flight still going ahead but hotel is closed

louiseheazelton

Hi,

I booked a holiday through love holidays for 26th July. According to Ryanair the flight is still going ahead but i called the hotel and found out they are not open until 1st Aug. 
Its impossible to get hold of Love Holidays so i was wondering where i stand..I am presuming if Ryanair are flying they are not going to give me a refund on the flight if i dont have  hotel to go to and i presume Love Holidays will tell me its not there fault ? I have paid £1195 to love holidays which was the cost of the flight and a further £2000 is due on the 12th july...I am just hoping that i get notification from Love Holidays or Ryanair soon .

My best hope is we still have restrictions on going abroad and ryanair cancel then at least i wont loose the £1195 ive already paid and wont have to pay the £2000k due on the 12th for the hotel. The £2000 is gong to be automatically deducted on the 12th July..i cant see how i can stand that down unless i cancel the holiday booking?  
Any advise or similar situations with Love Holidays???..I am quite prepared to flight still, i guess if i can stop the £2k from being taken from my account i can try and find another hotel for that price?

This is the 2nd holiday i have lost through unusual circumstances to Lanzarote...Maybe this is fate telling me not to go there - lol..The last one was booked with Monarch which went bust 2 days before so that holiday got scrapped ! 

thanks in advance, 
Louise 

[Deleted User]

If it is a package holiday, my understanding is that Love Holidays will have to refund you everything if they are unable to fulfil their part of the bargain i.e. hotel you booked for.   OR offer you an alternative that you are happy to accept.

As you are thinking you would like to go anyway, I would just hang on for now.   Love Holidays are only working on holidays up to 30th June.   Keep checking your account on their website but leave it up to them to sort it all out.   You could drop them an email on your account saying you believe the hotel is cancelled until 1st August and wonder what your options are?   I wouldn't expect a quick reply though.  It will just let them know, you know the hotel isn't going to be available.   Just don't cancel anything.  All will become clearer nearer the time (I hope!)

louiseheazelton

thanks Tedbar. I cant see how i email them though...i cant find any details and the live chat is permanently off line  

Life__Goes__On

This is where some TA will start to really struggled and customers will be lied to.
If it's a package holiday and hotel is cancelled  then you are due a full refund.
If the RA flight flies then LH will lose their money if booked as non-refundable.
So expect TA like LH to lie to their customers saying a person can't have a refund for the flight.

bagand96

Life__Goes__On said:

This is where some TA will start to really struggled and customers will be lied to.
If it's a package holiday and hotel is cancelled  then you are due a full refund.
If the RA flight flies then LH will lose their money if booked as non-refundable.
So expect TA like LH to lie to their customers saying a person can't have a refund for the flight.

I agree, massive problem for a lot of agents who have provided linked packages, and therefore are de-facto tour operators.  There's two problems:

1)  Customers want, and are entitled to, refunds, and they don't want to wait.  The problem is without the refunds from airlines and hotels/bed banks then they are unlikely to have the cashflow in the business to refund everyone.  Travel agents make wafer thin margins (and on low cost flights will make nothing at all).

2) As travel restarts but at a massively reduced capacity, the situation the OP has will be the same for many thousands of bookings.  And you're right that the agents will find themselves on the hook.

Issue 1 is already a huge problem, and combined with issue 2 that's just around the corner I think it's a ticking time bomb for many of the OTA's who arrange linked packages.  I wonder how well the ATOL scheme is funded at present, given it's just finished the biggest payouts in it's history after Thomas Cook.

Life__Goes__On

bagand96 said:

 issue 2 that's just around the corner I think it's a ticking time bomb for many of the OTA's who arrange linked packages.  I wonder how well the ATOL scheme is funded at present, given it's just finished the biggest payouts in it's history after Thomas Cook.

I agree
I expect this forum to get busy again because of those issues.
It will also last a while, as those who issued vouchers are kicking the can down the road, and the road will run out for some of them.

Browntoa

I know someone who runs a specialist travel agency . He tells me that they refunded several million at the start of lockdown but it's unsustainable for them so they are having to inform customers that they can only now refund on receipt of funds from airlines and hotels . 

As he says 90 % of these smaller travel agencies would go bust as they would be trading whilst insolvent. 

31st march 2021 is a big stumbling block for the whole industry as ATOL bonds expire and need renewing , which requires them posting a new bond . 

Will be an interesting time

[Deleted User]

louiseheazelton said:

thanks Tedbar. I cant see how i email them though...i cant find any details and the live chat is permanently off line  

Log onto your account (Manage my Booking) with Loveholidays (with your booking reference and name).  You will see a section saying 'messages' open that and you should be able to send them a message.  As I said though - don't expect a quick response as they are only working up to 30 June at moment.

wyattharrisx

I'm in same position as you but love holidays have been in contact. Hotel closed. I paid extra for sea/view with balcony 3 star. They have offered me a 2 star no balcony as their alternative stating " minor change" I disputed this and the other day have come back and advised they can refund my hotel but not the flights but it's a package holiday. Absolutely no idea what to do but the room hotel they offered me had poor reviews. There are no suitable alternatives. It seems they are going down the route of " we have offered you an alternative" the choice is yours

Alan_Bowen

It must be a reasonable alternative of a similar standard, if not you are entitled to cancel and look for a full refund. Have a look on their website and see what over hotels they have in the vicinity that would be acceptable and propose one of them

Life__Goes__On

wyattharrisx said:

I'm in same position as you but love holidays have been in contact. Hotel closed. I paid extra for sea/view with balcony 3 star. They have offered me a 2 star no balcony as their alternative stating " minor change" I disputed this and the other day have come back and advised they can refund my hotel but not the flights but it's a package holiday. Absolutely no idea what to do but the room hotel they offered me had poor reviews. There are no suitable alternatives. It seems they are going down the route of " we have offered you an alternative" the choice is yours

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/my-package-holiday-has-been-changed-or-cancelled#change-of-accommodation

Change of accommodation

Under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, if a tour operator makes a significant change to your accommodation, they must:

• give you the choice of accepting the change (with a downward price adjustment if it’s a lesser hotel)
• offer you a refund, with no cancellation fee.

As the hotel is one of the major factor in a holiday, how can anyone argue it's not an "significant change"


EDIT
LH are lying to you because they know you can cancel for free, but LH will have to pay for the flights