Crystal Holidays Reviews

The Site: CrystalHolidays.co.uk

• The UK’s #1 Ski Tour Operator and top Lakes & Mountains Holiday supplier during the Summer
• Sponsor of Disability Snowsport UK (DSUK) which helps 1,000′s disabled persons enjoy skiing throughout the UK and overseas
• Partnership with The Travel Foundation as a strong advocate of sustainable tourism
• CarbonNeutral® since 2003 – all holiday prices on Crystal Holidays include carbon offset
• Crystal Holidays was named Best Activity Sport Holiday Operator at the Acclaimed British Travel Awards 2008
• Ski holiday destinations include Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
• Summer holiday destinations include Andorra, Austria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Lake Garda, Madeira, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland

The Good:

They have some interesting deals. Rather than a boring 10% OFF discount, we found a “FREE childcare and ski lessons” deal that we thought was pretty cool. That being said, what really knocked our socks off was their cheap prices. We found several 7 night ski vacations from £280* a person.  We also really liked how Crystal Holidays deals were searchable by location, or by the month. So if you know you are traveling in March you can easily narrow down the best deal for that month.  Crystal Holidays is a lot more than just a ski holiday website, as they have an impressive selection of summertime deals to lakes and mountains throughout Europe.

One of the best aspects of the Crystal Holiday’s website is that the prices on the search results screen are accurate, “the price you see is the price you pay“.  Their prices include the cheapest airfare, hotel accommodations, transfers and taxes.

The Bad:

We found the Crystal Holidays vacation search box a little odd, it doesn’t have very many options when it comes to length of stay:  ”Up to a week”…. “1 week”… “2 weeks”. As we often book a 5 day holiday, it seemed to limit our options. That is not all that we found limiting.  Crystal Holidays website is limited to holiday packages which include hotel and airfare from the U.K.  So, unless you are flying from the U.K., Crystal Holidays is not for you.

The Fees *:

Thomson Airways flight change fee £15.00/€25.00 per passenger – per segment, Plus if within:

• 50 + days of departure, lose 50% of fare
• 22-44 days of departure, lose 70% fare
• 8-21 days of departure, lose 90% fare
• 7 days of departure, lose 100% fare

Crystal Holidays cancellation fees, if you cancel within:

• 56 days = Amount of deposit
• 55-36 days = 50% of booking price
• 35-22 days = 70% of booking price
• 21-11 days = 90% of booking price
• 10-0 days = 100% of booking price

These fees do not apply to all bookings and “in certain cases a 100% cancellation fee applies as soon as the booking is made and the ticket is issued“.

*Based solely on research done by TravelSiteCritic.com, these figures may be inaccurate and are subject to change.Verify policies with the website before you book. Please be aware of airfare taxes & fees, applicable to any booking that includes airfare.

The Deals:

Please be aware of airfare taxes & fees. TravelSiteCritic.com is a marketing affiliate of Crystal Holidays. Read our review disclosure.