Holiday abroad- hotel closed like for like replacement advice

[Gonewiththegin]

We booked a family hotel for October half term. We have just been contacted to advise this hotel has closed for the season.

We have been offered “like for like” in the same area. We do not agree with this. The initial hotel had a kids club, kids entertainment, family disco, children’s pool, splash park and onsite park. The proposed hotel has none of the above- not even an individual kids pool.

We also have family staying in the proposed hotel who booked on the same date and their hotel was hundreds of pounds cheaper. We have their confirmation a proof of this.

Does anyone have any experience on where we stand? Is it possible to have the difference paid back to us? The new proposed hotel is now more expensive than when family originally booked it at the beginning of the year. We initially paid extra for all the extra facilities for our DC as it’s a hotel we have stayed at previously.

Have you discussed it with the holiday company?

Can they offer another alternative? Or a refund? Try to find your own accommodation?

We have sent off an email stating we don’t agree that the hotels are similar in anyway. It can’t take up to two days for a response so was just wondering if anyone else had been in a similar situation recently.

@MadeForThis unfortunately all family friendly hotels in the area seem to be closed. We have family at the resort offered and although disappointed we will stay there but feel it’s unfair we all booked on the same day and we are significantly out of pocket and will need to spend more now to visit water parks etc when we wouldn’t have before as the hotel had everything DC would need.

Cancelling altogether doesn’t seem to be an option either and a fee if we were to change the dates to next year.

Can you accept but agree a partial refund based on it being a cheaper hotel and reduced facilities?

Cheeky as, offering you a substandard hotel and then ignoring you.

Hoping they agree to a partial refund, it’s not at all like for like- one resort is family friendly with lots of kids entertainment and the other has nothing but there isn’t anything else more suitable in the area.

I don't think you'll get away with the fact your family members paid less over 6 months ago. It'll be based on today's prices unfortunately (not saying it's right but that's how it is)

It definitely isn't like for like though!

When our hotel (abroad) closed a week before we were due to go, that ment we could cancel and get a full refund.

Difficult if you don't want to do that though.

@CoRhona was that including flights? The initial email states we can only cancel the hotel if we aren’t happy with their suggestion but will incur costs to move/cancel flights. We woood happily change destination altogether and last minute prices are much cheaper than what we paid!

@Gonewiththegin yes, everything. It was a package holiday, is yours?

Ours is too. Will look in to that and see if it’s an option once we get a response. Thanks!

Hi op, here's the message we sent that resulted in our getting a full refund (check your provider's t's and c's first) - hope it helps:

Hello Cancellation Team,

Your own terms and conditions state:

"In relation to Package bookings only, in the unlikely event that we or your Service Provider have to make a significant change to your Package, we will tell you as soon as reasonably possible.

You will then have the option to:

1. Accept the proposed change
2. Reject the proposed change and take an alternative
3. Reject the proposed change and terminate your Package with a full refund."

We choose option 3 which does not mention any cancellation charges and under the Package Travel Regulations 2018 we should not be charged anything.

Therefore, please refund the full amount within 14 days as per the aforementioned Regulations.

I look forward to receiving a full refund.

With thanks,

You don’t have many options if you still want to go. If the hotel is closed, it’s closed.

The good thing is you have family members at the replacement hotel (what a lucky coincidence!) so you can all be together and have a great time. Usually the best holidays are down to who you are with, not where you are. Enjoy the get-together!

If you want to cancel there is a good template email above.

If you want a partial refund I would look at prices for next year for both hotels and apply that ratio to your current holiday. Eg the new hotel is consistently a third cheaper so you want a third of your money returned as it is not like for like due to the following reasons, and list all the differences

This happened the other way to us last year where we had paid top whack to booked into the high-end, flagship *5 resort within the group on the island and due to COVID they decided to close the other 7 hotels and consolidate everyone into this hotel. Great for those who booked the much cheaper places but not so for us who paid full wack!

Every day we would hear guests excitedly boasting about how little they paid - about a third in comparison. I was happy for them as it's nice when that happens but irritated as the hotel was at max capacity, staff couldn't cope and far from luxury service we had paid for.

Happened again this summer with a different hotel group. What I can highly recommend is (only if they are sister hotels) forget about the tour operator and contact the hotel group directly. Get the emails of the general manager from Rocketreach Just write a friendly email explaining how you were so looking forward to that hotel. Mention in someways it's nice that you know you will have companions at the new hotel but a bit frustrating knowing they paid a lot less for the same thing!

Without saying it directly you just need them to see you are not an 'entitled' person but a human being who will have a nagging thought the whole holiday that you have been slightly cheated!

While tour operators are pretty useless, hotels managers want their guests to enjoy themselves and come back. What they can do is ensure at the very least you have a room upgrade, better view, premium lounge access, a suite or even ensuring there is a bottle of something nice in your room.

I know it doesn't replace the experience you wanted but having a nice sea view or a suite can make the stay so much better. Especially if the difference in price would have got you a premium room at the new hotel originally!

Hope you have a lovely time regardless!

@CoRhona thank you for the template! The company said the hotel being closed comes under an insignificant change and would refund the amount paid for the hotel but not the flights. We did argue we viewed it as significant as no kids facilities/entertainment at all and we would now be out of pocket finding those elsewhere- water parks etc. They would not budge so after a stressful few days we accepted the refund for the amount we initially paid.

@BritWifeInUSA very strange coincidence, their hotel is lovely also but we opted for family friendly for our DC. The rest of the party are travelling without children.

@DrinkFeckArseBrick thank you. We opted to have the hotel refunded and booked the same hotel they offered elsewhere for much cheaper than the straight swap the tour operator suggested.

@Daddydog thank you for the advice. The hotel chain did have a sister hotel nearby but they actually closed that first. It’s a hotel we know well so like you were very disappointed and it’s not quite the holiday we had been looking forward to but I guess that’s the chance you taking when booking anything at the moment.