I had used CX Holidays for hotel and air packages by Cathay Pacific based in Hong Kong many times, and the experience is getting worse. There is very little value for the money.

We paid a 5-digit HK dollars for 2 persons on a 6-night Business Class package (hotel and air only) to Malaysia, and experienced the following:

1. Tiny Business Class cabin on Dragon Air, seats have no foot rest, with very little inclination or width to relax.

2. Flight has no video entertainment, not even audio, for a 3-hour international flight.

3. In-flight food is worse than before, quality of wine equally bad as before.

4. Have to take a bus or the train to board the plane at a remote gate. One time, we had to carry our carry-on luggage up the stairwell to the plane, with no jet-way, in the rain.

5. We paid for a Deluxe Sea View room, after checking in at the Hotel, we were assigned a low-level room with a view of the pool, no sea view. When we called the Front Desk, they assigned another room which was worse, with city view. It took over an hour and three room changes before we got a room with partial sea view.

6. Business Class packages no longer include private car transfers. We paid an additional 3-digit HK dollar price each way for private transfer. The car that picked us up was tiny with worn-out seats, not at all comfortable. Later, we discover that the Hotel is only a 5 minute ride from the airport, and CX Holidays had charged us 20 times more than what a local taxi would have cost.

7. Breakfast is included in the hotel package, but the hotel was swarmed with tourist groups, people had to fight for seats and food. The restaurant was like a war-zone, with messes everywhere. Not at all what one would expect to get from a 5-star hotel price that Cathay Pacific had charged us.

8. The hotel room had minimum facilities, not enough towels, no stationery, no hotel information folder, not even a clock. And we never got the welcome fruit basket that was advertised on Cathay Pacific's CX Holiday website for our booking. It is not exactly what we expect a "Deluxe Room" would be! We travel a lot all over the world, even "Standard Rooms" will get the most basic provisions in the room.

We filled out surveys and talked to the GM or COO of the hotel, but to no avail. I wonder if Cathay Pacific is doing so well with their 2010 profits, and their employees are all getting bonuses, because their customers have been short-changed, and that CX Holidays prosper at the expenses of us, their loyal customers?

If so, maybe it won't be a bad idea to pay just a couple of thousand HK dollars for an all-inclusive package (i.e. hotel, air, transfers, sightseeing and meals) from other tour operators, to stay at the same hotel room and eat the same breakfasts...!