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The Guardian
10-05-2025
- The Guardian
Holiday cancellations: can you sell or transfer your trip if you can't get a refund?
Even the best-laid holiday plans can go awry. Illness, bereavements, break-ups, money problems, redundancy, pregnancy, jury duty, floods – all of these can throw a getaway into disarray. But while you may miss out on a break in the sun or relaxing city break, you do not necessarily have to lose all of your money as a result of problems at home that force you to cancel your trip. You can now sell on your holiday in much the same way you sell on a concert ticket, although that is not the only way to get some money back. This will depend on how close you are to going away and what sort of booking you made. It is unlikely that you will get all of your money back when you cancel a package holiday as most are sold as not fully refundable. The closer you cancel to the departure date, the more it is likely to cost you. Tui, one of the biggest tour operators in the UK, will keep the deposit paid on a holiday if it is cancelled 70 days or more before departure and then a growing percentage of the overall price as you get closer to take-off. For example, if you cancel 65 days before, you will have to pay 30% of the booking price, while if there are two weeks or less to go you will pay the whole cost. Jet2Holidays has similar charges. If you put the holiday together yourself, then often the flight part will not be refundable if you decide not to travel. Ryanair's terms and conditions say if you do not travel, you are not entitled to money back. EasyJet allows cancellations within 24 hours of booking but charges a £49 fee online (£55 if you do it through customer services). Some other airlines offer refundable tickets. These typically cost more than standard tickets when you buy them – so check which type you have. Hotels' terms and conditions vary and some allow free cancellation up to a day before the booking, although there could be a fee, while some are partially refundable. However, many will be non-refundable. First, contact your tour operator, airline, ferry company or hotel as soon as you know that you will not be travelling to see what money you can get back. Some travel operators may be lenient when it comes to cancellation caused by unforeseen illness and let you move the holiday to another date out of goodwill. Matt Gatenby, a partner at the law firm Travlaw, says that if you contact a company to explain you have been taken ill, it may suggest you can go at a later date. Airlines, however, are typically not as lenient or sympathetic, he adds. Even if a booking is non-refundable it is worth contacting the company and explaining what has gone wrong. If, for example, you are cancelling because you have been diagnosed with a serious illness, some will waive the usual rules and offer a refund if you can provide a doctor's letter as evidence. Many travel insurance policies have cancellation cover which will pay out if you have to cancel for reasons set out in the T&Cs. For example, one policy from Admiral (£36 for a family of four for a year) pays out in case of death or serious injury of you or a close relative; a Covid diagnosis; quarantine; court cases; unemployment; damage to your home from fire or unemployment. Make sure that you have enough cancellation cover for the trip. The one above will pay out up to £1,500 a person but with an excess of £150. What it will not pay out on is if you cancel because you had a pre-existing condition or if you simply do not want to travel. It is possible to sell on a holiday you can no longer use, but it is not straightforward and you are unlikely to recoup all of the money you have spent. A number of websites and groups on social media have emerged in recent years whereby people who have non-refundable holidays, flights or hotels can pass them on to someone else once the names on the bookings have been changed and fees paid. This week, on a Facebook group called 'Holidays for sale booked and paid but can't go or cancel', one woman was selling a week-long family holiday to Turkey – which starts on Sunday – for £800 after paying more than £1,600. She said it was because she would not have a passport on time. Another person was selling a double room in Amsterdam for three nights for the end of June for £350. She said it had cost her £481. Two websites, SpareFare and Transfer Travel, operate eBay-style marketplaces in which people can sell on their holiday, flight and hotel bookings. On SpareFare, a US-based site, there is a two-person holiday to Faro in Portugal, with flights from Gatwick, for 10 nights this week for £1,001 – half the price it would currently cost from the provider, according to the site. A week-long holiday in Mallorca from 21 May, with flights from Manchester for three, is £1,005, almost half of the market price. Transfer Travel, meanwhile, has return flights for two to Jamaica in September for £950, down from £1,950. Two weeks in Corfu with flights from Luton and accommodation at the Aqualand resort is £1,040 for two. You can check whether a package holiday can be transferred by contacting the provider. With package holidays, flights and hotels in most cases it simply involves changing the names and details of the booking once you have found a buyer and agreed a price. Erik Ritland,the owner of SpareFare, says swapping the name on a holiday is an easier process than it was in the past and requires the name, date of birth and address of the buyer. Changing the name usually involves a fee. For Tui, this is £25. On Jet2holidays it is £50 unless it is within two weeks of travel and then it goes up to £150, while changing the date of birth is £10. Ryanair name changes are £115 a person for each flight, meaning it can often not be worthwhile selling on your booking. On SpareFare, the seller pays the name-change fee because they are the only person able to alter the details, says Ritland. The fee is included in the amount they charge for the holiday. The site charges the seller 12% commission on the final selling price. Transfer Travel charges 15% commission and the seller pays for the name change. On both SpareFare and Transfer Travel, a buyer can barter or bid for a different price to that being advertised. Each site says that they ensure the holidays and flights are legitimate before sale through a verification process. You claimed on insurance If you have claimed on an insurance policy, for example if they have a serious illness, you cannot then go on and sell the holiday to someone else. 'That would be fraudulent as they would effectively have a double refund,' Gatenby says. Insurance companies usually require a cancellation invoice from a travel business before they process a claim to prevent such a thing happening.
The Independent
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Crack down on scourge of overtourism with ‘mystery shoppers', urges industry chief
The UK's leading tour operator has blamed overtourism on unlicensed accommodation rented out on platforms such as Airbnb. Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2 Holidays and the airline, told The Independent: 'The problem with overtourism is unlicensed accommodation – those properties that are rented privately. 'For years, the licensed tourism model worked. You knew how many hotels there were and how many rooms. So 100 hotels, 100 rooms, averaging 2.5 people in a room, that's 25,000 people per week in the resort. 'You knew what it was, you could manage it. With the proliferation of unlicensed tourism, it's very hard to predict – and that's put pressure on local services. Residents understandably have become upset with noisy neighbourhoods and increasing rent. 'These properties very often don't have a tourism licence. They don't have health and safety checks like all our hotels do. Very often the people who rent the properties don't pay tax on their income. 'So there's no money being recycled from the business venture back into the local community.' The Jet2 boss was speaking at an event hosted by the Spanish Embassy in London to address issues with mass tourism. It follows widespread protests in the Balearics and Canary Islands, as well as in cities such as Barcelona. Mr Heapy proposes a clampdown on unauthorised rentals using a 'mystery shopper' approach, with government inspectors booking properties online and then turning up to inspect the paperwork. 'For me it's really easy,' he said. 'Book a few things on Airbnb. Find out who owns the property. Go and knock on the door. Then say, 'Hello, I'm from the government. I've just booked your property on Airbnb. Can I see your tourism licence, your health and safety certificate and your tax returns? Oh, and you're supposed to collect a tourism tax as well, that's levied on people that stay in hotels. It's only fair that you pay it as well, so show me all your invoices for that?' 'If they can't provide them, fine them whatever – a quarter of a million quid? Unlicensed tourism and rentals will drop by 90 per cent overnight, and that's what's causing the disruption. 'I've got nothing against people renting properties per se, but it has to be a level playing field. They've got to be subject to the same rules and regulations that we do, which is a tourism licence, full health and safety check, and pay the tax that's due so that can go to benefit the local population.' In its terms, Airbnb tells hosts: 'You are responsible for understanding and complying with any laws, rules, regulations and contracts with third parties that apply to your listing … Some jurisdictions require hosts to register, get a permit, or obtain a licence before providing certain host services such as short-term rentals.' Responding to Mr Heapy's comments, an Airbnb spokesperson said: 'Fewer planes should be allowed to land in Barcelona if the city wants fewer tourists. More than seven in 10 visitors to Barcelona stay in hotels and what Steve Heapy is failing to mention is that it is in fact the expansion of hotels that has driven mass tourism across Europe, with six times more hotel beds than Airbnb beds in Barcelona's historic centre and hotels accounting for 90 per cent of guest nights in Amsterdam and the Balearics. 'Between 2021 and 2023, the number of tourists in Barcelona has more than doubled with 70 per cent of this increase driven by hotel guests. 'Calls to impose restrictions, red tape and fees on Airbnb hosts only protect hotel chains' profits at the expense of local families who are earning a little extra money by renting their place for a few days a month, and whose guests contribute greatly to the local economy.' At the event, Juan Antonio Amengual, the mayor of Calvia in Mallorca – which includes the resort of Magaluf – said: 'A tourist is a friend. They are our main resource. We need to look after them. We want them to be part of our system.'
The Independent
06-05-2025
- The Independent
Fancy Corfu for £22 a day? The bargain early summer holiday offers as travel firms slash prices
Package holiday prices for Greek islands in May have fallen to just £22 a day – below £1 per hour. Tui is selling a one-week trip to Corfu for £156 on Friday 16 May. The Greek island package, based on two sharing, includes flights from London Gatwick (with baggage), transfers and self-catering accommodation with breakfast at the family-run Hotel Theo. A Blue Flag beach is a 15-minute walk away. It is one of many excellent deals for travellers between the May bank holidays in the UK. But just one week later – on 23 May – the price increases almost five-fold to £747 because of the late May half-term. Many of the bargains are to the eastern Mediterranean. Jet2 Holidays is selling one-week packages from Luton to Icmeler on the Turkish Riviera for only £196, self-catering, on Thursday 8 May. An all-inclusive deal to the Club Alize in Marmaris is available on the same day for £362 – barely £50 a day for flights, accommodation and all the holidaymaker can eat and drink. The best easyJet Holidays offer from Bristol to Marmaris on Wednesday 14 May is £244, staying at the three-star Grand Villa Sol. Tui, Europe's biggest holiday company, has sub-£200 deals to other destinations, including from Gatwick to the Greek islands of Kefalonia on 8 May and Thassos on 11 May. Thassos is highly recommended by The Independent and includes a half-hour ferry crossing on the journey from Kavala airport. Tui says the average daily high in May is 25C. For other countries and departures from other UK airports, Jet2 Holidays has a wide range of offers. On Thursday 15 May, the company is offering a week in San Antonio in Ibiza for £214, including flights from Bournemouth. The price from East Midlands is £228. Flight-only bargains are also widely available. Booking just one day ahead from Manchester to Genoa – hub for the Italian Riviera – for Wednesday 7 May costs just £42 return on Ryanair, with minimum baggage and no seat selection. North Africa from Scotland is also implausibly cheap. On 14 May, easyJet has a fare of only £62 return from Edinburgh to Agadir in Morocco, again with limited cabin baggage – though the airline seeks to seat passengers together even if they choose not to pay. Ryanair and easyJet are competing on the route from the Scottish capital to the Atlantic resort in the southwest of the kingdom. The return journey covers 3,600 miles. Jet2 has also launched a big programme of flights to Morocco. As Global Airlines prepares to fly for the first time from Glasgow to New York JFK, out on 15 May and back on 19 May, its fare of £778 is more than twice the cheapest nonstop deal on the same dates from Manchester to Manhattan on Virgin Atlantic – currently £368 return.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stansted Airport: extra flights to seven sunny destinations planned for winter 2025
AN airline which operates out of Stansted Airport is expanding its winter flights across seven destinations. and Jet2Holidays are now offering holiday-goers more flight options for their winter sun and ski programmes in 2025 and 2026. As part of the growth, there will be extra flights to Alicante, Malaga, Lanzarote, Malta, Madeira, Paphos, and Geneva. Steve Heapy, CEO of and Jet2holidays, said: 'We are seeing continued demand for our award-winning flights and holidays. A Jet2 Boeing 737-8MG (G-JZHV) passenger airliner coming in to land at Stansted Airport (Image: Wire) 'And with Winter 25/26 looking so popular, we are in the position to respond with an expanded programme from Stansted Airport. 'As well as adding extra services to popular winter sun hotspots, we have also put additional capacity on sale to Geneva for the popular ski season, meaning we are giving customers even more choice and flexibility when it comes to getting away next winter. 'We look forward to taking lots of happy holidaymakers on their well-deserved holidays next winter and showcasing our award-winning credentials.' A full breakdown of the extra flights from Stansted Airport involves: • Extra Wednesday and Sunday services to Malaga on November 5 and 9, 2025 • Additional Friday services to Paphos from November 7 to 21 2025, followed by extra Sunday services from December 22 2025 to January 5, 2026 • Additional Monday services to Malta from December 1 2025 to January 5, 2026 • Extra Monday, Friday and Sunday flights to Geneva from December 22, 2025, to February 6, 2026 • Additional Tuesday services to Funchal (Madeira) from December 23, 2025, to January 6, 2026 • Additional Saturday services to Lanzarote from February 14 to March 21, 2026; • Additional Monday and Friday services to Alicante from March 6 to March 23, 2026.
Telegraph
16-02-2025
- Telegraph
April is becoming the new August for family holidays
The other day, on a morning whose weather could be the dictionary definition of 'February', my other half turned to me and pointed out that we are both looking rather pasty. Where's good for sun in Easter, she asked? Many British families seem to be asking the same question. Data from On the Beach shows that the number of Easter holidays booked in early February this year is up 37 per cent, compared to 2022. It's easy to see why early-season holidays are growing in popularity. In recent summers, the Mediterranean has suffered some of the worst heatwaves on record. In Catalonia last year, water was rationed amid a record-breaking drought which threatened to leave swimming pools empty. In Sicily in 2021, the mercury hit 48.8C: a Europe-wide record. Seasonal wildfires are a perennial concern. If the sweltering climate doesn't put you off, perhaps the fear of being squirted in the face will. In July last year, tourists on La Rambla, Barcelona, were targeted by water pistol-wielding protesters in a demonstration against mass tourism. Popular beaches were occupied or sometimes blocked off in Majorca. Early rumblings from Spanish resorts suggest that this 'anti-tourism' movement will only pick up momentum in 2025. So yes, it feels like all forces are nudging us earlier into the shoulder season, so much so that 'elbow season' feels more apt. And this year in particular, April will be particularly alluring for families with school-age children given that Easter Sunday falls on April 20 (there will only be seven later Easters this century). So we face two key questions: how much will your April holiday cost, and has anywhere in Europe properly warmed up by this point? First, the cost. On the Beach says you can save up to 50 per cent on a holiday if you book for Easter rather than July or August. Its data shows that families have saved an average of £1,268 by swapping August for April. To cross check, I've been monitoring the monthly fluctuations of holiday prices across key dates in 2025. On average, the same holidays taken at the end of peak season (August 23–30) are 24.7 per cent more expensive than if taken over the Easter school holidays (April 12–19). Right now, for example, a week-long Jet2Holidays trip to Globales Palmanova in Majorca costs £1,110 per person in late August compared with £698 over Easter. But at what price? In Majorca, the average daily max temperature in April is a T-shirt-worthy 20.4C (according to the Met Office). But this rises to a bikini-worthy 31.5C in August. The average daily low in April is a chilly 7.4C compared to 18.9C in August. The sea surface temperature is a bracing 16C in spring, rising to 26C in August. And there's twice as much rainfall in April as there is in the summer. That's just Majorca, but all of our favourite Med resorts (the Greek islands, Cyprus, Sicily) see similar weather patterns of warm, but not necessarily sunbathe-able daily highs, cool evenings and a higher risk of rainfall. Waiting just one more month and travelling in late May is a good compromise, but usually an expensive one if you are tied to the half-term dates. The upshot, with April holidays in mind, is that for reliable warmth you will have to look beyond continental Europe. The Canary Islands, just off Africa's West Saharan coast, is the most logical choice. In April, Tenerife has daily highs of 23C, daily lows of just 16.5C and only 10mm of monthly rainfall. I suspect it is no coincidence that the only European itinerary I've found that is (marginally) more expensive in Easter than August is an easyJet Holidays trip to a resort in northern Tenerife. But otherwise, we are looking at the Red Sea resorts like Sharm El Sheikh (25C-ish), or the Caribbean, where the sea will be warm and temperatures in the early 30s come spring. But don't be surprised if prices are steeper in Easter compared to August, which isn't a particularly pleasant month to visit either region (too hot in Egypt, hurricane season in the Caribbean). So when your own loved one turns to you during this protracted cold snap and mentions a desire for some heat, I am afraid you have no choice but to recite the above and then ask the following questions. Are they bothered by the likelihood of encountering an anti-tourism protest? How far they are willing to travel? And, crucially, are they hoping to feel the sun on their shoulders, or will elbows suffice?
