Virgin Holidays - Wont Refund

ricksExpensive

Morning,

Posting on behalf of my mum and dad.

Long story short.

Booked a holiday with Virgin to stay at Southern Palms beach club in Barbados.

Loved it, came home, and booked it for two more occasions, once in April 17 and again for February 18. Slight price difference but thought nothing of it.

On April 17 stay they were in a Garden Room they really liked, and asked management about receiving said room in Feb 18.
They were told no, as they had apparently booked 1 of 3 "discount" rooms available at the hotel.

Asked to see room and it was not what they were expecting, window looked out to a fence higher than window and no further away than 1 meter so there was nothing to see and no sunshine coming in the room, the patio area is more like a tunnel brick wall on onside for hotel, and fence on the other with a brick wall at either end.
This is certainly not something they were shown in the brochure at Virgin nor the photos they showed them on the hotel website when booking.

Hotel management said that hotel was fully booked for the time they are attending in Feb 18, so cannot change room even if parents will to pay a little more.

Flew home, went to see Virgin, showed them the photos and requested a refund and cancel (final payments not due until October 17), or a different hotel.

All other hotels are significantly more expensive (£100's each extra), so requested a refund - only to be told no you cant have a refund as the deposit paid was for a discount room with a no refund policy! Person in the shop was very unhelpful, manager wasn't available to speak to, but person phoned "head office" who said same thing, no refund deposit was for discounted room.

So mum and dad left, and I said id ask on here about potential advice or ways forward.

Is there anything they can do? Mum and dad don't remember them declaring its a discount room you cant have a refund, and the photos shown were certainly different to seeing the room in the flesh. Nothing on paper work says its a discount room either.

Paid a large chunk off the holiday already so are quite upset they stand to lose the money. They dont want to pay the remaining balance to be stuck with the room they have.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


edit* photos of view from window and patio area

[IMG][/img]

[IMG][/img]

richardw

What's the description of the discount room in the brochure and on their invoice?

ricksExpensive

They are described as "Super Saver Rooms" on the invoice.

Parents said they were told they would just be getting a Garden or Pool view room just at a cheaper price, they are an "offer".
Parents got a Garden View room when they went in April 17.

Booked both holidays at the same time with virgin so its odd how it can be so different.

These are the only rooms advertised on the virgin website and the hotels own website. http://www.southernpalms.net/barbados-beach-front-accommodations.html

There is no mention that there is a Super Saver Room type or what it consists of.

richardw

ricksExpensive wrote: »

...they were told they would just be getting a Garden or Pool view room ...

Why doesn't it say that on the invoice?

Who told them they would be getting a Garden room view?

ricksExpensive

Person that served them in Virgin. Mum says they gave them the mumbo jumbo about how they have X amount of rooms at the hotel and they are able to offer a certain number at cheaper rates depending on numbers taken etc.etc.

If you search for a holiday on virgin website for (months in advance, just tried it myself), you can select a Super Saver Room, but there doesn't appear to be a description of what it consists of from what I can see.

richardw

It appears they have been misled verbally in the shop.

ricksExpensive

Got a feeling there isn't going to be much that can be done. Its a typical one persons word against another situation isn't it.

Find it all very odd that you can book the same holiday twice at the same time and get two different room types.

Invoice for going in April 17 says "Super Saver Room" as well, but they were in a garden view. Is it possible hotel had availability and just changed reservation to a better room?

Quite naughty that they have a 5th room type, but dont have any details on it on their websites. struggling to find any information on the room on virgin or hotels own website. Appears to be plenty about them when searching in google though.

IAmWales

richardw wrote: »

It appears they have been misled verbally in the shop.

I would agree, the difficulty is proving it.

Do the invoices for the other trips specify the room type? Are these rooms the same inside?

I'd keep in touch with the hotel. Chances are they will have cancellations in the meantime, and when they do they can be first in line to upgrade. This may well have a cost attached, but a better room (had one been available at the time of booking) would always have been more expensive.

richardw

It's reasonable to have a clear room description and for those room deficiencies to be described.

Start reading about http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-use-the-small-claims-court you may have to start a claim before you get anywhere.

Voyager2002

Were they both together in the shop when they made the booking?

If so, if the matter went to court then the judge would accept their word over that of the shop manager. So it might well be worth issuing court proceedings under the small claims track.

IAmWales

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Were they both together in the shop when they made the booking?

If so, if the matter went to court then the judge would accept their word over that of the shop manager. So it might well be worth issuing court proceedings under the small claims track.

You can't say this for certain. A judge would assume that a couple would back each other up, in the same way that two colleagues are likely to do so.

That's not to say that they might not win, but nobody can categorically state that.

As a side note, the website does state that super saver rooms may not have a balcony. This would only be relevant to the OP's situation if the adviser read out the important information section to them (it appears they did not?).