Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Have you had your holiday refunded?

178 replies

FlamingoAndJohn · 11/06/2020 07:31

I was thinking it might be helpful to have a list of holiday companies that have refunded without fuss.
It would certainly influence my choice when booking in the future.

I was booked to go away with Lastminute.com. Although the refund did take a little longer than it should to come through I got every penny back.

OP posts:
TreacherousPissFlap · 29/06/2020 11:20

Had a really good experience with Neilson, immediate credit note and an apology that they would not be able to refund immediately but to expect the money by the end of September (we should be on holiday now) Might be a different matter if we were looking to book somewhere else for this year but that seemed a suitable time frame for me.

Whether that money will arrive by then remains to be seen, but from what I've seen so far I have been impressed.

whatisthislifesofullofcare · 29/06/2020 11:36

BA refunded easter flights to USA on request.

Villa Plus refuse to reply to our emails and are currently showing the villa we’ve reserved as available - yet have not returned our deposit.

Ryanair are doing something odd with the flights for that trip too - they’ve sent an email asking us to confirm a slight time change, with no option to cancel instead.

Both the villa & flights are still not allowed by FCO

RaspberryToupee · 29/06/2020 11:39

Found Kuoni to be amazing.

Contacted them a few times before they cancelled to find out what was happening, no long wait times and no being disconnected. They couldn’t give us much information but that was a result of guidelines not extending to our departure date at that point. Great customer service every time I called and apologised they couldn’t give more info at the point. They introduced flexible bookings so you could rearrange your existing destination or dates without charging an admin fee for adjusting pre booked holidays. They called us to cancel the holiday about 12 days before the departure date, gave us two options either a credit note with an extra 10% or cancel and full refund. We chose cancel and full refund, they were really understanding about a refund and didn’t try to push the credit note. They let us know that the refund could take a bit longer due to the huge number of payments they were doing at the minute. Full refund was back in our account within 10 days of them cancelling.

Hotels 247 for our airport stay, cancelled with no problem. Full refund given but it took about a month from cancellation to reach our account.

insancerre · 29/06/2020 11:47

@Raindancer411
Try tripadvisor
I have booked through them the last few years and it’s been very easy to get a refund for this year’s booking

Clevs · 29/06/2020 12:29

Hoseasons originally refused to refund us but after a few weeks of what I believe to be social media pressure they agreed to give refunds and we got it in about two weeks.

IMightBeAnAlien · 29/06/2020 12:52

I really struggled to get a refund from Tui. Cancelled in March, took nearly 13 weeks for me to get the money. I tried ringing, emailing, leaving Facebook messages every day. They were uncontactable and did not reply to messages, emails or answer the phone. I tried raising a dispute with Resolver, I did get one message back stating they requested me to wait some more time, well that really got my goat, but eventually after leaving more Facebook messages threatening court action, I got the money. There are still loads of people on the Facebook page who are still waiting for refunds, many of them in the thousands of pounds. Its also the lack of communication that is a huge problem. If they had just explained what was happening it would have gone a long way to ease people's stress but they just went incommunicado.

I will never use them again.

starlingsintheslipstream · 29/06/2020 13:00

I'm another one on the end of Sykes appalling customer service. I've blocked my card but fully expect them to come after me for payment for a holiday that almost certainly can't go ahead (Wales, multiple households).

Piggywaspushed · 29/06/2020 13:14

Sykes are worth persistence. They gave me a partial refund, and now a full one. (was due to travel at Easter)

Villa Plus are very similar to Sykes...just no way they will pick up a phone , or reply to emails. So no ability to discuss any desire to move a booking.

They are still taking bookings, though. I did a dummy booking for Portugal (which isn't supposed to be 'open' ) and it accepted it...

Piggywaspushed · 29/06/2020 13:16

whahtis , do you mind me asking when and where you are going with VP?

Ginfordinner · 29/06/2020 13:18

You have to read the samll print very carefully with Tui @IMightBeAnAlien. We were offered a credit refund, but we wanted our money back. Right at the bottom of the email in small print there is a link to click on if you want a full refund, although I think they have since added the bit where you can just ask for a refund. I expected an email from Tui, but when I checked our bank statement at the weekend I noticed that they had deposited the full amount into our bank account.

Raindancer411 · 29/06/2020 13:43

[quote Stinkyjellycat]@Raindancer411
What about going via Air BnB? We found a lovely cottage in Anglesey via them and the owner has been amazing. No hassle at all and a fantastic place to stay.[/quote]
I shall have to go and have a look. I thought they only did a few nights at a time, so always just by passed looking.

It's awful some of the problems I have heard people have had getting refunds.

Raindancer411 · 29/06/2020 13:44

[quote insancerre]@Raindancer411
Try tripadvisor
I have booked through them the last few years and it’s been very easy to get a refund for this year’s booking[/quote]
Another one I can have a look at :) Thanks everyone, that's my afternoon sorted

QuitMoaning · 29/06/2020 13:51

I know you are not going to believe me but I got my RyanAir flights refunded onto my credit card the day they cancelled them. I think I must be the only person on this planet who has had this.

NainAGP · 29/06/2020 13:52

Also AirBnB......many seem to have succeeded with them but we didn't and they were pretty unfriendly about it, won't use them again.

MacavityTheDentistsCat · 29/06/2020 14:07

We've pushed our August holiday with TUI back by 12 months to August 2021. It took a number of emails but we eventually got a response.

My brother, whose trip with TUI at the start of March was cancelled just as he arrived at his destination, has only just been reimbursed, despite an email from TUI in early March to say the money would be reimbursed within a week. He was getting quite anxious because it was nearly £8,000.

AirB&B were fantastic. The booking was cancelled and monies returned without us needing to do anything.

TeaForTara · 29/06/2020 14:09

Still waiting for Austrian Airlines. Applied for flight refund, had an acknowledgement but nothing since.

CleanHankie · 29/06/2020 14:18

Canvas Holidays gave the option of either postponing our August/Sept holiday to next year (exact same dates and campsite) or to take a credit voucher equivalent to our deposit already paid which is what we took as school term dates for Sept 2021 hadnt been released. They called us last week as next years holiday bookings are due to open soon and they wanted those with credit vouchers to get 1st choice. Turns out one of our weeks is actually cheaper next year!
Hugely impressed with their customer service.

whatisthislifesofullofcare · 29/06/2020 18:36

@Piggywaspushed same dates/destination as you. Maybe we are both in the same villaWink

user1471453601 · 29/06/2020 18:49

My holiday company were/are fantastic. In March they gave me the choice of having a refund or transferring holiday to next year

They are a family company whose clients tend to come back with them every year, and they know us all personally.

If you fancy small Greek islands (they only do three islands), then I'd highly recommend them, Nissia Holidays.

They've even put updates on their website detailing what cleaning methods they've put in place.

Two things to be aware of, they do accommodation only so you book your own flights. And they run a scheme where you can book the same accommodation for the same dates the following year. So they don't have much availability. Rather than asking for specific dates and accommodation, it's best to choose one of the other

Piggywaspushed · 29/06/2020 18:59

Gosh maybe whatis !

DanniArthur · 29/06/2020 19:04

Easyjet offered us a full refund or a gift certificate for any European holiday next year. We chose the gift certificate as I think flight prices with increase with all the new restrictions and we will definitely be going away next year anyway.

whatisthislifesofullofcare · 03/07/2020 15:59

@Piggywaspushed

Villaplus have a new message on their website today that relates to all holidays up to and including 5/7.

Its badly worded but it seems clients have to let them know if they want a refund or a voucher.

Piggywaspushed · 03/07/2020 16:00

I'll have a look :thanks.

Cameron2012 · 03/07/2020 16:04

EasyJet did, no problems

listsandbudgets · 03/07/2020 17:07

Flight Centre - said it would take 12 weeks at least but would give a full cash refund. That was flight only though, not sure what they were doing about packages. Don't mind waiting as long as it comes through.

Took me ages to get through on the phone but then he gave me his personal email address so others who were travelling in the same group could contact him directly and he responded to them within half an hour or so.