Short changed by the Virgin holiday sale

lozzaj83

My sister is due to be married in Las Vegas in March 2017.

Since we found out in May this year I have been watching the prices of the holidays go up and down.

In the weeks leading up to the sale most of the prices that I saw were over £1000 for flights (non direct) and 5 nights stay in the Luxor hotel.

When the Virgin Sale was advertised, I was encouraged to book this trip within the sale deadline for the best offers.
Which I took advantage of.

The holiday that I booked was Sunday 12th March - Friday 17th March with 5 nights stay at the Luxor with a direct flight from LGW, but a return flight via Los Angeles, back to LHW.

This 'deal' was £907pp. It was the best option and cost that I could get for a single person travelling.

I logged back into Virgin Holidays after the sale ended this week to find that the exact same trip is being offered at £36 cheaper, and then today £15 cheaper with direct flights in both directions. This was over £1200 when I looked during the sale period and prior.

I spoke to one of the Chat representatives this week who told me that these prices can change which I understand - but to put the prices up before a sale, and then to make them so much lower afterwards is appalling. I am very disappointed. I could have paid for an upgraded seat within my budget and flown back to the same airport directly!!

I was told there isn't anything that I can do about my booking now, as I would lose my £175 deposit.

I still have family members waiting to book - hence why I noticed the changes in price.

Is there anything else I can do??

[Deleted User]

The short answer is no.
You were happy to save £100 on the sale price as it was then offered.
There's no guarantee that prices will go up or down because they're based on supply and demand like virtually every other business.
You've got two options - enjoy your holiday or let this incident bug you.
I know which I'd choose.

agrinnall

"Encouraged" by who? Did Richard Branson come round and threaten to stay in your spare room unless you bought there and then? Sounds like a case of buyer's remorse to me, and the solution is never to look again at prices after you've paid.

budgetflyer

agrinnall wrote: »

"Encouraged" by who? Did Richard Branson come round and threaten to stay in your spare room unless you bought there and then? Sounds like a case of buyer's remorse to me, and the solution is never to look again at prices after you've paid.

No. He advertised a sale that never was! Shoddy practice.

photome

You were happy to pay what you did, then stop looking.

Having said that there is no harm in looking at flight prices now and pricing a hotel seperatley to see what it would cost, norwegianair do cheap flights to Vegas, although you may not save enough to warrant losing £175

I would ask you..who encouraged you to book

lozzaj83

Yes completely my fault!
I've had to check back again to book flights for my mum.
The package during the sale was the best I had seen it as before it was over £1200.
I'm just gutted that as I really wanted direct flights which were not an option for less than £1200 during the sale and now they are direct both ways for £885.
You live and learn!

Sucked in by the marketing tactics to get the best price before the sale ends!

Kynthia

Did everything that was in the sale go down afterwards? If not then only things that didn't sell well did and they (and you) have no way of knowing that in advance. If they had sold more the price would likely have gone up. It's unlikely they planned to reduce the price so they can't have 'suckered' or deceived you. Annoying but holidays and flights are a very fluctuating item with no definite time to get the best price.

lozzaj83

Just wanted to drop back and let you know that I managed to change my flights to direct ones and they refunded the price difference.

If you don't ask you don't get.....