Lowcostholidays collapses – your rights as 140,000 hit by travel chaos

crescent678

I booked 2 rooms in Malta for 16 nights leaving 2nd of August,I have had to pay £1600 this week as my rooms were not paid for,I paid £610 in January on my visa debit and the remainder of the balance which was £681 on my credit card in April,do I have to make different claims since its two different cards on different dates,and since I paid £309 more for the rooms since I had to rebook,do I have to foot bill or do I make a claim for the £309 extra,

Many thanks

Alan_Bowen

You should be able to claim the full amount from your credit card issuer.The benefit is that you should also be able to claim the extra £309 using the Consumer Credit Act, if you made a claim against the debit card, the chargeback would only be the value of the amount you paid on the card in the first place

hugo15

Arrived in New York today. Room was showing as pre-paid and hotel not asked for payment. Looks like I have been very very lucky. Thoughts with those still trying to sort out their holiday.

Alan_Bowen

hugo15, it does seem that a lot of the hotel bookings in the US were made through Expedia who were not as generous in allowing invoices to remain outstanding as hotels in Europe were. Having said that, the villas they were booking in Orlando were not paid for and everyone is being re charged for the full amount

Ainsley1

Well, following on from earlier post and Alan's good advice.....
Had no success getting my agent to sort out accommodation for me so now need to pay direct and try and claim back on my atol protection provided by the agent (not lowcost) and have contacted CAA also and await advice from them.

Certificate says agent is responsible for providing accommodation or full refund of atol protected amount (flight plus) -flight home seems to be ok- and the agent is the contact to get that protection. However there is a distinct lack of response from them even after I said I now need to pay accommodation direct.

What is the best approach to get the atol protected money back? (Assuming I can get it back!). Travel home this weekend and communication very poor from here so wait till I get home? Can I claim from CAA? Wording on their website (when I have been able to get online for short periods like this time suggests it is for ATOL holder failure only. I sure feel they are failing me!

Still feel to reiterate earlier thoughts that the protection and procedures and methods need to be reviewed and overhauled yet again. As we can see from many a post on this thread it is so complicated with so many potential get outs!

......phew internet connection lasted for a few minutes yet again!

Mizz_Pink_2

Hi,

18 of us are travelling to Fuertaventura on 3rd August, 16 booked through LCH ( I didnt luckily).

We have confirmed the flights are booked and paid for, but the hotel isn't. Fine - they have the funds to pay again. But the hotel want a bank transfer for the whole amount in 1 lump sum. There are 4 families that need to pay separately on credit cards. They have been trying to get contact with the hotel about this but its impossible to get through. Last time they managed to get through was Tuesday.

Everyone is in a panic and I'd appreciate your thoughts? I'm dubious about the bank transfer request. Any advice would be great. We've been emailing/phoning and on FB.

N&P Monarch though - who have been really helpful :j

Thank-you!

N20Y1D

harrispb wrote: »

Hello,
I have booked and paid for ACCOMMODATION ONLY through hoteling which is a subsidiary company of lowcostholidays. I am due to travel on 1st August 2016. I purchased holiday insurance through annualtravelinsurance and opted for their SUPER COVER PLUS which included THIRD PARTY SUPPLIER INSOLVENCY. The cover states that the insurance company will pay up to the amount shown in my policy schedule (up to £2000.00 per insured person) for any irrecoverable unused costs and charges relating to third party companies that have become insolvent within the booking, such as accommodation providers, hotels, car hire, ferries, coaches, which I have paid or are contracted to pay.

In this instance do you think I will be covered for the costs of my accommodation booking?

I telephoned the claims department to make a new claim and the operator told me that she would email the claim forms for me to complete but there was no guarantee that the company would pay out.

Hopefully this has nothing to do with the fact that it was an accommodation only booking and LCH were acting as a travel agent or some other rubbish which also seems to be how credit card companies are getting out of section 75.

If you have THIRD PARTY SUPPLIER INSOLVENCY cover then surely you should be covered.

Alan_Bowen

Certainly make a claim but I have seen reports from others that a company called IPP who is one of the biggest providers of cover have been denying claims under bank insurance policies claiming that they don't cover package holidays but without the wording it is hard to tell. If you only booked accommodation I can see no reason for them not to cover you, contact them as instructed on the policy documents, and good luck

DealFinder2016

I have just received this reply from the Spanish authorities


Thank you for contacting us.

Regarding the insolvency of Lowcostholidays Spain S.L., the Government of Balearic Islands recommends to follow the updated instructions you will find at the link below:


[Sorry I cant post links but its the same link as before]

If your request contains specific issues which are not answered by these recommendations, you can contact the Directorate-General for Tourism through the usual channels.

Zirafa

Got this the other day. Thought it would be useful for anyone else dealing with Hotels4U...
Good Afternoon

Your booking unfortunately will be cancelled.

We are unable to comment regarding any payment being made by Low Cost previously as we do not receive this information.

We are currently working through all cancellations in date order.

You will need to claim a refund back via the Low Cost website, Bank or Insurance provider and remake a booking either directly with the hotel or via our Thomas cook website.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.