Welcome to Holiday Truths, Sarah.

In the travel and holiday industry, I'm afraid the price isn't always the price in the sense of being fixed for all customers. You just need to look at how prices for packaged holidays can fluctuate and go both up and down. People on the exact same holiday can have paid quite different prices for it. The same applies to hotels - depending on when they booked and whether they booked direct with the hotel or not, they could all have paid different amounts for the same type of room. In this instance you booked under one particular deal and the moment you decided that you wanted to change it, then they can legally charge you what they want.

I know it might sound harsh but with any sort of special offer it always worth checking whether you could get a better one by dealing direct. From the sound of them, these Sun deals are extremely good value if you are content with a very basic holiday but the moment you decide that you would like to upgrade from that basic offer then it is always going to be worth checking whether it really does offer a saving after all compared to what you'd pay if you dealt direct. I've never booked one of these holidays, it's not my sort of holiday, but I've always assumed that this is a way for the park operators to shift the cheaper, less popular grade of accommodation now that people generally have higher expectations of accommodation?

SM

That is exactly how it works , it only works out cheaper if you want the very basic style of accommodation . You have to pay extra for linen , park passes etc in most cases , so it is often cheaper to go direct with the park or someone like Haven etc , when you factor the total overall cost !

Thanks Kerry25 and Sma - I know, I was obviously very naive in thinking that I would get a better deal because I had booked through the Sun deal, that shouted about saving you money! You live and learn. I just really want to avoid anyone making the same mistake as me as I've now lost £50 that I can ill afford to lose. I'm also really angry at the parks attitude towards me. It was so patronising and they spoke to me like I was scum! I would hate for anyone to be treated like this just because they are down on their luck and don't have as much money to spend as others. Its a real shame that the industry use this kind of scheme to their own advantage. I just think its really underhand. I appreciate your comments and explanations though. Thank you.

Also dont mean to sound harsh, but you really need to check the small print on any special deal. The sun is no different!
You dont have to have the entertainment passes you can have them taken off if you wish. I did this only yesterday. Rang to pay the balance of holiday and had the ent passes and linen charge taken off. We always take our own linen, . Also, i never upgrade. The basic accomadation has always been good, and the caravan in ruda devon last year when we went was fantastic!

We have had some fantastic deals with the sun,- nearly always in school holidays as well. We have gone to france twice, and paid a quarter of the price that was on the eurocamp website for the exact same dates.
We are hoping to go to itialy/sicily next time.
If you are going out of school holidays it can be cheaper/ the same to book direct with the park, but that applies to any holiday really and is just common sense.
Hope you have a good time.