Hotels.com sold me a property that was 3.5 hours from where it said

chiara

In November 2021, I booked a cottage through hotels.com for 3 nights. I found it using their map search tool and it was in the area I was looking to stay in Surrey, it was £255.

When travelling to the property the owners had texted me to say last check in was 7pm and I said we were the next town away. They became suspicious because they didn’t know that town and then said I had only booked it for 1 person not me and my family. Hotels.com said I’d booked the whole property. They cancelled 10 minutes before our intended arrival and told us to take it up with the agency if we wanted our money back. 

It turned out their property was actually 3.5 hours away in Cornwall so we would never have been able to stay there anyway. 

I tried to contact hotels.com, I constantly get transferred to vrbo.com even when I ask them not to, vrbo never get back in touch when they say they will and everytime to contact them it’s at least an hour starting the whole explanation from scratch and the operator can’t fully understand me as there is a language barrier. 

I’ve spoken directly to the owners, they won’t reply, they got cottages.com to get in touch with me. I told them the situation and they said it’s not a fault at their end so I can’t have my money back from them as their clients are keeping it. 

I have all the screenshots of the map and the confirmation showing the location as Surrey but I have been going round in circles trying to get in touch with hotels.com since November. It’s clearly their mistake as they had put the advert up incorrectly. 

How do I get in touch? Is there an ombudsman I can go to? Is there any ATOL or ABTA cover?
at my wits end as this cause so much stress to be left without somewhere for me and my family to sleep at that time of night and to have £255 taken from me when I was misold the property.
TIA

SaverRate

If you get nowhere did you pay via credit card? If so claim it back from your credit card company 

Sandtree

To the best of my knowledge its the veues themselves that list the details not Hotels.com/Expedia... have never done so myself so dont know if the map location is autogenerated from the given address or if the lister is able to move the drop pin. Doesn't make much difference to you but you can get issues like Stratford-upon-Avon -v- Stratford, London or people getting confused between venue, agent, owner address etc when listing.

What was the postcode you were given for the venue?

TELLIT01

Is the name of the town a common one which could have been wrongly flagged?  If an entirely incorrect postcode was given, and you headed to that postcode I would have expected you to have strong grounds for a refund.

chiara

I can’t claim through a credit card unfortunately and the town isn’t even the same name - it was Frimley Green in Surrey that I booked, the property was actually in Chumleigh in Cornwall? It’s just impossible to get hold of anyone at hotels.com. Still unsure who would’ve been the responsible party for inputting the address/map pin in wrong. I booked through hotels.com not knowing that I’d end up dealing with them, vrbo.com, cottages.com and the property owners, no one wants to help or take ownership. 

I’ve spent so many hours on the phone and repeated this story so many times but I never hear back. It’s been 4 months and I’m £255 down through no fault of my own, it’s so infuriating.

I’m hoping there’s an ombudsman I can go to who will know who is responsible. 

Sandtree

Most things dont have a true ombudsman, but many will subscribe to an ADR service (and some of those have called themselves ombudsman in the past) however these are different beasts to the likes of the Financial Ombudsman.

What postcode were you given for the property?

Unfortunately you are finding the complexity that comes about with modern systems and auto integration through APIs meaning dozens of companies can be involved in the supply chain and the exact relationships and so responsibilities can be very hard to unpick.

sheramber

 This one by any chance?

https://uk.hotels.com/ho1544205120/?q-rooms=1&q-room-0-adults=2&q-room-0-children=0&f-hotel-id=1544205120&WOD=2&WOE=3&MGT=1&ZSX=0&SYE=3&YGF=2

Sandtree

sheramber said:

 This one by any chance?

https://uk.hotels.com/ho1544205120/?q-rooms=1&q-room-0-adults=2&q-room-0-children=0&f-hotel-id=1544205120&WOD=2&WOE=3&MGT=1&ZSX=0&SYE=3&YGF=2

Wont ask how you came across it but does seem to have the same issue if its not the same property but the copy does state its in Devon despite the map showing Surrey

nyermen

sheramber said:

 This one by any chance?

https://uk.hotels.com/ho1544205120/?q-rooms=1&q-room-0-adults=2&q-room-0-children=0&f-hotel-id=1544205120&WOD=2&WOE=3&MGT=1&ZSX=0&SYE=3&YGF=2

If it is, then thats clearly wrong.    Its not even confusable with camberley area (I live in Farnborough and have friends in Frimley Green so I know the area very well).

That said - did the OP say there was both a discrepancy with the booking details (1 person vs family) and that the venue cancelled last moment anyway?  So the OP is definitely due a refund, and possibly (i'm unclear here) any loss for having to rebook last moment?

nyermen

To add: it even shows local attractions to include frimley lodge round the corner (my local parkrun site), so its clearly a website error.  Saving that page quickly in case they change it.

Sandtree

nyermen said:

To add: it even shows local attractions to include frimley lodge round the corner (my local parkrun site), so its clearly a website error.  Save that page quickly in case they change it.

Those will be auto populated and so presumably the wrong postcode is causing both the wrong map pin location and stated local attractions