Maximise - The Weekend Blog

Make a Film of your Weekend!

Blog Author — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:54:23 GMT

Making the stag or hen weekend one to remember is the aim of every group, and to guarantee it is why not benefit from Maximise new Film your Weekend service. We’ll send your group a top of the range, portable high-def video camera, along with easy to follow guidelines on how to make the film Hollywood standard. You record all your weekend antics from start to finish, then send it back to us.

Then we’ll take care of the cutting and editing, we’ll add special effects, music and caption. You then login to your customer area and view the video ready for final approval or amendments. Hey presto you’ve got a shiny memento DVD or Blu-Ray worthy of a film premiere at the wedding!

Head to Oxford for your Hen Do

Blog Author — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:23:13 GMT

Maximise are pleased to announce Oxford to it’s list of eligible Hen Locations. At only 50 miles from London, and with great transport links Oxford can be easily accessed from most places, so if you’re in search of something a bit different for your hen weekend, then take a look at what the famous town has to offer.

Steeped in history and defined by its gothic architecture, Oxford is also no schoolboy on the nightlife front, and with traditional activities like punting down the River Cherwell, it makes a prime candidate for a sophisticated but fun weekend.

For traditional fare, head to the Covered market, the oldest of its kind in England. The classic activity is a relaxing punt down the charming river Cherwell, perhaps between glasses of white wine at the many bars and restaurants overlooking the river. The college campuses are so breath-taking that they are the other option for a laid-back afternoon tour.

Home to Oxford university students, not adverse to getting saturated on local ale to divert their attention from the stress of exams, Oxford has all the allure that you would expect from a town of it’s repute, but also some decent night-time action to sweeten the deal. There are some seriously old pubs, like The Bear, The Eagle & Child, The Turf Tavern, and non-student nightclubs like Po Na Na’s. Be aware though, a lot of the nightlife is dominated by students, so if that will be annoying to your group then bear this in mind and let us know.

Maximise Website Helps Customers to Organise Online

Blog Author — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:43:08 GMT

It’s official, online research and booking is now the preferred choice for travellers as people increasingly look to the web to make that all important travel decision. In a poll of 5000 British adults by Travelsupermarket.com, it is shown that the internet is now the main planning tool for 52% of those looking for holidays – while just 12% will visit a travel agent in person to research their 2012 break.

We’re not surprised here at Maximise, since the internet has far more resources than any individual travel agent, and crucially it’s much less hassle. The vast majority of info on our products is available on our website, and our MyWeekend customer login area makes organising the weekend a walk in the park. No one wants to organise over the phone more than they have to, and with the tools on our website you can do everything to paying individually online and arrange rooming lists, to finding lowest-cost flights and organising bus transport door-to-door as well as in location.

In fact, on the Maximise website you can organise every single aspect of your weekend from enquiry and proposal through to payment, though we usually advise a discussion with your event planner just to get a feel for everything and to ask any questions you may have specific to your group. Plus, we have a live chat tool if you would prefer to chat online!

Head to Snowbombing Ski Festival for your Hen Weekend

Blog Author — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:10:31 GMT

If you ski, you may have at least considered a skiing hen weekend. But besides the often prohibitive cost, you might figure that since not everyone in the group skis then its a bit of a non-starter. But problem solved, in the form of Snowbombing festival in Mayrhofen Austria, an incredibly popular British festival at 1500m altitude. Each year thousands ascend on the mountain resort, for a week of sun, snow and musical revelry.

It makes for a truly unique hen weekend, and one that ticks all the boxes. Active but suntan friendly. Party atmosphere outside but relaxing retreat to your spa hotel in the evening. The hen weekend is abroad, but you’ll be surrounded by thousands of like-minded Brits intent on having a good time.

Budapest primed for Stag Weekend Tours as Ryanair announces new flight routes

Blog Author — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:22:06 GMT

Ryanair has announced five new routes to Budapest, with three in the UK and one from Dublin. The flights are expected to carry 200,000 passengers to the destination, and lots of them will be Stag dos, keen to capitalise on the lower fares and phenomenal stag activities and nightlife the city has to offer. Use Maximise Flight Finder Tool to locate these new Ryanair flights.

Regularly rated as the most beautiful city in Europe, Budapest has long been a favourite Stag venue for UK groups looking for a legendary send-off, consistently in our top 3 European destinations.

Maximise has always been a big fan of the Hungarian capital, thanks to its wide range of top-notch activities, as well as its pub culture and buzzing nightlife. Like other locations that have helped make Eastern Europe the immense stag venue it is today, Budapest offers activities simply out of reach of its UK counterparts. Shooting (real pistols and automatic weapons) and Bobsledding and Mud-wrestling immediately spring to mind, plus a wealth of action-packed excursions or hangover-relieving thermal baths, all executed to Budapest venues’ exceedingly high standards.

They know what us Brits are after, and that's exactly what we get.

Bournemouth lays claim to being the Stag & Hen capital of the country!

Blog Author — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:27:26 GMT

The Bournemouth Echo, mouthpiece of the Bournemouth community, has declared Bournemouth the most popular location for stags and hens, even above strong contenders like Bristol, Newcastle and Nottingham.

With seaside beaches and some of the better weather in the UK, its no great surprise that Bournemouth is a big crowd pull on the Hen & Stag scene. Indeed, Maximise sends more groups to Bournemouth than any other location, but it’s the brilliant activities and nightlife that really whet people’s appetites.

With the widest range of stag & hen activities around, the important thing is that you’ll find something original or unique to do on your weekend:

Hovercrafts Human Table Football

Afternoon Boat Party Blind Driving

Dodgeball Zorbing

Hit the Slopes for your weekend!

Blog Author — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:08:08 GMT

Ever considered heading to the mountains for your Stag or Hen Do? Nice idea, I hear you say, but not very traditional and not everyone skis, not to mention the cost of a skiing holiday. Well our newest location Andorra just answered all these issues.

For a few years now Andorra has been building up its reputation as Europe’s leading quality value for money ski location. Now that reputation has solidified, we sent a couple of the Winter locations Maximise team out to check out if it would make a suitable location for our Stags & Hens.

The snow forecast is good.

Andorra really does offer great value compared to most other European resorts. You get the impression that the resort has realised that many of us each year just want to head out for fun and skiing, and can do without the 5* Spa hotels and bearskin rug fireplaces. Particularly the non-family 20-35 age range, which appears to be who they are targeting. Affordable accommodation, ski passes and serious nightlife is all provided, and the resort enjoys plenty of snow throughout the season, albeit less than your high end resorts. But you can’t have everything.

Stag & Hen friendly wise, we are pleased to announce following our visit that Andorra offers far more than just skiing, so even if not all of your group can ski and/or has no interest in learning, activities like Mountain Paintball, Parapenting (mountain paragliding) and Helicopter Rides will provide plenty of entertainment. Remember the mountains tend to be very sunny, and scenically stunning of course, so they make a great location for a short holiday. Please see the Maximise Andorra Weekends page for more details!

The right financial protection more important then ever in aftermath of Thomas Cook woes

Blog Author — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:20:06 GMT

Thomas Cook’s troubles can only have got worse now that their cap in hand visits to the banks have been publicised all over the front pages of Britain’s newspapers. If they were having trouble selling holidays before then they certainly will be from now on. After all, who would want to buy a holiday from a company at risk of collapse? After all, if your tour operator does collapse, the money you have paid it becomes at risk while it does everything it can to pay off its creditors and stave off meltdown.

So how do you ensure that if your tour operator lands itself in trouble, your money and your friend’s money remains safe? The best way to do this is to book your trip with a tour operator that enjoys ABTA (and ATOL if you’re travelling abroad) protection. ABTA vet the companies they protect, and supervise a system whereby the money customers place in the trust of the tour operator is kept in a separate account that is only used to pay suppliers of the customer’s weekend.

Why Maximise? Maximise enjoy ABTA protection. ABTA is the recognised industry standard protection for the travel industry – accept no substitute.

Sofia now available for Stags!

Blog Author — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:47:05 GMT

At the fictional Maximise Stag Awards 2011 – Sofia won best newcomer, which is why all our stags should give it serious consideration if Eastern Europe is the region of choice for the stag do.

Sofia has all the merits and trappings of Eastern Europe – a liberal approach to sporting gun laws for example – while remaining somewhat off the beaten track for stag groups. There is no disputing locations like Riga, Prague and Krakow right to reign over the stag King of the Ring contest, but one thing you can be sure of is that at some point you will be sharing the bar with another stag group, whereas in Sofia this isn’t necessarily the case. Yet it has all the key ingredients an Eastern European stag package is good for – great value, extreme activities and beautiful women to stare at!

For alternatives to the classic you might choose water activities like White Water Rafting or Zorbing, or you may like to mingle with Bulgarian locals by going to a Bulgarian top division football league match. Just give us a call if you’d like to hear more.

New! Premiership Match Tickets for the Stag Do!

Blog Author — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:27:17 GMT

Would you like to take the group to see a top flight football match on the stag weekend? Maximise enjoy special access to seating allocation so get in touch, let us know what match you would like to take the stags to go and see and we will see if we can arrange it. Most stags like football, and all stags will appreciate the gladiator’s arena that is a modern day football stadium. The spectacle, the skill and the electric atmosphere will make for a safe pair of hands on the stag do, and everyone will be impressed that you secured so many tickets in the same area.

Of course you don’t just get tickets to the premiership match of your choice on your weekend, you also get 2 nights in a city centre hotel, VIP nightlife passes and free entry to a lap dancing club, plus the option to add on any manner of additional activities. A winning stag weekend!