Is it really important to book holidays on credit card?

[taratatata]

I read you should book holidays with credit cards for extra protection as well as ATOL. I never bother with credit cards and never have and as such only have a credit card with a 2k limit. The holiday costs more than that as we are trying to book our honeymoon. Theoretically I could just pay for it on debit with savings. I can’t think of another solution, can anyone help?

If it makes a difference my parents want to pay for it, but have told us to book it and they’ll reimburse in a few weeks once they’re back from their holiday

Ask
Your credit card provider for an increase in limit.

I have clicked on there but it says they are not offering customers an increase at this time. I could always apply for another one I guess, I just don’t know if there are any more solutions before I do that first?

If you don’t use a credit card (and even if you do) you need travel insurance at the time of booking

Oh yes absolutely we will definitely do this! Watched Martin Lewis last night. More just wondering how best to book the holiday itself

Never used a credit card for holiday booking. I pay the deposit and wait until the last few weeks to pay it all off in one go just in case of cancellation etx im not waiting on a refund. I either pay via debit card or PayPal. But I do book my travel insurance asap

YES. It is important. When Covid happened and I was struggling to get a refund rather than vouchers for a cancelled flight it was reassuring to have the protection of claiming against my credit card (thankfully not needed in the end).

All big purchases should go onto a credit card. Washing machines, bikes, cars, it gives you so much more protection.

Incidentally you only need to put £100 or more of the cost on a credit card to be protected for the full amount of the holiday I believe. If it is possible to split the payment.

You only need to pay some of the holiday on a credit card to get protection for the full amount. We usually do this by paying the deposit on a credit card

Oh, fab. So maybe I could pay the several hundred pound deposit on my credit card and pay the rest from savings?

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/credit-and-purchases/how-youre-protected-when-you-pay-by-card

Yes - from the above link
Section 75 protection if you pay a deposit by credit card
You don’t need to pay the full price by credit card to get section 75 protection. It’s enough to just pay the deposit to get you the legal protection.
For example, if you bought something costing £200 but paid a deposit of £20 on your credit card and the rest by other means (eg via debit card or cash) you would still be covered and you would be able to claim the whole £200 (and not just the deposit) from your credit card company if the goods didn’t arrive or were faulty.
You can also make a claim for more than just the price of the items. For example, if you could claim from the supplier for additional expenses (such as postage) or consequential losses (such as damage caused by a faulty item), then you can also make a section 75 claim for these with your credit card company.

Paying for holidays on a credit card
If you’ve booked a holiday or flights costing between £100 and £30,000 and paid either a deposit or the full price on your credit card, you might be able to make a claim if the airline or holiday company goes bust or the holiday isn’t as described. But not all situations are covered.
What is covered

• the cost of your flights if the airline goes bust
• the cost of your holiday if the holiday company goes bust
• additional expenses or consequential loss — for example, if you had to buy more expensive flights to get home after an airline went bust.

I booked a holiday from a company and checked they were atol protected. 2 years later I booked with the same company, paid in full for flights, hotel and transfer. They went bust and only then did I find out they were no longer atol protected. They'd lost their atol status the year before.
I checked with the companies involved and our flights were booked and had been paid for but none of our money had been passed to the hotel. Luckily because we'd paid on credit card we were able to claim back for the cost of the hotel and transfers and rebooked at the same rate but it was a very stressful few weeks until it was sorted.
I would always always always pay on credit card now having had that experience. Claiming back from them was actually really easy.