Cancelling a holiday due to FCO advice

friendlylen

Hi I have a package holiday with TUI booked for August 2020 and as the FCO advice is still against all but essential travel I wish to cancel. 

I only paid a low £100 deposit when I booked in January and haven’t paid any remainder due to the Covid outbreak. 

I’ve rang today to cancel (July 2nd) only to be told I still have to pay over £1500 before I can cancel. 

Surely this cannot be right. 

Could someone please advise?

ess0two

You'll need to pay the remainder of the deposit.

Carrot007

With TUI the initial deposit is not the full deposit and is payable if YOU cancel. And they will be chasing these currently unless it is say £100. And hey they even may then out of principle.

It was made very clear that the initial payment was a part deposit payment and there would have been dates given for full deposit and full payment. (I know this from having used them).

eskbanker

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/booking/tandc?ptype=PDP

If You Cancel Your Holiday

To cancel your holiday you must tell us as soon as possible. If you booked using a travel agency, that agency must tell us. When your holiday has been cancelled you will receive a cancellation invoice.

You must pay a termination fee which covers our administration costs and compensates us for the risk that we do not resell your holiday. The fee is based upon how long before your holiday you tell us you want to cancel and is a percentage of the total price of your holiday.

Termination Fees
How long before your holiday you cancel	Percentage Of Your Holiday Price
70 days or more	Loss of deposit
69 - 63 days	30%
62 - 49 days	50%
48 - 29 days	70%
28 - 15 days	90%
14 - 0 days	100%

[Deleted User]

Sadly most people don't take on board the terms and conditions they book with and think they will only lose what they have paid in deposit but as many are finding out, this is not the case.   Unless you would not consider going in August, no matter what I wouldn't cancel, just wait to see what the situation is in August.   Obviously if it is all steam ahead then you will have to go or lose your money.  Up to you which you feel is more appropriate.   Lose say 50% of the cost of the holiday now by cancelling or wait to see?  Tough decision because the longer you leave it the more you lose if the holiday goes ahead.

Streaky_Bacon

Most people assume that the position is as described in the T&Cs but is more complicated than that.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47949915
If you cancel, you may become liable for the higher amount, but you may not.
If you do cancel, the sooner you do so, the more likely that TUI can resell the package, and you can avoid paying the larger depsoit.
In an ideal situation, you would cancel, and then be able to show the the package sold out.
If you do cancel, I would certainly not pay the balance of the deposit now. By retaining it, you have far more control over the situation.
If you attempt to cancel, and they refuse to accept the cancellation without paying the balance, that will be in yoru favour.
Make sure everything is in writing and/or record any phone calls.

[Deleted User]

Yes it is a gamble though isn't it Streaky Bacon?   How is it proved the holiday was or wasn't resold?   But as you say, if the OP doesn't pay they can just wait to see what happens?  I don't think travel agents will refuse to accept cancellation, they just enforce the terms in place on booking.

I am mindful of the case where a person took their agent to court to get a refund of their deposit but they were able to prove their room had been resold.   How does the regular person prove this?

I don't think anyone  can advise people to ignore the contracts.   Just put the facts and let them decide.  .

Streaky_Bacon

Yes, it is tricky.

You can wait as long as possible in the hope that TUI cancel, but then you leave them very little time to resell if they don't.

You can cancel ASAP, but then have to deal with the fact that you cancelled.

I believe that in the case you are likely referring to, the claimant basically checked whether the holiday was still available to book online, found that it wasn't and used screenshots to show that it wasn't available and so had likely been sold. It only has to be proven on the balance of probabilities in civil case, of course, so only has to been shown to be more likely than not.

However, I believe that he actually won because the term was deemed to be an unfair contract term and therefore unenforceable. TUI were granted leave to appeal but, interestingly, chose not to.

It sounds very much that their contract terms now are exactly the same as the ones that were found to be unfair, and therefore unenforceable.

There was some previous discussion here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77224769/#Comment_77224769

unforeseen

However, I believe that he actually won because the term was deemed to be an unfair contract term and therefore unenforceable. 

However, being small claims, that judgement is not binding and was only the opinion of that judge. As with parking cases, the outcome could be completely opposite with a different judge but same circumstances

Alan_Bowen

The issue here isn't cancellation charges but that the customer did not understand that the £100 paid was not the full deposit, despite the fact they would have had to sign accepting that if they chose to cancel, the full deposit as shown in the booking conditions remains payable. FCO advice against travel will change tomorrow and therefore that get out clause may no longer exist

1Jayboygreen

Hi, I booked a holiday on booking.com in Scotland on the 18th July, and the place we were staying in advertised a spa, swimming pool, snooker tables game room, outdoor facilities. So when Covid struck we kept in touch with the vendor to see if we were or when we were allowed in Scotland. The conversation was answered, but none of the facilities were open, pubs were only outside depending on weather or booked in advance? so because we have children and they would be bored we decided to cancel, but were then told no refund? is this correct even though the advert said all these facilities available yet they were not available to us, and it was not our fault, in other words £1000 cost for 3 days to sit in a family room? can I claim back either through my credit card or booking.com? Thank you