Courtyard Travel Ltd. for European Delivery

Has anyone planned their European Delivery itinerary through Courtyard Travel Ltd.?

I am curious as to any pros and cons of the agency and whether there are any other recommended agencies?

Though, if not mistaken, I believe Courtyard to be the agency BMW sponsors for the program.

Thank you!

Anyone?

I'm planning on going in Sept 2012.

Did you ever get an answer about Courtyard?

I didn't end up using them, and don't think it's too necessary to either...

Did my own thing based on recommendations from many people before and during my trip.

The European Delivery forum on this site has many good recommendations, and people are very happy to help there.

Moving this thread to the ED forum for better visibility.

We used Courtyard last May for our ED.
There wasn't an established itinery for where we wanted to travel so they helped us with hotel choices in Munich, Colmer and Paris. All were great.
The fellow I dealt with was the same guy who put together the 07 ED package we took back when the Valerie Wilson agency was doing them. They know their stuff.

Unless you absolutely despise planning, do it on your own. This forum, especially the Wiki, can provide you as much advice and information as any travel agent. Spend a couple hours reading the Wiki and then if you have specific questions, ask away.

I used the Valerie Wilson agency for the 2006 M5 ED and they were absolutely horrible. Could not seem to find decent flights for us, so I made a good flight reservation for our family of 4, the clerk from VW called LH and canceled my reservation did not contact me for 5 days and could not get the reservation reinstated. As a result we wound up with a 27 hour total transit time. Best to make your own reservations.

Originally Posted by M FUNF

I used the Valerie Wilson agency for the 2006 M5 ED and they were absolutely horrible. Could not seem to find decent flights for us, so I made a good flight reservation for our family of 4, the clerk from VW called LH and canceled my reservation did not contact me for 5 days and could not get the reservation reinstated. As a result we wound up with a 27 hour total transit time. Best to make your own reservations.

These days a travel agency's strength isn't in the nuts and bolts of travel. Anyone on the net can do that for themselves with better results. What they can do is clue you into options that you are unaware of.
Recommendations from the web are hit and miss. When they come from a business that has its reputation at stake they tend to be more reliable.

Originally Posted by rmorin49

Unless you absolutely despise planning, do it on your own. This forum, especially the Wiki, can provide you as much advice and information as any travel agent. Spend a couple hours reading the Wiki and then if you have specific questions, ask away.

+1 and Courtyard is very expensive. Good luck
cheers
vern

I probably was not totally clear in my previous post, as I have discussed this before in a MB vs BMW thread. I had done the MB E500 ED in 2005 for my wife's car and MB handled all the air arrangements and some of the hotel arrangements as we used the MB Alps Rally Pkg. The MB flight reservation person not only got us great fares, and my daughter on the 2 for 1 pakg which I guess was 3 for 1, but they coordinated with my son's travel plans as he was already in Europe so we all returned together a very masterful job. So when I was doing an ED with BMW on a significantly more expensive car I thought I would compare BMW's travel planners. A complete failure on BMW's part. I had a reservation from FSD to ORD leaving mid afternoon connectiong with a LH ORD to MUC. I made sure that the travel agent knew that I was comparing ED programs and all she could say was "sizz iz BMW ve will do a much better job" Well the final travel arrangements she could get us was FSD to DEN sit for 7 hours, DEN to ORD wait an additional 3 hours and then catch the ORD to MUC flight that I had originally scheduled but she canceled. Then delivery was in the old Freimann Center which was kindly put very industrial, the WELT was an absolute necessity for BMW to stay in the race for ED and they hit a home run. Having been in Europe 2 -3 times a year over the past 40 years I knew how to make my own reservations however I was comparing programs, it is much easier to do it yourself.