What sunshine.co.uk does

Sunshine.co.uk is a UK online travel agent (OTA) that helps consumers search, compare and book inexpensive package holidays, hotels and flights, primarily to sun destinations across Europe, North Africa, the Caribbean, North America and parts of Asia. It is a trading name of On the Beach Limited, a private UK company registered in England and Wales (company number 3162982, VAT 918060141) with its registered office at 5 Adair Street, Manchester. The platform is online-only, with no high-street retail, and is operated by a small team of 11-50 employees; its brand heritage traces back to the predecessor holiday review site HolidayWatchdog.com.

The platform is built around a web-based Holiday Finder search and booking engine that aggregates flights, hotels and transfers from multiple third-party suppliers, exposed to consumers as a single booking flow. Around this core engine the site runs a merchandising funnel of holiday categories (All Inclusive, Last Minute, Family, Waterpark, Winter Sun, Adult Only, Luxury, Singles, Couples, Group, Kids Included and Short Breaks) and dedicated pages for 30+ destinations and 33 UK and Ireland departure airports. Trust and financial protection are anchored by ATOL accreditation (11549) held by On the Beach Limited, ABTA membership (P8849) and insurance by International Passenger Protection for non-flight packages.

Revenue is generated almost entirely on a transaction basis: Sunshine.co.uk acts as the customer's agent in processing bookings with airlines, hotels and transfer providers and earns commissions or transaction fees on each booking, supplemented by referral/affiliate income from Holiday Extras (airport parking, agent codes AZ474/AZ475) and travel insurance distributed via AXA through insurefor.com. Pricing is per-transaction rather than subscription: hotel-only stays can be secured from a £1 deposit, flight-inclusive package holidays from £19pp, with all-inclusive packages advertised from £287pp and a final balance payable up to four weeks before departure. Customer acquisition is driven primarily by SEO across the long-tail destination/airport/category footprint, email, an in-house affiliate program and word-of-mouth referrals rather than large paid-media budgets.

Name

sunshine.co.uk

Legal name

On the Beach Limited

Website

https://sunshine.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sunshine.co.uk is a UK online travel agent (trading name of On the Beach Limited) that helps UK and Ireland consumers search, compare and book inexpensive package holidays, hotels and flights to 30+ sun destinations from 33 departure airports, earning commissions on bookings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Travel Agency

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510), Tour Operators (56152)

akta.pro primary industry

Accommodation-Focused OTAs (Hotels & Alternative Stays) (THAKAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Inbound/Local Retail Travel Agencies (Destination Booking Offices) (THAKABAH)

Keywords

• Online travel booking
• Package holidays
• Hotel reservations
• Flight bookings
• Travel agency services

Headquarters

HQ city

Fleet

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Travel agent commissions and booking fees: Sunshine.co.uk acts as an agent providing a web search interface between customers and third-party suppliers of flights, hotels, and transfers. The company earns commissions/transaction fees from bookings; for flights it acts as the customer's agent in processing the booking with the airline. Each product creates a separate contract between the customer and the supplier.
2. Package holiday sales (flight + hotel + transfer): Revenue from flight-inclusive package holidays, ATOL-protected, with deposits from £19pp and the balance paid up to four weeks before departure. The company assembles a package of components from multiple suppliers.
3. Hotel-only bookings: Hotel-only stays with deposits from £1; revenue from commissions on the booking value.
4. Holiday extras (parking, etc.) via partner: Affiliate/partner-sourced revenue from holiday extras such as airport parking through Holiday Extras (referral links with agent codes AZ474/AZ475).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sunshine.co.uk is a UK online travel agent that aggregates flights, hotels, and transfers from third-party suppliers and resells ATOL-protected package holidays, hotel-only stays, and flight-only bookings to British consumers. The platform supports searches across 30+ destinations from 33 UK departure airports, with entry deposits from £1 for hotels and £19 per person for package holidays. It originated from the consumer review site HolidayWatchdog.com and operates ATOL license 11549 and ABTA membership P8849.

Product overview

Sunshine.co.uk is a single, unified consumer online travel agent (OTA) platform — a web-based holiday search, comparison and booking engine — rather than a multi-product suite. The platform is structured around a core Holiday Finder that drives three commerce flows: flight-inclusive ATOL-protected Package Holidays, Hotel-Only Stays (from £1 deposit), and standalone Flights. Around this core, the same booking engine is exposed through a number of holiday-category sub-products that act as curated filters and merchandising funnels: All Inclusive Holidays, Last Minute Holidays, Family Holidays, Waterpark Holidays, Winter Sun Holidays, Adult Only Holidays, Luxury Holidays, Singles Holidays, Couples Holidays, Group Holidays, Kids Included Holidays and Short/Weekend Breaks. The platform also offers Flexible Payments as a financing feature, the My Sunshine customer account portal, the Sunshine Affiliate Program, and a Holiday Extras parking add-on referral.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Package Holidays ATOL-protected (license 11549) and ABTA-bonded (P8849) package holidays combining flights, hotels, and transfers, sold to UK consumers from £19 per person deposit across 30+ destinations departing from 33 UK airports.
• Hotel-Only Stays Standalone hotel accommodation bookings available without a flight, with entry deposits from £1 per booking for UK consumers seeking flexible beach and city stays.
• Flight Bookings Scheduled flight-only reservations across the Sunshine.co.uk network of 33 UK departure airports to 30+ destinations, sold directly to UK consumers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hotel-only bookings can be secured from as little as £1 deposit
• +3 more outcomes

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• On the Beach LimitedflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSunshine.co.uk is a trading name of On the Beach Limited and is registered in England and Wales (registered number 3162982, VAT 918060141). On the Beach Limited is an Accredited Body Member of On the Beach Travel Ltd (ATOL 11549). Sunshine operates as the agent web search interface business under this parent/group.
• ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents)coreOthersOn the Beach is a member of ABTA (membership reference P8849), meaning Sunshine.co.uk customers benefit from ABTA's assistance and Code of Conduct. ABTA acts as a consumer-protection and trade-body partner.
• CAA ATOL (Air Travel Organisers' Licence)coreOthersAll flight-inclusive package holidays sold by Sunshine.co.uk are financially protected by the ATOL scheme administered by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Customers receive an ATOL Certificate confirming which parts of their trip are protected. Non-flight packages are protected by insurance arranged with International Passenger Protection Limited.
• Holiday ExtrasminorGTM or Marketing PartnerHoliday Extras is promoted from Sunshine.co.uk for add-on services such as airport parking (holidayextras.co.uk/sunshine/parking.html with agent codes AZ474/AZ475), generating referral/affiliate revenue and improving the customer booking experience.
• International Passenger Protection LimitedcoreOthersInsurance arranged by International Passenger Protection Limited protects all monies paid to Sunshine.co.uk for non-flight package holidays in the event of the company's insolvency.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• easyJet Holidays: Airline-led package holiday product bundling easyJet flights with hotel inventory, marketed to UK value-conscious leisure travellers. Direct overlap with Sunshine on low-cost package holidays to sun destinations out of UK regional airports.
• Jet2holidays: UK package-holiday specialist bundling Jet2 flights with hotel stays to Mediterranean and Canary Islands destinations. Competes head-to-head with Sunshine on price, ATOL protection and the family/all-inclusive segment out of UK regional airports.
• On the Beach: Parent group and flagship online travel agent of On the Beach Limited (Sunshine.co.uk's parent). Sells very similar package holidays and hotels from UK airports with ATOL protection; effectively the same business under a different brand.
• Travel Republic: UK online travel agent focused on cheap holiday packages, hotels and flights from UK airports. Direct overlap with Sunshine on price-led package holidays to Mediterranean and North African sun destinations.
• Lastminute.com: European online travel agent selling discounted package holidays, flights and hotels to UK and European consumers. Overlaps directly with Sunshine's last-minute and value-package inventory, with similar ATOL-style consumer protections.
• Loveholidays: UK-based online travel agent selling cheap ATOL-protected package holidays and hotels to similar Mediterranean and long-haul sun destinations. Closest direct competitor to Sunshine.co.uk in target customer, product mix (flight + hotel bundles) and price-led positioning.

Emerging players

• Skyscanner: Global flight and hotel search-comparison platform used heavily by UK consumers in the same discovery phase as Sunshine. Competes indirectly for the same package-holiday shopper, especially at the inspiration and price-comparison stage of the funnel.
• TravelSupermarket: UK travel price-comparison site that aggregates package holidays, flights and hotels from OTAs including Sunshine and its competitors. Comparable because it sits in the same consumer purchase funnel for cheap package holidays.

Broad incumbents

• TUI UK: Largest UK tour operator, offering package holidays, cruises and flights under the TUI, First Choice and Marella brands across hundreds of destinations. Competes with Sunshine across the full package-holiday category from a much larger retail, fleet and hotel-inventory base.
• Booking.com: World's largest online travel agent, dominant in European hotel and increasingly aggressive in flight + hotel bundles. Adjacent competitor to Sunshine on hotel-only and ancillary add-on products, with a vastly larger marketing and technology footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sunshine_co_uk

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about sunshine.co.uk