Hotel problems, but booked through an agent - Section 75??

bintyandthebeast

Hi everyone,

I am hoping to get some advice from someone in the know.

Last year my family and I went on a holiday to Egypt which I booked on my credit card as flights and hotel separately (flights with Monarch and hotel with Thomas Cook). I paid for flights (£2150) and hotel (£2155) in full by credit card at the time of booking. I decided to do it this way as we were saving £2.5k against the cheapest package holiday available for the same break.

Unfortunately, we had a terrible experience with the hotel while we were away. My daughters were hit by some falling masonry and this ended up with one daughter left with severe bruising to her arm and leg (4 days in a wheel chair and unable to use the 5* pool and water park facilities on the resort) and my other daughter ended up with a perforated ear drum (again 5 days out of the water).

Just when we thought we were getting over the problems, my youngest daughter then came down with severe food poisoning and ended up in a clinic on a drip through dehydration. She was unwell for about 4/5 days afterwards, and again couldn't use the resort facilities.

The hotel were great initially and paid for all of the medical bills, bringing room service from the all inclusive restaurants, and towards the end of the break they offered us 2 weeks free accommodation if we returned. Initially I accepted, but after speaking to the rep for the hotel booking agency, I realised that in order to get back the holiday we were missing, it would cost us flights, dog kenneling, travel from Scotland to Manchester, etc and this would total £3,000. I went back and rejected the offer and thought I would be able to get the travel agent to refund my payment or get the hotel to contribute further to a return visit. We were keen to go back as it really was very nice indeed and would have been worth every penny had we not of had the issues. Every other guest we spoke to was delighted with their accommodation and we never saw or heard another complaint despite me being in reception for most of one week getting things sorted.

Anyway, once we got back we made an official complaint with Thomas Cook Hotels who said that they were only an agent and indeed they in turn only collected money for Hotels4U, again an agent. They did contact the hotel, as I did myself, and they responded simply that they did offer me free accommodation and I refused it. They went on to say that they paid for treatments and we chose not to accept their offer and they would not offer anything else. Thomas Cook and Hotels4U have said they cannot do any more as they are booking agents only and the hotel have since stopped responding to my emails.

So, my question/s is/are:
- is there any way to get my money back, maybe under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act?;
- what happens if not?! I am effectively not out of pocket as all the medical bills were covered by the hotel, so my travel insurance company doesn't want to know. Is this where my house insurance legal protection may be of help, or maybe the travel insurance legal part?

I hope to hear from someone who has a better understanding that I have!

blindman

bintyandthebeast wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am hoping to get some advice from someone in the know.

Last year my family and I went on a holiday to Egypt which I booked on my credit card as flights and hotel separately (flights with Monarch and hotel with Thomas Cook). I paid for flights (£2150) and hotel (£2155) in full by credit card at the time of booking. I decided to do it this way as we were saving £2.5k against the cheapest package holiday available for the same break.

Unfortunately, we had a terrible experience with the hotel while we were away. My daughters were hit by some falling masonry and this ended up with one daughter left with severe bruising to her arm and leg (4 days in a wheel chair and unable to use the 5* pool and water park facilities on the resort) and my other daughter ended up with a perforated ear drum (again 5 days out of the water).

Just when we thought we were getting over the problems, my youngest daughter then came down with severe food poisoning and ended up in a clinic on a drip through dehydration. She was unwell for about 4/5 days afterwards, and again couldn't use the resort facilities.

The hotel were great initially and paid for all of the medical bills, bringing room service from the all inclusive restaurants, and towards the end of the break they offered us 2 weeks free accommodation if we returned. Initially I accepted, but after speaking to the rep for the hotel booking agency, I realised that in order to get back the holiday we were missing, it would cost us flights, dog kenneling, travel from Scotland to Manchester, etc and this would total £3,000. I went back and rejected the offer and thought I would be able to get the travel agent to refund my payment or get the hotel to contribute further to a return visit. We were keen to go back as it really was very nice indeed and would have been worth every penny had we not of had the issues. Every other guest we spoke to was delighted with their accommodation and we never saw or heard another complaint despite me being in reception for most of one week getting things sorted.

Anyway, once we got back we made an official complaint with Thomas Cook Hotels who said that they were only an agent and indeed they in turn only collected money for Hotels4U, again an agent. They did contact the hotel, as I did myself, and they responded simply that they did offer me free accommodation and I refused it. They went on to say that they paid for treatments and we chose not to accept their offer and they would not offer anything else. Thomas Cook and Hotels4U have said they cannot do any more as they are booking agents only and the hotel have since stopped responding to my emails.

So, my question/s is/are:
- is there any way to get my money back, maybe under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act?;
- what happens if not?! I am effectively not out of pocket as all the medical bills were covered by the hotel, so my travel insurance company doesn't want to know. Is this where my house insurance legal protection may be of help, or maybe the travel insurance legal part?

I hope to hear from someone who has a better understanding that I have!

You had misfortune at the hotel: :eek:

They offered you compensation

The hotel were great initially and paid for all of the medical bills, bringing room service from the all inclusive restaurants, and towards the end of the break they offered us 2 weeks free accommodation if we returned.

You refused it.

End of:

cubegame

As per above reply, what ACTUAL loss did you suffer?

bintyandthebeast

Loss of enjoyment maybe, although I know it's very subjective? We stayed in a 5* water park resort hotel and were unable to use the facilities.

I thought that may be the answer, but I was hoping for something more!

blindman

bintyandthebeast wrote: »

Loss of enjoyment maybe, although I know it's very subjective? We stayed in a 5* water park resort hotel and were unable to use the facilities.

I thought that may be the answer, but I was hoping for something more!

Live and learn.

If you had accepted the hotels offer, you may have got cheaper flights next time.

Or sold the offer on Ebay :cool:

At least your kids all got home safe and well.

bintyandthebeast

Live and learn as you say, it's just a hard pill to swallow. I was hoping to try the credit card protection, but as I didn't book through an agent rather than direct it appears that's out of the question.

blindman

bintyandthebeast wrote: »

Live and learn as you say, it's just a hard pill to swallow. I was hoping to try the credit card protection, but as I didn't book through an agent rather than direct it appears that's out of the question.

Credit card protection for what?

The hotel provided a service for which you paid-which went awry-so they offered you compensation-you refused.

IMHO card protection only comes into force when you pay for something and they don't deliver.

Even if you had booked the whole thing through a TA (:eek:) they may have only offered you an equivalent "Free" hotel stay on one of their next year packages.

Blue264

blindman wrote: »

At least your kids all got home safe and well.

Precisely!
In your position, I wouldn't want to return to a place where my family had been through such a traumatic time, no matter how many stars it had.

opinions4u

You could try suing the hotel. Good luck with an overseas court.

Does the hotel have any sister hotels? Could you spend the free two weeks at one of those?

peachyprice

bintyandthebeast wrote: »

Just when we thought we were getting over the problems, my youngest daughter then came down with severe food poisoning and ended up in a clinic on a drip through dehydration. She was unwell for about 4/5 days afterwards, and again couldn't use the resort facilities.

Every other guest we spoke to was delighted with their accommodation and we never saw or heard another complaint despite me being in reception for most of one week getting things sorted.

Just picking up on this, was it actually confirmed as food poisoning, from food at the hotel? It would be very very unlikely for just one person to suffer food poisoning at a large resort, especially a severe a case as to need hospitalisation.

I too think the hotel have been very generous with their offer. You were happy to go back, and were going to get free accomodation, so a half price holiday this year, but you turned that down. The hotel aren't responsible for supplying the flights to get you there.

If you had have booked a package you can bet your bottom dollar that the offer would have been much less, probably only a couple of hundred £ in holiday vouchers. You still wouldn't have had any claim under S.75 for a whole refund.

bintyandthebeast

Thanks for all the reposnses.

Food poisoning was written on the medical report we received from the on-site medical centre.

Sounds like its a lesson learnt. At the time we didn't think we would be able to match up holidays between us, but we have been able to. Unfortunately, it looks like we lost out on a good offer. The same 2 weeks accommodation for this year is well over £1,000 more for roughly the same dates when we could go.

Ho-hum.