eDreams hotels and TransHotel

Bazza73

Hi,

Just a note of warning to anyone who has booked a hotel via eDreams recently. Check your confirmation email and if it states it is guaranteed by transHotel (), you need to check directly with the hotel before you travel if the booking is still valid. TransHotel when into Administration as per http://www.ttgdigital.com/news/transhotel-enters-three-month-period-of-administration/4692968.article .

I booked a flight and hotel on eDreams on the 26th Sep 2014 staying at the Ramada Apollo hotel in Amsterdam. When I arrived at the hotel on Friday 17th Oct 2014, I was told that the hotel had cancelled all bookings via transHotel 3 weeks ago when it had heard about the Administration. Ended up having to book a much more expensive room directly at the hotel.

I didn't receive any notice from eDreams about the issue with their hotel provider. When I phoned eDreams from the hotel, I got through to a call centre were the staff barely spoke English - was no use what-so-ever! It's a good job a had spare credit card with me else I would not have been able to afford to book a room.

One other thing - when you book a hotel, you expect the price you book it for to be the final all-in price. Whats the deal with some European cites adding a city tax per night to your stay and why is this not included in the base price charged given that you seem unable to avoid it and it therefore becomes part of the price. You can easily get caught out on this one especially if you are staying multiple nights.

In terms of claiming compensation from eDreams for this, what can I expect? Will it just be the original cost of the hotel part of the booking? Will it also include the extra cost of the more expensive room rates? What about general compensation for the hassle caused?

Amsterdam was great thou!

Any advice greatly welcomed.
Baz.

Voyager2002

Communication with eDreams is a nightmare (in fact the whole company is a nightmare)...

Personally I would write to them requesting the actual cost of your hotel stay (less the taxes, which in any case would not have been included), since you had a contract with them to provide said accommodation and they failed to fulfill their side of the bargain. Copy the letter to your credit card company (I really hope that you paid eDreams using a credit card). I doubt if you will hear anything from eDreams, but your credit card provider is also liable.

If you paid eDreams by bank transfer you have lost everything. If you paid by debit card then you can request a chargeback of the amount you paid, but have weaker protection than if you had used a credit card.

Bazza73

Thanks voyager2002.

As I booked a flight and hotel with them in one transaction, I have logged a call with them for a full refund of the total cost, as as you said, they are in breach of contract. I'll keep the post updated with any outcomes.

Cheers.

dizzy12

Hello,

I am in the same situation, i was due to stay at the same hotel as Bazza73. I emailed them asking what time we could check in, only to be told that the confirmation number is under transhotel and that it is cancelled. I booked through e dreams and was meant to be going saturday, not too sure what to do now, will i get any money back as from the emails and what i have read it doesn't look like i will. I did not take insurance out i was going to the day i found out but obviously this wouldnt be valid. The flights were booked through edreams with easy jet. Does anyone know what i should do? as they said if i cancel there may be a charge too. Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Alan_Bowen

Firstly edreams is not a UK company, if it was you would have been protected by a Flight Plus ATOL Certificate which guarantees you either a full refund or a replacement hotel. E dreams considers that it is not bound by UK law and you have two separate contracts, one with easyjet, a no refund airline and one with transhotel which probably isn't worth the paper it is printed on. If you paid by credit card, your best bet is to rebook another hotel, not with edreams please, and make a claim under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for the payment you made to edreams for the contract with transhotel.

Some lessons for everyone to learn, don't book with companies that are not based in the UK and don't have an ATOL licence, always take out travel insurance at the time you book and check to see whether it covers supplier failure insurance. Learn the difference between a package holiday with a single contract for everything and using an agent, such as edreams to enter separate contracts with hotels and airlines when you can be left with only half a holiday and have no contract at all with the agent itself

Voyager2002

Bazza73 wrote: »

Thanks voyager2002.

As I booked a flight and hotel with them in one transaction, I have logged a call with them for a full refund of the total cost, as as you said, they are in breach of contract. I'll keep the post updated with any outcomes.

Cheers.

Well, that is not what I suggested. It sounds as if your flights were provided as per your contract, so you have no reason to request a refund of your air fare.

Voyager2002

dizzy12 wrote: »

Hello,

I am in the same situation, i was due to stay at the same hotel as Bazza73. I emailed them asking what time we could check in, only to be told that the confirmation number is under transhotel and that it is cancelled. I booked through e dreams and was meant to be going saturday, not too sure what to do now, will i get any money back as from the emails and what i have read it doesn't look like i will. I did not take insurance out i was going to the day i found out but obviously this wouldnt be valid. The flights were booked through edreams with easy jet. Does anyone know what i should do? as they said if i cancel there may be a charge too. Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thank you.

It is probable that you have separate contracts for flights and for hotel. You still have the flights, and if you choose to cancel them you are likely to lose money.

Bazza73

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Well, that is not what I suggested. It sounds as if your flights were provided as per your contract, so you have no reason to request a refund of your air fare.

If eDreams were a decent company to deal with, then you have a valid point about only claiming the hotel part. However, they are not - they could have contacted me and arranged a rebooking of the hotel part when they as travel agents knew about the failure of transHotel 3 weeks before I travelled. While a section 75 chargeback via my credit card would penalise the airline, directly claiming the full amount from eDreams only penalises them.

Have been digging around on some legal forums on this and it would seem that since the flight and hotel were both booked together (flight plus hotel), then the entire booking is covered under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992 (see http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/my-travel-company-has-gone-bust-what-can-i-do-). This states that even where the flight and hotel show up separately on the bill, they are classed as a package deal. While this is a UK specific Reg, the same rules apply across the EU. As eDreams are registered in Spain, this also covers them.

I need to check if the fact that they sell under a co.uk domain also requires them to abide by UK laws. If so, it would make claiming against them in a County Court easier.

Just found this (http://realbusiness.co.uk/article/23753-legal-advice-for-selling-online-to-europe) - while it talks about distance selling laws (which don't cover travel), the general gist of it is that EU businesses selling into the UK have to abide by both UK and EU rules when selling over the internet.

Any legal advisers reading this? This would be a good topic for a travel sticky on the main forum site - legal rights when travelling.

Bazza73

photome

IMO
you have no chance of a flight refund and little chance of any refund.
I hope you are succesful though.

As for the city tax, as you say it is normal in many parts of europe and is usually clearly stated when booking the hotel, I dont know if it is on Edreams as i have never used them

Voyager2002

Bazza73 wrote: »

If eDreams were a decent company to deal with, then you have a valid point about only claiming the hotel part. However, they are not - they could have contacted me and arranged a rebooking of the hotel part when they as travel agents knew about the failure of transHotel 3 weeks before I travelled. While a section 75 chargeback via my credit card would penalise the airline, directly claiming the full amount from eDreams only penalises them.

Have been digging around on some legal forums on this and it would seem that since the flight and hotel were both booked together (flight plus hotel), then the entire booking is covered under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992 (see http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/my-travel-company-has-gone-bust-what-can-i-do-). This states that even where the flight and hotel show up separately on the bill, they are classed as a package deal. While this is a UK specific Reg, the same rules apply across the EU. As eDreams are registered in Spain, this also covers them.

I need to check if the fact that they sell under a co.uk domain also requires them to abide by UK laws. If so, it would make claiming against them in a County Court easier.

Just found this (http://realbusiness.co.uk/article/23753-legal-advice-for-selling-online-to-europe) - while it talks about distance selling laws (which don't cover travel), the general gist of it is that EU businesses selling into the UK have to abide by both UK and EU rules when selling over the internet.

Any legal advisers reading this? This would be a good topic for a travel sticky on the main forum site - legal rights when travelling.

Bazza73

Why ask for advice when you know it all anyway?

Companies like this sell flight and hotel at the same time, but carefully avoid selling them as a package. It is therefore highly unlikely that you possess the legal protection that you have read about on the internet. Anyway, I wish you luck...

Alan_Bowen

Edreams is registered in Spain and under the EU Services Directive they are permitted to trade through the rest of the EU without complying with UK law. Taking legal action in UK courts is probably pointless as they have no office here and you would have to serve proceedings in Barcelona. They will argue that you have no contract with them at all but two separate contracts, one with easyjet, which they will honour if you turn up and one with Transhotels which won't be honoured. If that is correct and since I have never seen any documentation I cannot say for certain, action against eDreams would fail anyway as they are not in breach of contract.