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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:
Teeniemiff · 08/08/2018 18:43

I don’t think you’re BU. If I’ve understood this right,
You explained you’re requirements, he said he could sort that making you aware of some comprise (which you were ok with), you advised we’re booking flights as they were going up in price providing he could sort the accommodation that met your requirements & he said yes he could. So you booked & now he’s saying he can’t meet those requirements.

If that’s correct I don’t think it was BU to expect him to stick to his word.

However being last minute it was possibly unreasonable to expect all the exact requirements to be met.

I hope you sort something

MyMagicStars · 08/08/2018 18:44

You should always supervise your children by the poolside! We still keep an eye on our youngest girls (now 19) and always will. You booked this holiday last minute, of course it won't be perfect.

Slimmingsnake · 08/08/2018 19:17

Nothing worse than loud unsupervised kids at a poolside ...lazy parenting to not be poolside watching them

FaveNumberIs2 · 08/08/2018 19:24

You are wrong on so many levels.

You expect to just call up at the last minute during the main summer school holidays and have exactly what you want, where you want, to suit your separate flights and it be sorted in ten minutes. Are you fucking mad?

Here’s the deal. BOOK EARLY so you get what you want OR book now, take what you can get and accept that during your stay you will have to be responsible parents and sit beside the pool while your children are in it.

cheval · 08/08/2018 19:43

Get on that flight, have the less nice villa. And sit by pool with kids. Book earlier for next year! Or stay home! We are having lovely weather!

Inertia · 08/08/2018 19:46

The friend sounds like a dodgy scam, so you may well have dodged a bullet by not going round the back way with the friend.

Can you book directly with the resort, or another travel agent which uses them?

strivingforsuccess · 08/08/2018 20:54

As a travel agent, we advise those with specific needs to book in advance, to avoid situations such as these.
Sadly the management company you’ve been dealing with don’t care if you book your flights or if you don’t - all he cares about is letting the vacant accommodation. By letting him know you were keen to book because the flights went up in price, to me it sounds like he’s played you. Once they’re booked he knows you’ll be desperate to find somewhere to stay.
If you haven’t yet booked with him i’d Suggest looking elsewhere for something that meets your requirements and wish you the VERY best of luck!

Shewhomustbeobeyed1 · 08/08/2018 22:04

Sorry but I think you are an idiot. Book earlier next time.

ToftyAC · 08/08/2018 22:49

Note to self : either don’t leave it til the v last minute in peak season or book through an agent.

SoupDragon · 08/08/2018 23:06

We still keep an eye on our youngest girls (now 19)

You supervise your 19 year olds??

MsOliphant · 08/08/2018 23:13

19?!

Some holiday for them Confused

Nicknacky · 08/08/2018 23:15

Why does an adult need supervised in a pool?!

hiddeneverything · 08/08/2018 23:15

He sounds dodgy. X

CatchingBabies · 08/08/2018 23:21

How old are your children? I can’t imagine needing to supervise them in the pool but supervising from such a distance that if anything happened I couldn’t get to them fast enough anyway. Surely if they need supervision you supervise at the poolside and if they don’t need supervision then it doesn’t matter where the appartment is.

FunnysInLaJardin · 08/08/2018 23:25

we always book our holidays a year in advance. Just saying...........

magentastardust · 09/08/2018 00:08

I love all the outraged people that are flabbergasted that you booked flights but had no accommodation booked.....yep..when you book flight and accommodation separately for your holidays , you have to book one before the other! The OP could have secured accommodation first but then the flights could have gone up by hundreds ,so she had to do one or the other first!
I get why you are frustrated OP- the owner you were dealing with said he had something suitable and then didn't after you had committed to your flights.

I feel the majority of people who are saying you are AIBU are people that book package type holidays and seem to accept that you pay to get whatever is left ? Just because you have decided to go away next week does not mean you give away all rights to have what you want on your holiday, you are paying for it of course you are entitled to choose where you would prefer to stay on resort if you can get it! You wouldn't have booked the flights if you hadn't got the accommodation you wanted so no I don't think YABU!

TheMobileSiteMadeMeSignup · 09/08/2018 07:45

Of course you have to book one before the other but generally cancelling or amending accommodation bookings is far easier than a flight booking (sometimes 50 quid per person per leg to amend) so we always get accommodation sorted before we book flights.

33goingon64 · 09/08/2018 13:36

Haven't read whole thread so don't know if it's been said, but I was told recently that CF airlines deliberately put the prices up when the same IP address visits the site multiple times. In future if you've checked a route out once, use another device to check again.

BigSandyBalls2015 · 09/08/2018 13:45

19!!! And you're supervising them by the pool Shock. My 17 year old has just come back from her first holiday away with friends abroad.

PrimalLass · 09/08/2018 18:01

Nothing worse than loud unsupervised kids at a poolside ...lazy parenting to not be poolside watching them

Oh goodness. What about giving them a little freedom? Mine are 10 and 13 and can swim better than I can. They go to the beach at home with their friends, just as I did at their age.

Lazy parenting ... what about helicopter parenting? This is why we end up at the same place each year, because everyone seems to be equally chilled.

PrimalLass · 09/08/2018 18:21

I love all the outraged people that are flabbergasted that you booked flights but had no accommodation booked.....yep..when you book flight and accommodation separately for your holidays , you have to book one before the other!

This. We book flights first because there is always somewhere to stay.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 09/08/2018 18:28

Supervising 19 year olds at the pool that is peak mumsnet Grin
I haven’t holidayed in the same country as my eldest since he was 17 shit am I a bad mumsnet mummy BlushGrin

Nicknacky · 09/08/2018 18:33

primal Normally I agree with you and I book my flights first but in this instance when she is so rigid in the accommodation I think she should have secured that first.

anniehm · 09/08/2018 18:53

I'll be honest - you are being very picky for someone booking last minute. Anyway, the only safe place for you to be when your kids are at the pool is right next to it, of preferably in it. If my kids were too young to walk across the resort, they are too young to swim solo

Budgiegirlbob · 09/08/2018 19:01

This. We book flights first because there is always somewhere to stay

That’s true if you’re not too particular about the apartment you want to stay in. If your requirements are very specific as in this case, you’re probably better to secure the accommodation first.

Either way, when you are booking separately, there’s always a risk that flights or accommodation will be booked after you’ve booked the other one. Especially when you are organising everything at the last minute.

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