Holidaymaker misquoted £5.8m for Malta break

The steep price tag quoted to Sandra Nicklin in error included the entire resort along with naming rights to the pool

A woman planning a low-cost break away to Malta could not believe her eyes when her quote per person skyrocketed to £5.8m.

Sandra Nicklin from Blackfield, Hampshire was originally quoted £260.35 each online by TUI for the all inclusive week-long holiday to the island with flights from Luton airport next June.

After getting a message on the app telling her the price for the holiday had gone up she revisited the quote and said: "It was gobsmaking - I started counting how many noughts there were... and for two people it was £11.5m."

The travel company has apologised saying a system error meant the website had quoted the cost of buying the entire resort and the rights to name the swimming pool.

The travel company has apologised and said a system error has confused the price of the holiday

Ms Nicklin said she decided to get a summer break booked after her family had experienced a challenging year.

"I went on TUI on the app looking for a cheap holiday and this lovely resort in Malta came up with a twin room with a sea view for £260.35.

"I thought it sounded quite remarkable... but it was one of their deals so I left it until the morning and then thought I would go ahead and book," she said.

Returning to her booking to the Qawra Palace Resort & Spa she had a message on the app to say the price of the holiday had increased.

She said: "I couldn't say in a sentence how much this was going to cost for two people. I had to count the digits! .... £11,572,754.38. We were just gobsmacked."

She said she returned to the website a couple of hours later, however the same thing happened.

The resort on the booking was in Qawra, a small town in the northeast of the island

A TUI UK&I spokesperson said: "We'd like to apologise for the system error that confused a lovely holiday to Malta with purchasing the resort along with naming rights to the pool.

"Our website team is correcting this 'ambitious pricing error' as quickly as possible, and we're truly sorry for any inconvenience caused."

Ms Nicklin said she still hoped to get her holiday booked but for the more reasonable price.