skoobidude

Hi

I don't normally post big rants but feel compelled to in this case so here goes.. Deep breath!

I booked a new year break for two to Barcelona on 29 Dec 2009 (2 days prior to travelling). This was done by telephone through an Agent acting on behalf of First Choice..
On the 31st we flew over, caught the transfer coach and all was well. However, when we arrived at our hotel there was some confusion at reception. Eventually we were presented with a fax from a local agent stating that the hotel had not allocated enough rooms to the agent at this time and we were offered to be transfered elsewhere..
After much attempts to negotiate a room at our "booked" hotel (none available), we decided to get a cab to the alternative accommodation (as it was already approaching 5pm and we were concious of finding somewhere to eat in town prior to seeing in the new year).
The alternative hotel was on the outskirts of town plus it was of classic design rather than the contemporary hotel we had carefully chosen in the first place. Although it was rated the same, 4-star, it was nowhere near like the quality of the other hotel.
I hope you can imagine how we felt at this point - on New Years Eve too!
Also, it was some walking distance into town - circa 30mins as opposed to 10mins from original hotel. This may not sound much but when you consider the tooing and froing and the fact you wish to walk around town too, it becomes a chore and takes up more time.
We ended up catching cabs everywhere and kept all receipts with a view to claiming the funds back.
Imagine how dissapointed you would be having stood in a great buzzing hotel in a great location only to be moved elsewhere to a quiet location.

Both hotels were said to be of equal rating, but there was massive difference - we later found the rates averaged £68 per night difference (the greater sum being the hotel we were supposed to stay at). Note this is an average rate and I would guess new year rates are at a premium!

Our stay was for 3 nights. On the third night we managed to get back into the original hotel, after many phonecalls made to the agents. What a fantastic place and as we were in there for our final night, we decided to stay in, take advantage of the lovely surroundings, eat in the restaurant and drink in the bar. The other hotel had a bar which was never open, and too small to bother with anyway. The view from the original hotel onto the main street was also so much better.

I'm trying to paint a picture here without rabbiting on too much so apologies for the waffle..

Since our return we have exchanged a few letters. This has resulted in a cheque totalling £100. (£50 per couple). We sent this back rejecting it as it was nowhere near enough to compensate for our ruined holiday - stressful phonecalls and "cheaper hotel" etc.
As they did not acknowledge the fact we caught taxis everywhere from the alternative hotel, we decided to submit the taxi receipts in a 2nd letter and send the £100 cheque back.
They responded by returning the £100 cheque again plus a refund for the taxi receipts. We have since banked the cheque for the taxis, however we are holding onto the £100 cheque.
The frustrating thing here is that we bullet-pointed everything in our letters, and their response never really seemed to acknowledge our issues, only that they gave us a hotel of equal rating and within the same city. This makes it ok does it?!

I'll point out now that the 3 night break cost a total of £1123.00 and given that we flew with Easyjet, I imagine the bulk of the cost was for the hotel.

One other thing, the alternative hotel told us that they were asked to reserve a room for us the day before we arrived. Therefore we believe the agents could have informed us too, prior to our journey.
I am also sceptical that there was a room available in the original hotel to start with..

We're now at the point of either approaching ATOL or Small Claims. We've looked into Small Claims and it appears we have to declare a figure we are claiming for. In all honesty I'm not sure, but I was hoping they would somehow mediate the issues and come to an agreed settlement.

Does anyone have an unbiased view on this?

Thanks for reading

Nick

PS the morel of this story is always check with the hotel where you are staying, that you actually have a room (if not booking directly) before travelling. I will in future!

jods

Was that £1123 per person?

Scooby Soon!

I had something like this with Virgin, I had sent someone to the canton fair and on there way back the domestic flight booking from Canton to Hong Kong had been lost which meant paying about $300 to a taxi driver to get from Canton to Hong Kong faster than a plane!

Sent the receipts to Virgin and they said "Nothing we can do because the receipt is written in chinese!!!

In the end I got all the money back and a bit more but I think you are probably at the stage now that you need to outline exactly what you want.

skoobidude

Bloody hell no. £1123 all in!
I'd want more than a stay in Barcelona if it was "each"

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Lifes too short. Bank the cheque and vote with your feet.

Honestly, they way you are winding yourself up nothing they ever offer will be good enough.

Fantom

How did you find Barcelona?
I went last year for 4 nights and loved it. Did you go to the Nou Camp?
Please tell me you went to the Sagrada?

skoobidude

Wish, that's just what I think now. Besteds but not much more we can do without going to court. Sod that.

Fantom, was really nice there but was difficult at times to enjoy due to the hotel thing.
NYE was really good. We just got pissed really quick and I smoked a big cigar in a bar.
Fireworks and flares going off everywhere

billythekid

Bit late now, but did you pay on credit card? There might be some protection? But I think you might have left it a bit late.

scousefly

Hell got bored didnt finish reading, if your letters were like this post they got bored as well and threw it in the bin

skoobidude

Short attention span then mate. In fact it's so short it looks like you didn't finish your heading off! I've met loads of your sort...
Hope you don't miss out on any important opportunities in life due to this.

scousefly

Obviously dont read well either cause the heading and the content follow on from each other, maybe you need to go back and read it
Maybe thats why things went pear shaped you sure you read the small print

marky1

Two options.
1. Cash the cheque for £100 and get on with life, this is what I would do. Put it down to experience.
2. Go to small claims court. It doesn't cost much. But it's even more hassle.

Lesson for the future, don't use agents. It's usually cheaper to do it all yourself anyway. Sometimes it costs a bit more but you can now see why.

Devildog

Nick

Have you spoken with first choice or the Agent?

skoobidude

I'm not used to seeing a sentence starting with the first word in a heading. I guess my English teacher chose not to share this one with us..

Anyway, who reads small print. Sod that it hurts my eyes too much.

Big lesson for me. Will always check hotel room is booked in future and will never do a last minute again.
Regarding booking direct, I tried this with my next holiday and could not get close to what the travel agent offered - I even rang hotel direct.
Some agents get an allocated amount of rooms to sell at a good price and in this latest case, Citalia were offreing a £400 limited discount on selected hotels.

Nick