Travel Co. downgrading our hotel

realfruit

Hi,

We're due to stay in Spain in @5 weeks time, booked this holiday last year from a brochure stating the hotel was due to open October 2010. Apparently it's still not finished and won't be for some time. So now the travel co. informs us that we are staying at a different hotel in the same resort. Problem is this is a 3 star hotel and we booked a 4 star and paid in full. Also no offer of compensation/price difference, quite bluntly telling us take it or leave it or get your money back! Surely they have some obligation to provide like for like? They do have alternative 4 star hotels available on these dates but say if we want to go to these then we have to pay a price difference which is now hundreds of pounds (since we booked early and received a hefty discount), ludicrous! Can they downgrade our accommodation and still pocket the increased price we paid? This holiday was booked through an independant agent, so who has the obligation to help us, the agent or the holiday company they used? Seems everyone is stringing us along so it gets nearer the departure date and hope we just accept this "slap in the face".

vuvuzela

realfruit wrote: »

Hi,

We're due to stay in Spain in @5 weeks time, booked this holiday last year from a brochure stating the hotel was due to open October 2010. Apparently it's still not finished and won't be for some time. So now the travel co. informs us that we are staying at a different hotel in the same resort. Problem is this is a 3 star hotel and we booked a 4 star and paid in full. Also no offer of compensation/price difference, quite bluntly telling us take it or leave it or get your money back! Surely they have some obligation to provide like for like? They do have alternative 4 star hotels available on these dates but say if we want to go to these then we have to pay a price difference which is now hundreds of pounds (since we booked early and received a hefty discount), ludicrous! Can they downgrade our accommodation and still pocket the increased price we paid? This holiday was booked through an independant agent, so who has the obligation to help us, the agent or the holiday company they used? Seems everyone is stringing us along so it gets nearer the departure date and hope we just accept this "slap in the face".

They have offered you an alternative, you can either get your money back or accept the hotel.
You also seem confused. You "received a hefty discount" but also they "pocket the increased price you paid".
Frankly I don't think it would overly bother me, the star ratings can be utterly false and meaningless anyway.

aheaton46

vuvuzela wrote: »

They have offered you an alternative, you can either get your money back or accept the hotel.
You also seem confused. You "received a hefty discount" but also they "pocket the increased price you paid".
Frankly I don't think it would overly bother me, the star ratings can be utterly false and meaningless anyway.

But the alternative is not "like for like". They have offered a lesser alternative for the same price.

When the OP mentions the increased price they paid, I assume they are talking about the money they paid when they booked to get the 4* hotel over the 3*.

vuvuzela

aheaton46 wrote: »

But the alternative is not "like for like".

Sorry, I meant that the alternative to taking the 3* hotel was a refund. Thereby putting the OP back in the same position as before booking. Yes I know there would be some loss of interest compared to if they had put the money in a bank.

realfruit

Sorry if I didn't explain too good, aheaton46 you are right.
The discounts were a sweetener for early booking so we went for a 4* above a 3* paying a bit more.
Holiday company now want to stick us in the 3* but keep the extra we paid over 6 months ago. Can't be right, or can it?

realfruit

Called in to the agents today to sort this out, they really did their best and spent @2 hours with us. Still the providing company refused to put us in an equivalent 4* hotel unless we pay an extra £250 or £500 for a 5*. No way we'd agree to this so the outcome was we've accepted the 3* with a guaranteed room with a pool view (wow). Either that or money back but since the prices have gone up so much since we booked last year we'd struggle to find anything for that same amount now.

Tigsteroonie

Do you still have the brochure you booked from? And is this 3* accommodation listed in it? Was it cheaper back then?

I'd work out how much money you would have saved if you'd booked the 3* accommodation instead of the 4* at the time of your booking (ie very early) and write to the travel company saying that you expect them to refund the difference. Provide evidence if necessary (copies of the pages from brochure and calculations).

realfruit

Still got the brochure and unfortunately the prices listed are exactly the same! However we paid extra to upgrade to full board, this isn't being refunded. One thing that came to light earlier today was the holiday co. advertise the hotel we've been moved to as a 3* on their website (as do their main competitors and various travel info websites) but in their brochure its given a 3*plus rating.
They reckon that because it isn't a full one star below the one we had booked then we are entitled to nothing other than a refund or the one they've chosen as an alternative. If we'd booked online we'd likely had a good case.

visidigi

If you got a refund are there any better holidays you could book now? I think thats what you need to find out...

pinkshoes

They should refund the difference between the 3* and 4* hotel at the time of booking, as it's not your fault the hotel you booked isn't ready!

The company don't seem to be understanding the concept of early booking i.e. you get a discount, and they get an early guaranteed booking and your money. It is NOT ok for them to just downgrade you at the last minute without any compensation.

Are they a member of ABTA? I would take this further, and tell them via letter/email that you are taking the matter further.

giraffe69

A couple of years ago the travel company ended a relationship with a hotel and put us in another which was cheaper. They offered no refund or adjustment. They had to be pushed quite hard but in the end refunded us the difference. It seems to me that you bookjed a hotel in good fatih and paid, you are being moved somewhere else not of your choosing, if you accept a refund prices are likel;y to have gone up. I would definitely puruse this. Put your case in writing and don't rely on telephone calls.