Awayholidays Reviews 3,398

Natalie booked our recent trip to Thailand I’m so impressed with everything she organised for us .
Everything she booked and organised went really well. She responded to email questions quickly and provided me with lots of information.
Just want to say thank you to Natalie and we will be using Away holidays in the future.

I would strongly advise caution when booking with Away Holidays, part of Southall Travel Limited.

I booked a package holiday to Dubai and paid a £400 deposit. Well in advance of the balance due date (approximately three weeks prior), I contacted the company to understand my options due to ongoing FCDO advice, which significantly affects travel and means I am unable to obtain valid travel insurance.

At no point did the company proactively contact me regarding my booking. Given the circumstances, I would have expected clear and accurate communication. Instead, I was left to chase for information, with responses to my emails consistently slow and requiring repeated follow-up.

The responses I received were often unclear, inconsistent, and in some cases incorrect. I was given conflicting information regarding my rights and how any refund would be handled, including being advised that I would need to claim via travel insurance, despite this being a package holiday where responsibility rests with the provider. However, due to current FCDO advice, I am unable to obtain valid travel insurance, and the company’s own terms state that it is the customer’s responsibility to ensure appropriate insurance is in place. This further added to the confusion and made it unclear how I could reasonably proceed.

I also escalated my complaint to senior management via both Away Holidays and Southall Travel. However, all responses continued to be issued under the same name (Dave, who was the person I made the booking with), and when I queried whether my case had been reviewed at a senior level, I was advised that it had been reviewed, but that senior management responses were being relayed on their behalf. I was also informed that managers do not communicate directly and remain anonymous. This lack of transparency further added to the confusion and made it impossible to know who had actually reviewed my complaint.

Despite raising my concerns early, I was told that no decision would be made until 14 days before departure, while still being expected to pay the full balance. This placed me in an unreasonable and uncertain position.

As the situation remained unclear and unresolved, and my request for a refund had not been properly addressed, I did not feel it was reasonable to proceed with payment.

I then contacted the company by telephone to seek clarification and was informed that my booking had been cancelled due to non-payment, with the £400 deposit retained. At no point was I informed that the booking had been cancelled prior to this, and there was no prior warning that this would occur. All written correspondence suggested that the booking remained active. This directly contradicted earlier written confirmation that my £400 deposit would be protected. Despite requesting written clarification of this inconsistency, the company has not responded and has ignored my emails.

I was also previously advised (19 March) that it may be possible to postpone the balance due date depending on conditions closer to the travel date. However, this option was never followed up or offered despite my earlier contact.

It is only when something goes wrong that you find out how a company really operates. In this case, the handling of the situation has been inconsistent, unclear, and not what I would expect from a reputable travel provider.

I also note that many other travel providers have taken a different approach in similar circumstances, including cancelling holidays for comparable travel dates and those well beyond mine, which raises further concerns about how this has been managed.

I made every effort to resolve this directly and acted well in advance, yet this was not met with clear or reliable guidance. As a result, I have retained full written records of all correspondence and submitted these to my credit card provider as part of a Section 75 claim.

Based on my experience, I find it difficult to reconcile the level of service I received with their current Trustpilot rating.

Very disappointing experience and not one I would trust or use again.

This has been my first experience with this company and, based on how this situation has been handled, it will also be my last.

I will update this review once the matter is resolved.

One star is much too high for this company!
If you book a holiday with these people, you'd better pray that all elements of your holiday are provided as expected, because their support when you need assistance is a disgrace. We booked a package holiday to Thailand and our return flights via Dubai were cancelled due to Middle East conflict, so we sought support from Away Holidays with re-booking alternative flights and providing hotel accommodation for the additional nights. The 'support' we received was, at best, worthless. We were basically told that we were 'on our own' and had to arrange and pay for our own extra hotel costs and that they had no responsibility no provide a safe flight route home that did not pass through Dubai, which at the time was either fully closed or open to very limited flights only and we were being advised by FCDO not to travel via UAE. Over the 12 additional days we ended up stuck in Thailand we had many phone calls and emails with Away Holidays, every one of which left us dissatisfied and frustrated at their lack of assistance and apparent deliberate policy to avoid their obligations as a package holiday provider. On top of all that, the attitude of several of their agents was condescending and unprofessional. We eventually booked and paid for our own return flights and train to get back to Newcastle. Having returned to the UK on 18th March, we have attempted to recover our additional costs from Away Holidays, to which we are entitled under the Package Holiday and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. However, their response has been extremely disappointing. At every contact they deny responsibility to re-imburse cost, or offer a sum which is less than 10% of our reasonable claim amount, presumably in the hope that we eventual give up and go away. Which we won't!!

When we booked this package holiday their agent (Mason) was very pushy in getting us to book and assured us that Away Holidays were an excellent company to deal with, however, it seems that after they have your money they are much less interested. We have travelled extensively with several package holiday providers over the years and whenever we'd required any support from the respective travel agent we've always received professional and timely support. Sadly, Away Holidays do not compare. They are a disgrace to the travel agent profession and should not be allowed to trade. This was our first experience of using Away Holidays and it will be the last. If you are thinking of booking with this company, keep in mind that your are unlikely to receive any meaningful support should you need it.

A big thank you to Ian for his professionalism and time spent in booking our holiday to the Maldives, can’t wait! 🤩

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

I have given this company 1* only because 0 wasn't possible.

Our experience with Away Holidays was extremely disappointing from the outset, with multiple issues along the way.

To begin with, we asked to change our hotel in the Maldives and were told by our agent, Alex that “all hotels are fully booked.” This was simply untrue, we could clearly see availability online. As a travel agent with access to live systems, we expected them to assist us properly rather than dismiss our request. After calling multiple times, to request availability for different hotels, we ended up booking via another agent from the company who did not dismiss us and was a lot more accommodating, but were later told by Alex, that it would have been better for us to wait for him to change the hotel - how would it have been better?

We also encountered issues when trying to pay with our American Express card. Away Holidays claim to accept all major credit cards, yet we were repeatedly told that “Amex was down” for over a week. This explanation was not credible. Only after persistent chasing were we allowed to pay via Amex, which they described as a “gesture of goodwill” despite this being a standard payment method they advertise.

The most serious issue, however, occurred during our trip.

While we were in the Maldives, conflict broke out in the Middle East. Five days before our scheduled return to London, I contacted Away Holidays to ask for help arranging alternative routes home in case of disruption. I was told there was nothing they could do and that we should “wait it out.”

Our flight was subsequently cancelled.

At that point, communication from Away Holidays was extremely poor. Calling from the Maldives was prohibitively expensive, and email responses were infrequent, often taking over 24 hours. Eventually, we were told there were no available routes back to London and that we would need to make our own arrangements.

This was not true.

There were flights operating from Malé to Dubai, including one per day. We raised this, but were dismissively told: “Do you think you know my job better than I do?” despite knowing people who had taken those exact flights in the days prior.

As a result, we were forced to arrange everything ourselves, including flights to Dubai, accommodation, and onward travel to London at a total additional cost of £4,000, on top of the £14,000 we had already paid for the holiday.

We received no support whatsoever. No assistance with rebooking flights, no help with accommodation, and no contingency planning despite being effectively stranded. Meanwhile, other travellers and friends we spoke to (using different agents) had their flights rearranged, constant updates/reassurance and accommodation covered by their agents. We couldn't even get Away Holidays to rebook our flight. Not once did Away Holidays reach out to us, it was always us reaching out to them. And we not done so, I truly do not think we would have ever heard from this company again.

The issues didn’t end there.

It took over a month, and constant chasing for Away Holidays to refund our cancelled flights. Even then, the refund was processed onto the card used for the initial £1,000 deposit, rather than the Amex card used for the remaining £13,000. This directly prevented us from making a claim through our Amex travel insurance, despite us clearly explaining this to them multiple times.

We also repeatedly requested a breakdown of the original flight costs and itinerary, as required by our insurer. This has still not been provided.

Overall, this company has demonstrated a consistent lack of competence, transparency, and basic customer care. Requests are ignored, communication is poor, and there appears to be no effective complaints process.

The purpose of using a travel agent is to reduce stress and provide support, especially when things go wrong. In our case, Away Holidays did the opposite: they added stress, left us stranded, and cost us thousands of pounds.

Avoid this company at all costs.

This is our third holiday booked with Away Holidays and the second arrange by Alex, who was very knowledgeable and understood our requirements, was very patient even when we changed our mind half way through in terms of locations, can highly recommend and will use them again for our next holiday.

Our positive experience..
Just like to say that the booking of our holiday to Thailand was flawless..
Rob was professional throughout and he gave us a great price.
Come the day of our departure from Gatwick everything was cancelled due to the Iran conflict.
I spoke to Krishan from the airport and explained our scenario,
We returned home to Cornwall later that day upset at losing our holiday and concerned regarding a refund.
Krishan was extremely helpful and reassuring in the following few days, he said our refund had been applied for.

I’m happy to say just over three weeks later a full refund was issued.
A lot of companies get positive reviews when things go right, in this case due to the conflict we were left with no holiday.

It is in these times you see the value of a company, and I must say Away Holidays were absolutely fantastic.
They proved their worth in good and bad times, and we will be definitely looking to book again towards the end of the year. Thank you 🙏

Sadly our holiday was cancelled due to the problems in the Middle East. Natalie was extremely helpful our refund was processed very quickly. Very professional.

That gives me great confidence to book again with away holidays.

Thank you

Alex has been fantastic from start to finish. When our original destination unfortunately couldn’t go ahead, he was incredibly supportive in helping us switch plans smoothly. His communication throughout was excellent, keeping us informed and reassured every step of the way.

Brooklyn was very helpful in getting our holiday sorted due to the Middle East issue and answer all questions we had!! I would 100% recommend him! He is so friendly!!!!

I contacted away holidays firstly I was told to pay a deposit of 1600£ then was contacted and they said the hotel was unavailable so I requested a refund and booked another holiday with love holidays instead after not receiving the refund I called them back and dean the booking team asked me about a few questions regarding the new holiday I booked with love holidays he then said he can offer me the same holiday same price but it worked out I will get 2 weeks for the same money rather then 12 night I told him I had a none cancellation fee of 1800£ with love holidays so Im a unable to book with him as I cant cancel the other holiday with love holidays I will get charged he suggested I cancelled my credit card and therm will be no way love holidays can charge me for the cancellation fee he’s been here 10 years and said no travel agents can just take the money out of my account with out authorisation and persuaded me to pay 8500£ for a 2 week holiday with him witch I stupidly did and cancel my card witch I stupidly did one morning I’ve woken up and love holidays has taken 8500£ out of my account also so not rather then having 1 holiday booked I have 2 same dates same hotel with both none refundable what a mess I would no recommend awayholidays and think dean should be sacked pretty much scammed me into booking a second holiday witch was none refundable worse customer service ever just so he made his commission if I could give 0 starts I would

I had been looking on the internet for the specific Kandima Maldives holiday and was struggling to understand it. I of course went to Away holidays web site but had confusion regarding the Flights and also the transfers from Male to Kandima. I explained this to Ian and he was fantastic in helping us understand the issues and was extremely patient with us. He found us much better flights without such long stops halfway. He went well above expectation and made our understanding of our choice of holiday perfect. This level of customer service is extremely good and I look forward to working with Ian next time we book a holiday.
Many thanks Ian and Away Holidays.

Brooklyn arranged our holiday to the Maldives & he gave us 5* service. We were able to pay in instalments each day & he answered all our questions promptly. Everything ran smoothly with our 13 nights away & luckily we had booked a direct flight home so experienced no disruptions. This is the first time of using Away Holidays but we were very impressed with them. Thank you Brooklyn.

Rob was brilliant and very knowledgeable and made us both happy to book our holiday, thank you Rob.

I have booked a holiday for me and a friend to Bahrain. Rob who handled my enquiry was so very helpful and knowledgeable. He helped with questions I had and gave me some recommendations to do while there. Once paid the deposit there was a chance we needed to slide the departure date by a week. Again Rob was helpful and thankfully we didn’t need to change dates. Can’t wait to go to Bahrain in September

Rob was very professional polite and a pleasure to deal with an absolute asset to your business .

Thank you Rob , for your help and making this so straight forward

Jody Chamberlain

Rob is fantastic. His knowledge is great when booking the right family holiday. We have been booking with Away holidays for 10 years and the prices are always great 👍

Do not book with these absolute scammers!

Spoke to Brooklyn who was extremely rude and spoke down to me throughout all our calls. He gave me a quote and I asked for confirmation via email which he said he’d send but never did. This price was higher than the one I’d got on the website but he advised that deal was being removed that day. He then called back and had got the holiday cheaper but it meant I couldn’t have breakfast in the hotel for one day (very strange). Then suddenly I couldn’t have breakfast all days and the price had dropped by another £200. Brooklyn then kept calling me, pushing me to book despite me telling him I was working and then when I called back during his working hours, he’d gone home. I spoke to Joe and paid in full after he said that if I only paid a deposit, the flights/hotel would not be booked until I paid in full which I thought was very strange having always had confirmation after paying a deposit in the past (otherwise what’s the point in a deposit?!) AFTER PAYING, I got sent a bunch of terms and conditions I had to agree to but by this point I’d already committed. 48 hours later I hadn’t received any communication, no confirmation of payment, no invoice, no flight confirmation or holiday voucher as promised - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I called a couple of times and they said it was being processed but then told me they would not proceed with booking my holiday unless I paid more money!!! Interestingly the additional amount took the price to £3 less than the original quote, which also kept it £3 below the 8% increase requirement to get a full refund!!! The response I got to my refund request was abrupt, rude and completely dismissive.
I managed to get my money back but these people are scammers! They tell you a price so that you commit but that’s not the price you will pay!

Ian went out of his way to help sort a booking in the Maldives. Hotel availability was not great for the island resort I had chosen but Ian contacted the hotel directly and was able to sort things. He also spent a great deal of time to make sure there wasn't any better alternative for the dates and price I had in mind. He was very patient understanding and kind, thank you

Alex was great very knowledgeable and very helpful,very pleased so far with our booking looking forward to our travels 😀