First Choice advice please!

MrsC....tobe

Let me give you a little bit of background. Back at the start of January we booked a holiday with First Choice to go to Turkey in October for 2 adults and one child (12). In February we found out I'm pregnant and due the week we were going to be in Turkey and as such we changed the holiday to June, the only other time we could go. We also changed to a Gran Canaria. We are due to fly out on 7th June.

In April I contacted First Choice to enquiry about adding an adult to the booking as there was a possibility of someone else coming with us and I was given a price but we didn't go ahead with this and it remained the three of us.

During the early hours of Sunday morning we received a phoned call from police in relation to my husbands son from a previous relationship and things went on from there. Basically he had been left home alone for the weekend (without anyone's knowledge) and was expected to look after 2 houses with 2 lots of dogs and had to frequently cycle the 5 miles between them. The house had been found insecure with the door lying wide open and the house basically in an uninhabitable conditional. As a result social work got involved and he has been placed in our care, which we are totally happy with, until further notice. There is not enough for them to go for an order to ensure that he stays with us.

Now, because we are due to go on holiday, we decided that we would like to take him with us and on Monday I contacted First Choice for advice and a price. I spoke with a very nice woman who took details and advised that unfortunately the hotel we are booked into only allow 3 adults or 2 adults and 2 children in the rooms, children being aged up to 12 years and due to him being 15 he is classed as an adult. No mention had been made of this in the previous call I had made asking about an adult being added! I was advised that if we wanted to add him to the booking we would have to change accommodation as there are no rooms left at the hotel.

After speaking with social work and also his mother, everyone was in agreement that he could come away with us and his passport was handed over to us without any problems (we are also getting a letter to confirm this) so we picked another accommodation and I gave them a call today. The man I spoke with this morning confirmed that the information I was given on Monday was correct and he went on to ask me where we had chosen to go instead. As soon as I told him the accommodation he told me that the only way we could change and add to the booking was to cancel our holiday and lose 100% of the cost and then rebook whatever holiday we decided to chose and pay the full price for it as it is within 14 days of travel.

I spoke with a manager and explained the full circumstances to her and she advised me that due to what had happened she would contact the 'conditions team' and as soon as she had a result she would call me back. Some 6 hours later, having not heard anything, I called First Choice again and waited 38 minutes to actually speak to someone. He went back and forth between the manager and myself and basically told me that the hotel wouldn't allow him in the room as he is an adult. I asked to speak with the manager again but apparently she was on another call (somehow he kept managing to speak with her though) and would call me back as soon as she was finished that call. This was about 4pm today and I'm still waiting on her to get back to me.

Now, I know I'm appealing to their better nature, which might be a complete and utter waste of time, but, we are in the position where we now have a 15 year old with us that we can't leave at home alone while we are on holiday, the full circumstances are exceptional and outwith our control, if we hadn't taken him (and we are delighted that we did) he would have ended up in emergency foster care, and the whole thing happened within 14 days of travel so we couldn't have done it outwith that time even if we wanted to!

If we cancel we stand to lose everything that we have paid as I don't think that the various methods for getting money back, eg insurance, credit cards, etc would pay out in these circumstances.

Does anyone else have any advice in relation to this or gone through something similar? I just don't know where we will stand with it all. The stress from the weekend has finally caught up with me and my pregnancy and it's starting to take its toll, I don't know which way to turn or which path to take!

TIA

MrsC....tobe

Oops, sorry, I didn't realise that bit of background was going to result in such a big post!

richardw

Cut out 75% of it and it might get read.

ferf1223

I don't know anything about package holidays but could you not DIY a flight and an extra room at the hotel (if they have any left outside of what the package company can offer)? Or, worst case, book another room at a nearby hotel and split up to sleep rather than lose the lot?

I assume it is not realistic to sneak the extra person into the room or that would already have been considered.

peachyprice

Why can't you leave your own holiday intact and book him a new package for just him or book him independently on to the same flight and hotel?

needaholiday

I wonder if it would be worth you contacting the hotel direct. The hotel in Ibiza I stay at every year has adult price with Firstchoice from age 13 but when I book direct with hotel adult price starts from age 16. On the off chance your hotel has same policy maybe they would let you pay extra for the child direct to them and just book a flight for him?

MrsC....tobe

richardw wrote: »

Cut out 75% of it and it might get read.

If I did that there would be no point in asking for any advice as there wouldn't be any thing to refer to as nobody would be able to read the circumstances.

peachyprice

Have you looked at the hotel's own website to see how much a room for him would be?

MrsC....tobe

Thanks ferf, peachy, and needaholiday. Unfortunately there are no rooms left at the hotel, I tried various options today and as he is only 15 we wouldn't be able to book him a package in his own. I'm not sure if we would be able to get him on the same flight/different hotel but can try it, would just need another adult to book onto a holiday and not sure if I could get someone at this short notice.

Needaholiday and peachy, I'm off to see if the hotel have a website I can look at or find them with another company for your suggestion, might be worth a try....thank you

peachyprice

Will they allow a name change at this late date? If they will you could maybe take your husband off and put the lads name on, then book another package for your OH. They won't know who is staying in which room and TBH a 15yo would probably prefer his own room.

MrsC....tobe

Just found a website, the child age on it is in 2 categories, 0-2 years and 3-12 years.
A name change at this stage is also 100% fee and with there being no rooms left at the hotel moving one of us to a different booking isn't really feasible. We'd have to eat and sleep separately which isn't ideal for what's meant to be a family holiday.

I'm not trying to pick holes in suggestions, I'm grateful for anything that anyone can come up with that in the hope that it's a solution that I've not thought of. My heads been all over the place today trying to sort things out, surprised it hasn't caught up with me before now so it's entirely possible there's something there!