“They were very professional and empathetic from the first time I contacted them. They gave clear, detailed instructions at every stage of the process, listened intently to every detail, and responded quickly. Their genuine attention was what most impressed me; they made sure that the solutions they offered actually fit my circumstances, rather than just offering them. Their competence, kindness, and consistency transformed what seemed like a tense situation into one of comfort and self-assurance.”
“cancelled holiday after 3 days of booking and got hit with a large invoice.
The invoice was broken down into charges which were £132 in total , but on top was another £300 which they didnt explain in the breakdown . Queried this and customer services said these are charges for hotel or flight cancellations. Ok but OTB can not produce an invoice for payment which is not transparent, they clearly mention all the fees except the fees for flights or hotel.
Service Fee £0.00
ATOL Fee £5.00
Transaction Fee £0.00
Admin Charges £132.00
Total Discount* -£0.00
Total Cost £472.94
Deposit Paid £60.00
Total Paid inc. Service, Transaction and ATOL Fees £1,678.92
Balance £-1,205.98
As you see no mention of any other fees but they simply say oh plus these extra fees that we dont actually provide a breakdown for .
You wouldnt pay an invoice if the information was not accurate
I wont use them again”
“Absolutely disgusting customer service!
They provide no email address to send complaints to and make it almost impossible to contact them and when I eventually found a customer complaint form they didn’t bother to respond after it states they will come back to you within 28 days.
I paid £3500 for a holiday that consisted of a prison style bathroom with a broken window exposing us to the outside on the bottom floor, an infestation of cockroaches and ants. An ‘all inclusive’ with only awful beer and wine on tap and food that a dog would turn its nose up at.
Staff fighting in front of my family and limitations on drinking water in the hotel.
Disgraceful.
My legal team will be pursuing this through the small claims court and I have also passed all details on to the financial ombudsman for this epic failure to deal with my complaint.
Do not use On The Beach. They take the cut of money and send you to awful destinations which are falsely advertised.
UPDATE: After seeing this review they have accepted zero responsibility and offered me £150 discount towards my next holiday with them. I paid £3500 for a nightmare holiday and been offered a 4% cost equivalent voucher to use with them. Shambolic. I shall be leaving reviews everywhere to warn others of their terrible service. They only want your money and after that give ZERO aftercare.”
“Booked a holiday, which was then cancelled by On the beach. Cannot get to speak to anyone, only chat with a chatbot, with limited help. When I tried to go back to book the holiday, it was coming up £12k PER PERSON. Incompetent, ruthless and no customer service at all. Absolutely awful. DONT USE THEM”
“www.onthebeach.co.uk , Worst experience ever !!! Placed order for this beautiful place, but travel agency is awful, useless company !!! Spend more than 1.500 pounds and waiting and waiting for refund !!! Like you know , when we must pay immediately, but refund never comes that fast ? So sad there is travel agencies like this, SO BAD , BE CAREFUL !!! Don't travel with them ! and Tripadvisor doesn't allowed me to post this review there. woops.”
“Absolutely diabolical customer service experience, unfortunately, owing to my experience I was unable to fulfil my holiday due to failure on Travel Assistance element of the package”
“Right now, I just have no energy to explain how terrible experience I had after booking with on the beach and besides, many people have already expressed similar experiences in their reviews.
Soon I will also be able to wright the details about my experience with this travel agent before and after we arrived at the hotel.
As there is no on the beach customer service to deal with, l have now decided to pass on the issue to the credit card company to deal with regarding the hotel room we have paid for that wasn't available for two days.
In general, I would never book with this travel agency ever again.”
“Disgusting company.
I booked a holiday package for next July, they canceled the flight, so I had to cancel the whole holiday.
They refused to refund the full amount, even it was bought as a package and it wasn't my fault I had to cancel.
And we are talking about next year, not next week.
The only way to contact them is their chat, where you are in a queue of about 200 every time, almost impossible to reach someone.
Avoid, avoid, avoid!”
“Would have given 0 stars if possible, have tried for hours just to be pushed back to same place, unable to get anywhere with them,flight changed by 12 hours,losing a full day,impossible to get this resolved, ryanair have stated because its over 5 hours it can be refunded in full but have to go through on the beach, they want over £300 to cancel,its not our problem its been moved a full day but ive to pay,will never use them again,horrendous way to treat customers,easy way out for them as they dont have to speak to you,all done online, back to the travel agent after this,at least there will be someone to speak to.”
“I booked a full package holiday (flights + hotel) with On the Beach, and it has been a complete disaster.
From the very start, the airline (SunExpress) lost our luggage containing ALL of our essential items. We were left with literally nothing – no clothes, no toiletries, nothing. Our entire holiday has been ruined.
When I contacted On the Beach for help, instead of taking responsibility as required, they just kept blaming the airline and told me to deal with it myself. This is completely unacceptable. I didn’t book separate services – I booked a package. Under UK law, On the Beach is responsible for the proper performance of ALL elements of the package, yet they have done absolutely nothing to support us.
We spent a fortune on this holiday and got nothing in return but stress and frustration. Their customer service is dismissive, unhelpful, and simply tries to push the problem away.
I strongly advise everyone: do not book with On the Beach. If anything goes wrong, they will abandon you and leave you to fight with airlines and insurance on your own. Terrible company, zero accountability.”
“Beware advised price isn't what you pay
Booked a holiday with on the beach. After they took a hold on the card they bumped up the price. Now you can't cancel as they add £50 cancellation fee per person plus ypu loose the flight cost. Your could be forced to go on a more expensive holiday than initially qouted”
“Dreadful customer service. Booked an expensive holiday to Spain, staying in a very lovely hotel, only to be told that the coach transfer doesn’t have access to the hotel and would have to drop me off over a mile and a half away from the hotel. I am disabled and find walking very painful. I asked for them to change the collection to a car so it could collect me from the hotel and they wanted to charge me £60 for an upgrade!!! Asked to speak to a manager and was told it would take 48 hours and they’d say the same. Safe to say I won’t be booking anything with them ever again!!”
“on the 28th August I requested to change holiday dates, despite numerous requests I finally had a quote 2 days ago (14th Sept) - 16 days! this quote lasts for two days, I did not understand the price breakdown and I asked for an explanation as I wasn't sure what it included. As I was reading the response, the quote has now disappeared and it says raise the query again! the service is awful, everything is through chat. I have just wasted another hour trying to get an answer and guess what they have now logged my query again and nit will take up to three days to get back to me!”
“If you don't have an apple phone don't book with them or extra fees will come up.
Extra fees because you are not an apple user is a discrimination which shouldn't be allowed.”
“Will never use them again their rep at the hotel told me them cannot help me as they only arrange your transport to the airport and sell exsurtions this is in 🦃”
“Stay away. First time booked flights was okay, no delays or whatsoever. Second booking was created 2 months ago, now checking my booking status and flights are completely off from my booking. Contacted the airline they said someone called and changed dates. I spoke with On the beach customer service and they said the airline cancelled the booking ( which is lie ) . Miscommunication, misleading information, probably making money on cancellation fees.. Airline doesn’t make refunds, now I need to make a case which I can’t find where. Only 3 weeks before holidays I have to cancel my bookings and all because of this “good” holiday company. Avoid if you want to enjoy your holidays … Well you lost a customer !”
“One on the worst travel companies , horrible customer service . You can’t call then , you can’t send them e-mail it is joke honestly. How they even last . Never book with them anything again , please avoid”
“I typically book my holidays with Love Holidays or easyJet, but on this occasion, I made a booking through On the Beach as the flight time options were more convenient for my little son. I completed the booking late at night, with a total payment of £1,568.64.
Upon waking the following morning, I received an email from On the Beach that I initially presumed to be a confirmation. However, I discovered that it was a request for an additional payment of £80 per person. I have never encountered a similar situation, and I found this request to be unacceptable.
When I contacted their customer service, I was informed that the flight price had increased after my booking was finalized. I have booked many holidays over the years and have never been offered a refund when a price has decreased post-booking. I consider their explanation to be highly unreasonable. I had no choice but cancelled my holiday and booked with another provider for much less price.
Consequently, I will not be using this company for any future bookings. I advise others to exercise caution when considering On the Beach to avoid a potentially negative experience.”
“I booked a holiday with On the Beach for August 2025, meant to celebrate a family milestone and after recovering from a serious injury. The company tried to charge over €1,500 on my saved card without my consent, changed booking terms without approval, and ignored multiple formal complaints past their own 14-day response window. Their refusal to honour a Price Drop discount and unprofessional internal conduct—including their Data Protection Officer referring to me dismissively as “she”—added to my distress. This was a deeply disappointing experience that caused financial and emotional harm. I cannot recommend On the Beach.”
“We saved for 2 years to take my two birth children and two foster children to Dubai — total cost £5,000+
We were denied boarding because my Dutch passport only shows the year of birth — a restriction never mentioned by On The Beach or Emirates at booking or on your site.
When we were stranded at the airport, there was no human support, no phone line—only automated messages that weren’t available in real time.
Despite the hotel refusing a refund and us never travelling, they took no responsibility and left us with no recourse.
You highlight ATOL protection, but you’re not ABTA regulated, so customers are left without consumer oversight or accountability.
We lost everything—money, time, and the memory we’d been planning—and On The Beach offered no support or compensation. Heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
