TUI holiday deals

The three deal types

Percentage off

A straight discount, usually 10 to 25 per cent, applied to the package price. These are the deals worth watching. The largest are the January and May releases; smaller versions run monthly.

Free child places

Not a deal but a rate feature. One or two children under 15 travel and stay for nothing when they share a room with fee-paying adults. Applies after any percentage-off discount, so it stacks.

Low-deposit and payment-plan offers

You pay £75 per person up front instead of the standard £150 to £200, and the balance splits into monthly instalments. Nothing comes off the final price. Useful if cash-flow is the constraint; ignore if it isn't.

When the real reductions land

Two windows are worth marking in the diary. The first is the first two weeks of January, when the previous year's book-early campaign closes and the new season re-prices. The second is mid to late May, when unsold July and August allocation gets marked down to move.

A quieter third window sits in mid-September for last-minute October half term departures. Prices drop hard on flights alone but hotels often remain expensive, so watch the total, not the headline.

Price-checking a headline

A '£1,299 for a family of four in Rhodes' headline needs three questions asked of it: what board basis, what departure airport, and which specific week. Change any of those and the price moves by hundreds. Screenshot the search result and check that the price on the payment screen matches, since currency conversion and card fees can add a couple of per cent silently.

Stacking

The order that matters is: percentage-off first, then free child place, then TUI Smile discount for existing customers (typically £25 to £100), then any voucher code. If you're a Smile member and see a percentage-off deal running, that combination is the biggest reduction you'll get on the same booking.