Holidaycottages.co.uk

marty___mcfly

Government guidance in now that all short term lets should close, so any cottage, apartment, house, Air BNB etc. will have to close. If they cannot honour the booking you made I believe they have to offer a refund. How far forward they cancel bookings I guess is down to them. 

Vegastare

Aylesbury ...... it is not a case of not deciding to go...his Mum was coming too - if over 70 are told to not travel for 12 weeks...and if we were still to be at the stage we are today....no gathering over 2 unless in same house....but thank you for the answer.
Marty thanks for the link.....think like all things it is a case of wait and see.  Situation alters daily.

Aylesbury_Duck

Vegastare said:

Aylesbury ...... it is not a case of not deciding to go...his Mum was coming too - if over 70 are told to not travel for 12 weeks...and if we were still to be at the stage we are today....no gathering over 2 unless in same house....but thank you for the answer.

I'm afraid it is a case of deciding not to go if the accommodation haven't cancelled and the place is still available.  Don't get me wrong, you shouldn't go, but that's different to being actually denied the accommodation.  That's the problem you face in getting a refund. 

Vegastare

We have been clear with them that if we are not able to travel....by the restriction (which at present Gov have given) we are happy to pay and defer....they have not yet agreed to this.....however should the situation on non travel continue and they not agree to defer......I would certainly take this matter further.
I understand that if I had booked through a third party and not direct with them -  there are defers.....to book another date even into 2021-so if they offer it to there clients would be difficult not to issue to us.... will just see what they say nearer to payment date.  Difficult for all and to be honest while this is a giggle in the main scheme of things at present it is small.

coey

Having issue with STS travel with regard to N.Wales cottage on 9/5.Want £50 admin fee to change dates , no refund if cheaper , pay extra if dearer , this year only , same property only etc......The industry generally is trying to say customers are cancelling because they can't travel......this now not the case , " Businesses providing holiday accommodation (including hotels, hostels, B&Bs, campsites, caravan parks, boarding houses and short term lets) should now take steps to close for commercial use as quickly as is safely possible. " from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-advice-for-accommodation-providers ....I have emailed STS Travel to inform them " Given all the above I expect YOU to cancel my booking and provide a full refund. " Will update you with reply.
Given support being given to this industry via grants , rate relief , employment salary support etc......it is a disgrace how they are treating customers , little short of profiteering.
some interesting articles below......
https://www.thebangoraye.com/coronavirus-gwynedd-council-calls-on-all-holiday-lets-to-close/
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/sykes-holiday-cottages-refuses-refund-3987793
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/holiday-home-owners-faced-huge-17984749

Amateurd

Cottages.com have taken our money and we can't stay (we're supposed to be using the cottage in the next few weeks).
They have refused a refund, hiked their future prices and actually CHANGED THEIR WRITTEN TERMS AND CONDITIONS to avoid paying us.
They have said we can rebook in June to a future date within 12 months (at the inflated prices) but neither of us have any dates available.
Looks like we're down over £500 and absolutely nothing we can do about it.

Tiredofbeingrippedoff2

HolidayCottages.co.uk - I made a booking for a holiday to be taken wk2 of the Easter Holidays by credit card. Received an e-mail on the 23/03 saying we cannot have the apartment when we wanted due to the coronavirus lockdown and told to rebook for the future (from end of June) with no option to select refund but on investigation if you do select a future week you have to pay up to double the cost of the original holiday. Sent an e-mail explaining that we were unable to commit to a date so requested a refund as they were cancelling our holiday NOT US! Received a standard response stating that WE have cancelled the holiday and have stopped responding to my e-mails, will not take any calls and are not responding to contact through any social media. We are out of pocket by £626.

Am going down the route of trying to claim from my CC but not sure how successful that will be.

DonnySaver

Amateurd said:

Cottages.com have taken our money and we can't stay (we're supposed to be using the cottage in the next few weeks).
They have refused a refund, hiked their future prices and actually CHANGED THEIR WRITTEN TERMS AND CONDITIONS to avoid paying us.
They have said we can rebook in June to a future date within 12 months (at the inflated prices) but neither of us have any dates available.
Looks like we're down over £500 and absolutely nothing we can do about it.

Likewise, we are in a similar position with cottages.com. On top of everything else one of our party has now had a serious fall and has a broken leg in 2 places, a broken pelvis and a broken shoulder. We took cottages.com holiday insurance out at the time of booking which should cover this event also but they are not budging at present. I have told them I will be going to ABTA next with a complaint if they do not refund me.

Paulo1467

Booked a cottage with Sykes Cottages over Easter but told by them via website that we cannot go then due to the Corona virus. They requested we booked an alternative date, which we did. This new date is £250 cheaper on the site than our original booking. Should we be able to get the difference refunded ? The web site stated that if the chosen date was more expensive then we would have to pay extra.

Amateurd

DonnySaver said:

Amateurd said:

Cottages.com have taken our money and we can't stay (we're supposed to be using the cottage in the next few weeks).
They have refused a refund, hiked their future prices and actually CHANGED THEIR WRITTEN TERMS AND CONDITIONS to avoid paying us.
They have said we can rebook in June to a future date within 12 months (at the inflated prices) but neither of us have any dates available.
Looks like we're down over £500 and absolutely nothing we can do about it.

Likewise, we are in a similar position with cottages.com. On top of everything else one of our party has now had a serious fall and has a broken leg in 2 places, a broken pelvis and a broken shoulder. We took cottages.com holiday insurance out at the time of booking which should cover this event also but they are not budging at present. I have told them I will be going to ABTA next with a complaint if they do not refund me.

Unfortunately it seems ABTA are backing the holiday companies over this, and recommending that customers accept the alternatives. This seems to give travel companies a free rein to hike up future holiday booking prices either to profiteer now, or just put customers off booking and so they keep the money.