TUI - PAY BALANCE OR LOSE DEPOSIT?

debs1311

Hi everyone. Due to travel to Mexico 25th August for 11 nights with Tui.  My balance (an eyewatering £8k!) is due 6th June.  We have paid £500 deposit so far.  The quandary i'm in is whether to part with £8k just for our holiday to be cancelled and then wait a further month plus have the hassle of all of the admin to claim back the refund.....or just sacrifice our £500 deposit and cancel?
Has anyone else had experience of this? I'm 99% sure out holiday will be cancelled regardless but just seems obscene to part with the full balance just so we don't risk losing our £500 deposit in long run.  Thanks!

rosiesposies

I think, given the current movements, that you holiday may in fact go ahead so it becomes a personal choice rather than a refund situation. This is a fast moving situation - with retail opening in the next few weeks and the approach North America is taking your travel could well go ahead as planned, but probably not to the same level or experience it wouldve pre virus. 
If it was me I would let the deposit go. 
I am booked end of august for 3 weeks in Vancouver, but thats to go home and visit family. if it was nearly 10K for a beach holiday - I wouldnt be so keen (in fact already cancelled a week in Hawaii during those 3 weeks)

pattycake

My Tui holiday was due to depart 14 August .  We should have paid the balance last week but we made the decision to cancel.  Our deposit for 2 people was £400 which obviously we have forfeited.  I’m puzzled by your mention of £500 as my understanding was that the full deposit was £200 per person.

Everyone has to make their own decision but we were clear that we were not comfortable to be travelling by August so needed to take the hit on the £400.

Life__Goes__On

pattycake said:

  I’m puzzled by your mention of £500 as my understanding was that the full deposit was £200 per person.

Long-haul is £250PP

pattycake

Life__Goes__On said:

pattycake said:

  I’m puzzled by your mention of £500 as my understanding was that the full deposit was £200 per person.

Long-haul is £250PP

I see.  Thank you.

Divergirl

If it helps, we are due to fly to Tenerife at the end of August, holiday booked in January. I paid the initial deposit of £200 but I didn't pay anything further in April or the last payment which is due today. I did have chaser emails but my booking is still on the system despite being over a month late for the second payment. Tui have now emailed to say I can change the booking and I have been trying to do that today but the website keeps having technical problems. So in theory I can change to another holiday next year, use the £200 deposit I have already paid against it and the rest of the balance will be due next year. 

Mrsn

August is quiet a long way still in terms
of everything that is happening daily right now. Given it would appear Mexico hasn’t hit its peak yet then maybe it won’t happen however by that point you will handed over a hell of a lot of cash!

Given the amount due for me personally I would probably write off the £500 but that’s more because I have an auto immune condition which I already have to pay an excess for with travel insurance and my current policy expires in July and my new policy won’t cover COVID 19.

Nobody can tell you what to do sadly it’s really what you feel most comfortable with.

Mazzle

We're also due to go to Mexico in August.  Unfortunately we had already paid off the majority of the holiday before this pandemic so had no choice but to pay the remaining £1k when they asked for it.  Transferring to next year isn't an option for us given that the same holiday is much more expensive.  If I had only paid the deposit like you then I would have been temped to cancel but then again £500 is still a chunk to lose.  It depends on your circumstances though.

Life__Goes__On

Mazzle said:

We're also due to go to Mexico in August.  Unfortunately we had already paid off the majority of the holiday before this pandemic so had no choice but to pay the remaining £1k when they asked for it.  Transferring to next year isn't an option for us given that the same holiday is much more expensive.  If I had only paid the deposit like you then I would have been temped to cancel but then again £500 is still a chunk to lose.  It depends on your circumstances though.

If The T&Cs state loss of deposit only,  any monies paid over and above this must be returned.

clt1979

I would move it to next year or book a different holiday as it’s free with Tui atm and pay balance next year of things are good. If not, write it off then. At least it gives you a years grace. We also have paid full amount to Mexico for August.

Divergirl

They are saying on my booking for August (see my comment above) that if the holiday I transfer my booking too is cheaper they will refund the difference! So you could book something cheaper and get money back?