On the Beach holidays are sold by one of the UK’s biggest online travel agents, packaging a flight and a hotel into a single ATOL-protected booking. Founded in 2004 in Macclesfield and now based in Manchester, On the Beach Group plc has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2015. Like loveholidays, it doesn’t fly its own aircraft: it packages flights from dozens of scheduled airlines alongside a portfolio of around 24,000 hotels. This guide covers what’s actually included, whether On the Beach is any good, how it compares with TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays, and how to get the best price.
If you’re ready to browse, search On the Beach holidays to see current packages from your nearest UK airport.
What do you get with On the Beach holidays?
Every On the Beach package includes a return flight and your hotel, booked together in one transaction and covered by a single ATOL certificate. Beyond that, the details depend on which airline and hotel you’ve been matched with, because On the Beach acts as an agent rather than operating its own aircraft. There’s no resort rep waiting for you at the hotel either: support is a UK-based contact centre, available 24/7, rather than someone in resort.
Hold luggage catches people out most often. It isn’t a fixed allowance the way TUI’s 20kg or Jet2holidays’ 22kg is. Your specific allowance is set by whichever airline is operating your flight, and it’s listed on your Flight Voucher or in the Flight Summary section of My Bookings. If you need more, you add it through the airline’s own site at whatever rate that airline charges. Our hand luggage size guide covers cabin bag rules for every UK airline you might be packaged with, and the Airline Luggage Checker compares hold bag costs side by side.
| What you get | On the Beach | DIY booking |
|---|---|---|
| Flights | ✓ Included, via a scheduled airline | Book separately |
| Hotel | ✓ Included, from around 24,000 hotels | Book separately |
| Hold bag | Varies by airline, check your Flight Voucher | Pay the airline directly |
| Airport transfers | Optional extra on most bookings | Book separately |
| Resort rep | No, 24/7 contact centre instead | No |
| ATOL and ABTA | ✓ ATOL 11549 and ABTA P8849 | No (unless credit card) |
| Secure Trust Account | ✓ Hotel and transfer funds ring-fenced | No |
On the Beach holds ATOL licence number 11549, so your money is protected if the company or one of its suppliers collapses before or during your trip. Unlike loveholidays, which resigned its ABTA membership in 2020, On the Beach is a current ABTA member, membership number P8849, giving you access to ABTA’s Code of Conduct and its arbitration scheme if a dispute can’t be resolved directly. It’s also one of the few UK operators that publishes how it protects customer money in detail: the cash you pay for your hotel and transfers sits in an independent Secure Trust Account rather than the company’s general funds, which is why refunds, when they’re due, are paid in cash rather than vouchers.
Is On the Beach actually any good?
Independent evidence points in different directions. Which?’s 2026 research scored On the Beach 71-72%, in the bottom half of every table it appears in. Customer service, accommodation and value for money all scored two stars, with several respondents citing poor communication and “very basic” hotels. Few operators beat its average price per night of £101pp, so the low score reflects what you get for the money rather than outright unreliability. Which?’s own verdict: book with someone else.
Trustpilot tells a more forgiving story. On the Beach is rated Great, at roughly 3.9 out of 5, from more than 90,000 UK reviews, with booking ease and flight choice the most common praise. The main complaint is customer service responsiveness once something needs sorting out, echoing Which?’s findings. Trustpilot mostly captures the booking experience; Which? asks what happened once you got there and needed help.
Where can you go with On the Beach?
On the Beach’s core business is short and medium-haul beach holidays: Spain, the Canary Islands, the Balearics, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria, Egypt, Tunisia and Cape Verde are all covered. Popular resorts named on its own site include Benidorm, Majorca, Albufeira, Rhodes, Zante, Antalya, Gran Canaria and Corfu. Longer-haul options stretch to Dubai, Florida, Thailand, the Dominican Republic and the Maldives, though beach holidays in Europe and North Africa remain where the brand is strongest.
Beach and resort packages typically run seven or 14 nights, in line with the rest of the UK package holiday market. Departures are available from a wide spread of UK airports, though the exact list varies by destination and date rather than being fixed across the whole brand.
Deposits, Price Drop Protection and cancelling
Deposits start from £19 per person. You can pay in full, or spread the cost through monthly payments or instalments under the low deposit scheme, though the deposit itself is non-refundable under either flexible plan and each instalment can carry a small admin fee, typically up to £5 for automatic collection and up to £20 to set up the plan. On the Beach also periodically runs a Price Drop Protection promotion on selected booking windows, letting you claim the difference as holiday credit if the price of your exact holiday falls before departure. It isn’t a permanent, year-round guarantee: check the current terms on its site before assuming it applies to your dates.
Cancelling more than 60 days before travel costs £50 per person plus any supplier charges the airline or hotel applies. Inside 60 days, that rises to £100 per person plus supplier charges, which can run as high as 100% of the booked flight or hotel cost. Changing hotel costs £80 more than 60 days out or £120 inside that window, on top of any supplier fees; changing board basis or room type is £40 or £60; and changing a named passenger is £30 or £45 per person. All of these figures are in addition to whatever the airline or hotel itself charges for the same change, so check the total in My Bookings before confirming.
On the Beach vs TUI vs Jet2holidays vs easyJet Holidays
| Company | Own airline | ABTA | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| On the Beach | No | Yes | A cheap headline price with ABTA cover, if you don’t need a resort rep |
| TUI | Yes | Yes | Long-haul and worldwide destinations, widest hotel choice |
| Jet2holidays | Yes | Yes | Family beach holidays with a resort rep |
| easyJet Holidays | Yes | Yes | City breaks and independent beach trips |
On the Beach sits between the vertically-integrated operators and loveholidays: like loveholidays, it has no airline of its own and no resort rep, but unlike loveholidays it has kept its ABTA membership alongside ATOL cover. That combination, plus its Secure Trust Account, is why it can undercut TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays on price while still offering more formal protection than an ABTA-less OTA. Which? consistently scores it below all three integrated operators on customer satisfaction, so the trade-off between price and service is real. Thomas Cook shares the same no-captive-airline structure and ABTA membership, and is worth comparing directly for short-haul beach holidays. Virgin Holidays is a different kind of operator again: a long-haul specialist flying its own aircraft, rather than an OTA reselling whichever short-haul airline is cheapest. For the fuller breakdown across every UK operator, see our package holidays comparison, or read how it stacks up directly against loveholidays.
On the Beach vs booking separately
This comparison works the same way it does for loveholidays. Because On the Beach is already packaging a separately-booked flight and hotel rather than a bulk-negotiated operator rate, the saving over doing it yourself can be modest, particularly once you’ve added hold luggage and transfers back into the DIY total. It’s worth pricing the same flight and hotel independently before you commit, especially for a light-packing trip where you don’t need a full luggage allowance. Where the package still earns its keep is the Secure Trust Account and the single ATOL certificate covering both flight and hotel together, which a DIY booking through two separate suppliers doesn’t give you unless you pay by credit card throughout.
How to get the best price on On the Beach
Booking early and travelling midweek both bring the price down, as they do across the wider package holiday market. Because On the Beach packages many different airlines for the same route, comparing two or three date and airport combinations for an identical hotel often turns up a meaningfully cheaper flight pairing. Keep an eye out for its Price Drop Protection windows around peak booking periods, and use the low £19pp deposit to lock in a popular summer date while you decide on the balance.
Browse current On the Beach holidays to see live prices from your preferred UK airport.
Practical guides for On the Beach travellers
Hand luggage size for UK airlines: check the cabin bag rules for whichever airline your On the Beach booking uses.
Airline Luggage Checker: compare hold and hand baggage allowances across eight UK airlines side by side.
Canary Islands holidays: one of On the Beach’s most popular winter-sun destinations in detail.
Cheap holidays during school holidays: how to keep costs down when you’re tied to term dates.
| Detail | On the Beach |
|---|---|
| ATOL licence | 11549 |
| ABTA membership | Yes, P8849 |
| Hold bag | Varies by airline, check your Flight Voucher |
| Low deposit | From £19pp |
| Cancellation charge | £50pp (60+ days) or £100pp (within 60 days), plus supplier charges |
| Hotel portfolio | Around 24,000 hotels |
Turkey has grown into one of On the Beach’s stronger-value destinations in recent years, helped by a favourable exchange rate and a wide spread of all-inclusive resorts along the Turquoise Coast.
Frequently asked questions
Is On the Beach ATOL and ABTA protected?
Yes. On the Beach holds ATOL licence number 11549 and is an ABTA member, number P8849. ATOL protects your money if the company stops trading, while ABTA covers your right to the holiday you were sold and gives you access to its arbitration scheme.
What luggage is included with an On the Beach holiday?
It depends on the airline. On the Beach is an online travel agent rather than an airline operator, so your hold luggage allowance is whatever the specific airline on your booking includes. Check your Flight Voucher or the Flight Summary in My Bookings, and add extra bags through your airline’s own site if you need them.
How much deposit do you need for an On the Beach holiday?
Deposits start from £19 per person. You can also pay in full, or spread the cost through monthly payments or instalments, though the initial deposit under these plans is non-refundable and each carries a small admin fee.
What happens if you cancel an On the Beach holiday?
Cancelling more than 60 days before travel costs £50 per person plus any supplier charges. Inside 60 days, it rises to £100 per person plus supplier charges, which can be as much as 100% of the booked flight or hotel cost. Check My Bookings for the exact total before you cancel.
What is On the Beach’s Secure Trust Account?
It’s an independent account holding the money you pay for your hotel and transfers until you return from holiday, separate from the funds used to run the business. It means refunds, when due, can be paid in cash rather than vouchers.
Is On the Beach actually any good?
Independent evidence is mixed. Which? scored On the Beach 71-72% across its 2026 holiday categories, in the bottom half of every table, with two stars for customer service, accommodation and value for money. Trustpilot rates it Great, around 3.9 out of 5 from more than 90,000 reviews.
How does On the Beach compare with TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays?
On the Beach has no airline of its own and no resort rep, unlike TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays. It usually undercuts all three on headline price and, unlike loveholidays, still carries full ABTA membership alongside ATOL cover.
Is it cheaper to book with On the Beach or separately?
Often close. Because On the Beach packages a flight and hotel from separate suppliers rather than a bulk-negotiated operator rate, pricing the same flight and hotel independently is worth doing, particularly once you’ve added the hold luggage and transfers back in.
Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
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Kate checks the details that can change the value of a trip, including cabin-bag rules, airline fees, hotel location, seasonality, travel dates and booking conditions. She is especially interested in offers that look useful on the surface but need a proper reader-first check before they are worth recommending.
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