Emirates Holidays UK Reviews 

What an absolutely disgraceful company to deal with. We booked a package holiday with them at the Waldorf Astoria Dubai in there pearl club room. We got an email saying that the club room was closed so we got in touch with them to get a refund and we were refused as they say it isn’t their fault that the club room is closed. In my opinion this was booked as a package and I think most reputable tour operators would have refunded us. We have previously booked with Travel bag and even through Covid they went out of the way to look after their customers. Anyone thinking of booking to Dubai I recommend they give Travel bag a try and avoid this company like the plague.

Booked an Emirates holiday to Maldives from London Stansted via Dubai. The customer service were excellent, contacting us to explain our options with the current situation , it was our First time travelling with Emirates and chose to fly premium economy, we were fortunate to be offered a free upgrade to business class. The stopover in Dubai went smoothly, So handy for us that we could fly long haul from Stansted and would definitely fly with Emirates again

We booked with Emirates Holidays this year after having a truly fantastic experience with them back in 2024. Unfortunately, their complete lack of empathy and rigid corporate policies mean we will never safely book with them again.

Due to the escalating conflict involving Iran in the Middle East, we made the difficult decision to cancel our upcoming trip this year out of safety concerns. While Emirates Holidays allowed us to cancel, they insisted on keeping our entire deposit solely because our travel date falls after May 31st.

This greed stands in stark contrast to their competitors. For instance, British Airways Holidays has shown incredible flexibility, allowing customers traveling between 15 June and 31 October the option to cancel for a full refund.

To make a stressful situation worse, the customer service team was incredibly unprofessional. The representative was actively rude and repeatedly talked over me while I was trying to explain our situation. Their brilliant "solution" was to move our two-week holiday up to 11 months into the future.

I tried to explain multiple times that this is a logistical impossibility for our family due to fixed work commitments and the fact that we have a child at school studying for and sitting their GCSE exams next year.

Emirates Holidays has shown their true colors. They would rather pocket a deposit from a returning customer than show flexibility during a regional crisis. Take your business elsewhere—preferably to a company like British Airways Holidays that actually values customer safety and basic manners.

Having made 2 holiday bookings with Emirates Holidays, the first was cancelled due to the war in the gulf but my second one was scheduled and staff reassured me that they’d do their best to ensure a smooth transition. I was very pleased and happy to have continued my journey on board despite the airlines difficulties. The cabin crew were marvellous and the package holidays lived up to more than my expectations. Emirates is truly one of the best flight providers that I’ve booked another with them in the next few months. Thank you for the fabulous time I had and wishing Emirates continued success.

We all have options to travel with other operators, there are plenty out there. But for a few years I have only booked with Emirates holidays (when funds permit and the destination is available). In fact I just booked my 4th this year, to go in a few days to Zanzibar.

The Emirates brand is second to none, and for me as a British citizen. The British/European operators are no where near the Emirates offering. The quality of service, the modern planes and decor/fittings, food & beverages and the overall experience. Once you travel Emirates, book an Emirates holiday, you won't look back or want to book with anyone else again!

Why?
1. It is Emirates, I try to always fly with Emirates (when funds allow) as I enjoy the business class facilities and impeccable service. Hence you fly with Emirates and hotel booked via Emirates. Everything is simple, reliable and seamless!

2. The website is very easy to navigate, you can always find what you are looking for and more importantly, it is simple to complete your booking.

3. Once your booking has been paid for and completed, documentation comes through within minutes. I am not sure about others, but when I book something I always worry it didn't go through or there was something wrong. Hence, the quicker the confirmations come through the better, which they do. I can then sit back and relax.

4. I have had some interactions with customer services, via WhatsApp and voice (no complaints, just questions or I wish to change some of the itinery). Each time the representative has been so helpful, understanding and resolved my questions quickly. To be honest I prefer WhatsApp as then everything is in writing, for future reference, so it is great they offer this. And also, if I am abroad calls can be very expensive.

5. Service in resort. Before going I always get confirmation of the contact details for the in-resort team. Normally met at the airport and/or the hotel. If I need to get hold of them, it is is simple and fast.

So, what more can I say but I agree with the slogan...Fly Better.... Fly Emirates!

But as always, there has to be some feedback on potentially what could be done better (in my view). Hence why I have given Emirates holidays a 4 star, as 5 star is extremely hard to achieve. But I am sure they will one day.

1. More destinations available to book via the Emirates holidays website (would be great if more from the normal flight detsinations), as it is pretty limited. Whether this is by design or part of a larger picture, or as it grows?

2. Being able to book holidays closer to today's date e.g. for tomorrow or the day after. This would add additional options as some people (like me) suddendly get an urge to go somewhere now. If I wanted to, there are a lot of other providers where I could do this if I wanted to, but it wouldn't be Emirates.

Another amazing holiday with Emirates fantastic service and hotel wouldn't book with anyone else

we had the most amazing time emirates from start to finish we’re absolutely amazing. The only downside was we didn’t get to fly on the A380 which was our dream, we got engaged on our holiday I was hoping to go up to premium or buisness class….. but i couldn’t afford the upgrade. That being said it did not take the shine away from the most amazing trip we have fell in love with the airline….. the country…… the culture everything about emirates and Dubai we loved! And we are looking to book again, emirates couldn’t do enough to make it special and for that I’m grateful! the hotel was fantastic a little out the way but amazing we only had one issue where my girlfriend was racially abused by a local that stayed in the hotel with their family for a weekend and she didn’t think we’d understand. But it did not take the shine of the trip! I can’t wait to come again so I hope we manage to find a great deal either at the RIU again or closer towards the palm. I’d like to thank you for everything emirates did from start to finish you truly made me and my family the happiest of memories!

Thank you

Second time used Emirates Holidays and both times have been very good, communication has been clear, easy to contact and responsive. There's been local team support in the destination and these have also been efficient and helpful(Maldives both times) their pricing is competitive and offers are good or better than most. Would recommend to anyone confidently.

We booked our holiday in August 2025 and were ready to go. About a month out after paying in full the Iran war kicked off placing our holiday to the Maldives in jeopardy. The team at Emirates were excellent and contacted us to give us all the options. We proceeded with our holiday and it was amazing. We had a follow up call midway through with them and again no issues.

Excellent customr service and i will use them again.

The whole holiday went without a glitch, thank you.

I am extremely disappointed with the way Emirates Holidays has handled my booking.
I booked an ABTA package holiday to Dubai departing early June. The FCDO has been advising against all but essential travel to the UAE for over 10 weeks, and I am due to travel in just 2½ weeks. Despite this, Emirates Holidays are still refusing to provide a refund or properly review their position.
Their own terms and conditions state that customers may cancel without charge where unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances affect the destination, and their terms specifically reference FCDO advice. However, customer service repeatedly relied on an internal “imminent travel” policy that does not appear anywhere in the booking conditions provided to customers.
What is most frustrating is that Emirates Holidays do not appear to be actively reviewing their refund policy despite the ongoing situation. Their public travel advice/update page has not been updated for around five weeks, yet customers are still being told to wait until closer to departure.
Communication was polite but ultimately unhelpful, with no meaningful attempt to address the legal and contractual points I raised under the Package Travel Regulations 2018. I have now had to escalate the matter to ABTA.

Very disappointing experience and not the level of Tour Operator.

Emirates/emirates holidays both refuse to refund us and now even talk to us.

We have already lost a deposit (even though our hotel is closed due to missiles striking the palm with the Iran war alongside a drone hitting the airport, now we stand to additionally lose the money I have paid to upgrade our seats. Another £324

Customer service has been shocking, they just ignore you then lie when you do speak to them, saying its impossible to refund the money? Why?

Iv not used the service iv paid for as its not safe to travel there, just give me back my money back and ill be happy, you can still sell the upgrades to someone else if your still daft enough to be travelling there.

The hotel is currently closed and flights are disrupted, but emirates couldnt care less.

I honestly thought better of Emirates but it turns out they are just a bunch of thieves

We booked a holiday to Dubai for July 26, but given the uncertainty in the region and with the remaining balance now due, we expected Emirates, as a reputable organisation, to offer more options than simply paying the holiday in full or losing the deposit altogether. Considering the exceptional circumstances, some degree of flexibility or even a credit note for the deposit amount would seem reasonable. We have travelled with Emirates Holidays before and always had positive experiences, which makes the lack of flexibility in this situation especially disappointing and is unfortunately making us reconsider booking with Emirates again in the future.

Outrigger Mauritius.
This was our second package deal with Emirates, the first was an awesome trip to the Maldives and was absolutely faultless from Heathrow back to Heathrow.
This was a trip to celebrate my daughter’s 18th birthday so we booked premium economy from Heathrow to Dubai , and Business Class the whole way back.
A delightful lady from Wales helped me put the trip together over the phone .
We were obviously concerned with the trouble in the UAE but Emirates kept in contact with us , at one point cancelling our initial return leg but getting us on the next flight . It actually worked out better for us. We were given the offer of a refund but we went ahead and had the best holiday ever. The flights on the A380 were amazing and the Business Class experience was like a dream to us. The cabin staff were another level , we were treated like royalty , I don’t think we stopped smiling the whole time.
I seriously cannot find a negative , only that it might have been a once in a lifetime experience and after that nothing will come close . We felt totally safe at DXB during our transfers , no drama at all.
Yes it was expensive but we have some awesome memories.
Until the next time , thank you Emirates ❤️

Despite the volatile situation Emirate Holidays were giving us constant updates by e mail and telephone.
The staff were excellent throughout , always ready to engage.
The holiday was perfect .

We travelled in what was very difficult circumstances, not knowing right up to the point we left London Heathrow if we would actually travel. The Emirates team in London, Dubai and Mauritius were excellent.
Our holiday was so very good, the hotel superb and all arrangement managed very well under very strange and trying circumstances for all
From the booking process right through to when we were dropped off back home was handled well
I would not hesitate to book with Emirates holidays again

Really great customer service. Advisors from call centre are very polite and helpful.

I have travelled with Emirates many time to holiday in Dubai, I would never consider using anybody else as Emirates look after thier passangers and provide holidays of great value.

Under the circumstances of what is currently happening in the middle east we felt 100% safe travelling with Emirate Holidays.Have booked with them before and would definately book with them in the future .

Unfortunately extremely unhelpful during the current situation in the Middle East.

We booked our honeymoon holiday via Emirates to Dubai which we expected to be our dream holiday. Unfortunately regional tensions mean that is no longer possible. It’s okay, I thought, I’ve booked through a well trusted provider.

Unfortunately there had been ZERO and I mean ZERO communication from the company. Absolutely disgusting from a premium holiday provider.

Weeks went by and we still had nothing. No idea if our holiday would even go ahead, not that we’d want to go with the risk of escalation in the area.

The only contact they had with us was to ask for the balance payment. For a holiday they could not fulfil, to a region that has been designated as a no entry zone by the UK government.

They gave me two options: pay thousands of pounds to clear the balance with the hope I “may get a refund later” or cancel and lose my deposit.

There was zero flexibility around this, disgustingly handled and a loss of several hundred pounds.

Very unimpressed with the way this has been dealt with. You should judge a company by the way it deals with customers in the worst times, not the best.

For this reason I would not recommend Emirates Holidays to anyone. I definitely won’t be rebooking with them in the future, and I have little hope of ever getting any money back. I’d love to be proven wrong.

We booked a half board holiday with emirates for Mauritius. Fantastic, my daughter has already demanded a 2nd holiday for next year. Good customer service, great inflight entertainment. Food options also good.