Warning - Warner holidays

[Mayflower282]

Warning to anyone thinking of booking a Warner holiday - they have the ABSOLUTE WORST cancellation policy of any hotel I’ve ever stayed at. Be warned!!! Paid for cancellation policy and they won’t cover cancellation. Will never use Warner holidays again!

Can you explain why they aren't honouring their cancellation policy?

There is more to it than what you’re saying surely?

It will be in the fine print…. Feel for you.

Devil is in the details. Most holiday companies do not allow cancellations, that’s what insurance is for, but buyer beware on that as well. We have decent insurance but it doesn’t cover our situation (no one does)

Warners is not "a hotel". It's a middle class mass dining plus entertainment "Butlins for adults only" business that depends on early booking and extremely high occupancy rates.

I expect their cancellation terms were clear and you didn't meet them. I never buy their cancellation cover because of its limitations. You needed your own travel insurance.

I’m not really away of any companies you can just cancel your holiday for a full refund op.

can you move your holiday to another date - that’s what we did and all worked fine ?

I guess I’m just use to using booking.com, Airbnb, and premier inn, where paying extra for a cancellation policy means you are insured for a cancellation, whatever the reason 🤷‍♀️

Premier Inn don't 'insure' you for a cancellation. You just pay a higher rate for the room so it gives you the flexibility to cancel if your plans change. They are very likely to be able to sell the room again anyway. Enough people pay the higher rate and turn up, so that covers the occasional empty room.

Warners are a holiday park. They aren't in the business of booking overnight stays at short notice. Their cancellation policy will be entirely different, and would probably insure you against having to cancel your holiday due to illness etc. They won't just give you your money back because you've changed your mind.

What reason did they give for refusing your cancellation even though you had the policy?

Airbnb doesn't offer a cancellation policy. Some properties let you pay extra for the right ti cancel. You need to read the small print on any policy you buy.

Why are they not covering the cancellation?

You still haven’t really explained it, so it’s hardly a helpful warning, but vent away!

What was the reason? Pil were able to get credit when cancelling at relatively short notice but that was because one was unwell and unable to travel. Most cancellation policies don’t cover changing your mind, for example, unless accommodation is booked direct and as specified in the payment terms.

So maybe the warning should be read the cancellation policy information before buying it.

You've made me feel so much better @Imdunfer about not going there next year to see my favourite ever pop star. It was a hard decision, but I just couldn't justify the £600 ticket.

I hope you get a result you're happy with OP.

Warners is two halves, a set of holiday camps by the sea and a set of listed stately homes. The listed stately homes are fabulous but with all of them the problem is the dining. They are trying to feed 400 people in one huge dining room. It's OK, but it's not hotel quality or ambience. In the stately homes some have a really nice small restaurant, and some also have a brasserie but it's pot luck whether you can get a reservation in one or not. Getting your choice of times to eat and whether you can get in a better restaurant depends on early booking and a bit on wheedling ability ("it's our wedding anniversary" etc)

There are a whole range of daytime entertainments and they all have a theatre with a show every night, so it's a nice "cruise ship with no water" experience but the mass dining really lets it down unless you enjoy queuing for a carvery and eating with 200 other people.

I think you probably made the right choice. The pop stars are usually at one of the old holiday camps, Hayling (2), IoW (2) or Suffolk (2)

It's none of those 3 sites, but your response has made me feel even better now @Imdunfer

I was trying to justify the purchase with "remember, all the food is included", but mass catering all you can eat buffets isn't really my thing.

Even travel insurance doesn't necessarily cover you in the way you might think. My partners mother died and they didn't pay out for him (mine did pay out in fairness) because she only died on the last day we would have been away despite us notifying them we wouldn't be able to go as were in hospital with her on departure date. Actual holiday bookings won't cover you for owt, even changing a tiny detail will cost you £££.

Your venting and trying to put people off without explaining. Its only fair to the company to explain it properly.
The person who called Warners Butlins it a big more upmarket than that.

I'm just getting from this that you didn't check the T&C's and you're hitting out at them. Without further info it tells me nothing to discourage me from using them.

You might have a legit gripe but unless you share the story you're not going to achieve your objective of putting people off.

I called it Butlins for the middle classes, have you been to any of the campsites at Hayling Island, Sussex coast and IoW? The accommodation is even 1960's chalets in the grounds. The only big difference from Butlins is no kids or kids stuff and an older and more sedately behaved customs base. The stately homes are a different kettle of fish altogether. We've been in all the Warners (many more than once) except the newest, Richmond, and the nearby twin of each of the campsite ones.

I'm so fed up with the catering in all of them now that I've given them a break for a while. I really don't want to have 5.30pm as the only dining spot left because I booked late or pay £200+ a night to eat in a room seating several hundred after queuing for a pub-chain carvery.

I use booking.com a lot. There is no cancellation policy or cancellation insurance.

If I am 100% positive that I will be staying there, then I pay the lower room rate and have no option to cancel.

If there's a decent chance that I might not go, then I pay a higher room rate which allows me to cancel the booking by a given deadline.