Compensation claim against holiday booking firm

selsdon_2

Could a kind soul please point me in the direction of any sticky/templates in relation to the above (I have looked!)

In short I booked a two week stay in Crete through Travel Republic, paid for 3 rooms, hotel said mess up with booking and could only provide the 3rd room during the second week. Also paid for two garden views and a sea view, ended up with a pool view and two car park views.

Various calls to and from Travel Rep where they admitted liability and have received complaint forms to fill in but want to know how to word correctly etc

Cheers

Jamie

lea2012

No correct template that I have heard of or seen on here.
In answer to your question, keep the complaint short, to the point and don't bog it down with emotion and melodramatics or they won't be interested.
Include photos or an evidence you have from the hotel.
Ask for a refund for the first week for the room that you didn't get. (You should get this but the hotel may get out of it if they offered you a larger room to accommodate you, that in effect cost them more money i.e an 'upgrade'.
Also ask for a refund for the price difference between the rooms you got and the rooms you paid for. do double check your hotel voucher first though as in my experience rooms will probably say 'studio with pool /garden view' which means you could get either or. And even though you overlooked a car park the hotel could still argue that there was some greenery, hence it was a garden view!
Don't expect much more than that as unfortunately it's unlikely you will get any 'compensation' for the inconvenience.

selsdon_2

Thanks Lea, will keep it short and sweet and to the point.

Jamie

htwfrank

Jamie - we have some template letters you could use and these can be found here - (for some strange reason it thinks I am a new user - I am not and so I am not able to post a link - therefore if you go to the website of HolidayTravelWatch and after .com paste the following: /action/free-complaint-letters/when-you-return-from-holiday - you will find our template letters!)

Hopefully that will help (the first letter is I suspect what you need - whenever I speak with ABTA they will often comment that the structure and format of this letter often helps to get complaints resolved quickly because their members understand the issues because of the way that they have been set out). Also with TR, they will claim that they have not sold a Package and therefore your complaint is with the 'supplier'. We disagree on this interpretation (backed by the law, definitions and stated cases) and you may find yourself frustrated by this part of the process; you have however in our view, the Package Travel Regulations on your side as is evidenced by many Consumers we have guided in similar situations!

You have been given good advices on evidence, but make sure that you only provide copies.

I am not sure that I would agree about the level of compensation suggested - this is a breach of contract pure and simple and even if TR are correct that they have not sold you a Package, I would suggest that they have some liability in negligence in contract because you relied on their expertise, skill and care to execute and ensure that the contract was faithfully delivered. That said, it is entirely appropriate for you to set out your expectations of compensation and that would include inconvenience, stress and anxiety and any out of pocket expenses that you could reasonably claim as a result of their failures.

You should remind them that you self-mitigated your losses by ensuring that you worked hard to make the contract work and that you considered that you had a Package and therefore acquired rights under Regulation 14 of the Package Travel Regulations - a court I suspect would be persuaded by your clear attempts to get on with the holiday! On the court issue, don't be tempted like so many consumers to rush into court unless you have received independent advices beforehand.

Hope that helps,

Frank

selsdon_2

Sorry for late reply but thank you very much Frank.

Busy with work last week so starting comp claim today, really appreciate your input.

Cheers

Jamie

selsdon_2

An update and plea for what to do next.

I completed an official TR complaint form, attached photo and video evidence and based claim on:

1: Three rooms were booked and paid for but only two rooms supplied for first week of holiday.

2: Sea-view accommodation was paid for but only supplied for first week of holiday.

3: I am looking for reimbursement of telephone costs incurred dealing with this matter.

4: Finally I am looking for compensation for the inconvenience, stress and anxiety this this caused my family during our holiday.

Received an email from TR this morning stating that "Travel Republic is an online travel agent and acts as agent to various travel providers. In the case of your booking, the relevant travel provider was Hotel Beds. I have relayed your concerns to Hotel Beds and received the following response"

Basically hotelbeds.com emailed the hotel who have replied back:

1: Three studio rooms were booked and paid for but only two rooms supplied for first week of holiday.

For the first five days we upgraded the xxxxx group with one studio and one 4-bed superior apartment with sea-view.

2: Secondly sea-view accommodation was paid for but only supplied for first week of holiday.

We provided, without charge, a sea-view superior four-bed apartment for the convenience of the family.

3: I am looking for reimbursement of telephone costs incurred dealing with this matter.

We have charged xxxxx only 25 € out of the 60 euros actual cost of the telephone calls that he made from his room.As he himself admitted “a very ‘generous gesture” .

4: Finally I am looking for compensation for the inconvenience, stress and anxiety this caused my family during our holiday.
The only possible inconvenience was the move from the 2nd floor to the ground floor on the16th of August,via lift and with the manager’s help

And that, according to hotelbeds.com, is the end of the matter, no compensation due.

Astonished.

So because we were given a more expensive room for the first week that compensates for the fact we paid for three but only had two.

A sea-view was only available for 5 days, yet that has been glossed over.

The telephone costs I have no idea what they are talking about, my claim was made for costs incurred via my mobile and against TR, not the hotel. I attached copies of my bill.

And the only possible inconvenience was packing and unpacking a family of five midway through our holiday and having to move rooms, no hassle at all and how nice of the manager to help us by providing a lift, the arrogance.

A few personal slights were made by the hotel against us as a family effectively saying we were nothing but trouble during our stay. Disgusting.

Two of the rooms we were moved to during the second week were facing a car-park and a main road, both of which the hotel deny the existence of, despite photographic and video evidence.

What, where, who is my next course of action please? Hotel.beds are not ABTA registered so ABTA can't help. Travel Rep are washing their hands of it.

Any help very gratefully appreciated.

Jamie

glentoran99

travel republic are abta registered though and thats who you booked through, take it to abta

mgdavid

put it down to experience and in future consider using reputable agents with industry protection,while expecting a slightly higher cost. Having little or no redress in the event of problems is one of the risks of doing it through the cheapest channels.

Alan_Bowen

The problem is you didn't book a package holiday and the rights you have under the Package Holiday Regulations don't exist when you book with Travel Republic. You have no contract with TR, only with the individual suppliers and in this case Hotel Beds which has as you have seen, have given you the finger to be polite. If you thought you were buying a package holiday it is possible you were mislead, intentionally or otherwise but you would need to try and rebook, obviously not going that far, and see what their website says. Hotelbeds only deals with the trade and not with consumers but you might like to know that they are part of TUI Travel, the company that owns Thomson and First Choice Holidays!!

lea2012

Your next step would be to reply to TR and re-iterate that you did not get the sea / pool view room that you booked for the full duration and that you are not happy with the response. They will then go back to Hotel Beds, who in turn will seek more info from the hotel. It might take a while as it's now out of season and the hotelier may not be easy to contact.

As they 'upgraded' you there isn't a great deal that can be done. I appreciate you booked 3 x studios, which I presume would have had 6 x beds in total. If they then gave you a studio and a 4 bed room you've still been given the 6 beds and haven't needed to sleep on a sofa / camp bed for the holiday.
I would also imagine that you wouldn't get any compensation for stress / anxiety either I'm afraid. I know it was upsetting to not get the three rooms, but it's hardly the end of the world and wouldn't have caused you that much stress or ruined your holiday unless you let it.

I think that the best you can hope for is a refund of any supplement you paid for the sea / pool view and a refund for your phone calls to TR too.

littlereddevil

Absolutely shocking. No way can a larger shared room equal separate rooms. Some people don't want to share rooms and you must have been missing a bathroom!