Accor Hotels - rubbish customer service

[SittinOnTheDockOfTheBay]

We had a booking at an Accor hotel in Amsterdam for June 2020. It was cancelled (by them) due to COVID restrictions.

They have given us a voucher for a stay (at the same hotel in Amsterdam only) that has to be used by June 2021.

I emailed them last week and asked if we could have a voucher to stay in a U.K. hotel instead, as it's likely that we will be able to travel in the U.K. sooner than we can go abroad.

They said no and if we don't use the voucher by June 2021 it will be void. I've asked for a refund instead, they said no.

I think the answer is a section 75, which will mean a refund and I understand this process will be at a cost to Accor. Seems a bit daft to me as we would happily have a voucher (if it was a voucher we could actually use - ie useable in the U.K.).

Any advice, other than a section 75?

That's shit OP. I can't offer any advice, other than to say we had an Airbnb booking and they refunded the cost of the accommodation and gave us a voucher for the booking fee - useable anywhere.

Section 75 may be the way to go.

I'm keeping a shitlist of companies who have behaved badly during Covid. Not to be used again.

RyanAir made it really difficult to get our money back for flights - had to use resolver in the end and it took 6 months. EasyJet were a lot better, we got our money back in about a month.

Thanks. I definitely won't book any hotel in the Accor chain again. There are plenty of other choices and I'd rather support a business that values its customers.