Travel Republic

mummymania

I booked a hotel with Travel Republic last month, a 4 star with good facilities for me and my children. However when I arrived at the hotel, I was told that they couldn't accomodate me and they would move me to another hotel which was a 3 star. When I returned to the UK I emailed TR asking for a refund of the difference in price of the 3 star and 4 star, and they wrote to say they would investigate and get back to me within 28 days. Well 29 days later I have had a reply stating that they haven't heard back from the hotel but they would carry on trying to contact them (?) and would get back to me in 14 days.

I feel a bit peeved because this was the first holiday abroad for my young children and the reason i picked this 4 star was because of the children's entertainment. At the 3 star there were no facilities for the girls and we were infact 3 miles from the original hotel in a different resort, so its not as if we could pop back there to use their facilities.

What can I do now, sit and wait or would ABTA help me? Surely I made my contract with TR and they can easily refund me?
Thanks

budgetflyer

Yes they should.You will need to be a bit more forcefull though. You really should have contacted them right away though.ie first day of your holiday
Its probably not Travel Republics fault though. The hotel have oversold the rooms. As Travel Republic probably have negociated the best rates, their clients get bumped first. It happened to us to this year, however our new accom was better IMO

mummymania

I appreciate your comments, but surely it takes 2 minutes to pick up the phone to resolve this with the hotel? I think 4 weeks is unacceptable, never mind 6 weeks! What if TR can't 'resolve' it? Where does that leave the customer? I paid for a 4 star and I think its unacceptable to move us to a lower class hotel, expecially with young children. I asked for a quiet room at the original hotel, but obviously the second hotel wasn't expecting us or knew of my request and we were outside the lift and overlooking the main road!! It was an extremely disappointing experience for me and I felt sorry that my children didnt have the facilities that I had promised them.

littlereddevil

I agree 6 weeks is far too long