BA changing accomodation and want to charge.

letiss7

Hi all,


A friend of mine asked me for some advice, just checking that I am going to give him the right advice...


He booked a holiday through BA holidays website about 6months ago for a holiday over Xmas.
It was an all-inclusive package holiday
BA contacted him yesterday and told him that the hotel he has booked was an adult only one and the system should NOT have let him book the hotel as he has under 18s in his family.
They offered him alternative accommodation but want to charge the difference in price. The accommodation is of a similar standard.
I've said to him that I would not allow BA to charge me extra for their mistake, especially 6 months after the original booking and tkaing the payment in full.
I want to tell him to go to ABTA if BA do not agree to change the accommodation for free. Would ABTA help is this scenario?

Westin

Which hotel is it?
Does the hotel description mention Adult Only?
What details did he include when booking (presumably online) - children/teens/adults?

letiss7

I don't have the specific hotel name but apprently it said over 16s but when BA contacted him yesterday they said it was over 18s only.
However they did say their online booking system shouldn't have let the booking go through as it should have detected the age of the child when he entered it as part of the booking.


The details entered were normal booking things like name, address, DOB, age on return etc.

comeandgo

If he does not pay the difference they will just cancel the holiday and repay his money.

Pollycat

Westin wrote: »

Which hotel is it?
Does the hotel description mention Adult Only?
What details did he include when booking (presumably online) - children/teens/adults?

To this I'd add - is the hotel still being advertised by BA and does it still say over 16s or have they changed it?

If it says over 16s I'd grab a screen shot pdq.

letiss7

comeandgo wrote: »

If he does not pay the difference they will just cancel the holiday and repay his money.

Yes that is the option they have given him but it seems very unfair as they have admitted it was their mistake.

letiss7

Pollycat wrote: »

To this I'd add - is the hotel still being advertised by BA and does it still say over 16s or have they changed it?

If it says over 16s I'd grab a screen shot pdq.

He's got a screenshot of it from the original booking which he took by chance. BA have admitted the fault lay in their booking system allowing the booking to go through. This is why I think he should push BA to change the accommodation for free or complain to ABTA to see if they will help.

Westin

I’m really surprised that if BAH have admitted this is down to their error, why they are asking for extra money for an alternative.

How much is the difference?

Has your friend told you the original and new offered hotel yet?

Are you sure BAH did not offer a similar hotel but your friend selected something else which may be why an extra charge is being suggested.

Pollycat

Westin wrote: »

I’m really surprised that if BAH have admitted this is down to their error, why they are asking for extra money for an alternative.

How much is the difference?

Has your friend told you the original and new offered hotel yet?

Are you sure BAH did not offer a similar hotel but your friend selected something else which may be why an extra charge is being suggested.

I'm with this ^^^^ guy - IYKWIM.

We are getting this story 3rd hand - always not ideal.
If it was me, I'd be telling BAH that their website shouldn't have allowed me to book someone who isn't an adult.
And that they shouldn't have taken 6 months to tell me.
And I'd be escalating it upwards.
And upwards - until I got a a solution that I felt was satisfactory.

Caz3121

I would ask the question....if the system had correctly rejected the hotel at the time, what would he have done?
Are the new hotel and the original hotel similar in price 9 months out? if so,
he could say he should not be paying the 'extra' due to it being more expensive 'now' as he could have booked it at the price 'then'

letiss7

Pollycat & Caz3121 - I agree getting the info 3rd hand is not ideal and I am also trusting what he says whenthis is exactly why I have suggested to him not to pay the extra and to take it as far as he could because BAH admitted the fault.
I will find out what happened over the weekend as he was going to be talking to BA. Not sure it was the best weekend to try and talk to them though.
Thank you all that have replied.