Top Secret Hotel inaccurate info given - can i get refund?

succuba5

I was looking for a hotel in Barcelona on lastminute.com. I chose one of their 'Top Secret Hotels' which in the headline is described as a "Brand new property in front of the seaport!" See link below.

However when I received my confirmation email I discovered that it is in fact a hotel that has been around for at least 5 years (going by the dates on tripadvisor reports).

As soon as I realised I emailed Lastminute to ask for a full refund. Below is the email I received:

Thank you for your email.
I apologise for the delay in responding.
Please be advised that we are acting as a booking agent for a third party supplier and the offers are determined by them and are correct to the best of our knowledge.
I have also checked our records and noticed that the hotel that you have booked operates on a policy of 100% cancellation charge. So if the booking is cancelled, there will be a full charge. Per that reason, I have not cancelled the booking and it stays as it is.
I appreciate your understanding with regards to this matter.

Does anyone know what my rights are? It seems that Lastminute are able to get away with describing a hotel however they like to make the sale and are now trying to pass the buck even though I have paid my money to them and not to the hotel.

Appreciate any help people can provide.

Thanks


http://globaltrips.lastminute.com/trips/productDetails?guestCounts=1&filterHtlPriceRanges=70%2C626&guestCodes=ADULT&propertyIds=260662-1-2-EXT%3A572%24v1v%24&city=barcelona&numRooms=1&service!!!!!LMN0&hotelNames=&checkInDate=2010-04-30&startIndex=0&checkOutDate=2010-05-02&hotelMaxReturnPerPage=25&ad_dest=BCN&configId=S72722479&intcmp=home1_hotels&dest=BCN&sortBy=geo-41.3862%7C2.1981&rating5=5&rating1=1&rating2=2&rating3=3&rating4=4&ad_country=ES&modules=product_list%2Comniture_tags%2Cresults_summary%2Cmini_view&showMap=false&channel=HotelWebUI&hotelRequestId=308217160572454&showHotelType=ALL

jacktyler

i agree that it is not right ro advertise a hotel as brand new, if it's been around for at least 5 years.

the problem you have though, is that when you go to book it (i just tried through your link) before you proceed to payment, it says:

Before you continue, please review...

Hotel cancellation policy

and it clearly says cancellation charge is 100%

pendulum

The cancellation charge shouldn't apply if the hotel is significantly not as described.
A 5 year old hotel is still relatively new. Is it very important?

UK2010

Yeah 5 years is really quite new when it comes to buildings which obviously can last hundreds of years.

It's like when new houses are built on an estate, locals will use the word new for quite some time.

I think the only difference is it's more new rather than brand new. I wouldn't say that's significant though.

jacktyler

just out of interest, could you tell us the name of the hotel?

succuba5

It's the rafaelhoteles diagonal port.

I know it says that the cancellation policy is 100% but if the hotel is not as described (i.e. brand new) then I would have thought they would have to refund due to trade descriptions.

Pendulum it wouldn't matter had they not described it as brand new, by saying that the hotel was on the seafront is fine but it's not a new hotel.

dmg24

succuba5 wrote: »

It's the rafaelhoteles diagonal port.

I know it says that the cancellation policy is 100% but if the hotel is not as described (i.e. brand new) then I would have thought they would have to refund due to trade descriptions.

Pendulum it wouldn't matter had they not described it as brand new, by saying that the hotel was on the seafront is fine but it's not a new hotel.

So if it doesn't matter, what is your problem?

jacktyler

it was built ten years ago and opened in 2001 according to this:

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-337967-rafaelhoteles_diagonal_port-i

succuba5

DMG I said that it wouldn't matter, had they not described it as brand new. By saying that it's brand new is inaccurate and I believe is selling something under false pretences.

Jacktyler thanks for that link.

So does anyone know what I can do? should I persist with lastminute as I have paid my money to them, or is it as they say an issue I should address with the hotel?

Thanks

dmg24

Why do you not want to stay at the hotel? Is there a brand new hotel at the seaport?

UK2010

succuba5 wrote: »

By saying that it's brand new is inaccurate and I believe is selling something under false pretences.

I think they just haven't changed the wording of the text!

You're dreaming up things to be victim of!