'Absolutely gutted': £16,500 Glastonbury packages won't be fulfilled after company goes bust
Glastonbury ticket holders have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after a luxury glamping company went bust.
Festival-goers who booked their tickets and accommodation with Yurtel have been told the company can no longer fulfil its orders and has ceased trading with immediate effect.
Some had spent more than £16,500 through Yurtel, with hospitality packages starting at £10,000.
In an email, Yurtel said it was unable to provide customers with any refunds, advising them to go through a third party to claim back the money once the liquidation process had started.
To add insult to injury, customers found out that Yurtel had failed to purchase the tickets for the 25 -29 June festival that they thought had been booked as part of their packages.
In a letter to customers, Yurtel's founder Mickey Luke said: "I am deeply sorry that you have received this devastating news and am writing to apologise.
"Yurtel is a hospitality business who pride themselves on looking after our customers, delivering a unique product and striving to create a better client experience year on year. Due to a culmination of factors over the past years, we have failed to be able to continue to do so and are heartbroken."
The Money blog has contacted Yurtel to see if the business has anything to add.
Several people have also reported that they were unable to pay by credit card at the time of booking, with the company instead asking for a bank transfer.
This means they are unable to use chargeback to get a refund. You can read more about that here...
'I feel really ripped off'
One of those customers was Lydia, who told Money she was "absolutely gutted" after spending thousands.
This year's festival was "really important" to her as she was forced to miss out last year despite having tickets due to a health issue that left her needing an operation.
"We tried to get Glastonbury tickets through the normal kind of route and couldn't get them," the accountant said.
She ended up booking with Yurtel in November, sending over all the funds a month later.
"It's super expensive. It was really, really important to us. Last year was gutting with the surgery and the whole situation around that was very traumatic, so it was a very special thing to then get the opportunity to go this year. It's really gutting," she said.
"I feel really ripped off and I'm really disappointed in the festival, to be honest. I think that response is just pretty rubbish."
Yurtel did not pay for festival tickets, Glastonbury says
Glastonbury said Yurtel was one of a small number of campsites local to the festival site - Worthy Farm - with limited access to purchase hospitality tickets for their guests in certain circumstances.
But, it had not paid for any tickets for the 2025 festival before going into liquidation, and so no tickets were secured for its guests, it added. Every year, Glastonbury's website says that ticketing firm See Tickets is the only official source for buying tickets for the festival.
"As such we have no records of their bookings and are unable to take any responsibility for the services and the facilities they offer," the festival said.
"Anyone who has paid Yurtel for a package including Glastonbury 2025 tickets will need to pursue any potential recompense available from them via the liquidation process as outlined in their communication to you.
"We are not able to incur the cost or responsibility of their loss or replacement."
Instead, the festival has urged Yurtel customers to contact Yurtel@btguk.com to confirm their consent for personal data and details of their party to be shared with Glastonbury.
"We will then be able to provide details of alternative potential sources for those customers to purchase tickets and accommodation for this year's festival," the festival added.
'Only option' on offer is 'pretty weak'
Lydia said she agreed for her details to be passed on to Glastonbury, and the festival has told her the only option is to pay for the tickets again from another provider.
"They are not giving us the opportunity to buy the tickets at face value. We would then have to go again and spend another stupidly unreasonable amount of money to be able to go. It's pretty disappointing," she added.
"It's pretty weak that the only option they're giving people who've already lost out on huge amounts of money is to go and spend huge amounts more money."
It's left her feeling like she won't go to the festival this year - and she's not hopeful about getting her money back.
She said: "To be honest, I just don't think I can afford it.
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