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Holiday Gems Reviews

4.5 Rating 2,196 Reviews

89 %

of reviewers recommend Holiday Gems

Company Reviews

4.5

Based on 2,196 reviews


Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Next Day
On-time Delivery	97%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.6 out of 5

About Holiday Gems:

HolidayGems.co.uk provides a comprehensive range of travel services, including holidays, flights, hotels and other ancillary services. We also specialise in Late Deal holidays.

Our travel specialists work within our three call centre locations in the North West of England and in addition we also have a network of homeworkers both in the UK and throughout Europe.

All of our holidays are ATOL protected (ATOL 11461) for consumer financial security.

HolidayGems offers an independent and impartial travel service tailored to our customer’s needs. Whether you are planning a trip in the UK or to the other side of the world, our professional travel service will cater for every need.

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Holiday Gems 5 star review on 16th March 2023

Holiday Gems 5 star review on 16th March 2023

Holiday Gems 5 star review on 16th March 2023

16

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“I booked a holiday for myself and my family for last May 2019. Due to coronavirus pandemic and working for the NHS I knew that it was not going to go ahead. I tried to contact them to reschedule the dates and was told that we would be contacted. Then received an email saying that as I had not paid the balance the holiday had been cancelled. Then the trouble of trying to claim back the money is where the fun became. To date I have not received an email from them and still trying. They have sent a refund/credit note, but these are worthless as still no contact with them. They do not speak with you on the phone and do not reply to any emails not even an email to say that they have received your emal and will deal with it when they can. I would not use this company ever again and intend on taking the matter further as far as I am concerned I have received a refund credit note and should be entitled to my money back. There will probably be no repsonse to this experience feedback either which is not surprising. What went wrong? Everything in my opinion. If the NHS was run like this where would the country be at the present time.”

Posted 3 years ago

“I wish I had read reviews about Holiday Gems before I put myself through the worst customer service experience ever. To start with the holiday ended up being £200 more than first quoted, then I had the pressure from them to make the last payment on the holiday even though everyone man and his dog knew it wouldn't go ahead because of lockdown. A few weeks after paying I got the 'surprising' phone call to say it was cancelled and I was offered a refund or a credit note, I chose the refund as who knows when we can go on holiday again, 2 weeks later they sent me a credit note and claim that is the process they use, why offer me a choice but then go ahead and do what you want anyway?! The great part is according to them I will get MY money back from them 5-6 months after the holiday was cancelled. To date I have sent them 46 emails and I have had 3 of them responded to, they have blocked me on Facebook instead of dealing with my issue. The agents they use or the hotel doesn't have my money, it is sitting with Holiday Gems. Avoid these frauds at all cost, they will push you to pay more and then do all they can to avoid giving you your money back. I just hope we all get our money back before they deservedly go bust. I will be posting reviews wherever I can to help protect people from these thieves.”

Posted 3 years ago

“Dealing with Holiday Gems has been worse than terrible from the start (pre-Covid) through to the end (December 2020). First, the price online that entices you to book is not the actual price - it is only confirmed after they have contacted the airlines and hotels. In my case, the price increased - I wonder, if the price reduced would that saving be passed to the customer. Needless to say and long story short, the holiday was cancelled owing to the pandemic and a refund was finally received 6 months later, albeit after chasing continually and Holiday Gems charging me an administration fee for the privilege! Jet 2, on the other hand, have been an absolute delight to deal with and will be getting my custom in future. BE WARNED”

Posted 3 years ago

“Booked holiday in january 2020 to go in June holiday cancelled was promised a like for like didnt happen still waiting for refund another 28 days,got to pay to get your own money back ,found the same holiday with TUI £400cheaper have been good customers of holiday gems for years but wont use them again after this sort of treatment”

Posted 3 years ago

“Terrible service would not give it any points.Had my holiday canceled in april. Still havnt got my refund was told you could get it at the end of october. Hadnt heard anything i sent an email now you have to request it on line and it can take 28days .Terrible company you can not telephone no one available it is appaling do not book with this company”

Posted 3 years ago

“Don’t waste your time or effort booking with this shambolic company! Still waiting on a refund from 7 months ago and the best part is they are charging people to give their OWN money back! Disgusting as long as you stay a float though hey! Il be sharing reviews post far and wide to try and stop as many as I can from booking with you!!”

Posted 3 years ago

“Do not use this company Will I ever see my £2500 again! I am starting to doubt it. Holiday Gems are keeping hold of money that should be refunded. We booked flights with Jet2. We booked hotel accommodation with Holiday Gems for 17th – 28th March 2020, for 3 people, all inclusive. The total amount was £2320. We were informed by Jet2 that all flights to Fuerteventura were cancelled, including ours. Jet2 immediately refunded us. So, we immediately contacted Holiday Gems by phone and were told that someone would contact us. We tried again by phone. No contact at all from the retailer. We then went on live chat twice – again we were told that we would be contacted, but still nothing. (details enclosed) We also e-mailed them, but again, apart from an automated reply (saying that someone would contact us), no reply. (details enclosed) It is now 3rd April 2020 and despite making another telephone call, we have had no communication from Holiday Gems at all. No doubt the hotel has not been paid for our accommodation, so Holiday Gems are now sitting there with our money and are unwilling to refund. Perhaps if there are enough unhappy customers, we should all consider civil court action to reclaim our monies, because if Holiday Gems have done this to two customers, there must be many more.”

Posted 4 years ago

“BEWARE. We booked and then like so many others were contacted to say the price was incorrect and we owed more money. Final bill was even more than indicated. Apparently rep said it is not a live site but even after we pointed out the discrepancy in price shown and price to be charged it was not altered for 36 hours. Very sharp practice. Then we found out that luggage is not included but is separate quote after paying. Price quoted is more than easyJet would charge. Rest assured we will not use this site again. Just tried to complete the stars rating but it won’t let me”

Posted 4 years ago

“I booked a holiday to tenerife with these people on 23rd september 2019 to travel 26th october 2019 airline was thomas cook,of course TC crashed leaving me with no holiday flight and ever increasing alternative flights through other greedy companies ,I knew I had to wait for my refund but I never thought it would take until 4th December to hit my bank account and also cost me 10.50 in atol charges to request the refund,they also charge an extraordinary amount per minute to call their atersales team ,all in all im well out of pocket with no much need post operation holiday to enjoy this year. Deeply disapointed .Will never ever use them again ,”

Posted 4 years ago

“This is absolutely the wost company I have ever used and recommend you look elsewhere. I am not one to leave reviews but in this instance have to warn you off. To start with, no price online is correct so instead of me booking and waiting for them to charge me extra after, I called them to get a live price which was £200 more. Ok I think, I will go for it but mid way, I start asking about other hotels. I ask the sales person about one and she said she has heard good things about that. Being 9.30 at night, i think why not but afterwards read the reviews and its disgusting. I paid a very large deposit of £1475. I try to change my hotel the next morning, but they want an extra £293 so I tell them to cancel the hotel as I will go with another comapny that is cheaper on hotels. To cancel is going to cost me £300 but I will do this as I just want this nightmare over with. Customer service is non-existent. You have to phone them at 13p per min and they you are left on hold for at leat 20 mins. There are far better companies to use as this one rips you off and will not provide any breakdown of flight, hotel or transfers. Wish I never used them to begin with. I am still waiting for them to take payment for cancellation and they don't even have the decency to get back to me on that. AWFUL beyond words.”

Posted 4 years ago

“Booked a holiday with this company online in April. The next day I got a phone call saying the accommodation I wanted was not available. I was under pressure then to find another hotel and the advisor offered me an alternative which I was not able to research before booking. When I checked the accommodation online after the booking I found it was in the middle of nowhere with no lift which I need as I am disabled. I tried for 2 days to contact them by phone but could never get through. I sent a number of emails asking if I could change the hotel booking and the fact I needed a lift. They emailed me back 7 days later saying they could change the hotel for a further cost of £442 which I just could not believe. Total rubbish after sales service.”

Posted 4 years ago

“Absolutely a nightmare company! Not one person has wanted to help, staff on the phone have been really rude. I booked a holiday with this company my original booking I made was changed and our accommodation was moved, I was assure more than once it was a nice hotel and just like the one I had booked. We landed in the middle of the night, handed our taxi driver the address that was on our booking which wasn’t even the right place, no mention that there was no reception and the fact we had to get the key from some where else then go back to find another part of the hotel in a strip that no taxi driver could get down, the apartment when we finally arrived was filthy you wouldn’t leave s animal in there, kids were scared, was a apartment block full of Spanish locals who lived here which is a little intimidating when I’m a 30 year woman with two children on my own, I tried to call the number for the apartment more than once with no answer I rang holiday gems to explain and I was told I would hear back after chasing I was told they couldn’t move me but would send a cleaner round!!!! Still no cleaner like that isn’t going to solve any of these problems any way but that was there shocking resolution to my problems so now we are stuck in this dump for another 3 nights worrying sick and sleeping in utter filth”

Posted 4 years ago

“Not recommended. STAY AWAY Not recommended. stay away... Not recommended. All prices on their website are fake. they say they will call you to confirm your booking .Then after booking they call you to ask you to pay extra money. Don’t trust them at all. Then to cancel the booking to not pay the extra money they ask for a cancellation fee and do not give you a full refund.”

Posted 4 years ago

“If I could give them no stars I would!!!!!!!! We booked a holiday online through holidaygems and the following morning had a phone call from Simon saying that the holiday had gone up £300 for the three of us. I had done a lot of research about the hotels and as the hotel was the most suitable for mother, a week before her 91st birthday, we paid the extra to stay at Monica Beach Resort . When we arrived they told us there was no reservation for us although could clearly see we had reservation papers to stay there in three rooms, more than four hours after our arrival they found three rooms for us as far away as possible from the main building, we were told they needed to clean the rooms. I had asked for the rooms to be together on the booking but two were in the same block but on different floors and another well away in a different part of the complex. It wasn't until near lunch time the following day when I went to pick up our passports that I was told there was a problem with the booking and if we wanted to stay in the hotel we booked then we would need to pay a further 91€ per person, meaning our holiday would be costing around £200 more per person than advertised. I phoned holiday gems to try and get our problem reserved and was told it would be best if we moved to another hotel and all would be resolved on our return which we did but were not happy about, we had unpacked and so obviously had to repack and WE HAD TO arrange for a taxi to take us to another hotel, we lost more than a day of our holiday trying to rectify a mistake made by Holiday Gems. Our ATOL certificate clearly stated that we were booked into the Monica Beach, our transfers from the airport arranged through holiday gems also delivered us to the Monica Beach but then we were informed much later in the day we should be at the Costa Calma Beach Resort as the hotel and address did not match up! The hotel we had BOOKED and was on all our reservations. Holiday Gems have done nothing to resolved the situation apart from offering A £100 discount off another holiday booked by through them, which is an insult given we booked with them in good faith to deliver our holiday! This was to be a surprise holiday for my mother's birthday which turned into a very stressful time and it totally exhausted her. I have emailed, had to jar them about lack of contact and when not happy with what is their final response, wrote to the managing director enclosing all the email correspondence, booking documentation, ATOL certificate stating where we were staying. The letter was sent to be signed for on delivery which was done by A.Palmer at 09.51 on the 20th June 2019 but as to date have had no reply. At 91 this could be the last holiday my mother is well enough to go on with my brother and myself. I have booked with Holiday Gems before and had no problems but obviously if there is one they don't care! So beware if booking.”

Posted 4 years ago

“Avoid, Avoid, Avoid!!! The worst service ever. When you book it your holiday is not confirmed they will confirm within 72 hours, which means the price will be much higher. But they will charge you and if you are not happy with the new price to get the money back will take up to 10 days. I have booked holiday to Cancun and paid in full, to my surprise when we arrived to our destination one month later after booking was made, we was told that we had no reservation because holiday gems did not pay the hotel. After arguing we was allowed to stay over for a night while the hotel sorted it out with holiday gems. When I've send an email to holiday gems asking for explanation and compensation, the email I have received had no apology and said one sentence it has been sorted with the hotel. So please do not book it with this company, it's an absolute joke. And reading all reviews I wouldn't be surprised if they go into administration very soon.”

Posted 4 years ago

“Absolutely appalled by the standard of service. I booked a holiday for 5 on 28th April. Was called later on during the day by the rep who advised me that TUI had no flights on the date as they were sold out. He told me that he was now checking "live" flights and offered me alternative flights which were £110 more and not on the dates we required. When I told him that these dates were not convenient for us and that I wanted to cancel he told me that I would not be able to find any flights on the dates I needed and tried to pressure me into taking flights at a time and date that would be my problem. I found him to be very rude and unprofessional. I informed him of my legal rights and cancelled. An hour later, I started looking for alternative holidays and lo and behold, I found that the same flights with TUI were available. In fact after I had booked there were still an additional 9 seats available. I was essentially lied to by their representative who it seems wanted to coerce and additional £550 pounds from me. The data on their website is not live, so there is no guarantee that the hotels or flights that they promote are available when you book. They can take up to 3 days to contact you to confirm this. Exceptionally poor service.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Booked and paid in full for holiday then received email stating it would be 72 hours before holiday price could be confirmed. Needless to say it went up £110 which was paid because it was the hotel we wanted. 3 weeks later email received stating we could not have the hotel we had booked and offered another hotel which was a star lower than we had paid for. On checking their site our hotel was still a available but £300 more. Got them to cancel holiday and they had the cheek to say they would forego their cancellation fee. Don't book with this firm.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid this company. booked a holiday only to then get a call to say it would be £500 more. declined there increase only for money to be taken out of my account. customer service them non existent when something goes wrong. left them a bad review on trust pilot only for holiday gems to report it and have it removed? i cant see how they can do this as there reviews always look fantastic. calls are also charged at 10p a minute. if they have taken money from you i strongly recommend you report this through your bank account. do your research and book with a trusted company.”

Posted 5 years ago

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Holiday Gems is rated 4.5 based on 2,196 reviews