Please help - wedding potentially ruined and legal advice needed

benhill

I'm not being silly, am I, when I suggest booking the hotel direct? It was my understanding that Solitair WAS the hotel, rather than just the people that book the hotel. What other things does this company proffer to do? If it is nothing else then I'd ditch them and book direct! If you've been in contact with the hotel all year round, they may be interested to hear the failure of Solitair to do what it is intended and, if the hotel pays for Solitair's "Service", they might think about having words with them themselves!

If Solitair do other things (book air travel, hire cars) it would definitely be worth looking to see if you can get these cheaper seperately (i.e. using the flightchecker on here, or rooting out other MoneySavers' advice!).

For the meantime, get on their nerves and give 'em 'ell! If all else fails, you could always send your case to Watchdog (or similar)!

boots_babe

Hi benhill,

We've come to the same conclusion as you and have been looking into booking directly with the hotel. We can do this but with separate flights it will be costing £170 more per person which really means some cannot afford it and puts them in an awkward situation. This is £1500 more overall which is an awful lot.

Also just been trying to look at flights on expedia - they have an option to reserve till midnight tomorrow so thought we do that just in case. But there are only 6 seats available So on top of everything else Solitair have now caused some of guests to not be able to come. We are both so so angry and extremely upset by all this.

Solitair are a travel agency, not the hotel. They aren't just any old firm either, they were already known to us and family have booked with them before. They were also recommended to my mum by the disability helpline she has access to.

I think we'll DEFINITELY be going to watchdog with this - but first need to ensure our guests are sorted out as that is priority. It's all such a mess and I can't believe they've done this to us and repeatedly lied about various things.

Been trying to get hold of Solitair since yesterday but keep getting fobbed off and told they'll call back later - and then never do. May have to take Friday off work and go to their office in Manchester so that we can actually talk to someone...

jockettuk

stupid question time.. cant you postpone your wedding till jan and then mabey the prices wont be as high as lapland wont have santa and his elves around..

Becles

boots_babe wrote:

This will mean that none of our guests can afford to come - this includes several more who were going to book but have not yet done.

Just a point: don't mention the guests who were going to book but haven't yet done. There's absolutely nothing they can do about it.

Holiday prices go up and down on a daily basis, and none of the TA's will offer prices that you might have seen but haven't booked, especially if the price has risen.

Hope you get something sorted out for yourselves and the groups who have booked though.

boots_babe

We're not actually going in December - we're going in February but it doesn't make much difference it's still very expensive!!

We're not going to mention to them about additional guests, as although that is also upsetting for us it is not the matter in hand. It would be nice if they would even acknowledge what they've done to us and our existing guests but they couldn't care less it seems

bhafc810

HI

Is the travel agent regonised by ABTA?? If it is complain to them - they will be able to tell you if you have a leg to stand on.

Sue

buglawton

boots_babe wrote:

...and have been looking into booking directly with the hotel. We can do this but with separate flights it will be costing £170 more per person which really means some cannot afford it ...

How about calling the Hotel and attempting to get a discount for this large block booking? You can even start by asking them outright, "do you offer discounts for large bookings". Research it first & check of there are any local competitor hotels to consider.

boots_babe

Hi buglawton,

Thanks for your suggestion. Problem is that this hotel is on its own - both in location and facilities. It has log cabins and also ice igloos, ice restaurant etc. This is where we are marrying and having our reception afterwards so guests need to be there really.

In terms of location there is nothing nearby, the nearest town is about 20km away and there are several hotels there, but they are all 'standard' hotels not ice hotels. So there really is not other option in terms of trying other hotels.

We've asked the hotel this morning if any chance of group booking discount and they're getting back to us. So fingers crossed on that....

Freebie_Hunter_2

HOw are you getting on with your dasterdly holiday company?

Have you managed to sort anything out yet?

boots_babe

Hi buglawton,

Been meaning to get back on here with an update. Well, Solitair *said* they had a special relationship with Finnair and could get extra discounts from them. They qutoed £290 per flight inc tax and as much as we would have hated giving them our business after all this, we had to get the best deal for our guests. We didn't trust them so looked around everywhere else too at the same time.After several more promises that they'd call us back, stringing us along for a couple of days, they admitted they could only get us £389. Which was more expensive that we found elsewhere. So we booked with Travelocity for £370. Hotel says they can't do group discount as it's their peak season so paying full price there too but hey, at least we found out in time.

If it had been 1 week later I think there would have been no seats left - there were hardly any at all last week. 3 of our guests can no longer go due to the price, and it put them it a very awkward situation - they even apologised to us!!!! I don't think THEY need to be the ones with the apologies. So this week I'm planning to do what I can to bring Solitair to justice; not to 'get our own back' but because we wouldn't want any other poor souls to go through what we did, and because they cannot be allowed to behave like this. I'll be writing to Watchdog for what it's worth, and thinking about choosing a local paper to talk to, to publicise their appalling service. Also going to get in touch with CAB to see if there is anything else we can do - oh and ATOL, although I doubt ATOL can help as no money changed hands.

So we'll have a very busy week up ahead, please wish us good luck!