EasyJet holidays didn’t book hotel

TELLIT01

I can understand the annoyance, but to write EasyJet off on the basis of one bad experience is over reacting, in my opinion.  Mistakes happen and at least EJ have come up with some form of solution and done so quickly.  Unless the hotel was booked with a specific agreement that this was the only acceptable hotel, I don't think they will get anywhere but there is no harm in trying.

The error may not have been of EJ's making.  There could have been a fault with the booking system at the hotel.  I had a similar issue with a hotel in the UK.  I had the written confirmation from the hotel in my hand, had booked direct with the hotel, but nothing showed on their system and the hotel was full.  Thankfully they sorted accommodation locally for me.

Grumpy_chap

laramh said:

My daughter and her boyfriend have just arrived at their holiday destination (at 11pm) only to be told there is no booking at the hotel and the hotel is full. Easyjet have transferred them to an alternative hotel for the night and said they will contact them in the morning. What are their rights/entitlements on this please?? 

I’m fuming, my daughter is only 19 and her first holiday without parents!! 

At this stage, it would seem there are no grounds for compensation.

She is getting the benefits of having booked a package holiday in so far as mistakes happen and the provider has implemented a resolution so that she has adequate accommodation for the first night.

Come the morning, then Easyjet need to provide a solution for the duration of the holiday.  It may be to stay where they are, it may be to transfer to the original hotel, it may be to transfer to another hotel.
If the original hotel is truly fully booked, then it is not available and cannot be made available.  That means the question is whether the alternative hotel offered is suitable and similar in terms of location and amenities.
There may be a need to switch hotels after the first night, but whatever solution Easyjet provide after that should be a hotel that is available for the remainder of the duration.

Please update once Easyjet have indicated how they intend to resolve the accommodation for the duration of the trip and how your daughter and her friend feel about that solution.  Try to encourage them to make that assessment for the future in a non-emotional way.  The disappointment of the original mistake and the initial disruption on the first night is understandable, but the assessment of the solution for the remainder needs to be accepting that whatever happened on the first night happened and can't un-happen.

There is every chance that Easyjet will provide a suitable level of accommodation for the remainder of the holiday.
If that happens, there is probably no grounds for compensation, but worthy of a complaint to the in-resort contact and there may be a goodwill gesture.  Flexibility on that goodwill gesture may help - it is probably far easier for the in-resort contact to provide a complimentary evening meal, drinks, room upgrade or excursion than a cash refund.

If the accommodation offered is not suitable, then alternative resolutions may be appropriate.  That may include self-booking alternative accommodation, but I would suggest this is the last resort as the alternative will need funding in advance and any refund will be slow, assuming it is actually valid to have any refund.

la531983

Grumpy_chap said:

laramh said:

My daughter and her boyfriend have just arrived at their holiday destination (at 11pm) only to be told there is no booking at the hotel and the hotel is full. Easyjet have transferred them to an alternative hotel for the night and said they will contact them in the morning. What are their rights/entitlements on this please?? 

I’m fuming, my daughter is only 19 and her first holiday without parents!! 

At this stage, it would seem there are no grounds for compensation.

She is getting the benefits of having booked a package holiday in so far as mistakes happen and the provider has implemented a resolution so that she has adequate accommodation for the first night.

Come the morning, then Easyjet need to provide a solution for the duration of the holiday.  It may be to stay where they are, it may be to transfer to the original hotel, it may be to transfer to another hotel.
If the original hotel is truly fully booked, then it is not available and cannot be made available.  That means the question is whether the alternative hotel offered is suitable and similar in terms of location and amenities.
There may be a need to switch hotels after the first night, but whatever solution Easyjet provide after that should be a hotel that is available for the remainder of the duration.

Please update once Easyjet have indicated how they intend to resolve the accommodation for the duration of the trip and how your daughter and her friend feel about that solution.  Try to encourage them to make that assessment for the future in a non-emotional way.  The disappointment of the original mistake and the initial disruption on the first night is understandable, but the assessment of the solution for the remainder needs to be accepting that whatever happened on the first night happened and can't un-happen.

There is every chance that Easyjet will provide a suitable level of accommodation for the remainder of the holiday.
If that happens, there is probably no grounds for compensation, but worthy of a complaint to the in-resort contact and there may be a goodwill gesture.  Flexibility on that goodwill gesture may help - it is probably far easier for the in-resort contact to provide a complimentary evening meal, drinks, room upgrade or excursion than a cash refund.

If the accommodation offered is not suitable, then alternative resolutions may be appropriate.  That may include self-booking alternative accommodation, but I would suggest this is the last resort as the alternative will need funding in advance and any refund will be slow, assuming it is actually valid to have any refund.

She did update, mate. Go back to the first page. 

elsien

laramh said:

Thanks to all those that have posted helpful replies. 

As any parent would understand, we all want to support our kids if we can, irrelevant of how old or capable they are. 

So they have been given alternative apartments that are a lower star than the original, with less facilities, but given half board and £150 back. It seems fair ish, but still not what they were expecting, and accommodation had been carefully selected by them, as it is a birthday celebration holiday. 

I think their intention is a strongly worded letter of complaint, and possible claim on return to UK, but I doubt they will get anywhere with EasyJet! 

Useful life lesson learned I guess…. Don’t book a holiday with easyJet again! 

A large part of the holiday cost is the flight, which isn’t affected.
If they disagree with what has been offered, then they need to say so now. It’s no use accepting the half board and £150 and then whacking a complaint in when they get home.

When you say with less facilities, what does that actually mean in practice? For me, that would be more important than a star rating, which varies anyway across countries and tour operators.

NoodleDoodleMan

Has Easyjet admitted that they were at fault - it's not unknown for hotels to overbook ?

maman

I've been in a similar situation although not with easyjet so it can happen with any holiday company. 

I, too, was given an apartment instead of a hotel room and an upgrade to half board. The half board included local (Spanish) wines so saved a lot of spending money. It was also commonplace (and accepted by staff) for people to take rolls, cheese, cold meats and fruit from the breakfast buffet to make lunches. We did eat out sometimes but saved a lot on food generally. 

Not sure what facilities are different/absent from original booking but she could have landed on her feet. 

bagand96

 laramh said:

Useful life lesson learned I guess…. Don’t book a holiday with easyJet again! 

Useful life lesson is that if you value guaranteeing a particular hotel accommodation then don't book a package holiday with any tour operator or package provider. The law (Package and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018) only states they have to compensate for a change of accommodation rating (star rating/facilities)  or location (town/resort). 

Thus all of the companies allow for changing accommodation in their T&Cs and it's perfectly legal.

If they're happy where they've ended up and with the improved board basis then they should try and enjoy the holiday and if they feel the need argue the compensation on return with easyJet Holidays. The fact that the star rating is less will be a valuable arguing position. 

NoodleDoodleMan

"Useful life lesson is that if you value guaranteeing a particular hotel accommodation then don't book a package holiday with any tour operator or package provider."

We've used "major league" tour operators for longer than I can recall (or wish to) and have never been allocated a hotel other than the one booked in the package.

The say nothing is guaranteed in life except death and taxes - going DIY has its disadvantages likewise.

elsien

bagand96 said:

 laramh said:

Useful life lesson learned I guess…. Don’t book a holiday with easyJet again! 

Useful life lesson is that if you value guaranteeing a particular hotel accommodation then don't book a package holiday with any tour operator or package provider. The law (Package and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018) only states they have to compensate for a change of accommodation rating (star rating/facilities)  or location (town/resort). 

Thus all of the companies allow for changing accommodation in their T&Cs and it's perfectly legal.

If their happy where they've ended up and with the improved board basis then they should try and enjoy the holiday and if they feel the need argue the compensation on return with easyJet Holidays. The fact that the star rating is less will be a valuable arguing position. 

There is however a downside to independent bookings in that once you have chosen your ideal apartment, they could cancel on you before your holiday (or indeed on arrival) and you are scrabbling round yourself for alternatives, as just happened to me.
There are pros and cons to each but completely discounting one option in the future due to a one off incident does seem a little disproportionate. 

bagand96

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"Useful life lesson is that if you value guaranteeing a particular hotel accommodation then don't book a package holiday with any tour operator or package provider."

We've used "major league" tour operators for longer than I can recall (or wish to) and have never been allocated a hotel other than the one booked in the package.

The say nothing is guaranteed in life except death and taxes - going DIY has its disadvantages likewise.

Just because it hasn't happened to you it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's rare, incredibly rare when you consider the amount of passengers it affects compared to the number of passengers these companies handle.

I was just pointing out that the the law allows it as does the operator's T&Cs. And it does happen from time to time, be it "major league" tour operators, OTAs or niche operators.

elsien said:

bagand96 said:

 laramh said:

Useful life lesson learned I guess…. Don’t book a holiday with easyJet again! 

Useful life lesson is that if you value guaranteeing a particular hotel accommodation then don't book a package holiday with any tour operator or package provider. The law (Package and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018) only states they have to compensate for a change of accommodation rating (star rating/facilities)  or location (town/resort). 

Thus all of the companies allow for changing accommodation in their T&Cs and it's perfectly legal.

If their happy where they've ended up and with the improved board basis then they should try and enjoy the holiday and if they feel the need argue the compensation on return with easyJet Holidays. The fact that the star rating is less will be a valuable arguing position. 

There is however a downside to independent bookings in that once you have chosen your ideal apartment, they could cancel on you before your holiday (or indeed on arrival) and you are scrabbling round yourself for alternatives, as just happened to me.
There are pros and cons to each but completely discounting one option in the future due to a one off incident does seem a little disproportionate. 

I wasn't discounting package bookings completely. Just pointing out that if the OP takes this as a life lesson not to use easyJet Holidays then they will find all the competitors can do the same.

There's of course pros and cons to all methods of holiday booking. I use both, been on a couple of tour operator packages this year as well as a couple of DIY arranged trips. You pay your money you take your choice.