Downgrade of hotel

Mands

la531983 said:

How can you claim false advertising, can you post a definition of what "platinum" means to back this up?

https://www.tui.co.uk/holidays/platinum

MyRealNameToo

cowlady said:

Wondering what peoples opinions are:-
Received email from company stating hotel we have booked has been changed from a Platinum category to a Sun category.
email states all facilities still the same - however it states we have access to 7 restaurants - when we booked it was 11 restaurants.
Went to online chat with company.  Asked the agent what the difference between the two categories were - he said platinum was better than Sun!  Platinum is for 4 and 5 star.  Sun is for 3 and 4 star.  (it is still showing as 5 star).
Company just keep saying that the facilities are the same, it is just the name has changed and it is a re-branding.  However not all hotels have been re-branded - only ours!
On top of this - if I booked the same package now it is £500 cheaper.  
What are peoples thoughts?  Is this a material downgrade which can be counted as a failure to provide part of the contract?

Most star ratings are purely about the facilities and services that are offered, it has no connection to the quality of the place, standard of the services etc etc. Each country is different, in some the tourist boards set the rating, in some countries there are more than one group that can set the ratings etc 

To try and create some consistency some sellers create their own rating system which is on one side maybe nice as you can look across countries and know they are being held to the same yard stick but it can also mean there is no external scrutiny and so maybe if a hotel isnt giving the levels of discount they want they could downgrade them so they get less business than they used to from the agent or they could inflate one who's borderline in exchange for an extra 10% commission. 

To show how meaningless they are 1) a TV programme a few years ago a small hotel closed their box room, which was rarely ever booked, but it increased their average room size meaning they got an additional star and could charge an extra £30 a night or something all for not selling a room. 2) When on holiday we were at a fantastic 4* hotel who weren't a 5* because they didnt have an indoor swimming pool but otherwise ticked all the boxes. The place next door was a fraction of the price, had all the same facilities but was a 5* as they did have an inside pool. Food quality, facilities etc etc were all vastly better where we were but technically the neighbour was the higher starred hotel. 

I'd check what the actual real changes are, not the star rating or some other made up categories, and see if you care about them. Unfortunately if you do care about them you will most likely still need to argue they are a material change to entitle you to cancel/change at no cost. 

bagand96

Mands said:

la531983 said:

How can you claim false advertising, can you post a definition of what "platinum" means to back this up?

https://www.tui.co.uk/holidays/platinum

I was also assuming the OP was referring to TUI given the references to Platinum (and I wonder if the hotel is now sold in the SUNEO collection instead? TUI SUNEO | TUI.co.uk)

Either way on both the Platinum and SUNEO pages all I see is a lot of marketing babble.  There's no tangible product or facility that the OP would have received on Platinum that they won't receive on SUNEO.

cowlady said:

I'm actually more worried that the hotel we booked may not live up to our expectations of a 'platinum' hotel.  Yes, this could happen even if the grading hadn't changed. but, the travel agent has changed the grading they give the hotel (not the hotel itself), which suggests to me that something must have changed in quality/facilities for them to re-classify the hotel.  Even if the hotel had the same facilities as when I booked I would still be worried.  

This shows why the tour operators use the labels/branding - it clearly works because you're already convinced the hotel won't be as good because it hasn't got a Platinum tag on the website.  However it's the same hotel, presumably same rating (official * rating and tour operator own T rating?) with the same facilities.  Platinum is literally just a label.  How are the real world reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor/Google? Have they changed.

The only change seems to be a reduction in restaurants from 11 to 7.  You could get in touch with the tour operator about this but as already stated I doubt it would be classed a significant change to the package.  It might be worth doing in case there's a goodwill gesture.

eskbanker

bagand96 said:
How are the real world reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor/Google? Have they changed.

But, for the avoidance of doubt, even if they have, this doesn't in itself mean that there's a significant change as far as the regulations are concerned, as covered in previous 'I wish to cancel because of poor reviews' threads!

bagand96

eskbanker said:

bagand96 said:
How are the real world reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor/Google? Have they changed.

But, for the avoidance of doubt, even if they have, this doesn't in itself mean that there's a significant change as far as the regulations are concerned, as covered in previous 'I wish to cancel because of poor reviews' threads!

Agreed. I was thinking from angle of hopefully reassuring the OP that the hotel is still of good quality.

NoodleDoodleMan

cowlady said:

Wondering what peoples opinions are:-
Received email from company stating hotel we have booked has been changed from a Platinum category to a Sun category.
email states all facilities still the same - however it states we have access to 7 restaurants - when we booked it was 11 restaurants.
Went to online chat with company.  Asked the agent what the difference between the two categories were - he said platinum was better than Sun!  Platinum is for 4 and 5 star.  Sun is for 3 and 4 star.  (it is still showing as 5 star).
Company just keep saying that the facilities are the same, it is just the name has changed and it is a re-branding.  However not all hotels have been re-branded - only ours!
On top of this - if I booked the same package now it is £500 cheaper.  
What are peoples thoughts?  Is this a material downgrade which can be counted as a failure to provide part of the contract?

If you are comfortable with 4 Star, that's common to both Platinum and Sun - bit confusing IMO.

Package holiday prices can go up or down, it's the way the industry works.