that don’t offer cover for cars driven by under 25’s.

The same occurs when insuring your own vehicle, the age and experience of the driver are the basic factors that affect the cover of the insurance. Most insurance companies don’t want to run the risk of covering new drivers, even less when the car isn’t their own, and thus, not their responsibility.

So for these motives, the majority of services of car hire in Murcia, Madrid, Alicante etc. will not let you book if the drivers age is not over 24 years old.

Some companies offer the solution

Conscious of the problem imposed on an important area of their potential customers, some car hire companies have decided to offer an intermediate solution.

After arriving to an agreement with their insurance companies, they will now accept reservations for new drivers but only by contracting an additional insurance for under 25’s or for those who have had their driving licence less than 2 years.

VictoriaCars has assumed this initiative.

The national Spanish car hire company Victoria Cars has put into motion this new feature for their services of car hire in Madrid, Murcia, Alicante… with the aim of not leaving any customer without a hire car.

More information at http://www.victoriacars.com

VictoriaCars, pioneers in the launch of the OTA-XML technology for its car hire services in Alicante Airport, Murcia...

With this new system, the pursued objective by VictoriaCars is to speed up their car hire Alicante Airport, Murcia services when a reservation is made through an agency.

This technology enables the computer servers at Victoria Rent a Car and at the agency’s to communicate with out the need of any human interaction and always in real-time, eliminating any waiting times that would be caused if the reservations where made under human management.

What is the OTA-XML standard?

XML is a language used to distribute information and OTA is the standard of communication for booking tourism accommodation, allowing businesses to perform bookings through electronic transaction for hotels, airlines, car hire, loyalty marketing, etc. with other tourism businesses, automatically and unattended.

OTA is the standard for sharing information between reservation systems, and the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) association is the one who defines these standards.

It is a non-profit and self-financing organisation that includes large air lines, hotels, car hire companies, leisure providers, travel agents, GDS, technology providers and others that work to create and put into service e-business specifications for the entire tourism industry.

These specifications form a common language aimed at encouraging e-business system development to create new services that can better attend the demand and expectations of travellers and the travel industry.

How does this benefit the customer?

At present you can solicit, for example, services for a car hire Murcia from VictoriaCars website or also from the website of any of the agencies that collaborate with them.

If the reservation were to be made through VictoriaCars website, the communication between the website and the server would be done in real-time, so that immediately after making the reservation, the customer receives an e-mail confirmation.

However, if the booking was made through the website of one of the agencies, this would have been remitted to VictoriaCars manually for its validation, and the confirmation process on VictoriaCars part was also done manually. Due to this, the time it took to receive an answer confirming the reservation to the customer sometimes surpassed 12 hours, with the consequent discomfort that this put upon the customer.

With the implantation of the new OTA-XML technology the problem disappears completely. Thanks to this technology the computer servers at VictoriaCars and those of the agents are able to interact directly, without any human intervention.

Thus, when a customer solicits a booking through an agencies website for, for example, car hire Alicante Airport services, the computer servers will contact each other through XML in order to confirm the reservation in real-time.

For more information please visit http://www.victoriacars.com

The new blog of Victoria Rent a Car...Congratulations!

Car hire company, VictoriaCars, from Spain is offering this blog to everyone who is interested in our car hire service at Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Murcia and Valencia airport as well as at further locations at Costa Blanca.

You are welcome to post everything what is worth knowing about your Spain holidays here. On the other side, we will try to update it constantly and to let you know about our current car hire offers in Spain.
For more information and our current car rental rates, please visit www.victoriacars.com.