Cancel & re-book same holiday...?

rjacobson11

Last year I booked an all-inclusive holiday for some £2000, & paid a deposit of £100.

The same holiday is now available for £1300 & I'm giving very serious thought to cancelling (& losing my deposit) & re-booking, but is there anything else I'd need to take into consideration?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Incapuppy

Was the £100 the full or a discounted deposit? I seem to think that if you have paid a discounted deposit then if you cancel the value of the full deposit must be paid (but I could be wrong, sorry.)

Diamond_Olly

Better read the tour operators Terms and Conditions before doing anything. Your rebooked holiday may be rejected.

rjacobson11

Incapuppy wrote: »

Was the £100 the full or a discounted deposit? I seem to think that if you have paid a discounted deposit then if you cancel the value of the full deposit must be paid (but I could be wrong, sorry.)

It's not a discounted deposit.

lisyloo

Firstly you need to make sure that you aren't liable for more than the £100 (read the terms and conditions or ask to be sure).

Secondly there is no guarantee that you would be able to get the same booking.
If you cancel the booking then it's possible that someone else could nip in and take the booking before your travle agent gets the chance.
Even if they do it immediately afterwards.
You need to asses how big you think that risk is (ring up and ask what availability is like) and whether you want to take the risk.

BenL

Do they have any pricematching policies in the terms and cons?

Easyjet have one for when the price goes down you can get the difference back so a large travel company may also have one.

xinran

I would phone and discuss it with them. They should see your point of view and may just discount your balance to match the new price.

Provided there's nothing in the T&Cs, you're well within your rights to cancel and re-book.

Engadine

Holiday prices go up as well as down, if the price had gone up doubt you would be thinking about cancelling and paying the higher price.

Most holiday deposits are more than £100 per person, so if you have only paid £100 then you have to check that this indeed is the full deposit you have paid. If it is a low cost deposit then you are liable for the difference to make it up to the full operator deposit.

When you cancel a holiday the flights seats and room will be released but there is no guarantee that they will go straight back onto the operators system and certainly no guarantee that it would be at the price you have seen. If it is released straight back onto their booking system then every travel agent in the country that deals with that operator, the operator's webiste and any other site they may have holidays on will all have access to book your now cancelled holiday so a good chance someone could nip in and book it before you do.

This happens a lot and normally means that there is a lot of availability on that holiday, they lower the price to get some bookings in and when they do it goes back up again. It is called fluid pricing and all the tour operators operate like this.

If you are going to do this you need to read the operator's T&Cs carefully and weigh up the risk. If it was me I would just stick with the holiday that I have booked rather than take the risk of losing it.

Which tour operator is the holiday booked with?

blindman

xinran wrote: »

I would phone and discuss it with them. They should see your point of view and may just discount your balance to match the new price.

Provided there's nothing in the T&Cs, you're well within your rights to cancel and re-book.

If there truly are no strings to the first booking then the best way is to book the lower offer first-Then cancel the original.

littlereddevil

I would also rebook and lose deposit I have done this before

Incapuppy

littlereddevil wrote: »

I would also rebook and lose deposit I have done this before

Out of interest - did you make the second booking before or after cancelling the first?

If it was a holiday that I had booked a long time in advance, I too would seriously consider re-booking - especially if the saving was as large as the OP was talking about. I would just be a bit worried though - if I was using the same company that someone would spot it and smell a rat, but I don't suppose there are any legal reasons preventing someone from doing just that?