Being charged extra by holiday company

[JetSetter1]

Booked a holiday with Virgin travelling to Florida this May, staying in a select Villa. Have 3 kids (age 9,2 & 9 months). Just spoke to virgin who have said if we want a bed/cot for our baby we need to pay a charge to the local management company. Also said that this is a request and is not guaranteed.

We paid a £300+ supplement for the baby to be on the booking. Surely a cot would be provided as standard? Or would you expect an extra charge to be paid?

We will pay it as we need the cot but we are annoyed we weren't told when we booked. The advisor also wouldn't confirm how much the charge is and advised we pay it on arrival

We either take a travel cot or co-sleep, I wouldn’t assume a cot would be provided as a lot of people won’t use hotel cots for safety reasons.

I suspect virgin block book holiday villas from private owners.
They get poor money if they don’t make a charge for add ons
Or
The management company keep a stock of cots and taking one out of their stock room and putting it in your villa can involve a lot of work for the company if the villa is a long way from head office or stock room...or maybe even in another villa until requested
My management company were an hour away

How on earth can they ask you to agree to pay an unspecified charge?

And what is the £300 for if it doesn't include a flight (assuming your baby doesn't get a seat) or a cot for the baby? Even luggage for baby equipment wouldn't be anywhere near that amount.

Not paying the charge and then using a travel cot or co-sleeping sounds like a good plan.

I wish we could co sleep but DD just won't settle. So she needs a cot.

And we naively assumed that a cot would be provided in her travel costs. Any time we have booked a hotel abroad, a cot has been provided. However this is our 1st time booking a villa and didn't take into consideration about rental etc. Virgin do subcontract to a management company.

I'm annoyed this wasn't specified to us on booking. I'm more annoyed that virgin won't disclose the cost to us. Spoke to DH and will put a separate amount away to cover the cost as it's a necessity

I thought a travel cot was able to be checked in free whenever you travel with an infant?

We don't have a travel cot so would have to buy one. Plus we have to travel to the airport by train (5hrs away) and didn't factor in luggage, pushchair and now a travel cot.

Does anyone have a rough estimate of the price of hiring a travel cot in Florida? I know it'll differ by management company but surely can't be a huge difference

I'd just make a detour to the nearest shopping centre and buy a cheapy Travel cot/crib play yard if you can't take one for free on your flight.
www.walmart.com/ip/Cosco-Funsport-Portable-Compact-Baby-Play-Yard-Zuri/42417763 $35 to $49 cheapest if you pick up
There are other places too, like Target (bit more expensive) and

🤔 when a person is added to a booking and paid for - you absoloutley expect a suitable bed to be provided.

I would ask virgin what the £300 charge for your baby actually covers? There is no extra charge for an infant to fly as they’ll be on your knee - they aren’t providing him with a bed! So what is the £300 for?

@MrDarcyWillBeMine we asked why we paid £300 supplement but this was ignored twice
Baby is on our knee. Our 2yr old has a seat but we paid full price for him (no child prices)

I have contacted the management company direct and they have confirmed all fees are set by virgin and had no clue why they suggested we pay them directly.

I asked Virgin earlier to speak to a manager but virgin assistant refused as she stated the manager would say the exact same as her... we have to request a cot, this is a request only and not guaranteed, plus we pay a fee directly to the management company.

I think I'll phone back and ask for a manager from the start

Put it in an email. You should have a breakdown if costs so will see where the baby is costed out. Babies incur costs, so not sure why you’re surprised you’re being charged.

Contact the Florida concierge about a cot price. Or buy one at a target or Walmart - could be cheaper.

I find it odd you are being charged £300 for a baby! Everywhere I have looked at babies are free so what exactly are you paying the £300 for? I wouldn't bother paying the travel cot - I'm sure if you go to reception on arrival they will have one?!

Has something been lost in translation I wonder? If you ask for a cot in the states they will think you mean a folding bed - so maybe in requesting one they think you are asking for an extra bed Iyswim. You need to ask for a crib or a ‘pack n play’

Yes, yes to ScrappyDappyDoo’s point. A cot is an additional folding single bed like the ones a hotel would bring in for an additional child. Crib/pack and play is what you need. We have rented through various managing agents in Orlando & never paid extra for this, or for a high chair.

I contacted virgin directly via web chat this morning and it was them I asked if a cot was requested as we couldn't see it on our booking invoice. When speaking with the management company direct I did ask for a 'packnplay' as that is how I seen it described on the website.

I'm not surprised as being charged for my DD @Angrybird345. We fully expected a surcharge for her although we're surprised it was £300! However we would assume a cot would be included in that price.

The management company (in Orlando) refused to discuss it with us as their contract with virgin states customers must deal directly with their travel agent. They did say that any fees are set by Virgin and would not be payable to them

Virgin have advised we can request a cot, for an additional charge paid directly to the management company when we check in for our villa keys. I didn't want to even ask about a high chair as who knows what they'll charge for that.

I'm hoping that when we get to Florida there will be no charge. I do wish Virgin would give me a straight answer

Ah well - keep track of all conversations, emails etc and hopefully you can get to the bottom of it all.

Finally managed to get an answer from virgin. We need to pay $97 for a travel cot hire and $86 for high chair! The rep was lovely and advised going to Walmart where we would get it for $60/$70 for both. Think we'll be paying a trip to Walmart after the airport

You might find that they have a travel cot and highchair as well as other baby things in the villa when you arrive. We haven’t travelled with an infant for a long time but our villa last year had 2 strollers, a highchair and a travel cot. The villa was booked direct though and not through an agent. Still might be worth waiting until you get there to check!

Did they clarify what the 300 was for?

@TulipsInbloom1 the £300 covers flight taxes according to virgin.

We spoke to the virgin concierge service today which connected us to our Rep over there. She gave us all the info and explained these will have to be paid for. Fingers crossed they are in the villa already. If not then I'm glad we found out now so we can put aside additional money.

Infants who don't get a seat are exempt from flight taxes according to this.

Try going on to 'the dibb' website - you'll find everything Disney & Orlando there (and way more than you need!!). Someone will know the best place for cots/chairs, or even arrange to give you theirs as they leave.

Erm babies without a seat don’t pay APD so that sounds like a lie someone is confused

I'd have assumed the 300 was the cost of the baby, lap baby is far from free and it seems it was.

Contacting companies on social media seems to shame them into action. I'd message on Twitter or FB to enquire why necessary baby items are not included in the £300.

EX senior travel of 35 yrs here!

Infants - those under 2 yrs of age by return date of travel - are generally charged 10% of the adult fare - no APD - with schedule flights such as Virgin Atlantic.

Bearing this in mind, if you are flying economy, no way should you be charged £300 for this. You definitely need a breakdown of how this £300 is made up. (I used to hate dealing with Virgin Holidays back in the day as I found most of their staff useless at coatings.)