Booking.com

johnhodge100

Hi all 
so after a up and down year with holidays cancelled here there and everywhere i thought i would book a holiday late so that it minimised the chance of cancellation, i decided yo go gran canaria but not in a hotel like I would usually take my family on i thought with covid 19 ever present i would book a villa. I found the perfect villa on booking .com and booked flights with jet 2 due to fly out 10:30 am 3 rd if nov and bak tues 10 th nov.
so on the 2 nd nov at about 2 pm i got a email from jet 2 cancelling the flight due to new gov guidlines, they offering full refund so no problems there, however when calling booking .com to tell them i can no longer go to the villa they said it was upto the owner to refund me! They called him on my behalf whilst i was on hold, so the owner said he will not be refunding any monies and it is too late notice for him to re-rent the villa therefore nothing he could do, 
i find this very unreasonable is there anything that i can do, i feel helpless it was £1800, and now goin in lockdown this money is much needed i wudda though that they would of offered at least a partial refund, please if anyone can help me i would be very appreciative.
also lost the hotel booking night before £90 car parking £70  transport to villa from airport £50 this just doesnt seem fair, anyone any ideas as to wot i could do . Thank you

johnhodge100

Oh ..
i booked on 29 th oct so left late and cause so late free cancellation only lasted 24 hrs so ran out by time boris made his speech ,

Westin

Oh boy! You are not going to like this..

With everything going on in the world at the moment, not booking a secure package holiday through a reputable tour operator, even risking a DIY trip but booking separate non-refundable elements was not a wise thing to do.  You have created a messy situation.  It’s as you say not fair but you haven’t help yourself. Sorry.

I think you need to take a consolatory position and try to minimise your losses.  It appears you are not entitled to cash refunds so you are seeking goodwill and gestures from others.

For the Villa, perhaps try booking.com again and ask if they wouldn’t mind contacting the villa owner again and instead of a refund see if they will offer a credit or allow you to select future travel dates.  If they or the owner says no you may have to respect that and accept your loss.

For the pre-departure airport hotel, airport parking and transfers - again some nice polite and respectful conversations to see if you can negotiate best mutual outcome. You may hit luck with generous offer of a refund on a non-refundable rate. A future credit might be easier to achieve. 

Good luck.

johnhodge100

Thank you for your input 
not wot i wanted to hear but suppose wot i expected to hear , i have come off the phone recently to booking.com who rang the villa again,he has said he is willng to give 40 % discount on a future booking, maybe this is the best i can hope for. Has they say u live and learn.
thnx 

mattyprice4004

Who books a non-refundable villa in the middle of a pandemic, especially when it was clear on the 29th that everything was going wrong again (and very quickly)?
I do have sympathy for your situation, but booking something non-refundable with all of this going on was extremely naive. A 40% discount next time is very generous.

johnhodge100

 mattyprice4004 said:

Who books a non-refundable villa in the middle of a pandemic, especially when it was clear on the 29th that everything was going wrong again (and very quickly)?
I do have sympathy for your situation, but booking something non-refundable with all of this going on was extremely naive. A 40% discount next time is very generous.

The villa was free cancellation with full refund but only up to the friday night ( the day before boris made lockdown speech ) 🤷🏻‍♂️