Hotel reviews forcing change

eskbanker

Pollycat said:

eskbanker said:

Jacko60 said:

We have booked a package holiday with easyjet but recent reviews of the all inclusive hotel are very poor. On the easyjetwebsitethehotelisdescribed as 4 star but the manager in reply to reviews states 3 star Therefore I phoned easyjet and changed the booking to another hotel with better reviews.  This cost £400 even though prices on website are very similar.  Is there anything I can do to claim back the extra money?

The change wasn't really 'forced' though, was it?

If you'd gathered actual evidence that the hotel was officially rated lower than presented by EasyJet Holidays (something more definitive than a manager's comment on a review site!), then you could have taken this up with them and requested a (free) move to a hotel of the standard you'd paid for, based on quantifiable measures, but if you chose to believe reviews and rebooked yourself then there's no comeback now....

Most package holiday companies use their own ratings for accommodation.
TUI use 'T' ratings.

This is what Jet2 say about their accommodation ratings:

How we grade accommodation: All the accommodation featured on our website and in our brochure has been carefully chosen to ensure that you are able to get the very best out of your holiday.
Although the local authorities in each country set standards for official hotel star/quality ratings, we know standards can vary between hotel and apartment accommodation of the same official rating in different countries and even in the same country which does not give you a consistent way of comparing accommodation standards.
To help you choose your holiday, therefore, with hotels and apartments we feature our own star ratings to give you a general guide and to help you compare.
Our ratings are based on our knowledge and customer feedback of the facilities, food and service available at the accommodation, as well as the characteristic differences between accommodation types such as apartments and hotels. Our ratings are set using a scale of 2 stars through to 5 stars and represent a range from basic, good value, no-frills accommodation to above average, more comfortable accommodation with a wide range of facilities. 

I'd be surprised if Easyjet were any different.

It's difficult to verify but I believe they are - my understanding is that any company using their own proprietary rating scheme needs to differentiate it from the 'official' one, so Jet2 clearly label their rating as their own, and show both their own one and the official one within hotel listings, while, as you say, Tui don't use stars, to avoid confusion.  I don't see any sign of EasyJet Holidays using their own rankings so would assume that the star ratings they quote are the official ones, but happy to be corrected if this isn't the case....

TELLIT01

Tour operators often use their own hotel ratings which won't necessarily match the rating on the hotel website.