Deals drive peaks momentum amid hopes for payday uplift

Highly competitive deals are stimulating mainstream summer bookings as the trade predicts a continued rise in sales following January paydays.

Travel agents said the third week of January had seen a strong uptick in trading on the prior week, after a slow start to the year, with customers responding to aggressive discount messages by the big-three suppliers.

Tui has up to £500 off per booking for departures from May 2026 and Jet2holidays has £100 off per person on holidays up to October 2027.  

At the end of last week, easyJet holidays raised its headline summer offer by £100 to up to £500 off, based on a minimum £5,000 spend. 

Some retailers were waiting to see if Jet2holidays would boost its incentives, after it briefly offered an extra £100 off per booking earlier this month.

Competition between high street retailers has also intensified, with Hays Travel extending zero deposits with 10 suppliers until January 31. It has previously run similar zero deposit campaigns but not at this scale. 

Stephanie Slark, director of membership services at The Travel Network Group, said the promotions were driving up sales. “Pricing across the market is highly competitive, with operators pushing early-booking incentives for 2026,” she said, adding: “No single provider is dominating on price, but customers are responding most where strong added‑value offers are available.”

Premier Travel managing director Paul Waters agreed, saying: “Across all bookings, customers continue to show a strong focus on competitive pricing and overall value for money, regardless of whether at the lower or higher end of the budget range.”

In reference to payday, Waters said the agency still had two of its “historically busiest comparative weeks” to come. The agency’s busiest departure months remain May, June and September. July and August account for just 16% of sales, “well below shoulder-season levels”.

Advantage Travel Partnership commercial director John Sullivan also said May and September holidays were selling “particularly well”.

He noted competitive prices and large price disparities between suppliers and airports, but said customers continued to prioritise value over price, with average booking values up 6% on last year. 

“We continue to see momentum build,” he added. “We expect this to continue to payday weekend.”

Paul Hardwick, retail director at Fred Olsen Travel, reported a “much stronger” week than the first week in January, with “very competitive” mainstream land prices.

“We’re seeing good offers across the big-three operators to stimulate bookings,” he said. Playing down the need for zero deposits, he added: “It ultimately leads to more cancellations and rebookings. We’re also not seeing demand to provide low deposits at this stage.”

Idle Travel director Tony Mann said his agency may have lost “some bookings” to rivals offering zero deposits but stressed: “Lots of people were asking about them but when we spoke to them, most were not worried.”

Mann predicted even stronger sales to come as customers receive their pay packets. “This weekend will be a busy weekend and I’m hopeful that will carry on,” he said.

He predicted stronger sales as customers get paid. “This weekend will be busy,” he added.

Other retailers said they were already enjoying bumper sales. 

Designer Travel took a record-breaking £3 million last week, up 15% year on year. Managing director Amanda Matthews said: “There are amazing deals on offer by all of the suppliers but it really does pay to shop around as prices can vary a lot for the same hotels. We’ve stuck to competitive prices and amazing service as our model for peaks.”

Oliver Broad, joint managing director at RB Collection, said the agency was on course to surpass its January 2025 sales total by the end of this week, and said there had been “no lull” in trading since December.

But he added: “People still want value for money. We’ve noticed some families are happy to move to all-inclusive for the first time. Instead of spending £5K, they are stretching it to £6K or £7K for a more premium property.”