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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be fuming at holiday home owner?

225 replies

namechange0178 · 14/06/2021 23:15

We booked a week away (in England) for August ages ago. In autumn last year. We're a large family group so limited options. Last week I get a cancellation note, with a big story from the owner that her family member has long covid and they are closing their business so that he and his carers can live there. Lo and behold, as I'm browsing every day in the hope that something else becomes available so that we don't lose our holiday completely, the house has popped up again for our dates at a much inflated rate.

Why lie? If you're going to be a greedy snake, at least give us the option to pay more to keep our holiday. As it is, there is literally nothing else available for us.

OP posts:
maddening · 14/06/2021 23:21

Review them on line, you have evidence to back it up.

RandomMess · 14/06/2021 23:22

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Constantcrayfish · 14/06/2021 23:23

Deeply annoying but these fuckers are at it everywhere.

On a practical note if you give us your numbers and dates maybe the MN hordes can find you some alternatives?

Streamside · 14/06/2021 23:24

As above, screenshot and post reviews

Blossomtoes · 14/06/2021 23:25

Greedy bastards, that’s so unethical. Hope they can’t find a replacement booking.

Ohpulltheotherone · 14/06/2021 23:26

Yup it sounds like good old fashioned greed.

You’d hope that they would have at least had the decency to honour long standing bookings even if they hiked the prices up for the other weeks.

Is it possible someone has bought the business? If you’re absolutely sure it is still the same people then I’d be tempted to screen shot it all and send a message just calling them out for being deceitful arseholes. You’re right in that supply and demand sets the price but they could have offered you first refusal.
You probably won’t get a response or a polite response but sometimes it feels good to call people out - I did it recently to a restaurant owner and it felt oddly nice to politely point out how terrible his behaviour was

PersonaNonGarter · 14/06/2021 23:28

Check your contract.

ElizabethTudor · 14/06/2021 23:29

I hate this.
As above, if it’s definitely the same owners, call them out on it. If I saw such a review I wouldn’t book with such unscrupulous bastards.
Hope you find somewhere else Op.

CornishTiger · 14/06/2021 23:29

I’d call them out on it. Tell them you have seen the revised availability and you’d like then to honour your previous booking.

If they remain not decent on this then I agree review everywhere.

RockingMyFiftiesNot · 14/06/2021 23:32

@CornishTiger

I’d call them out on it. Tell them you have seen the revised availability and you’d like then to honour your previous booking.

If they remain not decent on this then I agree review everywhere.

^^Exactly what I was going to say. This happened to my friend when accommodation was at a premium for a major event. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.
CornishTiger · 14/06/2021 23:33

And holiday accommodation owners would be wise to remember that the foreign holiday restrictions that has create this boom won’t last forever.

Tuckedinbelly · 14/06/2021 23:35

What's the cancellation policy on the place? If it's a couple of days before (as with plenty of Airbnb places) I'd be tempted to book it on DPs credit card in another name and then cancel last minute. Arseholes

EasterIssland · 14/06/2021 23:36

Where did you book? If Airbnb you can report them

Speakuptomakeyourselfheard · 14/06/2021 23:37

That's awful OP. We own a holiday cottage, and wouldn't dream of treating people like that. We have what are called 'principles' which it seems so many are lacking these days. When Covid first took hold, we had our property marketed by Sykes Holidays, and paid them 25% of what we earned for the privilege! They treated both our guests and us abysmally, refusing refunds, and then when people decided to postpone their holiday until 2021, because they couldn't get their money back, they increased the prices by ridiculous amounts. Within a couple of weeks of seeing this, we gave them notice, as we didn't want our name associated with such a money grabbing company, whose only thought was for the bottom line. When we were with them, at the start of each year we received a forecast of the new prices for the year, and were horrified at times that for peak weeks they had actually increased the price by as much as 57% on one occasion!! We were shocked, as we're just ordinary people trying to earn a living by giving people nice accommodation at reasonable prices, and so insisted that our prices were only increased in line with inflation, which may not be very business savvy, but meant that we could live with ourselves rather than frequently feeling we were ripping people off. I understand that some holiday property owners lost a lot of money last year, but ripping people off, is not the way to go.

PinkCast · 14/06/2021 23:38

I've heard about this happening quite a few times now, not sure there's anything you can do - it is annoying though!! Angry

AlwaysLatte · 14/06/2021 23:38

Put reviews in every possible place, as others have said.

Summerfun54321 · 14/06/2021 23:41

What's the cancellation policy on the place? If it's a couple of days before (as with plenty of Airbnb places) I'd be tempted to book it on DPs credit card in another name and then cancel last minute. Arseholes

^^ great idea.

Skiptheheartsandflowers · 14/06/2021 23:46

Be careful in the way you phrase the reviews, though. There was a thread the other day where someone had legal action taken against them for a review calling someone 'fraudulent'. If you recount verifiable facts, we booked this, were told that, then new ad appeared, not sure why but it was all very confusing - that's safer and people will spot what they were up to.

notapizzaeater · 14/06/2021 23:52

Horrible people, I'd be leaving reviews everywhere - they could have done it to the whole 6 weeks bookings. Some nasty evil greedy people out there

wherewildflowersgrow · 14/06/2021 23:52

We had this too, on Airbnb. Luckily it wasn't long after we booked, nearly 3 months in advance. I suppose they realised the prices had gone up. It's infuriating and disappointing. You can't leave a review as you haven't stayed.

Becca19962014 · 14/06/2021 23:56

There's a lot of holiday scams going on right now.

We've had people in my area turn up for hotels/caravans/cottages only to find the owners know nothing of their booking, people have had holidays cancelled and readvertised (I know of one case where it was falsely readvertised) police have been putting it on social media; though if tourists out of area would follow them I've no idea.

If you're certain it's the same people e.g. exact website, contact details same etc then leave a review but be prepared to back it up. Just be aware there's a chance the scam you think it is it may not be (if that makes sense!)

BecauseMyRingBurnsSheila · 14/06/2021 23:59

We had this and they said it had been priced too low on Airbnb (by them not Airbnb!). Absolutely no come back for us. Tried to review them but was cancelled because we hadn't stayed 🤯 Arseholes.

BecauseMyRingBurnsSheila · 15/06/2021 00:01

We ended up (with a lot of searching) right in the middle of where we wanted to be in the first place but couldn't find anywhere. Drove past where we would have stayed and it looked grim. So it did work out better for us in the end.

MintyJulip · 15/06/2021 00:02

Friends of ours have just had exactly the same thing happen to them! 🤬

Twoforthree · 15/06/2021 00:07

We had that happen for a long weekend pre Covid. Presume they got a booking for the whole week. Cost us a fortune extra