Holiday Booking - Hotel Cancelled By Agent - Help!

Caz3121

how much was the accommodation - was it an obvious pricing error? (you mention too good to be true)

Is the same accommodation available on any other site?

Ts&Cs will likely cover for pricing mistakes

almond

Poor_Churchmouse wrote: »

Sadly (for me), almond is correct. Abta can't/won't help as the third party isn't Abta registered. We only have recourse if any of the companies go bump. I guess now I can only hope OTB come good with their promise to try to find a replacement.

I was hoping I might have been wrong, but I have been a travel agent for over 25 years (never come on here looking for business)
and have heard this type of story so many times,
you will have no contract even if company goes bust because your contract has been cancelled.
Please be careful of otb, try to find your own hotel
hotels 4 u
cosmos, thomsons,
find the hotel you like then google it , you should then be able to find the cheapest company.
have you got travel insurance?

Norton_Blade

philip1988 wrote: »

Under the Law of Contract, if an offer is made and then accepted a binding contract exists...

Mistake however, is a defence against a binding contract and can render it voidable... in the same way that retailers don't have to honour misprices.

The courts would normally uphold the contract apart from where the non-mistaken party is aware of the mistake and tries to take advantage of it. As the OP says, the deal was too good to be true and as such, it could be reasonably assumed that the OP knew the deal was down to some sort of error on the agent's part.

Contract law in this instance would more than likely not be your avenue of recourse I'm afraid.

Poor_Churchmouse

almond wrote: »

have you got travel insurance?

Afraid not. We normally buy it about a month before we travel.

Norton_Blade wrote: »

Mistake however, is a defence against a binding contract and can render it voidable... in the same way that retailers don't have to honour misprices.

The courts would normally uphold the contract apart from where the non-mistaken party is aware of the mistake and tries to take advantage of it. As the OP says, the deal was too good to be true and as such, it could be reasonably assumed that the OP knew the deal was down to some sort of error on the agent's part.

Contract law in this instance would more than likely not be your avenue of recourse I'm afraid.

Knowing what I know now about the price of Ibiza hotels in August I realise now it was too good to be true. At the time though, naively perhaps, I thought I'd just found a hidden gem. The hotel was/is poorly rated on Trip Advisor and I thought it was possibly on promotion. I was perhaps blinded by the fact that I had found a holiday I could actually afford! I messed around with dates and flights for a while before I actually booked to assure myself that it wasn't a mistake, I didn't just think; 'that's a mistake, I'll grab it whilst I can'.

Even then, I only submitted a booking request thinking that if it was a mistake it would be knocked back and I would resume my search. I was relieved and pleased when the confirmation/booking number/vouchers/ATOL certificate arrived. As you can imagine, I really rather wish I hadn't bothered at this point.

Anyhoo, I have done alot of searching and may have some plan b options in place BUT a rather nice lady at the holiday company took pity on my wife last night and has apologised for the appalling customer service (a whole other subject!) and got back to her within the hour (the first member of staff to keep a promise in over two weeks) with an explanation. She is of the opinion that we should get offered an alternative and will come back to us by Friday with some options. We have been polite to the company all along and put forward our case and maybe, just maybe, it's paid off.

We should know by Friday.

jackieblack

Poor_Churchmouse wrote: »

Anyhoo, I have done alot of searching and may have some plan b options in place BUT a rather nice lady at the holiday company took pity on my wife last night and has apologised for the appalling customer service (a whole other subject!) and got back to her within the hour (the first member of staff to keep a promise in over two weeks) with an explanation. She is of the opinion that we should get offered an alternative and will come back to us by Friday with some options. We have been polite to the company all along and put forward our case and maybe, just maybe, it's paid off.

We should know by Friday.

Fingers crossed for you

Poor_Churchmouse

jackieblack wrote: »

Fingers crossed for you

Thanks, it's all rather alot of stress. Wifey is pregnant and the worries and financial implications of this are something we don't need. Someone has called us back since I last posted and confirmed that they are looking into options, we're waiting to see what those options might be.

luci

Poor_Churchmouse wrote: »

Thanks, it's all rather alot of stress. Wifey is pregnant and the worries and financial implications of this are something we don't need.

Why do you wait until a month before travel to get insurance? It costs the same a year or a month before, but you have cover for cancellation from when you take it out.

If you can't afford to lose what you have paid out so far, you really should get insurance ASAP in the event illness or accident prevents you from travelling.

Poor_Churchmouse

luci wrote: »

Why do you wait until a month before travel to get insurance? It costs the same a year or a month before, but you have cover for cancellation from when you take it out.

If you can't afford to lose what you have paid out so far, you really should get insurance ASAP in the event illness or accident prevents you from travelling.

I'm only booking single trip. We won't be going away again with the baby on the way. I do it a month before to cover illness etc closer to the time of travel.

peachyprice

Poor_Churchmouse wrote: »

I'm only booking single trip. We won't be going away again with the baby on the way. I do it a month before to cover illness etc closer to the time of travel.

You misunderstand, You can still book a single trip as soon as you book the holiday, even if the holiday is a year away, for the same price as if you wait until a month before. You are then covered for any unforseen circumstances that could effect your holiday in the time between booking and going. As it is you are only covered from the time you take out the insurance, which is an unnecessary risk that saves you £0.

luci

If your wife was diganosed with a pregnancy related illness tomorrow which prevented you going, you have no cover and will lose everything you have paid out.

If you take out insurance today and that happens tomorrow, there is a good chance you will be covered.