Can Thomson Holidays withhold my deposit??

Beckie0203

On the 5th October 2010 me and my partner booked two weeks in Goa, travelling the 2nd March 2011 via Thomson's website, for my birthday and 10 year anniversary.

The following day whilst looking on Trip Advisor I discovered that the hotel we had booked was still being built. I immediately contacted Thomson to express my concerns and was told that they could not give me any information on the hotel until the beginning of November as this was when their holiday rep would be at the hotel.

Yesterday I found out that people who had booked to stay in the same hotel several months again and were to due fly out this week have been contacted by Thomson two days before departing to say the hotel was still not completed.

I contacted Thomson again to find out a completion date which they were unable to provide. As this is a special holiday I asked for my deposit back as I do not want to chance having my holiday cancelled at the last minute. Thomson refused saying that the hotel should be built in time even though they cannot give me a completion date. Had I known at the time of booking that the hotel had not been built I would not have booked it, also, had someone told me the following day when I contacted Thomson that the hotel was still being built I would have requested a refund straight away.

Are Thomson able to sell holidays to hotels that haven't been built without stating on their website and are they allowed to refuse to refund my deposit in these circumstances? Any advice on this would be really appreciated.

StuieUK34

I am in a similar position, although mine relates to the same prinicipal. IE: We the consumer not being given the full information when making a booking, therefore being mislead/missold into buying a service/product...
I'll keep you posted how I get on with my issue with Alpharooms.com... It has to go through a 2 stage contact with the operator, then onto ABTA, then hopefully small claims court

Caz3121

slightly different situation - one issue is around information not given that is a certainty to happen the other is around information not been given that may or may not happen.

Beckie does the hotel have a website that you can book on - by playing about with dates you should be able to see when they are taking bookings from. The further this is away from your date the better. If yours is the first week they have rooms to book you could rightly be a little nervous but doubt they will do anything on something that may or may not happen. Thomas Cook have obviously been told that the hotel will be open and it is fine to take bookings

Pollycat

Just for info - duplicate thread here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2851300=

HXDave

unfortunately you have not advised which hotel you refer to, and therefore at this point it would be unwise to state anything definate. however in normal circumstances when selling a hotel that is not yet open / built, there are certain clues within the text of the description. these may include 'planned facilities', artists impressions rather than photographs, some may even state when expected to be open.


if you can name the property concerned, we may be in more of a position to offer further assistance.

kind regards.

jillie1974

having looked on the thomson website, it does say 'planned'

have you looked in a brochure?

have you tried to contact the hotel/looked on their website?

Voyager2002

Beckie, rather than asking for a refund of deposit, why not ask Thomson to move you to a hotel that actually exists?

Although I must say, since they had expected the hotel to be ready now (you mention people being switched two days before their holiday) there is plenty of time between now and your holiday for them to complete the hotel.

HXDave

any particular reason why you booked that specific hotel?

Beckie0203

The hotel is Silver Sands Hideaway in Goa (for some reason I'm not allowed to post links) advertised on Thomson's website.

There was no artist impressions of the hotel when I booked it but I have just looked on the website and it does state 'Please note that all facilities are planned and subject to change' so I assume this refers to the fact that the hotel is not yet complete then? I just thought this would be on all bookings in case a hotel no longer offers a stated service, for example, a hotel no longer has badminton available when it has it listed.

I booked the hotel as it is a brand new hotel and I thought it looked like the best hotel in that area. When I spoke to Thomson they said I could transfer my booking at a cost of £50 per person but I choose this hotel because itr was new and looked really nice from the photos and also I don't feel I should have to pay to transfer it. If I can't have this hotel then I would rather have my money back and look at other holidays and book something that I know is built so I won't have to worry about having my holiday cancelled at the last minute as it's not built.

I may seem like I'm over reacting but people booked on this holiday in May to stay in November and have still had their holiday cancelled. I don't want it to get to two days before my holiday and to be told that's it's still not built. March is high season for Goa so I doubt I'd be able to book somewhere at the last minute or if I was then it wouldn't be as nice.

If it was clearly stated on the website that the hotel was not booked then I would not have booked it. At the moment I feel like I have paid a lot of money for a holiday that doesn't actually exist!

Pollycat

Beckie0203 wrote: »

The hotel is Silver Sands Hideaway in Goa (for some reason I'm not allowed to post links) advertised on Thomson's website.

There was no artist impressions of the hotel when I booked it but I have just looked on the website and it does state 'Please note that all facilities are planned and subject to change' so I assume this refers to the fact that the hotel is not yet complete then? I just thought this would be on all bookings in case a hotel no longer offers a stated service, for example, a hotel no longer has badminton available when it has it listed.

I booked the hotel as it is a brand new hotel and I thought it looked like the best hotel in that area. When I spoke to Thomson they said I could transfer my booking at a cost of £50 per person but I choose this hotel because itr was new and looked really nice from the photos and also I don't feel I should have to pay to transfer it. If I can't have this hotel then I would rather have my money back and look at other holidays and book something that I know is built so I won't have to worry about having my holiday cancelled at the last minute as it's not built.

I may seem like I'm over reacting but people booked on this holiday in May to stay in November and have still had their holiday cancelled. I don't want it to get to two days before my holiday and to be told that's it's still not built. March is high season for Goa so I doubt I'd be able to book somewhere at the last minute or if I was then it wouldn't be as nice.

If it was clearly stated on the website that the hotel was not booked then I would not have booked it. At the moment I feel like I have paid a lot of money for a holiday that doesn't actually exist!

You need to bear in mind that the monsoon makes building work very difficult.
This year the rains have carried on quite a lot longer than usual so maybe that's why Thomson THOUGHT the hotel would be completed before the beginning of the UK season (early Nov).

You've paid a deposit for a holiday with a departure date over 3 months away in a hotel that (from various accounts on holiday specific websites) is pretty much completed outside and has lots of men working inside.
There's a big difference between that and your final sentence.

On your other (identical) thread you have some other comments.
I said:
If you still want your deposit back, I'd start by reading through the T&Cs to see if there is anything in there about unfinished accommodation.

HXDave

I booked the hotel as it is a brand new hotel and I thought it looked like the best hotel in that area.

simple question here, but how could it 'look like' the best hotel, when the only picture is a bedroom? in the brochure (which normally mimics the website), there is no picture of the hotel whatsoever, and i presume this to be the same on the website.

you also acknowledge that the brochure states 'planned' facilities just in case they remove some. so again, you cannot say that you liked the sound of the hotel as, by your own admission, any of the facilities could be removed at any time.

personally, i would just hang fire for the moment. at the end of the day if, come departure time the hotel is still not ready, you are normally offered an alternative hotel of equivalant or higher standard without any additional cost. it is very rare in these circumstances where they actually 'cancel' your holiday, and you have no holiday to go on (only times they tend to do this is things like major disasters where they evacuate people from that area, and are advised not to take any people there for the time being, like the mexican hurricanes.........)