AIBU to expect not to have to put down 50% as a holiday deposit

[ThisIsStartingToBoreMe]

Was in Co-Op Travel yesterday, went in to book a summer holiday for 2. Total cost £1998.00. All fine. It's been a while since I booked a package holiday.

However, they wanted £1000 deposit, plus the balance to be paid 14 WEEKS before departure!!!!! It used to be £50 or £100 deposit plus balance paid 6 weeks before hand.

Is this a new thing? I was shocked. They are sitting on my money earning interest for all that time!

That's not the norm. Shop around, and when you book somewhere else contact whoever's in charge at Co-Op and point out that they've just lost a £2K booking because of their policies.

Depends where you're going and if you are flying scheduled or charter. Scheduled airlines often want paying in full at the time of booking, with the hotel paid three months before.

It depends what the holiday is. Most will offer low deposits unless it's packaged with a budget airline then the flight has to be paid in full. Doe scheduled airlines ask for full payment too. 12-14 weeks in advance for payment is pretty normal, some online agents will go to 2 weeks before but they have a high % of non payers which is why they always have loads of late deals. At the risk of being boring about it, it's generally because the larger operators purchase their rooms in advance where the cheaper ones buy as they go using bed banks so you risk not actually getting the holiday.

What would happen if I booked and paid the deposit but didn't pay the balance 14 weeks before hand but paid it 6 weeks before hand instead?

Your holiday would get cancelled and you would lose your deposit.

You would loose your booking I would expect. And quite likely a chunk of the deposit.

Your holiday would be cancelled and you would lose the deposits you had already paid.

And with interest rates at minimal% it's not like they are making a great return on your money.

You won't get a boliday

Same for us, with Thomson. Easy jet flights had to be paid in full.

And depending on the type of seats booked, you could well lose your flight money too.

You'd lose your holiday, and probably your deposit as well.

they aren't earning any interest worth mentioning, no-one does.

just to check you have bought your travel insurance in case of cancellation.

On the beach take low deposits and use low cost airlines. So no, you don't have the pay the flight in full, they must pay it for you.

On the beach do low deposits in 2 payments and then final payment 2 weeks before you go. You can also pay off weekly, monthly as you see fit. This alone makes them my "go to" holiday company.....plus you can get cash back at top cashback :grin:

I thought the whole point of booming a package holiday was so you could pay a deposit and then pay it up - and that includes the cost of the flights. £1000 is not normal for a £2000 holiday. We paid a deposit of £700 on our big holiday to America with Trailfinders which was about £6000 I think.

OP hasn't said what type of holiday it is though. It could have been de packaged, or a city break. Not everything a travel agent sells is automatically a package holiday.

As others have said it all depends what you have booked. It isn't the agent wanting the money in advance it is the suppliers (usually the airline). If you pay late you will get one perhaps two chasers / reminders and then it will be cancelled usually when a week to 10 days late as agents build in a week or two to be able to chase payment before passing on to supplier.

Jet2holidays only want £60 deposit and the balance 6 weeks before, I think.

If you pay the co-op, make sure you are protected by ATOL/ABTA or travel insurance in case they go bust before your holiday.

if you pay ANYONE make sure you get travel insurance (including the airline/agent failure) bit that very same day. In case they go bust, in case you have to cancel.

And get decent insurance not worldwide cover for £3.50 from elcheapoinsurance.com that doesn't cover anything.

Raffles yes it does make sense. Not sure if the £700 we paid was a "low" deposit or just "normal. It's the only way we could do America as we couldn't have afforded booking the flights ourselves and having to pay the entire cost of them up front. They were with BA. Interestingly enough I did find out though that Trailfinders had 30 days to pay BA for them after the balance of our holiday was due.

I booked via Thompson last year (and them and other companies) for the last few years and settlement 14 weeks beforehand has been the norm.

Deposits vary, I'd rather throw a large chunk off a much wanted holiday, rather than having a large balance.

If you get an on-line deal, most travel agents will try to match it, or give equivalent, upgrade seats, better flight times etc.

Also, they will give you an extra couple of weeks to pay, depending on the holiday.