Wowcher - May 2025
Watchdog has been catching up with customers who have used Wowcher, who are offering their customers a 'Mystery Holiday' for just £99, which are fulfilled through its travel partners. However, many customers have found that travel partner 'Weekender Breaks' has been failing to stick to Wowcher's promise of the £99 holiday and leaving customers paying more. We hear from David, in Essex, who was promised a 2-night trip to Bordeaux by Wowcher but when 'Weekender Breaks' got involved, was told that the holiday would be taken away from him as it was ‘too expensive’. 'Weekender Breaks' offered David and his wife some alternative destinations but all at an additional cost.
We also hear from Graeme who was given a 2 night trip to Berlin. Graeme was later told that there were no flights available for him to come home from Berlin, on his chosen day and that they would have to stay an extra night at an additional cost.
When we wrote to Wowcher, it said that its “Mystery Holidays”, which are fulfilled through its travel partners, continue to prove extremely popular with its customers and the feedback it receives on the deals is overwhelmingly positive. It does, however, acknowledge that the experiences of the customers we featured fell short of the high expectations it sets.
It said that ahead of allowing any travel partner, including Weekender Breaks, to publish their offer on Wowcher’s site, the company requires that it warrants both price and availability of the offer it’s publishing. It said that it will always seek to ensure that the publication of Wowcher’s advertisement aligns with the contract it has signed as the deal provider and publisher but, as a 3rd party marketplace, Wowcher is not involved with the consumer journey post purchase.
Wowcher said that David should have been able to travel to Bordeaux on or close to his preferred departure date, and Weekender Breaks should have contacted him sooner than it did to ensure that this holiday could be fulfilled as promised. It said that despite Weekender Breaks’ attempts to find something suitable for David, including Bordeaux later in the year and the offer of a trip to Rimini in peak period for no additional cost, it understands that David chose not to proceed. Wowcher told us that David reached out to its customer service team and has been given a full refund.
Wowcher told us that it had spoken to Weekender Breaks, who said that Graeme wanted to fly from Liverpool on 5 June 2025 and unfortunately there was no direct return flight available from Berlin to Liverpool on the 7 June 2025. According to Weekender Breaks Graeme was offered a 3-night stay departing from Manchester, which included direct flights both ways from 3 until 6 June 2025: this alternative option came with a Regional Airport surcharge and an additional night’s cost, both of which were clearly communicated to Graeme during the booking process. On learning that Graeme was unhappy, Weekender Breaks offered a free hotel change to a more central location and compensation of £100, which were declined. Wowcher says it has contacted Graeme and has agreed to refund the cost of the vouchers as a gesture of goodwill. It is also liaising with Weekender Breaks on his behalf to get the hotel change processed.
It went on to say that approximately 20% of customers travel from a regional airport for no additional fee and many more of these are offered an alternative destination or departure airport for no additional fee which they may or may not choose to accept. It also believes that it’s clear in the offers that the most prominent holiday destinations are limited and the number of each of these destinations and the applicable durations is included in every offer.
Wowcher said that if a consumer contacts it prior to redeeming their offer with the merchant, stating that the product or service was not available or not as described, then Wowcher will refund the customer accordingly.
Finally it wanted to remind Weekender Breaks of its contractual obligations and reiterate that consumers may refund if a convenient date of travel or suitable departure airport is not available for them.
You can watch the full film here, for 28 days - /iplayer/episode/m002bvwt/the-one-show-07052025
