TravelRepublic...Nightmare Weekend, Views & Advice Welcomed

Chester85

I'll try not to rant on too much on this one so I'll keep it short and sweet.

Booked up in Edinburgh for a weekend short stay with TravelRepublic, who I've used many times before and they've been fine.

Advertised hotel was a 3 star with a 2pm check in but we'd been told we could leave our luggage at the hotel and explore the city.

Arrived in Edinburgh and couldn't find the hotel, eventually rang the number and was directed to another business where I was grunted at that the hotel had closed down in March 2009!! I don't understand how it was still on the website and with a review from 10th November 2009!

I rang TR who initally disputed this and then said they'd ring me back in 10 minutes. They did and said they couldn't do anything as the accomodation was through HolidayBrokers. They said they'd contact them and let me know within 20 minutes. 2 hours later they rang back to say 'HolidayBrokers still haven't got back to us'

It was past our check in time now and rather than wheel our 2 mini cases around we dropped them off a left luggage having already dragged them around all morning!

TR eventually rang back about an hour and a half later and said we'd been moved to a Travelodge and they'd forget to tell us. Despite me confirming the booking the day before! We'd booked the previous hotel for the location and reviews on TR website and weren't too impressed with being moved to a Travelodge as we'd deliberately avoided using them on a weekend due to the stags and groups that use them.

So my £72 for the night seeming to me a bit steep I was assured this was the going rate and trudged off to the travelodge...which was a dive. It was full of stags and hens, the check in queue were passing around bottles of whiskey and the whole place stunk.A bloke was throwing up over the reception floor as we first entered and were chanting '£19 quid, we're taking the bed' I looked on the reviews on TripAdvisor when I returned and would never have even walked to the place if I'd read them.

We left and rang Travel Rep and asked them to sort it out and they said 'No, you can either stay there or have a refund' I felt this a little unfair as there was no way we could stay there and we asked if we booked somewhere would they cover the cost and they had to go away and find me an answer, 35 minutes later and it was a no, you have to go there or I'll refund your card'

It was now 6pm and we'd wasted the day! Trudged round for 1 hour looking for hotels with the help of the Edinburgh Tourist board before we eventually found one at £100.

The day was lost, my partner was distressed by the experience, we were both knackered and felt Travel Republic were utterly useless.

Should I expect any form of recompense, I didn't even get an apology on the phone?

I'm not the type to demand money but I'm going to form a complaint letter and was wondering if people thought I was entitled to anything aside my refund?

many thanks

somethingcorporate

Have you suffered any quantifiable loss?

Otherwise anything that they would offer would only be on a goodwill basis. You can ask, but be prepared to be turned down. Good luck!

Gosia

Hi Chester 85

So sorry to hear about your experience - it sounds like a nightmare and I too would be furious :mad: with Travel Republic.

I can wholly understand why your partner was distressed - what a waste of a day and a spoilt weekend break.

I definitely think you should complain - it's worth a try. I too would complain!. I wish you the best of luck and please keep us updated.

somethingcorporate below has asked whether 'you suffered a quantifiable loss' however I don't think this will apply in this instance for even though they have provided you with substitute accommodation you can argue:

a) that you were not notified of this accommodation in advance and by the time you were made aware of it it already chipped into your 'holiday break time'; and

b) that the alternative accommodation provided was not equal to what you booked and you can provide the proof of your research from the Tripadvisor.

c) that they were negligent of not notifying you in advance of the change of accommodation as they were aware of this and as a result your holiday was spoilt.

Best of luck

somethingcorporate

Gosia wrote: »

somethingcorporate below has asked whether 'you suffered a quantifiable loss' however I don't think this will apply in this instance for even though they have provided you with substitute accommodation you can argue:

a) that you were not notified of this accommodation in advance and by the time you were made aware of it it already chipped into your 'holiday break time'; and

b) that the alternative accommodation provided was not equal to what you booked and you can provide the proof of your research from the Tripadvisor.

c) that they were negligent of not notifying you in advance of the change of accommodation as they were aware of this and as a result your holiday was spoilt.

Best of luck

Whilst you think it may not appear to be applicable it is pretty much the basis of contract law. Unless you can quantify any actual loss you will find it very hard to pursue an actual amount through the courts. Whilst you can receive "compensation" for mental trauma etc in some cases it is highly negotiable and is generally open to a handful of more extreme cases (car accidents etc).

I think you have a point and I feel sorry for your suffering, but unless you can put a £ on it how do you expect TR to do it for you? Anything they do offer is goodwill, like I mentioned above.

rl290

Definitely complain. For a start, if the company is half decent it will allow them to improve service in the future and (hopefully) prevent this happening again. If the company is fully decent, they should give you some kind of compensation, REGARDLESS of whether somethingcorporate's quantifiable loss can be substantiated or not. A good company would give you a full written apology, and make some effort to make up for your ruined trip - perhaps a voucher for your next trip would be appropriate.

Regarding whether there was an actual loss or not, which would need to be proven if you went to small claims, I would say that there clearly is: half of a short weekend break has been ruined, resulting in sunk transport costs and other expenses that would have been recapped if the OP were told that the hotel had changed in advance.

Good luck!
R

somethingcorporate

rl290 wrote: »

Definitely complain. For a start, if the company is half decent it will allow them to improve service in the future and (hopefully) prevent this happening again. If the company is fully decent, they should give you some kind of compensation, REGARDLESS of whether somethingcorporate's quantifiable loss can be substantiated or not. A good company would give you a full written apology, and make some effort to make up for your ruined trip - perhaps a voucher for your next trip would be appropriate.

Regarding whether there was an actual loss or not, which would need to be proven if you went to small claims, I would say that there clearly is: half of a short weekend break has been ruined, resulting in sunk transport costs and other expenses that would have been recapped if the OP were told that the hotel had changed in advance.

Good luck!
R

Marvellous, so the top paragraph you waffle on about goodwill which I put in both my previous two posts and then the bottom one you start to list some quantifiable losses (a good place to start). I 110% agree a good company should reimburse you and give you a token but this is not enforceable in any way, shape or form.

Sadly the loss of days is very hard to quantify and even harder to enforce via the court system. A day to a senior partner in a law firm could run to tens of thousands of pounds in lost revenue, a day to someone on the dole has very little "material" value. How do you put a price on that and would you expect TR to pay £10k for the value of the lost time for the senior partner for a spoiled day trip?

Good luck.