To be fuming at holiday home owner?

[namechange0178]

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.

I agree that you should contact them saying you are pleased to see they can stick to the contract. Also check the terms. I bet they do not have an arbitrary right to terminate. If they refuse to honour the booking say you will consider court action for an order of "specific performance" - the court forcing them to honour the contract. Say you have lawyers in the family (if you do) and so many people are in a similar position where house owners have breached contracts you would like to make it a test case.

Check with citizens advice / sounds like they are in breach of contract

Awful and sadly you're not the first I've heard this has happened to.

@blissfulllife a very similar thing has happened to us. Fortunately one or two things have happened which mean our autistic dd wasn't quite so keen this year but the very late cancellation means we'll struggle to go on holiday at all this year.

Depressingly, I have had a similar experience.

Its definitely happening in other areas too. We ordered an item for our garden, not realising that there was lot of demand for them. No email about delivery for a couple of days then we had an email saying there were warehouse problems due to items being damaged . We checked online the next day and there was the item only £150 more expensive. We contacted them and left a bad review, they truly dont care, its all about making as much as they can.

Definitely ring pretending to be a potential new customer and if it's available then let them know who you are.

Dreadful. I’m an owner and I can’t imagine treating my guests this way...we are not all evil by the way! Those owners will ultimately reap what they sow and if you’re 100% sure of your facts a review might be the way to go. But why not ring and query the situation first? You might get the holiday reinstated if you call them out!

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

^^ THis. I know the weather's good right now, but if we have the typically cold rainy August that we normally have, there will be a lot of people having to make the best of UK holiday accommodation that they've paid well over the odds for, only to find they're paying a fortune for indoor attractions for something to do, interspersed with sitting in their holiday cottage that cost ££££s doing exactly the same as what they could have done at home for free.

Most people who normally go abroad will be straight back to it as soon as they are able to.

I'd report this to whatever platform they advertise on OP. They've really dropped you in it there.

@MintyMabel

I know Covid will have meant they've lost a lot of money from being unable to rent it out through lockdown but it's the bare faced lies that's pissed me off.

Is it really, though? If they had said "look, we've lost a shit ton of money in the last year and need to cancel your holiday because someone else will pay double what you are and that means our business might survive", you wouldn't be pissed off?

You'd probably still be pissed off but at least you have a choice whether to pay it or not - OP wasn't give that choice and now no holiday

So out of order, no wonder you are upset about it. I sympathise with holiday accommodation owners that have had their businesses affected by the pandemic, but this sort of behaviour is unscrupulous. I have heard this so many times, cancelling booking for a higher price. I would absolutely get in touch with them & place factual reviews where ever I could, to save other families being disappointed.

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

Exactly this.

Two years in a row we were the only guests booked for our out of season break. The last four other family have come as well so three of four properties booked instead of one. They might fill their summer week they cancelled on us next year, but they’ve lost multiple guaranteed out of high season bookings and the odd one offs we book for big birthdays and the likes.

It’s very short sighted.

Seriously, OP, issue a claim against them. They entered into a contract with you.

Find an alternative, at whatever price it is, and raise a case with MCOL against them for the difference. It's cheap and I'd do it just to piss on their chips, the CFs!

Even if you can't find an alternative you could try claiming for your wasted holiday time off work (easy to quantify in monetary terms).

This sort of thing needs to be tackled and there's no reason you can't be successful given that they're advertising it again. They can't hide from it!

This is so greedy.

we have a glamping site and a holiday cottage that is on my PILs farm, and which I manage. We have had to strip back the glamping (people bring own bed linen and cooking equipment due to rules I cant comply with as off grid) so we kept prices same as last year and 2019, to reflect that this might be an inconvenience, and our cottage was again, just the normal price. We have been happy to just have been booked, I dont feel right if I knew I was taking the piss.

the only thing I have done is increase the season and increase the camping prices by a fiver on a pop up campsite, but thats to cover less pitches and extra staffing to keep everything clean. even then not out of the range of normal for the area

@JustLyra

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

Exactly this.

Two years in a row we were the only guests booked for our out of season break. The last four other family have come as well so three of four properties booked instead of one. They might fill their summer week they cancelled on us next year, but they’ve lost multiple guaranteed out of high season bookings and the odd one offs we book for big birthdays and the likes.

It’s very short sighted.

This absolutely. We love our regular guests, and think that they would rightly stop coming if we doubled the prices. Good repeat custom and good reviews are what makes a tourism business. Double the price and you are opening yourself to a whole barrel of trouble, as expectations would likely go through the roof too, and a regular cottage would need to meet the standards as a 5* hotel

@PastMyBestBeforeDate she was so looking forward to it. Would of coincided perfectly between chemo doses as she's 3 months into treatment. I'm so angry but have had to give up looking for anywhere else as we are now priced right out 😡

This is awful OP.
Great suggestions on this thread.

These people will get their payback in coming years when people go abroad again and the UK holiday market contracts. A lot of holiday lets rely on repeat customers. An owner who treats customers in this way won't get repeat business and will suffer in the long run.

Are they registered on any holiday let sites.

They usually have strict rules about price gouging and if you prove you booked a 'x' price and was cancelled on and now they are advertising the same date for 'z' price they usually get banned.

While it sucks at least your luckier than us, when lockdown started to lift and you could have self contained holidays we booked an appartment and drove there for the weekend, we even confirmed the booking in the morning before we set off.

Suddenly no response when we got there, no one answering phones or emails then 3 hours after we where suppose to be checked in (which was now getting late in the evening with hungry, stressed and tired children) we got a 'cancellation email' and a 'refund'.

There was no where else in the area to book that was availible and wasnt now crazy expensive but luckily a travelodge took us for the night under the 'temporary homeless' clause.

We never got an explination or appology or anything.

Very few people seem to have failed to understand that there would be consequences to closing the economy for 1+ year. Domestic holiday prices will rise this year, foreign holiday next year. Restaurant prices and taxes. I feel sorry for business owners - people screaming for their businesses to close (and in some cases they still remain closed), not making a penny for a year and then people calling them "disgusting" and "greedy" for trying to claw back some of their losses.

It's a inconvenience for you, but we don't know the holiday owners circumstances. They might be on the edge financially and need to make more money to keep their heads above water.

We should have a little sympathy for other people's circumstances

That's a clear breach of contract. You have a legal case against them if you want to pursue it. Might be enough to call them and mention this.

@SoapboxFox

Contact the Daily Mail so they can write an article about the greedy business.

I usually roll my eyes at the DM picking up MN threads but in this case I’d say fair game. You reap what you sow.

Can they cancel once you’ve paid in full? I’m quite worried our UK holiday might be cancelled reading these threads.

There was an exact same thread a while ago. Is happening a lot OP. Toerags.

@Crazycatlady83

Very few people seem to have failed to understand that there would be consequences to closing the economy for 1+ year. Domestic holiday prices will rise this year, foreign holiday next year. Restaurant prices and taxes. I feel sorry for business owners - people screaming for their businesses to close (and in some cases they still remain closed), not making a penny for a year and then people calling them "disgusting" and "greedy" for trying to claw back some of their losses.

It's a inconvenience for you, but we don't know the holiday owners circumstances. They might be on the edge financially and need to make more money to keep their heads above water.

We should have a little sympathy for other people's circumstances

No. It’s a dirty trick and there is absolutely no excuse. Depending on contracts it may well be illegal. It’s certainly unethical.