Cancelling Holiday 24 hrs after booking

susiep1978

I booked a holiday on Friday afternoon and paid the full amount by debit card in advance. On Saturday afternoon my husband and I decided against the holiday. I totally accept how foolish we have been and naturally expect to suffer some financial loss.

We are looking at losing around £450. I was wondering if there is any 'cooling off' period when booking a holiday or if there is any sort of cancellation insurance available that does not require a medical certificate. I know this must sound quite mad and I totally accept we are in the wrong but would greatly welcome any views and ideas on how to hopefully reduce the loss of £450.

Many thanks in advance, S

dzug1

There is no cooling off period for travel/holiday bookings unless the company choose to allow it. What do their T&C say?

You cannot get travel insurance for changing your mind or for something that has already happened.

It is possible that the company you booked with may allow you to transfer to a different holiday at no or low cost

lexilex

I'm not sure of the legal side of any of this but a couple of years ago we booked a holiday on the spur of the moment. We got home and the hotel reviews were awful. We rang them up and explained the situation and they gave us our money without any problems. We had only paid the deposit though.

Needless to say every holiday booked nowadays is researched thoroughly beforehand.

Hope you manage to sort something, I would cry if I lost all that money!

HXDave

who did you book the holiday through, and how was it booked.

in all fairness, very few companies these days will give refunds unless they absolutely have to, and like mentioned above there is no cooling off period or travel insurance that will cover simply because you have 'changed your mind'.

HXDave

susiep1978

Many thanks for the replies, I explained the situation to the travel agent but to be fair to them they do state that once paid, the deposit is lost if cancelled, even if the holiday is literally cancelled 5 minutes later!

It is absolutely gutting to lose all that money but I can't really see anyway out of this without losing the deposit. I know it was silly to even ask if there is cancellation insurance for effectively changing your mind!

I could bear losing £100 or so in the circumstances but over £400 is pretty steep. Unfortunately any cooling off or distance selling regulations doesn't seem to apply to holidays.

lisyloo

No legal cooling off period.

A decent travel agent (like Thomas Cook) may well allow you to change onto something else.

Otherwise you could see if family or freinds want the holiday.
Ultiamtely legally it's your loss I'm afraid.

susiep1978

I booked online through a large well known travel agent, as I say to be fair to them they clearly state their terms but I guess I was hoping that given I cancelled so soon after booking, the financial penalty would not be so large. Basically, if you cancel 70 days before the departure date you lose the deposit, regardless of how soon the cancellation is made after the booking. Many thanks again.

susiep1978

I have considered putting the holiday on eBay but I am still likely to lose the same amount and have the extra hassle of dealing with a buyer and changing the name details etc which will also incur further admin costs.

HXDave

Lisyloo

A decent travel agent (like Thomas Cook) may well allow you to change onto something else.

In cases like this, the Travel Agent (regardless of whether they are a small independant or a major high street chain) has very little say in the matter. Effectively, it is the Tour Operator who is charging the cancellation fee, and determining the charges.

However some independant agents operate with independant tour operators, and have a good working relationship and sometimes get to bend the rules a little. Although, to be fair, a while ago i did book a flight for someone who cancelled 1 hour later with Thomas Cook. After explaining the situation to them nicely, the lovely lady at Thomas Cook (The Tour Operator Thomas Cook, not the Travel Agent's Thomas Cook) cancelled down the cancellation charges to nil, as we cancelled it within an hour of booking.

Have you asked the travel agent to contact the tour operator, rather than just take the Travel Agents word for it?

HXDave

susiep1978

Many thanks for all the information, I have thankfully never been in this situation before so I was unaware of the best way to go about cancelling. So far I haven't actually cancelled, I have just enquired about the financial penalty. As I say, if it was £100 or even £150 I would have almost certainly gone ahead and wrote it off to experience.

I will try and go on the angle of how soon I have cancelled and how naturally I am reluctant to lose a relatively large amount, indeed about a quarter of the cost of the entire holiday. I will ask if it is possible for the agent to contact the tour operator. I hope that mentioning we maybe using them again in the future might help a little too!

Many thanks again, the very kindest regards

susiep1978

Just to confirm, I booked through Crystal Summer (crystalsummer.co.uk) so am I right in thinking that they are the tour operator and not actually the travel agent? Many thanks again