Broadway Travel - what are my rights?

bumblebee23

Hi,

I booked a mid week break with Broadway Travel back in November to travel in March - a full four months before departure date. We looked at reviews of the offered hotel and were very impressed.

I received a phone call yesterday from Broadway Travel advising me that the hotel is fully booked and so they could offer me an alternative - I looked at the alternative hotel and it was disappointing to say the least, where our original hotel was light airy and modern the new hotel is dark, dreary and aged.

I refused the alternative and asked for them to see what other hotels are available. They have emailed me today with a different hotel, which although nicer than the first alternative is in a different area to our original hotel, not quite as nice and doesn't come with the advertised extras of the first hotel.

I emailed them back and said I wasn't quite happy with the second alternative but would accept if they could offer a room upgrade (balcony room with a view) to make up for the location and lack of extras (namely a bottle of wine, fruit basket, free wifi, mini bar etc - nothing major and certainly not why our holiday was planned but were things we were looking forward to enjoying!)

This is where Broadway Travel turned nasty, I received a very curt email back saying we would not get an upgrade, we had been offered two alternative hotels and if we don't accept one of them then they will source another hotel but we will have to foot the bill if it costs extra. Alternatively, we can cancel the accomodation aspect of the holiday and find our own hotel. We will still be expected to pay whatever they deem appropriate for the flights.

Broadway Travel refuse to put a contact name on their emails to me, refuse to advise who wrote the emails and will only give me the first name of the manager of the operations department. Apparently she is calling me back tomorrow.

Now, (admittedly rather late) I have looked at reviews of Broadway Travel and they are horrendous, it seems that they make a habit out of booking people on holidays that they don't have hotels for. We are now increasingly concerned and so would rather get a full refund for this holiday and go to a more reputable provider.

The question I am asking is, because they are unable to provide the hotel room they advertised and we paid in full for, are we able to cancel without penalty (they are fond of their 100% cancellation fee)?

I can understand that issues happen, but how on earth can they have sold us a hotel room 4 months in advance and not have known that the room wasn't available? Clearly when booking a holiday the accomodation is one of the primary factors in choosing a provider to book with?!

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated - sorry for the wall of text above!

Caz3121

Do you know who your flights have been booked with or if they have been booked yet - if it is one of the low cost carriers, or even traditional airlines (unless a fully flex ticket) there will be no refund for the flights apart from the taxes. You should be able to get the accommodation element refunded as they have already offered.
Have you checked with the hotel to see if they really are fully booked?

bumblebee23

Hi Caz, thanks for the reply! The flights are with EasyJet so probably non refundable, but as we purchased this as a package that is Broadway Travels problem and not mine, if they can't provide the entire holiday we booked?

I've emailed the hotel to see if they have any availability - I strongly suspect that this hotel was never available in the first place as reading through the reviews I find it very hard to believe that a holiday company would have so much bad luck with hotels - they seem to change hotels for customers very frequently! Of course there is no way to prove this!

Caz3121

bumblebee23 wrote: »

The flights are with EasyJet so probably non refundable, but as we purchased this as a package that is Broadway Travels problem and not mine, if they can't provide the entire holiday we booked?

Unfortunately the Ts&Cs state
Cancellations / Amendments
All confirmed bookings are subject to cancellation charges on a sliding scale. However there is 100% cancellation charge applicable if you have booked a flight either using a low cost airline or a scheduled airline.

Was this sold as a true package eg flight+accom+transfer = 1 single price or are there different elements
Although it is probably immaterial as they say the Ts&Cs apply to packages also!

bumblebee23

Thanks again for replying, this was definitely booked as a package. We were only given one price and there was no option to purchase the flights or accomodation separately.

Does this mean we have to accept their alternative accommodation or face losing our money?

arcon5

If they are unable to find like for like accomodation i'd say you would have a case for a full refund as they are unable to fulfil their side of the contract.

However, they have offered two alternatives, so what exactly don't you like about them? ie are the differences of material nature?

unholyangel

bumblebee23 wrote: »

Thanks again for replying, this was definitely booked as a package. We were only given one price and there was no option to purchase the flights or accomodation separately.

Does this mean we have to accept their alternative accommodation or face losing our money?

It is important whether you booked as an actual package holiday or whether it was 2 components sold as a package. A lot of people think they've booked a package when in fact what they've booked is flights and accommodation. There is a distinct difference and not many genuine package holidays use scheduled flight operators (which is what Easyjet is) unless it is perhaps not to countries like spain, greece etc and instead to paris, italy etc. Were you given a breakdown of the price or told anything like "the flights for those dates are xxxx, hotel is xxxx which comes to xxxx"?

You can contact ABTA to help resolve a dispute or to complain. But first you must have followed a procedure, which involves writing to the company in question (you'll find details of the procedure on ABTA's website).

However, it may be worthwhile contacting the hotel you were due to stay at yourself and see if you can book direct with them. Or even asking other travel agents if there are rooms available for the dates you're staying. If there are and it is more expensive, technically the Agents have 2 choices.....to either give you the holiday you booked at the price you paid or have you book the hotel yourself and (if it is more expensive) have them pay the difference.