Booked hotel in Egypt independently on credit card - how do I get money back?!

CM3

Hi

Back in early November 2015 (2 weeks before the plane 'incident') I booked Easy Jet flights to Egypt for July 2016 and a hotel separately. Easy Jet cancelled my lights and refunded me. I rebooked with Monarch, they have now cancelled flights... clearly I'm not going to be able to get to Egypt now.

I bought travel insurance the same day as I booked the holiday: American Express Essential... they say that this is an act of terrorism and therefore will not refund me.. although it is just that the FCO say travel is unsafe so nut sure where I stand.

I also paid for the hotel on my MBNA credit card, so not sure if that would cover me.

It seems like the hotelier is able to provide my service, I just can't get there to utilise it as I'm not allowed to travel there from UK.

This is really confusing and I don't know what to do. My family are now looking to miss out on their summer holiday and all because I tried to save money by booking flights and hotel independently; ironically because of the Easy Jet flight sale advertised on this website

Please help.............

PeacefulWaters

No liability on the credit card company.

I'm assuming you've booked non-refundable hotel.

If your travel insurer refuses to pay up then you can complain and escalate to the FOS.

grumbler

CM3 wrote: »

I bought travel insurance the same day as I booked the holiday: American Express Essential... they say that this is an act of terrorism and therefore will not refund me.. although it is just that the FCO say travel is unsafe so nut sure where I stand.

Like all insurers they are best at fobbing customers off. Stick to your guns and complain to FOS if needed.

I also paid for the hotel on my MBNA credit card, so not sure if that would cover me.

I don't see how the hotel (and, hence, MBNA) is at any fault, but if the flight was paid for by a CC, claiming consequential loss under s75 can be a possibility.

CM3

Yes it is non-refundable. Are there a number of hoops I must jump through before I can go to the FOS? Are there usually time limits on these things?

grumbler

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

tomtontom

Is the hotel in Sharm? If so the FCO are not advising against travel there, just that you don't fly there. Have you looked at alternative routes?

CM3

tomtontom wrote: »

Is the hotel in Sharm? If so the FCO are not advising against travel there, just that you don't fly there. Have you looked at alternative routes?

Hi. Yes I did for a very long time and the cost of doing so outweighs the cost of my hotel not to mention taking 2 young children through some daunting airports like Cairo and moreover relying on catching the connections.

Careful_ly

I mentioned your plight to someone in the travel industry today, as he told me he had just come back from Egypt.


He suggests contacting the hotel direct and asking to speak to "inhouse reservations" not just the normal reservation department.


Hope you can resolve this.

Darksparkle

CM3 wrote: »

Hi

Back in early November 2015 (2 weeks before the plane 'incident')

Please help.............

The incident was in October so wouldn't that mean you booked after it?

DCFC79

Darksparkle wrote: »

The incident was in October so wouldn't that mean you booked after it?

Yes October 31st it happened.

Maybe the OP meant October was when they booked the flights.

CKhalvashi

CM3 wrote: »

Hi. Yes I did for a very long time and the cost of doing so outweighs the cost of my hotel not to mention taking 2 young children through some daunting airports like Cairo and moreover relying on catching the connections.

Cairo is one of the easier airports to transit through IME, although you'll need to clear immigration/customs there, rather than at Sharm, which whilst making life generally easier, will mean that you need to ideally leave 2 hours between the scheduled landing time and scheduled departure time (I've done it in 15 minutes, but it can take longer). It's a much smaller airport than Amsterdam/Moscow/Istanbul (all 3 of which I transit regularly), which again should make it a lot less daunting.

The only other option would be to try the hotel direct, however with the FCO not advising against travel, there is no guarantee that this would work.