I found out too late that lowcostholidays is a Spanish company with virtually no protection for UK customers.

I recently booked two holidays with lowcostholidays- one online and one by phone. I paid the required deposit for each, and received two confirmation numbers and two statements of final cost. I subsequently received two emails from lowcostholidays telling me that "the flights on the booking you made with us have failed to complete the booking process" and asking me to call the flight centre. When I did, I was told that for each booking I must pay an additional £1000 because the flight prices had increased since I booked. I politely said that I thought was a little unfair as I had received a confirmed price based on my (large) deposit. Because I would not pay the extra £2000, my two bookings were cancelled.

Only at this point did I carry out any research into lowcostholidays, and found that they are actually based in Spain, and do not offer ATOL protection. I have emailed customer services several times, but have received no response.

Prospective customers may wish to tread cautiously - those lowcostholidays may turn into highcostholidays. I am proceeding with legal action, but it is rather tedious and expensive taking action against a foreign company beyond the reach of UK regulators.