You think you’ve got your holiday booked, done and dusted, and that all you have to do now is to get your holiday reading organised and stock up on suntan lotion. Unfortunately, there are still things that can go wrong with a package holiday booking...
Oh No – The Price Has Gone Up!
This is a tricky area. If you bought your package holiday in good faith, sticking to your agreed budget, it can be galling to be asked for more money.
Legally, all holiday brochures (and this includes online brochures if you’ve booked on the Internet) must tell you the real price of your holiday - legibly, comprehensibly and accurately.
It’s technically a criminal offence for an agent or tour operator to give you misleading or false information about the price of your package holiday, whether it’s a deliberate act, or a negligent one.
If you’re faced with a request for more money for the same trip, you may still have to pay up. It all depends on where you are in the booking process. If the operator slaps a surcharge on you (quite likely given the oil price rises) you can legitimately refuse to pay it...if the booking has been confirmed.
If the tour operator hasn’t accepted the booking, and you have no official confirmation, there’s legally no contract and the operator is entitled to ask you for more money. Of course, you can tell them to take a hike, but it will mean they can cancel the holiday.
They are also entitled to increase the price of a package holiday to cover surcharges if there is a clause in the booking conditions. If so – you’re probably stuck with it, but they can only do this for one of four reasons:
- There has been an increase in fuel or transport costs
- The extra money is for fees or taxes (such as landing fees)
- changes in the exchange rate
The tour operator is also obliged to cover the first 2% of any price rise. You should also be given the opportunity to cancel the holiday if the increase in its cost is significant.
The operator can’t pass on any price increases in the 30 days before you depart.
They’ve Changed My Holiday!
When you receive a booking confirmation from a tour operator, whether by e-mail or in person, legally this means you and the operator (not the travel agent) have entered into a binding agreement.
If you receive notification that the holiday arrangements have been changed, you have a legal right to cancel if you’re not happy – or alternatively you can accept the changes if you’re happy about them. If you have no choice but to go ahead with the holiday, due to factors such as the amount of notice you’ve been given for example, you could still claim compensation when you return, but only if the changes leave you at a disadvantage – for example if you’ve been downgraded to a lower standard of hotel, or a hotel further from the attraction you booked the holiday to visit.
If you don’t say anything, the operator is within its rights to assume you’re happy about it, so if they’ve changed something you’re not pleased about, speak up before you go.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
They’ve Cancelled My Holiday Altogether!
If the worst happens and you hear from the tour operator that your holiday has been completely cancelled, you have the legal right to ask for a full refund, and you should not be asked to pay a cancellation fee. If they offer you another holiday, it’s completely your decision whether you accept it – you don’t have to – and if you don’t, you can insist on getting your money back.
If you have to cancel your holiday yourself, there is usually a price to pay. Often you will lose your deposit or there may be a fixed cancellation charge (or a percentage, depending on how close you are to the date of departure). There’s nothing you can do about this – by cancelling you’re breaking the contract and the tour operator is within its rights to claim compensation from you.
Your confirmation agreement should state whether you have to pay a cancellation fee and how much. If the operator is a member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), they will also list the cancellation fees in their brochure (or on their website) somewhere.
If the agreement doesn't allow for cancellation at all, you will have to pay for the financial losses of the tour operator, which is harsh but not unheard of. If this happens to you, check your holiday insurance to see whether it covers the cost of a cancellation.
These are the worst case scenarios when it comes to what can happen before you leave for your two weeks in the sun, and most reputable companies are reasonable about such things. Just knowing your rights can often be a help in uncomfortable situations!
I booked a package holiday for myself and 5 family members, I informed TUI my daughter has Autism so booked special assistance, when we arrived on the TUI aircraft I noticed the seats allocated to myself and my daughter who I booked the special assistance for, the seats were 2 aisle seats, I explained to the steward I requested window seats and I was informed special assistance are always provided with window seats, I was advised the plane was fully booked, I would have to ask the people who booked the seats if they would swap, thankfully they agreed to swap but i feel this is totally unacceptable. We arrived at our hotel, the hotel, was told our rooms were not ready, waited for 1 hour, this caused my daughter to feel anxious have a meltdown, none of the staff showed us where our room was, we got lost trying to find it the grounds are huge, the room allocated to us was on the second floor, with no lift, this was dangerous, my daughter could have fallen off the balcony. I explained this to staff, they told me they had not other rooms available. The room was riddled with flies and not as advertised on the website, the original booking stated we had access to a hotel, 3 of their restaurants, pools and other facilities next door, we are so disappointed and upset about this, we was mis-sold this holiday, TUI claims to make assisted travel arrangements accesible, they did not. I would appreciate any advice, thank you.
I had a holiday in Turkey in 2018 and was hospitalised with salmonella on my return. Investigations proved it came from the hotel but we booked with Thomas Cook and they are not around anymore. Is there anywhere else I can make a claim
I have booked a holiday, flights and hotel, through an online travel agent for £970.
I have input passport details into their site for the flights which have been confirmed.
Hotel documents are issued 5-7 days before travel. Holiday starts in 28 days from now.
I have checked the price of my arrangements up on several sites and the price is coming in at £3,800. Big difference. Can the travel agent cancel my holiday by saying there had been an error when inputting the price onto their online system.
My Tour Operator in the USA confirmed all my hotels and yours in Italy 12/6/2017 with a google map and dated confirmed with all hotel
Live links and tours and mile to each tour.
He is working with a Italy tour operator they work together !
One week prior to departure my USA tour operator sends me the final itinerary but all hotels have been downgraded from Superior or Classic Sea View Class double booking beds Hotel rooms.
To Bed and Breakfast and king beds or standard rooms garden view distance away from beach and sea view no pools nor restaurants!
Complained to me I switched the dates and their margins where lost do to me changing dates and loosing money !
Told me I have been complaining and have stupid remarks to them about the hotel
changes and at last minute they book what they could find a week prior to departure !
I have all emails with confirmation of this tour .
Travel protection with AIG for 7 clients that purchased !
5 days prior to departure no confirmation or new itinerary only by word it will be taken care of Monday 9-10-2018 Departure 9-13-2018
They threaten to cancel with my complaints and concerns that this is my fault !
They are offering me 2 alternatives - one is vastly inferior accommodation (although according to them it is the same star rating) and the reviews on trip advisor are terrible (rooms smelling of sewage, terrible food etc) - out of the hotels in the resort the one I booked was #4 of 12, their alternative is number 11.
The other hotel the offered is lovely but not a family destination - it doesn’t even allow children in the pool between 12pm and 6pm! I have found one suitable hotel (availability is so limited at this stage) but they say they won’t let us move to that one as it’s too expensive (or they said I can pay £2,500 extra!!). There are no other options.
At this stage there’s hardly any availability anywhere so they said if I want to they can change the entire destination. However the flight times for most of their other destinations are shocking - we have civilised daytime flights to and from Malta and I don’t want to travel at 2am with 2 kids.
What are my rights here? I can’t believe they are allowed to do this.
Can anyone advise what my rights are please.
The first week was spent touring Morocco, very enjoyable, good Hotels at every location.
The second week we were promised a weeks holiday in the City of Marrakesh in a Four Star Dream Hotel.
The reality was, we were dumped in a Water Park/ Holiday Camp 10 miles outside the City.
A four-year Dream Hotel it was not.
RSD Travel refuse to compensate us for the Distress and disappointment we suffered.
Whilst there we had a motor accident and were unable to fly to Dubai but had to change flights and return directly to the UK.
The travel agents are flatly refusing to give us the value of the accommodation in Dubai saying that they were not legally required to provide this to us for our claim to the insurers. Can they do this?
Thanks for your help
Thanks in advance.
I have a family holiday booked to Mexico on May 6 2018, of which 4 couples are going away together but on separate bookings. We have looked to upgrade our rooms, and to upgrade on the upgrade page shows £2.76. When we click to apply that to our booking, it then takes us to a confirmation page whereby it states the total to pay is now £208! We originally contacted them to say what is happening, and they advised they would have to honor it if we could prove the prices by sending screenshots. The email address we sent these to was incorrect, so I called up again at which point they then said this is a glitch that is currently happening to all our bookings so they wont honor the price. As far as I'm aware this is against trading standard laws, and they do have to honor the prices shown on the original page - can you please clarify this for us? Very misleading and of course false advertising.
70 days or more Loss of deposit
69 - 63 days 30%
62 - 49 days 50%
48 - 29 days 70%
28 - 15 days 90%
14 - 0 days 100%
It's more than 30 days before your holiday
Any surchages etc are detailed in the booking terms and conditions
The increase in price must be due to an increase in transport costs, fees or taxes, or a change in the exchange rate (ask them for a breakdown of the price increase) . Note that TUI must absorb the first 2% of any of those increases
As this increase is a 'significant' change in price, ABTA suggests this is anything above 10% - you must be given the opportunity to cancel the holiday. The 10% figure is only a guide, and a smaller percentage increase could still be considered 'significant' on expensive holidays.
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