Stayforlong refund for Mexico

__bc1

Hi all,

Last year we booked a 2 week package holiday to Cancun which was for August this year. After booking our package holiday we seen a separate hotel in Tulum that we also wanted to visit, so we booked 2 nights with refund protection at the hotel in Tulum through Stayforlong. 

As the holiday got closer we realised that it wasn’t going to happen due to restrictions so looked into rescheduling for the same dates next year. Spoke to Hays Travel regarding swapping the dates and they were fine with it. We then contacted Stayforlong who were very helpful and once we gave them the new dates they emailed back saying the amendments had been made and we will receive a new email with a new voucher (receipt). We then rang Hays Travel again and changed the dates to next year, with the knowledge that our Stayforlong booking had been amended. 

We then received another email from Stayforlong saying that this was an error and the dates hadn’t been changed, and they where still waiting to hear back from the hotel for confirmation. After this there was lots of back and forth and we eventually got told that it was not possible to make any changes to the reservation due to the contract of the reservation being a “closed one”. 

So we changed our package holiday on the premise that our 2 night stay elsewhere would coincide with the dates. Which was not the case.

After more back and forth over the phone they eventually admitted it was their error on the 10th May, since then after multiple emails they keep saying they are trying to resolve it and speak to the hotel. I don’t have much hope and feel like they are just prolonging this for the sake of it. 

Apologies for the long post and for anything I may have missed out. I would just like some opinions on what to do next as I’m worried they are going keep dragging this out until the date we are supposed to arrive at the hotel. 

Thanks in advance

Upsidedownandaround

This is the problem with booking through 3rd party or more likely in this case 4th party agents. You have potentially 2 middle men between you and the hotel Stayforlong and potentially a bed bank.

What are you hoping for here? Obviously if the hotel is saying it’s not possible to move to those dates then you would presumably be entitled to a refund based on your “refund protection”. What does this cover? It looks like your only option if  they don’t get back to you.

__bc1

All we want is the dates changed, and obviously money refunded if they can’t do that. 

The refund protection says it doesn’t cover anything that’s related to Coronavirus so I’m assuming this would fall under that case. 

What I’m asking though is surely since Stayforlong originally confirmed the date amendment in writing, and then went back on it, then they have to honour it? They have admitted it was their error but haven’t made a good deal of progress in sorting it out since, they just keep replying saying they are waiting for response from the hotel.

Thankyou for the reply! 

Westin

"After this there was lots of back and forth and we eventually got told that it was not possible to make any changes to the reservation due to the contract of the reservation being a “closed one”. "

What were the original booking terms?  Did you buy a non-refundable rate?  That sounds like what they reference as 'Closed'.

Stayforlong are a Spanish based and operated online travel business.  Unless Stayforlong concede this will likely be a frustrating battle to get sorted.  

Upsidedownandaround

__bc1 said:

All we want is the dates changed, and obviously money refunded if they can’t do that. 

The refund protection says it doesn’t cover anything that’s related to Coronavirus so I’m assuming this would fall under that case. 

What I’m asking though is surely since Stayforlong originally confirmed the date amendment in writing, and then went back on it, then they have to honour it? They have admitted it was their error but haven’t made a good deal of progress in sorting it out since, they just keep replying saying they are waiting for response from the hotel.

Thankyou for the reply! 

In an ideal word maybe but practically if they say the hotel isn’t going to move it then it won’t be available to you and all you can do is ask stayforlong to try and sort it or potentially offer somewhere similar, or since it was their fault request a refund as goodwill.

Unfortunately I can’t see anyway you can force them to progress the matter if they are being difficult. Crap customer service is unfortunately crap customer service and it’s more complicated when you use a 4th party agent. 

What does refund protection cover?