Any advice for a newby who has been a bit of a twit?

SwiftyFrisco

Thank you both for sage advice. Out of interest would a bedbank usually book rooms in a small (6 room) apartment set up? Seems unlikely to me and according to everything I can find online these apartment rooms are only bookable via Travel Corner. All very confusing. I'm going to see what I can find to book myself. Cheers! SF

leylandsunaddict

SwiftyFrisco wrote: »

Thank you both for sage advice. Out of interest would a bedbank usually book rooms in a small (6 room) apartment set up? Seems unlikely to me and according to everything I can find online these apartment rooms are only bookable via Travel Corner. All very confusing. I'm going to see what I can find to book myself. Cheers! SF

If Imperial Travel are offering them they're getting them from a bedbank unless they're getting them from Travel Corner, but that would be unlikely. It would cost them too much.

lea2012

Firstly, I would say the same as several others and suggest that you cancel the accomm and re-book it elsewhere. They can't charge you for this, or charge you an admin fee although I fear they may try. As they are a supplier only, they can't charge you for something that they can't provide, and the same goes for low costs beds although they will cancel free of charge and are unlikely to try and charge Imperial any money.

When you book through Imperial, or many of the other online travel agents you will find that they have booked through a bed bank such as low cost beds. Low cost beds will have booked it either through another local third party supplier such as Greco Services or Avra Tours who have direct contracts with the hotel. They may in some cases book it direct with the hotel themselves or in some instances Low Cost Beds will be buying from another bed bank such as HotelBeds who have then booked through a local supplier or directly with the hotel! As you can see there can usually be anything between 3-6 or more suppliers involved in the chain! And yes they do use small apartments with only 6 rooms, if the deal is right and the owner is prepared to sell to them.

I presume you are travelling early season or late season if the hotel is closed? I would suggest looking on booking.com as a lot of hoteliers can sell direct through them. If anything it will give you an idea of who may allow direct bookings. I would also suggest asking for some local contacts via facebook as there are several Corfu groups on there, try Corfu Forum or Corfu South if you are interested in the south and they can probably suggest some places that take direct bookings and that will be open. We've been to Corfu quite a lot and found these groups invaluable.

SwiftyFrisco

lea2012 - thanks so much. I did have a look on Bookings.com last night and have contacted a hotel direct - just waiting to hear back from them about availability. Yes you are right I'm going early season. The Facebook idea is great too I will look into that. It's very reassuring to hear that (hopefully) Imperial Travel won't demand more money. I was concerned they would ask for 25% as a 'cancellation' charge.
Thank you! SF

littlereddevil

To reiterate Imperial can't charge you anything as THEY cancelled your hotel booking

lea2012

Imperial may well try and demand a cancellation payment, in fact I expect they will but you certainly don't need to pay it.

We know the Corfu area pretty well so if you tell us which resort I may even be able to suggest somewhere myself!

SwiftyFrisco

Hi lea2012 - we are looking for somewhere in Kassiopi ideally. 2 adults no children. Let me know if you do know anywhere. Thank you! I am expecting Imperial to demand a percentage of the outstanding balance but it's good to hear you can just not pay it.

leylandsunaddict

There's no reason for them to ask for a cancellation payment. If you check their terms and conditions it will most likely be that the accommodation wasn't confirmed in the first place. With most OTAs you don't buy anything on the website, just make an offer to purchase should the elements still be available, and at the same cost. You get an email confirming your offer. If the elements are available you get a confirmation email on behalf of the relevant supplier. If they're not, as in the case of the accommodation, then it doesn't get confirmed.

SwiftyFrisco

Thanks Leylandsunaddict. I've never booked through a travel agency before and the process has been quite odd. When we saw the hotel we liked for the dates we wanted we called IT and they went through a breakdown off all the costs, add ons etc. and we agreed a total price with a deposit of £150 paid over the phone and the rest due some weeks later.
We then read online reviews and panicked! Checked the bank account and part of the £150 had been paid to Easyjet and part to IT. A few days later we got email confirmation of the Easyjet bookings in our names for the correct dates and I have added our passpart details online. Also received emailed vouchers for the transfers to/from airport and the hotel voucher on Lowcostbeds headed paper.
We also did get a five page terms and conditions email (got that wrong before) but it mainly refers to the various airlines check in processes. The terms mentioned all outstanding balances to be paid 12 weeks prior to departure, which I queried, and was told to ignore as the air tickets had already been paid in full. There is mention of a 25% cancellation fee but as you pointed out earlier if they try to claim this I will point out there has been no actual accommodation booked. I assumed they had pre-booked rooms which they then sold on but obviously this is not the case.

lea2012

We've never actually stayed in Kassiopi, we usually stay in the south but we're planning a trip back to Corfu next year and we plan on having a few days in Kassiopi!

We were recommended the Solaris Apartments and the Philippos Hotel / Apartments by friends who go there quite a bit. We have a 9 year old so like somewhere with a pool and believe both places have one. I know you can book direct with the Solaris but not sure about Philipos.