Brides across the UK say they have been left worried after a wedding venue they booked through TUI suddenly closed. More than 40 couples, who are getting married between May and October next year, have planned their dream vacation and wedding at Holiday Village Atlantica Kos, on the Greek island of Kos.

However, while preparing for her wedding and making reservations for family and friends, the bride discovered that the hotel’s website and social media pages were gone. According to brides, the hotel has changed ownership, with a new name, and is now taking bookings directly, with some brides being told their bookings are now “invalid”.

Couples who booked their holidays and weddings through TUI are now looking for answers and clarifications on whether or not their wedding will take place. Two of those brides are from Wales, who said they haven’t received “any clarification” from TUI for weeks, leaving them “stressed” and “frustrated”.

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In response, a TUI rep apologized for the delay and said they would be in touch with the brides. Nursery manager Danielle Connor, 27, from Caerphilly, is set to marry her partner Rhydian in May next year. 50-60 wedding guests will also be joining them on their special day, 50 of which have already been booked.

According to Danielle, the couple already spent £5,000 on their wedding at the hotel. After more than a decade together, Danielle said the couple plans to tie the knot on their 11th anniversary in Kos.



Nursery manager Danielle Connor, 27, from Caerphilly, is set to marry her partner Rhydian in May next year.

“We’ve known for a long time that we wanted our wedding to take place overseas,” he told Wales Online. “We booked a wedding at TUI last November, it was so exciting. In November of this year, we were supposed to have a virtual meeting with the wedding planning team.

“But we haven’t received any correspondence from them. At that moment, we knew something was wrong. We noticed on Google that the hotel said it was permanently closed. I contacted the TUI store and was assured that they were closed during the winter period. But neither would it allow my other guests to log in and book a hotel room. That’s when I started to really worry.”

Emily Dabinett, mother of two, from Welshpool, has also booked a room at Holiday Village Atlantica Kos. The wedding with her partner of eight years, Oli, will be in October next year. She said, “As a couple, wWe are so relaxed and relaxed. One day we thought, “What is the best possible marriage?” And we thought of a beach wedding.



Emily Dabinett, a mother of two from Welshpool, has booked a room at Holiday Village Atlantica Kos. Her wedding to her partner of eight years, Oli, will take place in October next year.

“When we left TUI, we realized that everything was in one package and we didn’t have to worry about doing things separately, we wanted something that could do that. We started planning the wedding in July. and then in one month we were at our local TUI store twice and by the end of August everything was full.

“As soon as we booked this package we were excited. Our whole family came too, we have elderly relatives who are coming and they all paid. They had to take out expensive insurance due to their age and poor health. Having come to our wedding with a purpose, otherwise we wouldn’t have gone abroad.”

But in November of this year, Emily said that when she went to book a hotel for one of her friends’ wedding, the site wasn’t online. 🇧🇷We then found the hotel owner on Facebook and asked if he could help us, he explained. —THe said that his contracts with TUI had expired and that all bookings had been cancelled.

“We called the shop we booked the venue through and they said it was wrong and they were just discussing contracts. So I emailed the wedding planner and they said they would get back to us at the end of November, but we haven’t heard back from them.

“I had to call again, they said it would be at the end of December, it was supposed to be the 15th, but that didn’t happen either. They changed it to December 20th, but other brides have told me that it is now January. 5″.



Emily and her partner Oli were looking for a “casual” and “quiet” marriage abroad.

Both Danielle and Emily found themselves online along with 40 other brides in a similar situation. According to the Welsh brides, TUI “told them different things” as they tried to get clarification on their bookings, where the venue would be and whether it would be on the same date originally scheduled. But, according to the couple, “there were no messages, meetings or explanations” from the travel agency.

As a result, Danielle said she was “disappointed” and “clueless” about her upcoming wedding. She said, “v.Now we’re worried about where our money is going, obviously with Christmas and the cost of living crisis, it’s a big concern. We have about 50-60 guests who have already booked and other guests who want to book. They also paid a big part of them and I ask what is going on?

“It is such a stress. Now I’m doing my master’s and trying to run a daycare and all I can think is what’s going on with my marriage? With four months to go, I had to extend the consultation because everything was crazy.

“I just need information, I want to know where I’m getting married. I feel in the dark with everything and it’s frustrating. I just want Christmas to come so I can feel excited and know where I am.” he is very upset we were thinking about canceling the wedding period because we originally booked the wedding overseas because we thought it would be easy and stress free , that’s all, but it wasn’t.’



Danielle and her partner Rhydian were “disappointed” by TUI’s lack of communication about their upcoming wedding in Kos.

Emily is also looking for answers. She said: “I crossed the caution line at this point. A part of me doesn’t want to get married anymore, I just want to know what’s going on and get my money back. Depress things. Another part of me feels like I’ve waited eight years for this and I want to do it now. This is a sad situation.

“I just need some answers and clarification. If you need to change hotels, fine, we accept it. But the only problem is the dates: we have a lot of guests who are teachers, so we are working on that. We are open to anything as long as we have that date. We just want to know because this has been going on for over a month and we just don’t know what’s going on.”

In response, a TUI spokesperson said it was aware of the speculation surrounding the wedding, which is expected to take place in the summer of 2023, and was prioritizing wedding bookings. They noted that anyone who had booked a wedding through TUI with the previous location would continue to do so elsewhere.

However, following TUI’s recent announcement of changes, Danielle said she was considering canceling her wedding due to concerns that the new venue would create additional costs for her and her guests. In a statement, a TUI spokesperson said: “We are aware of customer speculation about weddings at Holiday Village Atlantica Kos in summer 2023.

“It is true that the hotel is not for sale at the moment, but we can now confirm that we are launching a new Holiday Village in Kos. We know how important weddings are to our customers and we want to reassure everyone who has booked a wedding with TUI. at Holiday Village Atlantica that both the vacation and the wedding will take place on the dates booked in our new Holiday Village.

“Our teams can assure guests that they will have a fantastic Holiday Village experience with all the great Holiday Village amenities and activities we are known for. Our customer service teams will be contacting people who have reservations directly to discuss all options, prioritizing our wedding reservations to be contacted within the next 7 days.

“We would like to apologize for the delay in communicating this change to our customers while we worked out the details and legalities with our partner Atlantica.”

Source: Wales Online