Hoseasons / Awaze demanding payment for a holiday

Atrasil

My wife booked us provisional dates for a cottage break last year with Hoseasons and paid a non-refundable £25 reservation fee, which we both recall was to ensure no one else could book those dates. The condition of this was that we would need to confirm the booking and pay a deposit on or before 10 weeks before the dates we have chosen. This is both our understanding today as it was last year. 
My wife then received an email (10 weeks prior to the holiday) to say we have not confirmed our booking and that we owe Hoesasons / Awaze half of the total fee.
This is the part i'm not convinced by; i went onto Hoseasons website and found the cottage and went through the booking process as a test, however, the guidance for booking has now changed, and it is a 'low fee deposit' they require to secure the dates. This has changed since last year which is expected as they could be losing revenue by people not going ahead with the booking. Makes sense.
My understanding is; a fee is paid to stop others placing a booking on the same dates until a deposit or the full amount is paid to secure the booking, and therefore entering into contract.
No doubt there will be something in my wife's email at the time about booking T&C's, but i haven't seen them yet.
If this is the case, i believe there has been a misrepresentation of the 'contract', given the T&C's likely differ from the guidance on the website at the time of booking, or could it just be a case of a mistake about the terms of the 'contract'?
Any advice would be appreciated? 

gwynlas

The information wuill be part of the terms and conditions which you admit you have not yet read.  The deposit paid would be to secure that property for that date but confirmation and a further deposit would be required with payment in full 10 weeks prior to stay.
Would you expect the cottage owner to only have 10 weeks in which to market the property after you have made up your mind not to proceed? 

Atrasil

That is correct. We basically paid a date retainer for £25, not a deposit. But now they are saying that we paid a deposit, which is what they are pushing on their website now. I actually wonder how many people have been caught out by this and paid without question? Now the T&C's may be the same today as they were last year, but this is where i believe it gets messy. My understanding is that T&C's are not automatically binding unless i have confirmed their acceptance, irrespective of whether i made payment before or after 'accepting' them, which i didn't. Their arguement is likely that by making payment, you are automatically accepting their terms. Point being, that in this type of transaction, T&Cs are overlooked or misunderstood. And as far as we both (wife and I) recall, there was no box to tick, or anything like that to provisionally book/retain the dates. Maybe their wording said that by making payment, you accept their T&C's? We can't remember right now. Their website guidance has definitely changed since last year.

The 10 weeks, could be more, and the details of that has been changed on their website. It was never a booking, only a fee to retain the date subject to later confirmation on or before the ~10 weeks. 10 weeks is a reasonable time to find another booking IMO. Especially during the summer months in such a popular location.

I've got some homework to do, followed by emailing, and we'll see where this goes.

swingaloo

Sorry but I find it almost impossible to believe that any holiday company would hold a date for someone for just 25 pounds and allow cancellation within 10 weeks of the date. It would be vastly unfair to others looking to book if that were the case. We have booked with Hoseasons several times over the last few years and have never seen the option to reserve.
I suspect that you have misunderstood what you were paying and that it was a low deposit.

Atrasil

Maybe? I've booked with them several times before too, but have never seen this up until this booking. We usually booked, paid half and paid the remainder later. When we looked at the same place again for the following year, it was a 'pay £25 and save your date' type thing without any obligation to book. Seemed a good option at the time. Let's see what they say, and i'll see if i dare to refer to consumer rights and contract law. I'll see if the legal team at work can offer any advice, or I may have to call the B-I-L (lawyer).