Travel Republic_PNA_SUN_Does your holiday company have your back

When Frances Woodall’s trip looked like it might suddenly not happen, she thanked her lucky stars she’d chosen an agent she could trust

“And they’re not just empty words,” says Frances Woodall, 52, a Travel Republic customer from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Frances, a bookkeeper, was looking forward to her holiday to Orlando in September 2022. But about a week before her departure date, she saw a report on CNN about a hurricane in the Caribbean. “Orlando’s our favourite holiday destination,” Frances says. “We first visited 20 years ago with my stepdaughter Alice, 29, and daughter Daisy, 20, and have been about a dozen times since. It’s brash and expensive but it’s such fun. I know what I’m getting and I love it.

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Travel Republic is offering discounts of up to £300 to Sun readers who book their 2023 holiday by January 2, 2023. With this special offer, Travel Republic’s deals provide even more bang for your buck. You can have £100 off when spending £1,250 to £1999, get £150 off bookings of £2,000 to £2,999, enjoy £200 off £3,000 to £3,999 and nab £300 off £4,000 or more. Ker-ching! So visit travelrepublic.co.uk today and use the discount code SUNEXCLUSIVE to turn your holiday dream into a reality.

THE PANDEMIC has taught us how important trusting your travel agent is when booking a trip – if your holiday is cancelled, you need to know your money will be refunded. That’s why Travel Republic has made a promise to customers: “We’ve got your back.”

£100 off when spending £1,250 to £1,999 per booking

£150 off when spending £2,000 to £2,999 per booking

£200 off when spending £3,000 to £3,999 per booking

£300 off when spending £4,000 or more per booking

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Does youR Have YOUR BACK?

“My husband, Andrew, and I enjoy city breaks – Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Brussels – but if we’re going on an actual ten-day or fortnight’s holiday, it’s always Florida. For our more recent trip, Daisy and I were going to go off on a girls’ holiday with her friend Alex while Andrew golfed in Spain.” That was the plan at least – but Hurricane Ian had other ideas. As Frances’s departure date, September 28, drew closer, she watched CNN closely as it tracked the hurricane’s progress over the Caribbean. “Would the hurricane move north or south? That was all the chat in the Facebook Florida holidays group,” Frances says. “The situation changed from hour to hour. It could hit Orlando bang on or swerve, avoiding it all together.” Frances and the girls were due to leave Bury St Edmunds at 6am to travel to Heathrow. They packed the night before, hoping the holiday would happen but, when she woke at 5am, her phone pinged with a text from Virgin Atlantic. Orlando International Airport was closing and all flights were cancelled. “Poor Daisy was already up and putting on her make-up,” Frances says. “‘Sorry kid, we aren’t going,’ I sighed. It was disappointing but what could we do? There’s no arguing with a hurricane. “The only blessing was I’d got the text before we left for Heathrow and could go back to bed. Far worse to find out halfway there or in the departure queue at the airport.” At 9am, Frances called the customer services department of Travel Republic, which she’d booked the flights and hotel through, to ask about next steps. “My hope was that we could fly out in a couple of days but a lovely lady called Kerri-Anne explained that wasn’t possible,” Frances says. “The hurricane was raging across Florida, and Virgin was having to evacuate passengers from Orlando and there were so many people in our position, unable to start their holidays – it would be at least a week before the dust settled. “Unfortunately that was too late for us – Daisy’s friend couldn’t shift her time booked off work – so Kerri-Anne suggested getting a full refund for now and rebooking at a later date. It was the simplest solution and I trusted Kerri-Anne’s advice.”

Fortunately for Frances, her money was protected by Travel Republic’s Triple Lock Protection Guarantee. Travel Republic is one of the only online travel agents that’s a member of Abta, the trade body for travel agents, adhering to its rules around compensating customers when things go wrong. And it’s a member of Atol, which protects customers whose flights are cancelled. On top of that, Travel Republic holds customers’ money in secure trust accounts, maintained by a third-party trustee, until it’s time to pay the supplier. That meant Frances’s money was right there ready to be paid back. "I couldn’t believe it when the refund was in my bank account within two days,” Frances says. “No quibbles or delay – there it was. I’d had a holiday booked with another company that cancelled during the pandemic and it took a month for me to be reimbursed.

“So the speed with which Travel Republic gave me my money back was amazing. What a relief – it made the pain of Andrew being off golfing while I was stuck at home much easier to bear.” Now Frances is rebooking the Orlando trip for February 2023 – with Travel Republic, of course. “Pre-Covid, to save money, I’d book flights with one company and hotels with another, cherry picking to get the best deal,” she says. “But the pandemic and then Hurricane Ian showed how things can go wrong, so these days knowing my money is protected is my priority – much more important than saving £50. Travel Republic has my loyalty – I know they’re a company I can trust.”

When in Rome … Frances on a previous city break

Memory lane ... Alice and Daisy on one of the family’s previous trips to Orlando

Life’s a beach ... Alice and Daisy on one of the family's fabulous Florida holidays

Travel Republic is offering discounts of up to £300 to Sun readers who book their 2023 holiday before Jan. With this special offer, Travel Republic’s deals provide even more bang for your buck. Yo can have £100 off when spending £1,250 to £1999, get £150 off bookings of £2,000 to £2,999, enjoy £200 off £3,000 to £3,999 and nab £300 off £4,000 or more. Ker-ching! So visit travelrepublic.co.uk today and use the discount code SUNEXCLUSIVE to turn your holiday dream into a reality.

Terms & conditions: Save up to £300. Minimum spend levels required to be eligible for discount and apply per booking: £100 off when spending £1,250 to £1,999 per booking; £150 off when spending £2,000 to £2,999 per booking; £200 off when spending £3,000 to £3,999 per booking; £300 off when spending £4,000 or more per booking. Applicable to new holiday bookings only and must be redeemed by January 2, 2023, at 23.59. Discount code SUNEXCLUSIVE needs to be entered on the checkout page; and the discount will be applied where eligibility criteria are met. Promo code is not combinable with other promotions and discounts unless otherwise shown.