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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be cross about this holiday booking?

151 replies

Divette · 07/08/2018 12:31

Aaargh I’m at the end of my tether here! We decided last minute (Friday last week) to book a holiday to our favourite resort for this Friday. It’s privately owned self catering apartments and we book the flights separately. We looked at flights and prices and knew we could (just about) justify it having bought a house this year too.

I got in touch with several owners and management companies to enquire about apartments. Nothing was quite what we were looking for (we specifically need to be in a certain place on resort so we can always be near the children when they’re in the pool etc. We know the resort well and so know which apartments work for us and which don’t).

One man (management company) got back to me eventually yesterday and said he had availability for our dates but we’d have to move apartments halfway through due to availability. We understood and were about to go ahead and book when he replied to say someone had agreed a booking on the apartment for the first part of our stay and this first one now wasn’t available after all but the second still was.

He then phoned me to say he had somewhere else for the second part of the stay but couldn’t tell me any details or price. This was 5ish yesterday and having checked the flights again we realised they had gone up in price by £250 (aaargh!) but that if we stayed longer, we could pay the original flight price so decided to extend our stay in the second apartment which he said was free and would be no problem.

We told him we would have to book our flights for fear of them going up again (they had already increased in price by £150 the day before). He said he definitely had somewhere in the correct location and with the 2 bathrooms so go ahead and book our flights. So we did.

Today he emailed to say he should have somewhere for me by 9am. He gave me a price which was high but we had to go with it by this point. I thanked him and explained again we were quite specific about location on resort and that if whatever he had found didn’t suit, we’d be happy to use it for the first week, then move into his second apartment as agreed yesterday. He then said he had an apartment for the whole of our stay that his friend could offer us, but that he couldn’t remember any details about it (not the location on resort or if it had 2 bathrooms like we wanted). He told me at this point to email his friend instead (not a company just an owner who lives on the resort). I reiterated that we’d need to know the details of location etc before we booked. He said he didn’t have any details and it was very short notice for me to be asking for them.

I said again we’d need to know info so we knew our boys would be close by in the pool etc and that we’d need to go with the original plan of moving apartments if the first wasn’t suitable. He said we could no longer do that as he’d just taken a booking on the second apartment and the only one now available was this one through a third party in the resort which he had no details about!

I called him at this point and he told me to speak to this other man for details. I said I was booking through him (it’s him he had asked me to pay), so although he was really not happy he said he’d try to find out some details. He said he had been told details this morning but it was very early so he couldn’t remember and he had 3 children to look after Confused

He called me back and said this man wanted to speak to me and tried to give me his number to call him in the resort. He said he had tried 3 times to give the man my number but couldn’t (something to do with a landline). I was cross by now and asked him to email the man my number as I didn’t want to pay to call internationally when I was trying to book through him. He put the phone down on me!

Now we’re left with nowhere to stay potentially or having to stay somewhere unsuitable and some really expensive flights booked! Shock

Am I wrong to expect more?!

OP posts:
hammeringinmyhead · 07/08/2018 13:00

YABU. It's August and you sound like hard work. If I were the owner I'd want someone else in the vacancies just for ease. Just make the call!

Divette · 07/08/2018 13:00

Neglectful parenting style?! Goodness me mumsnet...seriously! Grin

OP posts:
MsOliphant · 07/08/2018 13:00

I'll re-iterate OP as I'm not sure why you do t understand;

It's a last minute booking. You have some flexibility and be prepared not to get exactly what you want, or you book well in advance like most people on the resort will have done.

Nicknacky · 07/08/2018 13:01

Well, it was your choice to book the flights before the accommodation was secured. I’m doubtful this guy would have told you to book them, why does he care?! And even if he did, you know you were taking that risk.

He has tried to meet your requirements but can’t. What do you expect him to do, evict the holidaymakers?

SoupDragon · 07/08/2018 13:02

Now we’re left with nowhere to stay potentially or having to stay somewhere unsuitable and some really expensive flights booked!

But that is all because you won’t make a phone call. The man has been trying to sort out your specific requirements and you cant be arsed to call someone to find out details.

Divette · 07/08/2018 13:03

MsOliphant that was the whole point. We didn’t want to be flexible-we we’re looking to see if by any chance what we wanted was still available before we booked. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t have booked. He said it was so we booked flights, and now he says it’s not.

OP posts:
MyDirtyLittleSecret · 07/08/2018 13:04

You have to stay in a specific resort and in a specific part of the resort? Should have got that in place before you booked the flights. Have to agree that penny pinching about the cost of a phone call at this stage is a bit pathetic especially as the rental agent appears to have been doing his best to arrange things to get you as close to what you want as he could. Fact is you book last minute and you take your chances that your ideal wants are not going to be met so you either suck it up with something less than ideal or you don't go.

Now you either Google and find suitable accommodation but not exactly what you want or you cancel the flights.

Heismyopendoor · 07/08/2018 13:05

You both sound like hard work.

MsOliphant · 07/08/2018 13:05

He took another booking whilst presumably still waiting for you to sort yourselves out though. He's trying to run a business after all.

Nicknacky · 07/08/2018 13:05

But you are an adult. You didn’t need o do it just becuase he told you to. Secure the accommodation THEN book the flights if you are so inflexible.

SisterNotCisTerf · 07/08/2018 13:05

You expected to book a fortnight’s holiday, at a week’s notice, with very specific requirements, in peak season and not encounter any hiccups? Really?

Doyoumind · 07/08/2018 13:06

You either need to get researching and find somewhere else to stay, call this man back and get a number to speak to the other guy or forget about it all and lose the money you spent on flights.

Ranting on MN is not going to resolve this for you.

adaline · 07/08/2018 13:08

You're being utterly ridiculous.

You're trying to book a luxury holiday at the last minute, to a busy resort and won't stay in a non-poolside apartment? Why not just take an apartment anywhere in the resort and actually go to the pool and supervise your children like a normal person?!

Jeez!

Hizz · 07/08/2018 13:08

If you have very specific requirements for a holiday you need to book early.
Now you have the flights and I suggest you just book a nice hotel and do what everyone else does which is to take turns to go and sit by the pool to watch your children.
I'm so glad my lifeguarding days are over

LeftRightCentre · 07/08/2018 13:10

Utterly daft to book flights without a guaranteed place to say. You are being very unreasonable. It's a last minute hol in bloody August and you're grousing about how the resort can't cater to your desires? Supervise your own kids at the pool then or don't go. Last minute doesn't allow for fussy. I just booked a last minute long weekend (well, last minute for me, it's for the last weekend in September) and the first thing I did was secure the accommodation. Surely that's just common sense. It's no one's fault but your own if you're paying thousands because you didn't book it last year.

Lifeisabeach09 · 07/08/2018 13:12

Go Airbnb.

Divette · 07/08/2018 13:13

MsOliphant that’s what I mean. He’s trying to run a business but has now twice said he had things available for us then to go back on them. His exact words on the phone yesterday were ‘Good news! We have an apartment either in block A or block B so you can go ahead and book the flights’ Then today he said he only has this unspecified one somewhere in resort but can’t say where because it was too early this morning when he was told so he’s forgotten. We could have booked one somewhere else on the resort last Friday for much less money but we didn’t as it’s not what we wanted.

Our mistake was booking the flights without the apartment secured. I’ll definitely learn from that.

OP posts:
MrsJonSno · 07/08/2018 13:13

YANBU to be picky and fussy; we all had our needs and preferences, however odd or irrelevant they may seem to others. YABU to have expected to have them met last minute but this guy told you he could meet your requirements then after you’d booked your flights then messed you about. YANBU to be annoyed about that but as it wasn’t booked and you don’t gave a contract with him you can’t do much about it. Use your time now to find something as suitable as possible as you’ve paid for the flight now. What about a Villa?

OrdinarySnowflake · 07/08/2018 13:14

So as far as I can tell, you want the same service as booking 6 months in advance the week before. You don't want to put much effort into sorting your holiday out yourself and you want a very specific apartment so you can avoid packing up a beach bag and carrying your stuff to the poolside.

Just book whatever is available at this stage and invest in a couple of water bottles and a nice beach bag.

DontCallMeCharlotte · 07/08/2018 13:14

You sounded experienced at booking independently and I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs, but as a matter of interest, did you delete your cookies between flight searches?

LeftRightCentre · 07/08/2018 13:14

You'll have to take what you get now.

SheWoreBlueVelvet · 07/08/2018 13:15

I can see why it's frustrating.

I totally don't get the has to be a specific resort and then specific rooms thing. That sounds dull before it even starts. They are all privately owned so you have to expect most of them to be booked up by now.

I'd use the really expensive flights and go to completely different resort/ hotel/apartment on a different bit of the island. Live a little.

3stonedown · 07/08/2018 13:15

Surely you’re supposed to listen to customer requirements I think when it comes to last minute holiday's they don't really need to be concerned about great customer service, usually people just take what they can get. He has filled an empty apartment, he really doesn't care who it goes to, it's business.

I don't know why you didn't e-mail the owner of the other apartment when he asked and got the details then. Just go for an apartment not next to the pool and sit around the pool to supervise your children.

Nicknacky · 07/08/2018 13:16

Until money has changed hand then doesn’t assume it’s secure.

speakout · 07/08/2018 13:19

I think you have had a lucky break in not securing a deal with Mr X the rental guy.
The conversations and his dealing sound very unprofessional.

So now you have flights booked but no accommodation.

You can either try to get your money back from the airline or book different accommodation.

And that should not be hard even at this stage.

But if you have exacting expectations you may be disappointed.

My needs on holiday are simple and my expectations low.

I have never been disappointed.