“I sent the following email to the shop in Brighton:-
“With the exception of the last two visits, I have built very good relationships with the staff, particularly with Georgia.
I have booked FOUR holidays, taken out annual travel insurance and applied for the travel money card.
The standards I had before have slipped and I feel like a nuisance.
The manager, Michelle, in my last visit, asked me what can she help me with in an offhand manner and when I went to the currency bureau there was a dreadful atmosphere and whispers. I felt like a nuisance.
This interaction is rude and unnecessary and I don’t feel comfortable going into the branch again. I will book on line in future”
I received a very general reply with no substance or reasoning as to why this occurred.”
“Earlier in the year we booked return flights from Manchester to Preveza for a 2 week holiday. We now have the opportunity to go for 3 weeks so contacted TUI to arrange an amendment to take in the extra week. Can’t believe they want to charge us and extra £908 for this simple amendment. Shame on you TUI, won’t be using you for flights again”
“Booked a Christmas Santa trip with all the family-the arrangements and communication was good but we wanted to try the husky and reindeer experience. They said we could try before ordering which we did. We repeatedly asked if we could book the excursions and the reps said yes see us in the hotel later. No reps appeared we asked at reception they said they were normally there.
Obviously they did not have any excursions available as we later checked on the TUI app!!
Why they weren’t honest with us I can’t understand
It ruined the holiday as the kids wanted to experience the full huskys snd reindeer experience.
Why were the reps not honest and why did they disappear-not what you would expect from a company like TUI”
“Animal cruelty and animal abuse on the very premises of a TUI hotel, despite their animal welfare mission statement.
Our holiday passed in distress. When we raised this issue, all our attempts fell on deaf ears. No honest or decent reply from TUI for months, and finally when it came (as an answer to a review!) it was a complete falsehood. Shame on you, TUI.”
“Charged almost as much for extra space seats, that were not, as extra legroom seats on our outbound flight, that were worth every penny. All in our row and the row in front said exactly the same, cabin crew said the people in our rows on the previous flight said exactly the same. Tui do not want to know. Complete rip off, deceitful and bordering on theft. NEVER AGAIN !!!!!”
“Just booked a holiday at the tonypandy shop with emma she was so helpful and well informed so I will always book with them from now on and not online.”
“Just dreadful company. I won’t go into the long details, but a mistake was made by our third party agent and TUI chose not do anything to help fix it. Both companies agree that none of it is our fault and although TUI could have fixed the problem with one simple email, they made a point of refusing to do so.
Their staff have been rude, unkind, unprofessional and frankly, mean, just to spite the agent. I’ve never known such an unhelpful travel agency with such rude employees. Their live chat employee Louise gave me a phone number to call which was to a recording that says ‘number out of service try this new number’ so you call the new number which says ‘number out of service try this new number’ which you call and then get a dead tone. When I told the live agent Yasser this she said just no they’re not going to answer you and ended the live chat. It’s an unspeakable level of rudeness and shockingly bad customer service.
Never booking with you again TUI, never again.”
“Beware when booking with TUI! Their seemingly attractive offers often come with hidden fees that can leave you feeling cheated. Free cancellation? Don’t be fooled; they’ll hit you with unexpected charges later on.
The customer service is alarmingly poor. Representatives struggle with both German and English, making communication a nightmare. Instead of resolving issues, they often defer and promise to "inquire."
Honestly, booking with TUI can be a risky decision. I highly recommend exploring other options for a more reliable and transparent experience. Don’t let TUI ruin your travel plans!”
“During a recent holiday in Agadir, Morocco, there were multiple serious issues with TUI’s service, leading to the trip being cut short at a personal cost of £315, in addition to the original holiday expense of £1,749.99. What was meant to be a celebratory trip turned into a series of stressful incidents, including a prolonged luggage delay and threatening behavior from TUI representatives.
Upon arrival, one suitcase was missing, and TUI’s response was inadequate. Initially, a compensation of just £25 per day was offered, significantly below the policy limits of £100 on Day 1 and an additional £150 on Day 4 if the delay persisted. When discussing this with the TUI representative, there was a refusal to provide the policy in writing. After much insistence, the representative briefly showed the policy on their iPad, which we photographed for reference. Even then, the representative did not follow the policy correctly. Due to this, we recorded conversations to protect ourselves from further mismanagement.
On Day 4, we spoke to another TUI representative who was unaware of the baggage delay policy and initially offered just £25 per day. This representative had never seen the policy before and was applying a compensation policy meant for a different country, not the UK, which was entirely incorrect. After showing her the photo of the policy, she initially acknowledged that we were entitled to £150 but later reverted, stating it would be split incorrectly over multiple days. This lack of clarity and understanding among TUI staff left us feeling frustrated and misled.
On the fifth day, TUI representatives aggressively confronted us in our hotel room, accusing us of recording a conversation and threatening police action if the footage was not deleted. One representative went as far as to threaten that a single phone call could prevent us from returning to the UK. Feeling intimidated and fearing for our safety, we felt coerced into complying and deleted the video showing their face while retaining an audio recording for our protection.
Due to the distress caused by TUI’s representatives, we decided to cut the holiday short, booking an additional flight home for £315, along with a £45 taxi fare to the airport. Despite informing TUI about our early return, there was no clarity on how to retrieve the delayed luggage upon landing, resulting in a need for an additional trip back to the airport on Day 8.
We have since documented all these issues in full and contacted the TUI customer service department to explain our experience, but have been completely brushed off. The way we have been treated while staying at a five-star hotel, by a world-renowned holiday company, is unacceptable. The stress and financial repercussions of what was supposed to be a relaxing holiday have been massive, yet the company has shown no care or responsibility for their mishandling and mistreatment”
“We booked the Jewel Palm Beach DP for Feb 2025.
As a researcher, I found out that it has been sold and closed down. I informed TUI who knew NOTHING!!
Surely, the reps out there knew?
This holiday was for our honeymoon. TUI have refused to update us, using the Holiday Change dept as an excuse.
We can't change our hotel because we will be charged for it!! Apparently, we would be breaking their T's and C's. Really, what about their contract to supply a holiday? What a joke!!!
THERE IS NO HOTEL TO CHANGE!!
Absolute shambles!”
“AVOID AT ALL COSTS IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME AND MONEY they have a 29% satisfaction rating for a reason - booking with Tui is literally like playing roulette, you pay your money but can't rely on any service, can assume there will be NO communication and there's no redress if all of the above happens - which it probably will. (based on our experience which we shall not be repeating)
We had a series of issues before our holiday and during the holiday which I won't bore you with... these were then compounded by arriving at our departure airport to be told (at the check in desk with zero communication prior) our flight to Birmingham UK was cancelled and we would be returning to gatwick on a flight some six hours later (also delayed) I enquired how we would get home (3hrs away) and was told buses had been organised to transport ourselves and fellow affected passengers to BHX which wasn't great but better than nothing right - haha, well as it turns out...
On arrival to Gatwick we were shocked to find that no one from Tui was there to greet us and when I eventually went off and found some Tui staff on the departures level above; they claimed they have only been told of the issue '10-15 minutes ago'
Furthermore, we were then told buses were holding off off site and would be called in once all passengers were accounted for which was an issue as they 'were waiting for a manifest'
After some time it was announced there was a 'delay on the buses' which, it was reasonably clear had not been 'waiting around the corner' at all and we were told we could wait, but not for how long and advised we should organise our own journey to BHX which we did via Uber at the cost of £217! (the airport taxis had just quoted a fellow passenger £400)
Since our return in July we have received no proactive communication from Tui to apologise or even acknowledge our experience, at least that was not in response to our complaint and have been offered the taxi fare and £70 in holiday vouchers - it would be hilarious if it were not so insulting.
In what other industry does a company utterly fail and expect full payment for service not delivered or delivered partially or badly?”
“Firstly I'd like to start with how badly we have been treat by TUI. We booked this holiday last year on the pay monthly scheme that you do, we never missed a payment and was so looking forward to it. Fast forward to more recently on the booking we had hotel stay the night before our flights and parking for the week. We had seats booked or so we thought but I got a message saying time to book your seats. So on Thursday 15th Aug I called tui to discuss this and make sure we had seats. I was informed that our children were free as they are under 12 but I had already paid for them and nothing was said, as she booked our seats it removed our hotel and parking stay. She assured me it would be back on within 72 hours as she had emailed the relevant team, so I called back on Sunday the 18th to make sure as it was looming closer and closer without any word from TUI. Low and behold it wasn't on and left us in the worst situation possible before our holiday even began. We had to pay for a taxi to the airport at 1am at extra costs and then when we got the the airport found out that regardless if we booked seats they get changed anyway. We were seated apart until I told them I refuse to accept that to which the TUI rep was really rude and told us well it's not me that's done it. This caused undue stress to me who is disabled and our autistic daughter. We then went to special assistance at Gatwick and was told it's a 35 minute wait for any help so we decided to try and walk ourselves and this was even before security. We managed to get through there and took our flight out there. The hotel was good we don't have any complaints about that. But the return trip home was horrendous. Firstly the transfer coach that picked us up the driver was the most arrogant Nasty man we have ever met. He firstly told me our autistic daughter couldn't sit next to me as she was a child and told her to go sit further back. After an argument he decided to leave her where she was. Secondly and there is a full coach of people that witnessed this so I don't think this will be the only complaint, there was a car parked in a bay that the driver wanted, he then proceeded to lean on his horn for around 2 to 3 minutes, shouting in Spanish at this lady to the point of her crying with 2 young children in her car. Her husband then came to the coach and they were arguing shouting at each other. To which I said to the driver use the spare bay at the side of them, he then blocked them in in a stand of that lasted around 20 minutes, the TUI rep on the coach didn't look impressed and I told her this sets a great example for your company and she just kept saying sorry sorry, well I'm afraid sorry isn't good enough. TUI has made this holiday hell and our daughter never wants to go on holiday again it has affected her that bad. For being disabled we feel like we have been great disgustingly and I will also be emailing the head of TUI to explain this aswell. I left a review on trust pilot about our experience with the parking but now will updat with the horrendous experience we suffered when we got our transfer. I will also be advising people not to pay for seats as we was told the manifest is looked at the night before and changed”
“I booked a family holiday we arrive in corfu & our accommodation on 31/8/2024 about 6.45am & leave on 7/9 at about 2.30am I only just noticed Tui had booked the hotel from the 30/8 to leave on the 6th that leaves us without a room for over 16 hours after contacting tui to say this surely is a mistake as I will not be in the country till the 31/8 they are aware that I am disabled using walking aids & cannot be left without a room for that length of time. Tui said they would give me a room until I leave for the airport I asked for email as proof for the hotel she said it will be with you within 24 hours then 5 mins later rings me back saying I can’t have the room but if I pay £1000 I can have early flight absolute disgrace shame on you tui i now have to face the worry of what are we as a family of four going to do without accommodation for 16 hours they clearly don’t care about there customers well being appalling.”
“TUI SOLD US TO SUN EXPRESS, after sitting on a S.E.plane for over 3hrs, now around midnight, (N.B. NO WATER WAS OFFERED UNLESS WE PURCHASED IT, HOT AIR CIRCULATING THE PLANE) that had technical issues, we were herded off, no tui rep, LGW staff helped locate a coach/hotel. 2hrs at 1.30 am waiting in the rain to check in, ( hubby n myself nearly 70!), got to room 3am, phone TUI help line who told us to phone S.E. Phoned S.E., rang and cut off. Rerang TUI, who knew there was a problem, didnt know what it was as S.E. now had our records and it was data protection🤬 got told flight could be at 7am, so as I had a migraine, I stayed upstairs, hubby went to breakfast, after approx 3hrs sleep! Eventually a coach came at 12ish, but TUI rep at LGW was unaware of our and whole planes plight and basically hopeless. Eventually left baggage and at 4pmish boarded, we were then informed we had to wait in our seats yet again for approximately 3hrs for take off as they had 'forgot' to refuel the plane! Things happen, my grievance is the fact although we entered what we believe to be a contract with TUI., they SOLD US ON, then when something went wrong they do not want to know, from the high street, Worthing branch were hopeless, we purchased on line, but the shop said TUI, and the smirking lady had a TUI badge on, when we asked them for help!. We never once had any communication from TUI, until last week (over 4wks after the incident and in answer to an email we'd submitted), they just stated we need to contact S.E. direct, for compensation. 9 days ago we obtained a case number from S.E. still awaiting a follow up.
PLEASE THINK BEFORE BOOKING A TUI HOLIDAY. ESPECIALLY IF FLYING VIA A THIRD PARTY. TUI DO NOT CARE. HOW THEY EVER GOT 4STARS ON TRIP ADVISOR ILL NEVER KNOW, ALTHOUGH I AND MANY OTHERS ARE TRYING TO CHANGE THIS”
“I don't want to go into too much detail as it's very personal but after a family emergency last year, we had to cancel our planned holiday. I was told by a Tui employee that we could use the money we had paid towards another holiday and was advised this could be claimed at any time, I was not told I needed to book by a specific date. I asked for this information to be provided by email and was told no, that they had placed a note on their system. I called up a month ago to try and arrange re-booking and was told that I had lost everything all of our money and the holiday because I needed to have rebooked by our original holiday date (which was about a week from the date we cancelled) I asked for the call recording and was told it was no longer available, I spoke to many members of their 'customer services' team, a few of which were very unpleasant and very condescending, who showed no compassion or understanding and totally dismissed what I had been told accepting no
responsibility. It has been a truly awful time, and this experience left me feeling both physically and mentally unwell. They took £2300 from us, and we have absolutely nothing now. They are a truly awful company, where profit and greed come before humanity. I would strongly advise anyone to just read through what so many of us have said and not use them.”
“I have just returned from an All Inclusive 5* family Holiday to Mallorca visiting a TUI Blue hotel and I’m appalled by TUI’s customer service that will unfortunately prevent me from using them again in the future.
Upon our arrival at the hotel, I asked the hotel if there was any room upgrades available and what price that would cost.
Unfortunately, the hotel receptionist advised me the hotel was fully booked and there are no upgrades available at this time. This was perfectly acceptable and we proceeded with the check-in.
Upon booking the holiday we selected a room for 4 guests, my wife, our two daughters (aged 23 months and 4 years old) and myself.
Unfortunately we were provided with a room for a maximum of 3 guests. 2 single beds pushed together for my wife and I and a travel cot squeezed in the room for our 23 month old. NO BED or anywhere to sleep for our 4 year old, it very quickly became apparent that the room was for a maximum of 3 guests when we only found 3 bath towels, 3 beach towels etc.
We promptly reported back to reception, where we spoke with a helpful gentleman that agreed that a a mistake had been made and that the room was only for a maximum of 3 guests. He passed us onto a colleague to try and rectify the situation.
We spent about 20 minutes with the TUI staff member passing on our details and she agreed the room was incorrect and would come back to us within an hour to try and find a resolution.
Upon the phone call back from the TUI rep working at the hotel, I was advised there was nothing they could do, only bring a fold up bed up to our room for our 4 year old. We responded that this would not be an option as the room would not fit another bed alongside the travel cot. The TUI staff member agreed and said there was nothing further they could do.
Without wanting to waste any further time of our holiday, we decided to separate the two single beds giving one to our eldest daughter, therefore my wife and I sharing a single bed in a cramped room for our 8 night stay at a 5* TUI Blue hotel.
We also had to get the cleaners to leave us an extra towel each day as they only expected to have to supply for 3 persons in our room.
This massively impacted on our one and only holiday per year, due to feeling tired because two adults squashed into a single bed. Not to mention sharing a small room with 2 young children, which is totally unacceptable.
I have tried to give TUI the benefit of the doubt and contacted them twice since returning home to see if they can offer any compensation for charging us for a child place for 8 nights but not accounting for her on the holiday.
Unfortunately they have come back to me and asked me to prove the room is too small and that the pictures I took and sent to them of the single beds are not sufficient evidence for them to go on. A great argument for their case, as now I am home from the holiday it is totally impossible for me to take any further pictures or videos that will back up my case.
Totally unacceptable for a 5* Star, quite frankly we were relived to get home for a good nights sleep by the end of the holiday!
Reviewing companies is not something I like to do, as I always like to try and rectify issues directly, which I have tried to do in this scenario but unfortunately their lack of customer service and compassion has left me with no option.
Our family are already looking into booking our holiday for next year, but we have totally ruled out booking anything through TUI due to this. I’m totally gutted with the outcome and quite frankly feel ripped off by paying for something that was not provided, and the only response from TUI is that they understand my frustration but cannot help further.”
“Paid extra for flights to premium (NEVER DO THIS ITS A CON) almost £1000 each. Sat next to a screaming child for 9 hours on the way out and back in! Had issues with the hotel and had threats made by staff whilst away, TUI reps were less than useless and when we complained we got passed to Lana who couldn’t have cared less, stated nothing was her problem and that we had to contact the hotel ourselves about our issues!
I would not recommend using Tui and I’d have use any other travel agency as they don’t care they just want your money and then if you have an issue they do not care! I found the Tui complaint line rude and unempathetic, they also stated there was no escalation process and I would be unable to talk to anyone else! One of the worse flight experiences and holidays Iv had but TUI do not care now they have my money!”
