hotel changed by hol company but still being offered on website

[goldengirl1]

Hi I wonder if anyone can help? I booked a holiday for the summer a few months ago. The hotel was 5 star and I received confirmation of my booking at the time. A few weeks later I was told that the hotel supplier had lost their contract with the hotel and they had to change my hotel to another hotel. It was only 4 star and they offered me a free excursion as compensation. The prices had went up quite a bit so to cancel and rebook with another company would have cost me quite a bit more. After I checked that I would receive a balcony and a couple of other things I told them that I would accept this change "under protest" although I was not completely happy about it. It remains to be seen if this hotel will reach the standards promised.
My problem is that a few weeks ago my original hotel I booked appeared back on their website for my dates. I have emailed the company who said that their hotel supplier have said that this is a mistake on their part and that they definitely do not have allocation for these dates. This was a couple of weeks ago and they are still showing this allocation as available (When you go to book the hotel, it says that it is checking availability and says that it is available and asks for your details for the booking). I have since emailed them again (last week) saying that they are showing availability and they have still not corrected this.

I don't know what I can do about this but either they are fobbing me off and they do actually have allocation and could move me back to my original hotel or they are duping other people into booking this hotel and then changing them to a lower standard hotel. Either way - it is not right. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[CG7]

Hi there, I wouldn't have accepted a lesser hotel if you were unhappy with the choice offered, A friend of mine has just had to change the whole of her holiday, because they changed the departure to another airport, which was a long way from her home and she has ended up in corfu instead of turkey, but she's not happy.

You or a friend of yours could always ring the Holiday company concerned (under an alias of course) and ask about that particular hotel and holiday, and see what they offer you. Is it a large holiday company you have booked this through ?

cg

[goldengirl1]

I booked it off the web with a company that has a few different websites. They are abta registered under travel worldwide ltd

[CG7]

So its not an actual holiday company then like Airtours or Thomas cook etc.

[powelll]

Originally Posted by CG7

You or a friend of yours could always ring the Holiday company concerned (under an alias of course) and ask about that particular hotel and holiday, and see what they offer you.
cg

Good idea... I would probably try this fiorst just to be sure it isn't now being offered. If you have spoken to them a few times and it's not a big company maybe get someone else to do it for you.

[goldengirl1]

Hi - You can still book the holiday online as it checks availability then says there is availability and asks for credit card details etc. The company is admitting that it is still allowing to book this hotel but say that it is the hotel suppliers fault. Does anyone know if trading standards would have issues with this? The company isn't a package holiday operator as such but I suppose it is a bit like lastminute or something like that.

[Shanks]

Originally Posted by goldengirl1

They are abta registered

If you do get someone who manages to book for this hotel then I think your answer lies in the above. ABTA's web site states that any pre-departure problems should be sorted by your travel agent but they do offer this...

Originally Posted by ABTA

If you need to talk to someone about your pre-departure problem you should call ABTA’s Pre-Departure Department on & 020 7307 2044.

Sounds like it would be worth a call to them to see if they can do anything for you.

Cheers

[judi3]

I used to work in a travel agents
My understanding is that hotels have contracts with several agents allocating X amounts of accomadation .
imo your agent has either overbooked its allocation or perhaps the hotel has terminated their agreement .

[heidi1]

Hi,

Can I just make a point (as a Travel Agent) Its not the agent that the hotel makes the contracts with, its the Tour Operator (just to correct the previous post)

If the website you have booked on has an ABTA number, then its an agent. You should have an invoice somewhere which tells you who the tour operator is (ie: Thomson, Thomas cook, Airtours etc), as a point of enquiry I would check the operators direct website, and see if they are advertising it, or of course call them about it with an enquiry, and see if they offer it to you... then if they do, ask "why, because....." and expl your plight and expl you aren't getting any help from your agent.

If you require any further help, please pm me, I'll be more than happy to oblige!

Heidi

[indebtstudent]

I have a similar prob re hotel availibilty but I'm going to make my own thread on it...