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

Alderbank

Sandtree said:

What postcode were you given for the property?

This ^^.
The hirer is always supplied with this as part of the contract.
It was either EX18 (an Exeter, Devon postcode) or GU16 (near Guildford, Surrey).

I hope the OP returns to tell us. That will settle whether the cottage owner or the OP was at fault.

JGB1955

chiara said:

They cancelled 10 minutes before our intended arrival and told us to take it up with the agency if we wanted our money back. 

So...if the property owner cancelled..... what are your rights according to the booking T&Cs?

Sandtree

Jenni_D said:

JGB1955 said:

Being called 'Little Dartmoor View' might have got alarm bells ringing.....

Would you go to Yorkshire to see Leeds Castle?  

If you believe Wikipedia it presumably should be Leed's Castle given its name comes from the original builder of a fort/castle on the site rather than the location of it. Unfortunately couldn't see any comment on their own website as to the their name.

Many repeated names out there, even more if you include spelling variants 

Thrugelmir

theoretica said:

Sandtree said:

nyermen said:

Agreed - there's a lot of small unique named places in the area (such mychett etc, and frimley green comes under camberley even though its quite separate, the M3 is in the way!) so easy to not realise, so just saying that here, I think OP has a case for their money back)

But the question is... from who? There are 3 agencies in the supply plus the property owner

When you booked who was the receipt from?  Also cottages com have that property in the right place on their map which implies the error might be towards booking com's side.

https://www.cottages.com/cottages/little-dartmoor-view-uk30213?sort=priceasc&page=1&adult=2&child=0&infant=0&pets=0&nights=2&range=7&regionName=Devon&regionId=21997&start=27-03-2022#map

Booking.Com is also correct. Hotel.Com is the outlier.  

Perhaps the owners are trying to cover their backsides after making a boo boo. 

Alderbank

Is the OP sure who they booked through?
They say in their first post

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. 

That sounds like cottages.com have records of the booking

Sandtree

Alderbank said:

Is the OP sure who they booked through?
They say in their first post

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. 

That sounds like cottages.com have records of the booking

Welcome to modern supply chain... owner lists their property with one agent, they list it with others who themselves repost it again with Expedia etc. They all have a record of it but say its someone else's fault

chiara

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. That is indeed the property and I can’t believe after bringing all of this to each of the agencies attention that it’s still on hotels.com with the same incorrect information.
I booked using the map feature on hotels.com. I wanted this area and clicked on the price tag to book the accommodation. 

I paid and then confusingly received several emails from each agency. 

As I am not from the area in Surrey (I live 100s of miles away) the name Cheldon doesn’t mean anything to me. All I knew was that I had looked up properties in Camberley and had booked exactly the area I needed to be on the map. The address on the confirmation email from vrbo says Camberley and then upon looking again the postcode is EX8. Obviously, I’m not from Surrey, I don’t know the post codes so this meant nothing to me. It’s only upon leaving the town in Surrey I was originally visiting (10 mins from Camberley) when I put the postcode in to my sat nav that I realised this property was 3.5 hours away according to the postcode.

 

chiara

Sorry I realise Ive said it’s in Cornwall, it’s actually in Devon. It’s certainly not in Surrey anyway. 😭

Thrugelmir

chiara said:

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. That is indeed the property and I can’t believe after bringing all of this to each of the agencies attention that it’s still on hotels.com with the same incorrect information.
I booked using the map feature on hotels.com. I wanted this area and clicked on the price tag to book the accommodation. 

I paid and then confusingly received several emails from each agency. 

As I am not from the area in Surrey (I live 100s of miles away) the name Cheldon doesn’t mean anything to me. All I knew was that I had looked up properties in Camberley and had booked exactly the area I needed to be on the map. The address on the confirmation email from vrbo says Camberley and then upon looking again the postcode is EX8. Obviously, I’m not from Surrey, I don’t know the post codes so this meant nothing to me. It’s only upon leaving the town in Surrey I was originally visiting (10 mins from Camberley) when I put the postcode in to my sat nav that I realised this property was 3.5 hours away according to the postcode.

 

Seems you did. 

Hotels.com said I’d booked the whole property.

As your booking clearly shows it to be one bedroom. 

Interestingly this is the place you appear to have attempted to book. Although the post code differs.

https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/5246150/768751366/document-0.pdf

chiara

The host cancelled on the grounds that they thought I’d booked for 1 person. I had booked for 2 adults and I was bringing a cot for my baby. My confirmation said whole property.

We couldn’t have stayed anyway as the location I booked didn’t exist. 

I said to the owner that it was unfair for them to cancel on those grounds and take our money as even if their property was in the right county, they should have at least provided the property for the “1 adult” that they insisted it was booked for, at least until something had been sorted out. 

They took the money and refused to cooperate even when I sent the proof of the booking I’d made. 

It’s been so stressful!