Holiday Problem - Airport and hotel nowhere near each other

dex986

Hi,


We booked an all inclusive holiday but have discovered our hotel is 600 miles away from the airport and according to a Google search is near impossible to get to without another flight of nearly 4 hours.


On Saturday my wife and I were trawling the net for good deals for our Summer holiday with our two children and one infant. We came across one company that offered a really good flights + hotel all inclusive package in Egypt in Sharm El Sheik.


The process went like this. We selected the departure airport (All London) and Arrival country (Egypt). We selected the cheapest flights (depart from Gatwick arrive in Luxor). We were then given a list of hotels. We selected one of the more luxorious hotels from the list which happened to be in Sharm El Sheik. We then selected the add-ons (extra baggage, meet and greet parking, etc.). We then booked and paid in full on a VISA debit card.


Yesterday I mentioned the deal to my father in law who has been to Egypt many times. He raised an eyebrow and said that Luxor is nowhere near Sharm El Sheik. We have since discovered this is true.


We now face the prospect of either:


1) booking new flights to Sharm El Sheik at a cost of £2000 for the five of us
2) booking a hotel in Luxor and cancelling the hotel in Sharm El Sheik. We have been told we would then incur a 25% cancellation fee from the website company. This will be about £400. I hasten to add the website company cannot find us any hotel in Luxor on the flight dates. Our own searches bring back a handful of hotels but not on an all inclusive basis.


I am wondering if there are any other options open to us? Can we legally argue that we should expect the hotels listed after we have chosen the flights to be near the airport? Can I call the card merchant and successfully argue we had been mis-sold a package holiday? Can we realistically argue we have been mis-sold the holiday - from an ethical and/or moral standpoint one would not expect to see hotels so far away from the arrival airport. From a legal point of view maybe it was our responsibility to check first...


Feeling gutted and I think I'll have to take an additional hit. The website company are saying the flights are non-refundable and a change of hotel will incur a 25% admin charge. I'm just peeved that their website allows us to select a unrealistic to impossible airport/hotel scenario. We note that comparative websites show only hotels near to the arrival airport.


Any advice with regards to consumer rights would be appreciated. We know that holidays do not qualify under the distance selling act and we therefore do not have a cooling off period.


Many thanks
Dex

richardw

Perhaps have a thorough read http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback

PeteDoff

dex986 wrote: »

Hi,
our hotel is 600 miles away from the airport and according to a Google search is near impossible to get to without another flight of nearly 4 hours.

Unless they are using Tiger Moths something does not add up here. A 4 hour flight!

Approximate distance as the Tiger Moth flies in miles from Luxor Egypt to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt is 178 miles or 286.4 Kilometers.

http://www.distance-calculator.co.uk/world-distances-luxor-to-sharm_el_sheikh.htm

Does the 'all inclusive' holiday include transfers in the price?

You say,
"We selected the cheapest flights (depart from Gatwick arrive in Luxor)"
"We selected one of the more luxorious hotels from the list which happened to be in Sharm El Sheik."

Maybe it would be difficult to argue for a refund if You selected everything.

rustyboy21

I have not come across a website like this, that does not show the distance from the hotel from the airport. They always start at, in your case Luxor and work out from there. Must have been pages down.


Although just checked expedia, flights from LON go to Hurghada, which is 126 miles away, but they state it on each hotel listing. Surprised how cheap it worked out.


Good luck OP, but I think you will be needing to book extra flights.

dex986

@PeteDoff - Flights from Luxor to Sharm El Sheik all go via Cairo. I haven't even looked at whether we can realistically make a same day connection. Transfers were not included as an option. We were not too bothered at the time because the hotel itself said it was only 15 minutes from the airport. It didn't say Sharm El Sheik airport...


Being a new user I unfortunately cannot insert links. A tripadvisor post says to get from Luxor to Sharm El Sheik requires a ferry and a four hour bus ride. EgyptAir website says the flight takes about 5 hours in total and requires a stop over in Cairo. I stand corrected it being 178 miles.

dex986

@rustyboy21 - it was third hotel in the list. I think the preset filter was Bestsellers.

Alan_Bowen

Doesn't look as though you have bought a package holiday at all but components which require you to choose each element. You should have an ATOL Certificate, does it say 'Package' in the right hand corner or 'Flight Plus'? If it is the former contact the 'organsier' and ask them to put it right, if not then it is your choice to book the completely wrong flights and this is a danger if you put a holiday together yourself. Please name the agent whose website allowed you to do this so that others can be warned.

sandsy

Unfortunately, it sounds like you didn't book an "all inclusive holiday" or a "flights + hotel all inclusive package". You rather chose flights and a hotel to create your own DIY holiday where the onus is on you to ensure that they suit your needs. Sorry, but I think you'll need to take the hit on this one.

stephb34

I'm surprised you could get flights flying into Luxor, I thought most (all)operators had pulled them due to the trouble. Be careful because if you have booked your flights, hotel etc individually if the trouble flares up again and your flights are cancelled you could be stuck with your hotel and no way to get there. Make sure you have some good insurance. What company on the internet have you used?

rustyboy21

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Please name the agent whose website allowed you to do this so that others can be warned.

Why name and Supposedly ' Shame ' them, if the fault may lie with the user, not reading things properly?

lea2012

If you have booked with one of the bigger online travel agents such as on the beach, travel republic, low cost holidays etc then this would be classed as their error. The reason being that when they load a hotel into their system, to show on their website, they must select which airport they wish to 'map' the hotel too. This means that the hotel will then only show up if you choose to fly into that airport.

If they didn't do this then you could end up in the situation that you are in. Imagine selecting your country as Spain, and selecting a flight into Girona in northern spain, only to book a hotel in Seville in the south?! If you have booked the flight and the hotel at the same time,under the same booking then nearly all online travel agents will have a system in place that should only show certain hotels alongside certain airports.

In this instance, you should be able to either cancel free of charge, including the flights as it's their error or they should be covering the increase in price to amend the flights to sharm el sheikh and be closer to your hotel. Whilst I agree that you selected the flight and hotel, you weren't to know that they were so far away from each other.