Cancelling & Rebooking an Emirates Holiday

Archie530

Hey all!

We booked our honeymoon with Emirates Holidays and paid a deposit on it, I’ve since found the exact same holiday (room, flights, board) on Emirates at £1,000 less. 

As per the terms and conditions, I would lose my deposit if I cancel the holiday (around £200) which is fine - it’s worth losing for the £1,000 discount!

My issue comes in with Emirates - they understandably don’t want me to cancel and book for cheaper. I asked them about it, and their response is below. My question here - has anyone done similar? I feel like they are trying to scaremonger me into not doing the cancellation, so of course I wanted to check first before doing so to see if anyone has any similar experiences. I have asked the hotel whether they would cancel the booking, and they’ve said that I should contact Emirates but they wouldn’t be cancelling it. 

Thanks in advance for any help!

Emirates response below:

 Many Thanks for your email. Our offers changes  and prices fluctuate and if you choose to cancel and rebook the same holiday as per our terms and conditions there will be charges involve and also the hotel may refused both bookings as duplicate  and we don't recommend you do that.

debsy42

I had exactly the same scenario, this was my thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6552495/changing-holiday-already-booked-with-travel-republic#latest

I didn't note it in the thread but Travel Republic transferred our deposit over and didn't charge any admin fees for changing the holiday, they were excellent.

Are you speaking with someone based abroad? Sometimes with the best will in the world they don't understand the situation (Qatar were a nightmare). I'd keep trying, nothing to lose and everything to gain.

DullGreyGuy

Archie530 said:

Hey all!

We booked our honeymoon with Emirates Holidays and paid a deposit on it, I’ve since found the exact same holiday (room, flights, board) on Emirates at £1,000 less. 

As per the terms and conditions, I would lose my deposit if I cancel the holiday (around £200) which is fine - it’s worth losing for the £1,000 discount!

My issue comes in with Emirates - they understandably don’t want me to cancel and book for cheaper. I asked them about it, and their response is below. My question here - has anyone done similar? I feel like they are trying to scaremonger me into not doing the cancellation, so of course I wanted to check first before doing so to see if anyone has any similar experiences. I have asked the hotel whether they would cancel the booking, and they’ve said that I should contact Emirates but they wouldn’t be cancelling it. 

Thanks in advance for any help!

Emirates response below:

 Many Thanks for your email. Our offers changes  and prices fluctuate and if you choose to cancel and rebook the same holiday as per our terms and conditions there will be charges involve and also the hotel may refused both bookings as duplicate  and we don't recommend you do that.

First of all, check what the cost of cancelling is... there are plenty of providers that charge a tiny up front deposit but actually you are signing up to a minimum payment of a lot more than the deposit. It may still be worth your while but ensure you know. 

Secondly, they are under no legal obligation to sell you another holiday. So in principle you may decline this one and then find they refuse to sell you the replacement so you lose the £200 and have no holiday. 

Finally... no idea where Emirates Holidays is based or which legal jurisdiction applies to it. If they were UK based you would have some assurances that by selling you a package they'd be liable if the hotel were to cancel as they suggest. If they are UAE based, or some other non-UK country, then you need to understand your rights and their obligations based on that jurisdiction. Part of the reason its "rip off britain" is because of the consumer protections that cost companies significant monies

Archie530

Thanks both for the comments, much appreciated @DullGreyGuy @debsy42.

As a bit of an update as to where we currently are:

• I cancelled the booking after speaking to them on the phone, they said on that call that I could cancel the booking and rebook but had to wait until the cancellation came through. I waited until that came through and rebooked the holiday.
• Importantly, I received booking confirmation documents from Emirates Holidays along with their terms and conditions which state “You will enter into a binding contract with us when we issue our confirmation.”
• I received ATOL Certification.
• I contacted the hotel directly to ask them for the reservation number (as I did previously, so we can book restaurants etc) - they then said they do not have an open booking under my name.
• I contacted Emirates Holidays about this, who said the below:
  

"I hope this email finds you well.

I am contacting you today regarding the above booking you have made with us.

As you are aware you have cancelled the original booking and re booked the same package under lower cost.  Regratebbly as per policy  hotel has advised us they will be not able to confirm your new booking on lower rates as you had already a booking in place. The costs online are for new booking only and should you have the booking in place regratebbly canceling and rebooking will be not accept it.

Hotel has advised us should you wish to keep this booking they will be able to reistane the old booking at the original cost.

The only way around to get the cheaper holiday is, you would have to completely change the dates of the travel and no single day can be overlaping the originaly booked days.


Please kindly contact our After sales team on 0208928951 how do you wish to proceed as at this stage your booking is not confirmed."

• I have gone back to them and referenced the booking confirmation and how they must abide by the contract, and of course have mentioned ABTA.
• I totally get their stance, but legally I'm not sure they have a leg to stand on.
• They said that because they recommended that I don't cancel and rebook and the hotel may not accept the booking, that they cannot accept responsibility. I feel that their use of language here means they cannot use this, as they explicitly said MAY.
• I put a deadline on a response of 5pm today. They are yet to respond - I called them yesterday and spent 40 minutes on the call, where they denied all responsibility and said they advised against etc, and the holiday is not confirmed.
• I said that as a consequence, I expect the booking to be honoured as it is and Emirates Holidays cover any hotel costs or I accept the original booking price, but Emirates Holidays upgrade me to business class across all flights as goodwill - worth a go, right?!

Main questions here are:

• Am I right in thinking because they sent booking confirmation AND took a new deposit, they are responsible for the booking and must honour it?
• Are my requests reasonable?
• Does anyone have other ways of contact for Emirates Holidays? It unfortunately feels like I'm speaking to people who don't understand the legalities and refuse to allow me to speak to a 'supervisor'.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long read! I'm semi-determined to not just accept the previous price.

saajan_12

Why didn't you book under someone else's name who's going on the trip? Surely then they might not have linked the bookings and even if they did, its a weaker argument that they warned YOU since they didn't warn the customer on the second booking. 

Archie530 said:

• I said that as a consequence, I expect the booking to be honoured as it is and Emirates Holidays cover any hotel costs or I accept the original booking price, but Emirates Holidays upgrade me to business class across all flights as goodwill - worth a go, right?!

I wouldn't bother with this - it'll cost them about as much as taking the £800 hit given business class is usually quite a bit more expensive, so its very unlikely they'll go for it. Meanwhile it'll just cause confusion as you don't have a right to it, whereas you have a clear and simple argument for new booking, new price, should be honoured. More confusion, coudl mean that if they don't make the new hotel / flight booking etc, you're left arguing or suing them, which is a pain even if you're right.