please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message lowcostholidays industry travel tourism fate bankruptcy founded 2004 defunct 15 july 2016 headquarters palma de mallorca spain formerly london key people paul evans ceo products flights package holidays hotels and resorts number of employees 500 website www.lowcostholidays.com lowcostholidays was a travel company and a consumer facing brand of the lowcosttravelgroup which was founded in 2004 . it operated to destinations worldwide with a focus on european city and beach breaks . around 500 people worked for the brand which was based in palma de mallorca with additional offices located in london and krakow . the company collapsed and went into administration on 15 july 2016 . the collapse of the company was blamed on low turnover in the aftermath of the brexit vote . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 collapse 2 awards 3 marketing 4 references history edit lowcostholidays was founded in 2004 by ceo paul evans and operated in 13 different markets . evans had a background in the travel industry where he worked for companies including saga holidays airtours my travel group first choice and holiday hotels . lowcostholidays former headquarters were located in east grinstead before relocating to offices just outside gatwick airport in summer 2011 . the brand then moved its business to palma de mallorca spain in november 2013 . 2 following the move evans responded to criticism saying we are centralising our lowcostholidays business and simplifying our structure having a single trading entity through which all of our holidays are sold means we can achieve significant efficiencies and cost savings . 3 the brand s german site was the first to launch internationally 4 followed by a further nine european sites . in june 2013 lowcostholidays launched its single parent holidays campaign offering lone parents cheaper rates on selected hotels when travelling with children . 5 the same month their secret hotels programme launched 6 allowing customers access to cheaper beach breaks by booking an undisclosed hotel . in early 2014 lowcostholidays expanded further opening offices in atlanta united states 7 and sydney . 8 collapse edit on 15 july 2016 the company collapsed and went into administration . the administrator smith & williamson claims that there are approximately 27 000 lowcostholidays customers currently on holiday and 110 000 who had booked trips but were yet to depart . in 2013 the caa warned holidaymakers to avoid booking with the company due to its relocation to spain which meant that its bookings were no longer protected by atol . this ensures that customers can return home and receive a refund if a company does collapse . lowcostholidays had ignored these warnings stating that holidaymakers had protection under a spanish scheme . its sudden collapse was blamed on the recent and ongoing turbulent financial environment leading up to and following the brexit vote . 9 10 the company advertised on itv in the uk the week before 11 and a 60 % sale on their facebook page the day before 12 they entered into administration . awards edit lowcostholidays was named best tour operator agent website at the 2009 travolution awards . 13 in 2010 the company won travolution s rising brand of the year . 14 it featured in the sunday times virgin fast track 100 league table twice in 2009 and 2011 15 and won best optimised responsive mobile website at the moma marketing on mobile award awards in early 2013 . 16 the uk site has also been nominated for best travel blog and best use of mobile in 2014 s travolution awards . 17 the brand s irish site lowcostholidays.ie was voted best online travel agent in 2013 by the irish media . marketing edit lowcostholidays launched its first tv advert created by mpg media contacts in june 2011 . 18 a year later a national bus campaign was launched the messaging stating i bet you can t guess what we do ; later replicated in a similar does what it says on the bus campaign in september 2013 . 19 in october 2012 lowcostholidays offered a free holiday to a man named thomas cook after he failed to secure a break from the travel company of the same name . 20 in june the following year the brand created a youtube advert consisting of ugc submitted by social fans in their little stars competition the video generating over 126 000 views . 21 in late 2013 and early 2014 lowcostholidays partnered with creative agency beta to produce a selection of tv adverts . 22 that aired in the uk and ireland . 23 the campaign continued into 2014 with 10 second destination focused adverts appearing in the lead up to summer . 24 references edit lowcostholidays goes into administration with warning to travellers . the guardian . retrieved 15 july 2016 . draper elle . lowcostholidays moves to palma mallorca . spain buddy . gandy draper . retrieved 11 november 2014 . hayhurst lee . evans bites back after caa slams lowcost s unacceptable spain switch . travelweekly . travel weekly . retrieved 7 november 2014 . robertson edward . lowcost travel group launches first of 16 european websites . travel weekly . travel weekly . retrieved 12 november 2014 . lowcostholidays launches campaign for single parent families . lowcosttravelgroup . lowcosttravelgroup . retrieved 12 november 2014 . lowcost launches first secret hotels programme for beach resorts . travel mole . travel mole . retrieved 14 november 2014 . baran michelle . u.k. based lowcostholidays launches u.s. consumer site . travel weekly . northstar . retrieved 14 november 2014 . lowcostholidays.com launches australia site . travolution . travel weekly group ltd. retrieved 13 november 2014 . https www.theguardian.com business 2016 jul 15 lowcostholidays administration warning travellers http www.moneysavingexpert.com news travel 2016 07 low cost holidays calls in administrators https www.youtube.com watch v igv3bzakulo https www.facebook.com lowcostholidays.com photos a. 442446851119.227787.52686551119 10153667165451120 type 3 travolution awards 2009 winners and photos . travolution . travel weekly group ltd. retrieved 14 november 2014 . travolution honours the best in online travel . travolution . travel weekly group ltd. retrieved 14 november 2014 . fast track 100 . fast track . fast track . retrieved 14 november 2014 . archive results for awards . moma . the drum . retrieved 14 november 2014 . 2014 finalists . travolution awards . travel weekly group . retrieved 14 november 2014 . eleftheriou smith loulla mae . lowcostholidays.com boosts awareness with first tv campaign . marketing . haymarket . retrieved 13 november 2014 . national advertising campaign . lowcosttravelgroup . lowcosttravelgroup . retrieved 14 november 2014 . oliver amy . a man called thomas cook a holiday firm without a sense of humour and how a small company scored a pr victory over the travel giant thanks to facebook . mail online . associated newspapers ltd. retrieved 10 november 2014 . may kevin . hey travel companies the secret to winning on youtube use kids being cute . tnooz.com . tnooz . retrieved 12 november 2014 . lowcost holidays january campaign to make up for digital marketing decline . travolution . travel weekly group ltd. retrieved 14 november 2014 . tv and weather boost lowcostholidays . travel daily media . travel daily media . retrieved 10 november 2014 . ishbel macleod . lowcostholidays urges travellers that they don t need to go high cost in new ads . the drum . carnyx group limited . retrieved 11 november 2014 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lowcostholidays & oldid 735953173 categories travel and holiday companies of the united kingdomcompanies based in crawleyholding companies of the united kingdomcompanies that have entered administration in the united kingdomhidden categories articles needing additional references from september 2014all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 24 august 2016 at 05 42 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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