£56k holiday major change, legal rights

[HotelHelpPlease]

Hi,

We've spent a lot of money with TUI, £56k to be exact on a holiday for 2021.

The issue is that we have now discovered online, we haven't been informed directly, that the resort is being rebranded as a different, well known company, and fully refurbished.

We have spoken to TUI, and they have said that if any major works are still taking place then we will be entitled to cancel or amend for free. My concern is even if the works are scheduled to be finished when we go that 1 of 2 things could happen

The works could over run, meaning they don't class it as major works, so we still go but stay in a building site.

Even if they are complete, the resort will be totally different and a different brand to the one we booked?!

I feel now this is confirmed, we should be able to change for free. We've spent a ridiculous amount of money so that all our family and friends can attend our wedding and I'm just not happy to risk anything like this.

Does anyone know what I can do here?

If there is a significant change to your holiday you are entitled to a full refund, or an inferior quality substitute with a partial refund, or a substitute of equivalent or higher quality without having to pay more. However, your holiday is at least a year away. It sounds like the refurbishment is scheduled to be finished before you go. So at this stage there is no change unless it is clear that the resort will be different, so the question is whether any changes to the resort will be significant enough to trigger your rights.

Are you losing any facilities eg a kids club or water slides etc as if something was advertised when you booked it that you now wouldn't be getting you would be entitled to something for loss of facilities. However, if it is just a refurb for moderisation and everything else was staying the same then I doubt you would be entitled to anything as it wouldn't be classed as a major change. If anything it would be a benefit. A rebrand doesn't normally mean much either, holiday companies will quite often move things within brands eg first choice to TUI if they think it will suit a difference target market better.

Similar thing happened to me and DH when we went away, but it was only £1,500 so not quite as luxurious as your holiday sounds! we got a refund but only because it did disrupt the holiday . If it’s not classed as major changes you won’t be entitled to anything I don’t think. But I may be wrong

It is a long time away but it's our wedding, with 40 of our friends and family so taking a gamble and hoping the refurb doesn't over run seems a massive risk

What sort of resort is it ie is it open all year round like Tenerife or Mexico or does it shut for low season like Greece, Croatia etc? If it is a high season only property, they tend to do the renovation work whilst it's shut between November and April so even if it overruns by a week or two this normally only takes you to May. Don't know when the wedding is booked for or what sort of resort but hopefully will all be okay.

Why would you book such an expensive holiday with someone like TUI?

Oh sorry just seen your update