Holiday star rating downgrade

Albions

Hello all,

This is my first post on any Forum. I am looking for some advice regarding my honeymoon. We started researching our honeymoon last September 2012 for a Kenyan safari and hotel stay in October 2013 The idea was to spend a few days at the hotel then a few days safari followed by a second stay at the hotel.
We used a brochure from Thomas cook called for a company called Hayes and Jarvis. The hotel is called the beach voyager resort and was stated as a four star hotel in the 2011 - 2013. In November 2013 We booked the hotel and safari lodge using this brochure star rating.
I have been following reviews of the hotel and noticed they have been getting progressively worse. I have spoken to Hayes and Jarvis and noticed the hotel had been downgraded to a pre star plus. I have since complained and stated I wasn't informed of this, however Hayes and Jarvis stated they released a new brochure in September 2012 with the new star rating of the hotel and that I booked the holiday in November 2012 and that any new star ratings in the september 2012 - march 2014 brochures would supersede the ratings in the 2011 - 2012 brochure. My argument was that I wasn't,t aware of the new star ratings for the hotel when we booked the hotel and although we have payed only a deposit we would like to re book with another travel agents as the customer service has been appalling and we would have to pay extra to stay at another four hotel which is what we thought we initially paid for anyway.

Apologies for the long winded post but quite a complicated one.

Hope you can help

Many thanks

Carl

richardw

Ask them to move you to your preferred 4 star hotel in their current brochure at no extra cost.

hamsterfan1

the star ratings from most companies are for facilities not quality - have you checked on tripadvisor to see if there is a reason for this and to see how good it is - or have they stopped providing a service you wouldn't use?

Albions

Thankyou both, I have asked about moving to another four star hotel but because the hotel was a 3 star plus at the time of the booking which we were unaware of whilst using the 2011 - 2013 brochure there would be an upgrade charge.
Hayes and Jarvis have stated it has been down graded due to a review of facilities regarding all their hotels and that other hotels have more facilities and the downgrading is not a reflection of the hotel.
The reviews I have noticed have are mentioning money going missing from the safes and complaining of dirty rooms etc.

We are not particularly fussy but think this is unacceptable.

interstellaflyer

Albions wrote: »

The reviews I have noticed have are mentioning money going missing from the safes and complaining of dirty rooms etc.

We are not particularly fussy but think this is unacceptable.

These are not uncommon comments and you'll probably find that the vast majority hotels reviewed on Trip Advisor someone will have made similar comments against them. What's the ratio of good reviews against bad reviews?

Albions

Hello and thanks for the reply,

Yes we have been on a few trips where you get the odd very fussy traveler which we normally choose to ignore but in this case it's very different the reviews have got a lot worse very quickly.

We defiantly don't want to stay at this hotel.

jacques_chirac

Did you get the brochure from the travel agent that you booked with? Can you prove that they gave you an out of date brochure?

If I'm looking at the right one of TA, the reviews don't seem particularly bad on the whole?

I'm not allowed to post a link, is it the one in Mombasa?

Albions

Hello Jacques, no I was given the brochure from Thomas Cook and booked through Hayes and Jarvis unfortunately.

Yes It is the one in Mombassa and the hotel has been downgraded by Virgin holidays to so we are concerned still. Thanks for the reply though.

jacques_chirac

Albions wrote: »

Hello Jacques, no I was given the brochure from Thomas Cook and booked through Hayes and Jarvis unfortunately.

Yes It is the one in Mombassa and the hotel has been downgraded by Virgin holidays to so we are concerned still. Thanks for the reply though.

Did Hayes and Jarvis ever tell you the star rating? Given that the brochure was given to you by a third party, I don't see that you can rely on it in a complaint against H&J. It is the equivalent of a university student relying on an old text book in an exam - they cannot claim against the lecturer that their information is out of date because the lecturer did not provide them with it.

Obviously_the_best

It seems like your problem really is with Thomas Cook, if you booked through them. If you phoned Hayes & Jarvis direct unfortunately it's your fault for not checking your brochure was the latest.

Albions

Thaks for the reply, unfortunately we did book over the phone so I guess this may be ou fault of our own.