under-occupancy

hostertlady

can any of you lovely travel experts advice me on this dilemma..
i have a bee in my bonnet and i may be completely wrong but this is the story..

8 of us have booked to go on holiday( 4 in each room) at the end of august, so 90 days away yet..... all of us were very excited...

but one of the girls has decided she cant come so that takes us down to 7 of us...... now bearing in mind it is over 90 days away.... and they could re-sell the flight ( not the apartment i know:) cos i will be in it)
i looked in the book and obviously there is an under-occupancy charge but the travel agent says we have to pay the full cost of the person that isn't coming..
does that sound right?

jhe

we thought earlier this year one of our party might not be able to travel with us( turned out the could as it happened) travel agent told me it would not be a problem to leave them on the booking and just to travel without them

sorry misunderstood your post.
i would imagine if you changed the booking there would be an amendment fee plus under occupancy to pay and the person not travelling would lose their deposit

hostertlady

jhe wrote: »

we thought earlier this year one of our party might not be able to travel with us( turned out the could as it happened) travel agent told me it would not be a problem to leave them on the booking and just to travel without them

sorry misunderstood your post.
i would imagine if you changed the booking there would be an amendment fee plus under occupancy to pay and the person not travelling would lose their deposit

yes the person who cant come knows she has lost her deposit ( but she hadn't paid the full deposit!! grrr) so we are all having to cover the remainder of her deposit, the amendment fee.... but it is £400 extra between the 7 of us us which sounds way too much..

jhe

do you mean they are charging you £400 extra to cancel the extra person to what your original holiday price was for all of you?

hostertlady

jhe wrote: »

do you mean they are charging you £400 extra to cancel the extra person to what your original holiday price was for all of you?

no... the £400 is the balance of the holiday ( one less person).. that we have to split between us... basically it will be the cost of her part of the holiday i think...

but like i said before, the travel agent will re-sell the flight so surely we should be paying £400 minus the cost of the flight which will bring it down to about £150 between us left to pay...

i dont think it's fair cos they will defo sell her seat to someone else wont they?

Caz3121

who are you flying with - if a low cost carrier the seat needs to be paid in full whether it is used or not. Surely the person that has cancelled should be paying some of the additional, If their reason for cancelling is covered by travel insurance they should get it back from them

hostertlady

Caz3121 wrote: »

who are you flying with - if a low cost carrier the seat needs to be paid in full whether it is used or not. Surely the person that has cancelled should be paying some of the additional, If their reason for cancelling is covered by travel insurance they should get it back from them

not low cost carrier... not an insurance job... and not a good payer!
boo hoo.....
blimey for that extra amount of money we have to pay we may as well have gone AI and not self catering! hmmmm food for thought....

joess

As an ex travel agent speaking. I think that they are asking you to pay the £400 as you are now probably within cancellation charges.

You mention she's not paid a full deposit, how much has she paid? Was the deposit to be paid in installments - ie full deposit was £120 but you paid £40 at booking time and owed them the extra £80 6 weeks later?

She will loose her deposit (and could legally possibly owe more if she hasn't paid it) however I've never heard of a under occ supplement as high as £400, it's self catering your going so normally 3 adults in a room the supplement is hardly more than a few £ - how have they got it to £400? Has the travel agent given you a new breakdown of costs? It's only the room that will now have 3 in that will carry the supplement - but I understand that you'll be splitting it by the 7 of you.

PM me if you want to give me any figures etc.. and I'll take a look for you

hostertlady

joess wrote: »

As an ex travel agent speaking. I think that they are asking you to pay the £400 as you are now probably within cancellation charges.

You mention she's not paid a full deposit, how much has she paid? Was the deposit to be paid in installments - ie full deposit was £120 but you paid £40 at booking time and owed them the extra £80 6 weeks later?

She will loose her deposit (and could legally possibly owe more if she hasn't paid it) however I've never heard of a under occ supplement as high as £400, it's self catering your going so normally 3 adults in a room the supplement is hardly more than a few £ - how have they got it to £400? Has the travel agent given you a new breakdown of costs? It's only the room that will now have 3 in that will carry the supplement - but I understand that you'll be splitting it by the 7 of you.

PM me if you want to give me any figures etc.. and I'll take a look for you

hiya, yes the deposit was £170.. we paid some when we first booked but have to pay the balance off before next week... so she never paid the full amount of her deposit...
the lead member on the booking form is going to bring me the new print out with a breakdown on it.... so i will PM you tomorrow.... thanks for that..
i know there was an admin fee and something else but the lady in the travel agents said 'they' ( the people who she phoned up- call centre or wherever!) said that was the final figure and wouldnt budge on what extra we have to pay so i think we are going in, all of us en mass, so if i know how to phrase it... it would sound better.....

joess

hostertlady wrote: »

hiya, yes the deposit was £170.. we paid some when we first booked but have to pay the balance off before next week... so she never paid the full amount of her deposit...
the lead member on the booking form is going to bring me the new print out with a breakdown on it.... so i will PM you tomorrow.... thanks for that..
i know there was an admin fee and something else but the lady in the travel agents said 'they' ( the people who she phoned up- call centre or wherever!) said that was the final figure and wouldnt budge on what extra we have to pay so i think we are going in, all of us en mass, so if i know how to phrase it... it would sound better.....

When I was a travel agent and we did low deposits each member of a group had to sign an individual form to say they'd pay the remainder of the deposit. Your friend will still have to pay the remainder of the deposit whether she goes on the holiday or not, however if you didn't each sign a form the person who is named as 'lead name' is liable for the cost.

stephb34

Can you get a room that sleeps 3 so you don't have single occupancy. By rights the person dropping out should at least pay all of her deposit if she still wants to keep her friends. What about a name change. I take it the hotel doesn't do single occupancy thats why you've got so much to pay.