TUI - the UK's largest holiday operator with flights from over 20 UK airports. Multi-award-winning Holidays to suit multiple tastes.
On the Beach - enables users to plan and build package holidays to Europe's most popular beach destinations, with greater choice.
easyJet holidays represent value, choice and flexibility - with easy to choose flight dates and times to suit your diary.
First Choice specialises in All-Inclusive holidays, they also provide great value Self Catering, Half and Full Board package deals.
With 100s retail stores, TUI is the UK’s largest tour operator - providing over 50 years of package holiday services
About TUI HolidaysBook your holiday with a deposit of just £60 per person and spread the cost with the balance due just 28 days before you travel.
Find out moreWe all look forward to our holidays, a chance to relax, recharge and spend quality time with family, friends and loved ones. So when it's time to plan & book your annual break, book a package holiday and let someone else do 'all the arranging' for you.
The four companies reviewed offer some of the best package holiday options available, they also provide good levels of customer service and customer protection, as per trade association membership and/or an Air Travel Organiser's Licence holding (see individual company websites for details).
Our top 4 four companies are industry leaders, and while they all provide similar services, there are differences in the types of holiday experiences they offer. Each operator has unique strengths that can enhance your overall holiday experience and help streamline the planning and booking process - we look forward to sharing our findings with you.
There is a clear overall winner for this category - the package holiday company providing the most choice and variety of package tour programmes, is TUI.
We found TUI offers over 30 holiday brochures containing dedicated package holiday programmes, such as Best for Families, Worldwide Tours, Best for Adults, Small & Friendly, plus many more. TUI also have access to a 'huge range' of hotel styles and ratings, from low-key self-catering apartments to 5-star deluxe properties (and everything in between). Hotel selections are well categorised and easily selected and booked via TUI's core and dedicated programmes/brochures. Programmes such as TUI Blue for families, TUI Blue for two (adult-only getaways), and TUI Blue Sensatori (5T rating) for a touch of luxury.
We found TUI's offering of both pre-packaged and tailormade holidays to be simply staggering, with Beach Holidays, City Breaks, Long-haul, Lakes & Mountains and Multi Destination holiday programmes all proving popular.
All four holiday providers offer an abundance of choice and flexibility, and with a multitude of pre-packaged deals and tailor-made options available, knowing where to start the holiday search and booking process can sometimes be a challenge.
To overcome this challenge and help with planning, tour operators have streamlined the holiday search and booking process by providing uncluttered, easy-to-use and well-designed websites.
Advanced search navigation and filter systems help guide you through holiday search categories, sub-categories and information pages, making it 'easier and quicker' to find your ideal package holiday.
For example, TUI's home page has a simple navigation menu with links to all of its package holiday categories. For 'Beach Holidays' there's a submenu, listing TUI's 'extended range' of beach holiday programmes.
TUI's Beach Holiday categories include:
To start your search, select a holiday category - you are then taken to a dedicated section of TUI's website that provides information and 'holiday search' directly related to your chosen holiday type. This keeps the search experience precise, simple to follow and productive, for example:
Step 1. Say you're interested in a two-centre holiday; you simply select TUI's Multi-Destination link from the main Holidays menu on TUI's homepage - you're then linked to the multi-destination centre at TUI for a brief introduction and a simple step-by-step guide on how to search, select and book your multi-destination holiday.
Step 2. Select a part of the world and the countries you would like to visit, the destination field in the search engine at the top of the page will automatically populate with your selections, you then choose your preferred UK departure airport and travel dates - then sit back and explore what's on offer.
To sum up - We found TUI's specialism to be 'Holiday Choice' with a well-designed and uncluttered website to control its vast offering of package holiday options. We found TUI online provides quality research tools and travel guides, plus a well-designed holiday search system that incorporates an 'easy-to-complete' booking process.
For an introduction to TUI's range of package holiday choices - check out the Holiday4 TUI holiday and deals review.
For this category, we focused on 'Package Value'.
It's fair to say that most package holidays offer good value. This can often be seen when individual 'package holiday elements' are broken down and priced separately.
With a package, there's also the added value of 'convenience' and 'time-saved' compared to the DIY approach of planning and building your own deal. Also, periodic sales and seasonal discounts can add 'additional' value, with all four companies providing package holiday sales, discounts and last-minute deals advertised via newsletter mailings, company websites and on selected social platforms.
There are other benefits too. A preorganised (ABTA & ATOL protected) package includes help and financial protection should an element of the holiday fail (holiday companies have different types & levels of customer protection, see individual company websites for details).
A package holiday often includes the services of a local representative, who can advise on general tourist matters, such as sightseeing recommendations, the purchase of attraction tickets, local tours and day excursions. They can also help should there be a problem with your holiday.
For the category of Price and Value, all four companies provide good value family beach holidays and all-inclusive deals, so for this reason, we chose family beach holidays and all-inclusive deals as markers for choosing the Best Holiday Company for this category.
There are two companies that 'stand out' from the rest, First Choice Holidays and On the Beach - with the latter taking the top spot.
First Choice provides good value holiday deals, plus excellent all-round family entertainment, especially at their all-inclusive 'Family Village' and 'Splash' properties (both offering family fun for all ages, with hard-to-beat prices). We also liked the 'Bag a Bargain' section at First Choice, the section provides late deals, with the 'amount saved' displayed next to each offer - excellent if you're not fussy about where to go next.
On the Beach is the winner of this category - the company takes an uncomplicated approach to their 'core offering' in that they 'reach out' to the average person and family, with simple marketing and 'great value' beach deals.
On the Beach offer multiple types of themed holidays, including:
They also offer convenient price-saving options, such as low deposits and flexible payment terms, plus build-your-own packages with great-value-inclusive hotel deals.
On the Beach operate slightly differently 'compared' to other holiday providers - they act as an agent, providing a web search interface between you and various third-party suppliers of travel products, this means they are not tied to any specific airlines or hotel groups.
To sum up - Having access to a wide range of cheap flights, hotels and transfer suppliers - helps to provide increased flexibility, plus the potential to save more.
For details on how One the Beach works and for further information on financial protection and other FAQs, click here to link to the OTB website.
As you might expect, all four companies have active, ongoing marketing campaigns, especially during the launch of new seasonal programmes, and when promoting new special offers and late deal releases - with regular updates appearing across website home pages, via newsletter releases and across popular social platforms.
It's also common practice for quirky marketing taglines to accompany new deals and special offer releases, with taglines such as "more-bang-for-your-buck breaks" recently used by First Choice, and "Mega Deal May-hem event" recently used by OTB for their month of May special offers.
For this particular category, we looked for regular campaigns containing meaningful deals, offers and savings and not just seasonal adjustment promotions and the most memorable tagline.
We monitored company websites and newsletter releases for 'special offer updates' and 'sales news' and both easyJet holidays (for emails & newsletters) and First Choice (for website offers) stood out as being the most 'active and productive' - with easyJet topping our shortlist.
Easyjet has mastered the concept of an efficient, low-cost, budget airline by successfully combining a wide range of cheap airfares with a no-fuss operation - and in my opinion, provides a level of service comparable with more traditional and pricier airlines.
EasyJet regularly sends both flight and holiday marketing emails to its subscribers. These newsletters feature a personalised greeting, news and offer updates, plus information on flight and holiday deals. They also include links to travel guides and destination ideas, along with occasional "Flash Sales" offering worthwhile discounts on selected flights and holidays (subject to availability and terms & conditions).
To Sum Up - easyJet successfully combines flexible cheap flights with a wide choice of package holiday options that include flights, accommodation, 23kg of luggage and return transfers on beach holidays. The airline operates a convenient and comprehensive network of routes, serving most of Europe's top beach resorts and popular city break destinations, with a choice from over 5,000 hotels across more than 100 destinations.
When planning and booking a holiday, whether it be a luxury city break or a last-minute 'bags-packed' cheapie, convenience and website user experience are two important factors to consider.
For this category, we searched for a 7-night summer beach holiday for two adults. We checked the ease of the search, the filter options presented, the booking process and website user experience.
A lot of the groundwork had already been completed for this category, so a quick 'general availability search' across all 4 websites (using the same search criteria) returned the expected 'long list' of results. Next, we checked (the all-important) filter options to narrow the search. Both TUI and First Choice offered a comprehensive selection of filters (the TUI filter system worked impressively well and returned results that met our exact requirements).
Some of TUI's search filter options include:
EasyJet's filter options were helpful & extensive; however, the filter selection process was a bit fiddley and not as good as TUI's. However, easyJet's initial search included an 'offers filter' - which for our particular search resulted in a possible 15 property match with over £100 discount, so quite a bargain and an interesting filter find that I didn't know existed.
The online search and filter options at both TUI & Easyjet were well presented and (in our opinion) provided the best convenience and user experience.
Finally, when it comes to choosing which of our Top 4 companies to book with - you'll likely choose the one that can 'best provide' your exact holiday needs, has the closest availability, or can offer the cheapest deal - so, to help we suggest the following: