Paid £7k for hotel booking, no full confirmation. LBA sent

Grumpy_chap

I am not sure that any small claims case can proceed at this stage - regardless of the fact that LBA has been sent.

AIUI:

1. The OP booked two hotel stays via a travel agent.
2. It seems unclear exactly who the travel agent is - a UK company or an overseas company. Presumably the OP must know as they say they have sent an LBA.
3. The OP contacted the two hotels directly to query the booking details after making the bookings via the travel agent. One of the hotels shared some information with the OP. The second hotel routed the OP to channel communication via the travel agent.
4. The travel is for a future date - and still a future date as far as I understand it.
5. Any claim would have to establish the legal basis for the claim plus the monetary compensation claimed as remedy for the breach that has occurred. However, the OP has not yet travelled so there has not been any breach. For consumer contracts such as this, "anticipatory breach" is not really a thing.

It would be my understanding that any action could only follow a breach actually occurring.

Is it possible that the real issue here is the OP change of mind / disinclination to travel?

Alderbank

The OP pointed out to us that this is a religious voyage but we do not seem to have considered that aspect.

if the voyage is a hajj, many pilgrims choose to book what is described as a 'shifting' package between two hotels in Makkah and Madinah, which is very much what this journey sounds like.

@yus786, is this a hajj? If so, is the agent you booked with Nusuk Hajj? (https://hajj.nusuk.sa/)

MattMattMattUK

You did not pay the legal entity you are trying to take to court, seems like it will fail to me.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82104315#Comment_82104315

Wonder if OP will come back? Posted & not seen since.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679876/paid-7k-for-hotel-booking-no-full-confirmation-lba-sent

What do you mean that they are "connected to" a UK entity? So you are dealing with an overseas company who you believe are part of the same group of a UK entity?

Was this a booking for Hajj? In which case there is no option to simply book a hotel directly as others have suggested.

If the company you are booking with is a significant agent/tour operator then its likely that they pre-buy a ton of rooms all the time, they get a big discount for prebooking them and so can make better profits if they manage to sell them all but obviously can end up out of pocket if they have bought rooms that they dont manage to sell. In these kinds of arangements the hotel generally only gets details of whos staying at most a few days beforehand and some only get told when you handover your voucher and give them your name. So the fact the hotel cant/want confirm your booking isnt in itself necessarily a worry; even if the agent themselves arent big travel bookings often have multiple intermediaries in the supply chain (no travel agent can individually contract with the 1m+ hotels around the world) and those intermediaries can also do the same block booking