Can I cancel?

dleafy

peachyprice wrote: »

Except it's not changing until May, you go in January, it's still in exactly the same brochure while you are on holiday.

But at £600 cheaper. If you would be happy with your hotel being advertised at a lesser price in a lesser category, then happy days!
I'm not, with, IMO, good reason

lea2012

On what dates is it £600 cheaper?

Is it £600 cheaper for the same dates that you have booked for? This could just be because it's getting closer to the departure date and therefore they want to get shut of any excess rooms that they have in the hotel or seats on the flight. As the 'brand' is the still the same for January this price different can't be attributed to the re-branding at all really. However if you are so determined to get something out of Thomsons then maybe you could use the price difference as a bargaining tool and ask for a partial refund of the difference rather than cancel altogether.

If the price is for May 2015 when the brochure has changed then you can't really compare it as peak season for long haul is in our winter months, and May would generally be cheaper than January anyway.

It can't possibly be for Jan 2016 same dates as you are travelling, but under the new brand as Jan 2016 is not on sale yet.

peachyprice

dleafy wrote: »

But at £600 cheaper. If you would be happy with your hotel being advertised at a lesser price in a lesser category, then happy days!
I'm not, with, IMO, good reason

Holiday prices fluctuate, regardless of what brochure they are in, this is what you agreed to when you booked. Do you believe that every single other holiday in the 'a la carte' brochure is the exact same price as it was when the brochure was printed?

It's rare for a holiday to stay the exact same price throughout a year and pretty much every person on the same package will have paid a different price depending on when they booked, as you well know because you've had it work the other way around too.

dleafy

My point is simple. If I was to book the exact same holiday for the exact same date, I could do so for £600 less. This was not possible until they changed the category. They can say that it's not changing till next year, but I'm not buying that. Something has happened to cause them to rebrand this hotel and drop the price. I have a right to know what.

dleafy

BTW, I'm posting on my iphone with my fat fingers, so I haven't thanked or reported anyone. :-)

mgdavid

dleafy wrote: »

Happy to 'fall for it'
Happy to pay too!
But don't go changing a damn thing about it without having the decency to allow me to decide whether your change affects me.
That's my money, my decision.... Surely?

Watch my lips:
* they didn't *

dleafy

mgdavid wrote: »

Watch my lips:
* they didn't *

How on earth would you know?
What if standards have slipped at this hotel and this is why it's being downgraded.
You sound a very trusting person. Good on ya. Wanna buy shares in London bridge?

jpsartre

So now you're complaining and wanting to cancel simply based on the bare possibility that something MIGHT have changed? The entertainment value of this thread just keeps increasing :rotfl:

dleafy

"Might"
Something 'has' changed... They emailed me to tell me so. Its now platinum.
People on here are making a helluva lot of assumptions. I just want some facts from Thomsons!

lea2012

From what I can gather the hotel only opened in November December 2013 (Riu Palace Jamaica as you mentioned on page one) so I imagine a timeline of events similar to the below has led to the change:

June 2012 - Brochure planning begins at Thomsons for Winter 2013/2014 (possibly even earlier than this). Hotel isn't open yet so Thomsons can't see the finished hotel but based on facilities etc it's decided that the hotel will sit best in the A La Carte brochure.

October 2012 - Brochures for Winter 2013/2014 are launched. (Re-prints may take place between now and the hotel opening).

Winter 2013 - discussions take place at Thomsons regarding new products and brochures for 2015. 'Platinum Lifestyle' is created.

November 2013 - Hotel opens and Thomsons decide it fits better with Platinum Lifestyle which is a high end range of hotels that fit in to a 'luxury lifestyle' category due to it's modern stylish design and which will launch in May 2015. (http://www.traveldailymedia.com/210775/new-thomson-platinum-lifestyle-collection-launches/)

January 2014 - You booked.

Late Summer 2014 - new brochures for 2015 launched which shows hotel in a new brochure. Nothing about the hotel has changed, all facilities same and customer ratings are amazing!!

January 2015 - You are probably left without a holiday or in some other A la Carte hotel that is nowhere near as good as the RIU Palace Jamaica as you've cut your nose off to spite your face!!