Hoseasons, Sykes and Holidu Cancellation Policies Compared

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What you lose if you cancel

What each booking site keeps if you cancel because your plans have changed, from its own terms as read on 4 October 2026.
Booking site	What you lose
Hoseasons	71 days or more before you’re due to arrive, the deposit. 57 to 70 days, 50% of the accommodation cost. 43 to 56 days, 60%. 42 days or fewer, all of it.
Sykes	Before the balance is due, the deposit. On or after that date, the full cost.
holidaycottages.co.uk	More than 63 days before, the deposit. 50 to 63 days, 60% of the accommodation cost. 36 to 49 days, 80%. 22 to 35 days, 90%. 21 days or fewer, all of it.
Holidu	Whatever the provider’s own policy says. It’s shown before you book.

The Hoseasons scale comes from its cottage booking conditions, for stays that sleep up to nine and were booked on or after 1 October 2026. Our Hoseasons links open its cottages search, which is why we’ve shown that one. For properties that sleep ten or more, the deposit only window closes at 85 days, not 71. Its lodges and holiday parks follow a different scale that tops out at 95%, so check which set of conditions your confirmation names.

Sykes doesn’t use a sliding scale. Its terms say you can cancel before the balance payment date and lose only the deposit, and that from that date on you have no right to cancel at all. Sykes shows you the date when you book.

holidaycottages.co.uk states its scale as refunds, so we’ve turned it round to show what you lose. Give more than 63 days’ notice and you owe nothing beyond the deposit.

Holidu is different in kind. It’s a search and booking portal, and its terms say cancellation options and costs are set by whoever provides the stay. Its help pages say those policies typically run from free cancellation up to 24 hours before check in to no refund at all.

Two more things. Sykes and Hoseasons call their booking fee non-refundable. holidaycottages.co.uk says the same, unless you chose its flexible cancellation terms or the property turns out to be unavailable. And on Sykes and Hoseasons, leaving early earns you nothing back.

Deposits and when the rest is due

The deposit each booking site asks for and when the balance falls due, from its own terms and help pages as read on 4 October 2026.
Booking site	Deposit	Balance due
Hoseasons	Usually 20% to 35% of the booking cost. A low deposit from £25 on some stays.	6, 8 or 10 weeks before arrival. Your confirmation shows which.
Sykes	Usually 30% of the rental charge plus the booking fee. A low deposit offer was advertised at £10.	On a date shown when you book.
holidaycottages.co.uk	A third of the accommodation cost.	9 weeks before the holiday starts.
Holidu	Set by the provider. Either everything at once, or part now and the rest later.	Set by the provider.

A low deposit isn’t a discount. On Sykes and Hoseasons, cancelling after you’ve paid one still leaves you owing the difference up to the standard deposit. Sykes adds an administration charge for splitting the deposit, and says that charge isn’t refundable. holidaycottages.co.uk also offers reduced deposits at certain times of year.

Hoseasons’ own help pages give two answers on the balance date. One says most balances are due 10 weeks before arrival, sometimes 6 or 8. The other says 6 weeks for most holidays and 8 for properties that sleep ten or more. Go by the date on your confirmation.

Book inside the balance window with any of those three and you pay the lot up front.

Each of the three also charges a booking fee. None of them puts the amount in its terms, so look for it at checkout. Holidu says in its terms that it doesn’t charge for using the website, though its help pages list a Holidu service fee among the costs a booking can carry.

Changing your dates

A change of dates is a request. Sykes and Hoseasons both say the owner has to agree. If the answer is yes, Sykes charges £30. Hoseasons charges £35 to change the dates on a cottage booking and £60 to change the accommodation, with £20 more if its support team makes the change for you. Both add any difference in price. holidaycottages.co.uk charges £75 for each change.

Hoseasons’ cottage conditions say you can’t transfer a booking within 70 days of arrival or once the balance has been paid. Its help pages put the limit for changing dates online at 10 weeks before departure.

Bringing a dog

All four start from the same place. Dogs are only allowed where the listing says so, and the charge, if there is one, is shown when you book.

Hoseasons uses two labels. “Pets go free” means no charge. “Pets allowed” means there may be a fee for each dog. holidaycottages.co.uk asks you to bring the dog’s own bed and to declare any puppy under six months.

Sykes, Hoseasons and holidaycottages.co.uk all set the same two house rules. Dogs stay off the beds, and they’re never left alone in the property. Sykes and holidaycottages.co.uk say assistance dogs are allowed in every property, and both ask you to tell them before you book.

Our dog friendly page has the questions to put to the site itself.

Who you’re booking with, and who holds your money

None of the four owns the pods. Sykes, Hoseasons and holidaycottages.co.uk each say they act as agent for the owner, so your contract for the stay is with the owner. Holidu sits a step further back. Its terms say the contract is only ever between you and the provider of the stay, and that complaints about the stay go to that provider. It also sends some bookings on to other booking sites, so check whose terms you’re agreeing to before you pay.

On protection, read the wording closely. Hoseasons is an ABTA member, but its conditions say a booking for UK accommodation only does not benefit from any financial protection. holidaycottages.co.uk says it holds payments in a trust account run by an independent trustee until they’re passed to the owner, and adds that this is not an insurance policy. Sykes’ terms name no scheme and strongly advise travel insurance.

Holidu is open about one more thing. Its terms say the fee it receives from providers is one of the factors that affects the order of its search results.

What none of them say about hot tubs

We looked for the words hot tub in the booking terms of all four. They aren’t there. The nearest thing is general. Sykes’ terms say facilities shown on its site can become unavailable or restricted, and that it doesn’t accept responsibility when they do. They also say a complaint about a property is best made to the owner while you’re still staying there.

So if the tub is the point of the trip, ask before you pay what happens if it’s out of action when you arrive, and get the answer in writing. If it does fail, report it that day.

Our view

If there’s any chance you’ll need to cancel, the differences are worth ten minutes of your time. holidaycottages.co.uk gives something back until three weeks before. Hoseasons keeps the full cost from six weeks out on its cottage terms. Sykes turns on a single date. With Holidu you’re reading a different policy for every stay.

That doesn’t make one site better than another. It makes the terms part of the price.

One caution. This is a summary of what each site published on the day we read it. It isn’t legal advice. Terms change, and the ones that bind you are the ones you’re shown when you book.

Sources

Published 4 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.