Hotel room overbooked, what are my rights?

hayley50

I'll try to explain my prob, thanks for reading.
On Tue I booked via travel republic 2 nights in Cardiff for a rugby match, cost £131, later that night i received via email, confirmation and then an accomodation voucher to take to the appartment accomodation.
On Wed I received an email direct from the accomodation provider, confirming my stay in BRISTOL.
I rang the provider, explained I booked Cardiff and had a confirmation for Cardiff, They said that the request from Late rooms (tour operator for travel republic) was for Bristol. Advised to call travel republic.
Called them, put on hold for 20 mins then hung up on me, called back eventually told they could see a request for bristol not cardiff, would look into it and call me back.
After more phone calls I spoke to guy today, he said there was a mistake on the system and Bristol was booked, that the apartments in Cardiff were fully booked so he offered me the choice of either a refund, taking bristol accomodation with £50 compensation or paying them over £100 more for Cardiff accomodation -What are my rights, I thought they would need to provide me with the accomodation I've paid for or equivalant.
As it is for a 6 nations match and the tickets were released on Tue, there has been a mad rush on hotel booking in Cardiff, I can't now find any availability for anywhere near that price and we've bought the tickets

Thanks for any help/advice xx

whatmichaelsays

hayley50 wrote: »

I'll try to explain my prob, thanks for reading.
On Tue I booked via travel republic 2 nights in Cardiff for a rugby match, cost £131, later that night i received via email, confirmation and then an accomodation voucher to take to the appartment accomodation.
On Wed I received an email direct from the accomodation provider, confirming my stay in BRISTOL.
I rang the provider, explained I booked Cardiff and had a confirmation for Cardiff, They said that the request from Late rooms (tour operator for travel republic) was for Bristol. Advised to call travel republic.
Called them, put on hold for 20 mins then hung up on me, called back eventually told they could see a request for bristol not cardiff, would look into it and call me back.
After more phone calls I spoke to guy today, he said there was a mistake on the system and Bristol was booked, that the apartments in Cardiff were fully booked so he offered me the choice of either a refund, taking bristol accomodation with £50 compensation or paying them over £100 more for Cardiff accomodation -What are my rights, I thought they would need to provide me with the accomodation I've paid for or equivalant.
As it is for a 6 nations match and the tickets were released on Tue, there has been a mad rush on hotel booking in Cardiff, I can't now find any availability for anywhere near that price and we've bought the tickets

Thanks for any help/advice xx

I've been to two Rugby League finals in Cardiff and both times ended up staying in Bristol. Cardiff simply doesn't have enough rooms for these events and the few that are there do jack up the price. If you can't get booked in one, you certainly won't be the only one. In terms of rights, if they can't find a room at an equivalent price for you, then they don't have to do much other than refund your booking. The booking agents work on the same availability that Joe Public does.

Staying in Bristol isn't a massive loss. It's about 1hrs drive down the M4 (and there is a very good park and ride from the special matchday car parks that are right next to the M4) and the trains are fairly regular.

hayley50

Thanks for your advice/experience of getting from Bristol to Cardiff, we will be travelling to Cardiff by train and then be reliant on public transport, I just think this is too big a distance

davidlizard

I've been to a few 6N/Autumn internationals in Cardiff.

The train station is mobbed afterwards - there is a queuing system in place, and it can take a good couple of hours between getting to the station and getting on a train, especially if you are going back Newport way. We therefore usually have a few drinks afterwards and get a train later in the evening when its quietened down a bit.

They usually do not put on engineering works on match weekends - the railtrack website usually lists what is scheduled.

I guess you do not really want to be driving after a match?

brazilianwax

There are a few new Premier Inns not far outside Cardiff now - have you tried those? I know there's one up the road from me near Llantrisant.

hayley50

Hi David we're travelling down to Cardiff by train, driving to the hotel is not an option.
Brazillianwax, thanks we've been doing general radius searches, think Bridgend is the closest at the mo for about £80 a night, I'm just so frustrated we'd booked lovely appartments, stayed in similar ones the year before last, I just think they should pay the extra not us :mad:
Will have to wait and see what their customer service dept say

brazilianwax

Not the easiest to get to by public transport though.

Which match are you coming for, and which nights?

hayley50

Its the scotland match sat 13th. we were planning on travelling down Fri and staying Fri & Sat so 12th - 14th.
Can't book anything til I get an answer from travelrepublic tho, unless I bite the bullet and call them tomorrow and just request a refund.
The hard part is usually getting the tickets :rolleyes:

brazilianwax

If it were me I'd go for Caerphilly

You can reserve the room now, and cancel later if you find something better.

hayley50

Thanks very much for your help, Brazilianwax, will take a look now
:beer:

Tozer

Yep, agree with Brazillian - look on the outskirts of Cardiff - Caerphilly, Llantrisant (Premier Inn), Wenvoe (Premier Inn) or even a B&B in the Vale area. Could even try Barry. All within fairly easy taxi ride.

Would shy away from Bridgend.

Agree with the comments regarding Cardiff Central station after a big event. Can take hours. However, if you walk up Penarth Road a bit to Grangetown station and get a train back into Cardiff you should be "within" the station then rather than having to queue for ages to get in.....