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When a prize isn't as simple as it seems.

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elsien
elsien Posts: 35,953 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
edited 22 March 2014 at 11:35PM in Compers chat corner
Last year I won £300 of hotel.com vouchers, to be booked by the end of this month. Which was very nice so I arranged with a friend to go to Amsterdam for a few days.
I did a quick scoot on the hotel website, and couldn't see where to redeem the voucher code. So I phone them and after being passed round several people in overseas call centres I am told that some hotels won't accept it, but 85% will so I need to check I choose one of those.
I sort out my dates, book the flights as they're becoming limited, then settle down to choose the hotel. Only to find that most of the hotels in Amsterdam are in the 15% of exclusions where the voucher code doesnt works, and the few i coukd find were twice the price of my voucher.:eek: I finally tracked down a hotel and got the last room for my dates, but I came very close to having two flights and a cardboard box to sleep in.
Moral of the story - next time I'm quadruple checking everything before parting with any extra cash.
On the positive side, Amsterdam here I come.
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.

Comments

  • eyeballpaul
    eyeballpaul Posts: 1,030 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic
    Enjoy Amsterdam!


    personally I would have booked a UK hotel to make life easy
    thanks to all posters

    PARKRUN - The only time the ladies chase me!

    I've changed my facebook username to NOBODY so when I enter FB comps I press the "Like" button it will say NOBODY likes this
  • hamsterfan1
    hamsterfan1 Posts: 8,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I also has problems with my trip to Cyprus flights were from Manchester or Stansted - but Manchester (where my son lives) didn't fit in with the number of nights & the holiday could be taken any time in September r October (subject to availability) but there were only 2 flights that had vacant promotional seats so we had to go on one of those
    proud gran to 4 lovely boys and one little girl
  • Daza
    Daza Posts: 3,936 Forumite
    Lets hope you don't win a holiday being run by "Summer is Cyprus"
    It is a nightmare trying to get any kind of info regarding booking the hotel
  • snakepilsen
    snakepilsen Posts: 2,757 Forumite
    Daza wrote: »
    Lets hope you don't win a holiday being run by "Summer is Cyprus"
    It is a nightmare trying to get any kind of info regarding booking the hotel

    Lots of similar comments on Facebook.
    Hope you get it sorted.
  • elsien
    elsien Posts: 35,953 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Enjoy Amsterdam!


    personally I would have booked a UK hotel to make life easy



    Thank you.
    But I reckon the point of most prizes (for me anyway) is to win things I wouldn't get the chance to buy or do otherwise, and I can travel round the UK anytime.
    All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

    Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.
  • linz81
    linz81 Posts: 236 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker I won, I won, I won!
    I had a similar issue with a £250 Alpharooms voucher win which turned into a load of hassle! :mad:
    After trying for a while to book something within the constraints of the voucher I booked a single night in a stunning apartment in Liverpool for myself and 3 friends. After a 4 hour drive we arrived at the apartments and couldn't check in so had a few drinks. When check in time arrived we were told that we'd been "booked out" and moved to another apartment which was a complete hovel, wasn't equivalent accommodation to what we had booked, and it was miles out of the city centre (as we'd had a drink the apartments had to pay for us a taxi).
    It basically ruined our entire plans for the whole weekend and I felt so bad and responsible for the situation as I'd booked the weekend and we'd travelled such a long way. After complaining several times to Alpharooms I was basically told "tough luck"!
    The moral of that story was to avoid Alpharooms like the plague!
    I'm sure you'll have a great time in Amsterdam, I've been several times and love it there! :beer:
  • robbies_gal
    robbies_gal Posts: 7,895 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    glad u got it sorted op-sometimes overseas hotels dont like to use pour codes/services for some reason

    linz thats appaling i would have sent a letter to the head of alpha rooms
    What goes around-comes around
  • skitler
    skitler Posts: 3,065 Forumite
    elsien wrote: »
    .
    Amsterdam here I come.


    I hope you finish that floor before you go;)


    its great in Amsterdam, youll love it.:)
  • wdah
    wdah Posts: 884 Forumite
    Sounds like holidays can be a right pain in the bum!
  • diesel06
    diesel06 Posts: 1,510 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Have a great time in Amsterdam :)
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