Email from property owner - room cancelled for refugees

[DuvetHugger]

I booked holiday accommodation last year for this coming June in Scotland. They allow pets so this was the main pull for us. We have booked tickets for a big gig taking place there and are travelling from south of the UK.

I just received this email from them:

"We have applied to use the barn for Ukranian refugees. if it's not a problem for you can you please cancel free of charge"

I replied saying we have booked some activities etc and is she sure the place wont be available at that time, we booked 8 months ago and her response was:

"No you need to book something else sorry".

AIBU in thinking this is rude?? Obviously, I have nothing against them housing refugees but I am a bit taken aback.

AIBU to be pissed off or AIBU for my first world problems when there are families to house?

Surely she would see a diary of full bookings and think "I am not yet in a position to use the barn to house others, but will stop taking bookings now to enable myself to do so at a later date"?

@Georgeskitchen

Not able to post a link but a hotel complex in Lancashire has cancelled all its bookings to house refugees. Several weddings have been cancelled. I suppose its a no win situation for those whose weddings have been cancelled as I am pretty sure if they complain they will be called all the usual names under the sun

This will be for the Afghanistan airlifted refugees from last summer. The government is totally stuck with what to do with them and families have been told they may be there until September. The government has moved a lot of families out of the South East to Manchester Leeds and Lancashire and block booked hotels. There's several hotels fully booked around airports in the North of England with families living in one or two rooms for months. The Home Office are moving people into accommodation very slowly and it was not supposed to take this long. We were told until Easter and it's been extended with possibly 180 more families being moved into my city this month

Most of you need to wobble your head! It would be amazing if she hosted refugees! An inconvenience for you but what is a holiday compared with a safe life!? I have an Airbnb cottage ( not my second home….my business and income) and I considered taking in some refugees. For me personally I didn’t want to cancel bookings so I didn’t do it but I can understand why it may happen! Ukrainians are dying, being bombed, raped and killed. Don’t just assume it’s a lie. But I may be too naive. Just think about these poor people and how would you feel if nobody would be willing to help you in this situation!

I will have a look later to see if her bookings are still open.

Very good point made upthread about how odd it is that she is cancelling her bookings simply because she has applied to house refugees.

@Dunelmer

The UK has a housing and accommodation shortage. Europe (incl UK) had just had 4mn refugees arrive - as a result of a war.

They are fleeing mass execution, rapes of young women.

I'm really sorry for your inconvenience - but have a heart and perhaps understand why the hotelier wanted to use the accommodation to a better purpose.

As for those suggesting it is for profits from the £350/month ukrainian scheme - nonsense. This business will lose a lot of money by hosting.

@Dunelmer - not OP’s problem. The host should honour her booking before being Lady Bountiful and offering her accommodation for refugees from Ukraine —a likely story—.

Oops strike through fail. As many others have said it’s probably a better offer for the accommodation but she should cancel not you. Check your T&C.

Write back "I am not going to initiate a cancellation. I am very willing to contine with our existing agreement. If you are going to break the contract between us then the Terms and Conditions say you are responsible for finding me a suitable alternative and paying the difference if it's more expensive. I have no intention of releasing you from that obligation. I have paid for booked activities in the area to coincide with the accommodation booking. Your desire to accommodate someone else does not cancel your existing obligations:

Yep @DuvetHugger that is shit! YANBU. Would annoy me. What a crap thing to happen. Yes of COURSE the refugees from Ukraine need help and support, but someone renting their accommodation to people, and then reneging on it like this is pretty poor form. Not sure what you can do, but I hope when this refugee crisis ceases, that the owner of the barn you were hiring, fails to get any bookings from people ever again. What a shitty thing to do!

Everyone’s up for helping people fleeing war…until it inconveniences them in a very minor way. Cancel the booking & book somewhere else. It’s 2 months away. If Russia could just stop invading for the summer so holiday rentals could honour their bookings that would be just lovely, but that isn’t happening. People need housed now. Not in October.

We have done exactly the same with our holiday rental (also Scotland). I don’t give a teeny tiny rats arse if it annoys people, or they don’t believe it’s genuine, or they think we’re in it for the money (hilarious, truly).

@MurmuratingStarling

Yep *@DuvetHugger* that is shit! YANBU. Would annoy me. What a crap thing to happen. Yes of COURSE the refugees from Ukraine need help and support, but someone renting their accommodation to people, and then reneging on it like this is pretty poor form. Not sure what you can do, but I hope when this refugee crisis ceases, that the owner of the barn you were hiring, fails to get any bookings from people ever again. What a shitty thing to do!

You hope someone loses their livelihood because they helped refugees one summer & it mildly inconvenienced a stranger on MNs holiday? That’s genuinely a bit sociopathic.

@Nicholethejewellery

Also I would be very wary that her taking in refugees is the actual reason - it's more likely she is using this as an excuse because she's found someone willing to pay more. People tend to exploit human tragedy in this way.

Also cynical about this being the real reason.

Most of you need to wobble your head!

Wobble, wobble, wobble.

No, she's still a cheeky fucker

My son had his school residential cancelled because the place they were going to is being used to house refugees. He is 10 and has more understanding and compassion than you do.

Of course YANBU, she shouldn't be asking you to cancel anyway if it's her cancelling. She obviously wants to hide it from the holiday company she advertises with

It seems odd to me too. Most of us can't afford to "rent" our holiday lets for £350 a month. That's less than my weekly rate in winter (and I'm not expensive)

I suspect too she's had a much better offer from someone also attending that gig!

Have a look at the rest of the booking calendar. If she's advertising weeks available over the summer then I'd be suspicious.

I'd be really p1ssed off.

@Sapphirejane

The good side of me is saying that your holiday is definitely trumped by the needs of people fleeing a war zone who need accommodation now not after the summer.

The cynical side of me is wondering how the £350 a month government scheme is worked out and whether they would make more money this way. I hope someone is able to put that thought to rest however.

Holiday cottages are definitely not making a profit by taking £350 per month rather than holiday bookings during the summer.

www.lep.co.uk/business/consumer/best-western-leyland-hotel-will-shut-next-week-to-house-asylum-seekers-with-all-weddings-cancelled-3637388

This is the hotel in Lancashire. Local council not consulted, although the area’s MP implied they had been. Tory MP lies through her teeth - shocker.

@Birchtree1

Most of you need to wobble your head! It would be amazing if she hosted refugees! An inconvenience for you but what is a holiday compared with a safe life!? I have an Airbnb cottage ( not my second home….my business and income) and I considered taking in some refugees. For me personally I didn’t want to cancel bookings so I didn’t do it but I can understand why it may happen! Ukrainians are dying, being bombed, raped and killed. Don’t just assume it’s a lie. But I may be too naive. Just think about these poor people and how would you feel if nobody would be willing to help you in this situation!

Um, the two are separate matters though.

The cottage owner has formed a contract with OP and has broken it, she is legally liable to uphold her end of the contract regardless of the heart-wrenching situation in Ukraine

Of course we all want to help refugees but no one can afford to get financially fucked as a result of businesses ignoring consumer rights.

Honouring your booking could mean the place can't be used for refugees for months. Ultimately that's more important than our holidays. However you haven't chosen this and its wrong you have incurred expenses by booking activities you will be unable to use so should be refunded or else cancel the booking properly so you can claim on your insurance.

Yeah, I'd be checking if she is still talking bookings!

Where about are you staying ? I'll help you look if you like.

@DuvetHugger

I will have a look later to see if her bookings are still open.

Very good point made upthread about how odd it is that she is cancelling her bookings simply because she has applied to house refugees.

Good idea, use a VPN and search. Sounds pretty suspect to me.

Not too long ago there was a thread on here asking about holiday accommodations being converted to house refugees and people mentioned that the outcome would be posts about cancelled holiday bookings.

If the host is indeed hosting refugees, the booking site must have a way for the host to cancel the booking and give you a refund. Ideally this should be without penalty for all parties. It’s an awful situation and I would be upset if it was my holiday and I had paid for activities and possibly transportation already, but it is an extreme situation. We lost a bit of money on holidays when Covid hit. I wasn’t happy about it, but It was an extraordinary circumstance and I got over it.

@Georgeskitchen

Not able to post a link but a hotel complex in Lancashire has cancelled all its bookings to house refugees. Several weddings have been cancelled. I suppose its a no win situation for those whose weddings have been cancelled as I am pretty sure if they complain they will be called all the usual names under the sun

It's 30 miles from me totally unsuitable round the corner from motorway service station .Next to derelict theme park No shops ,schools, doctors nothing arse end of nowhere next to motorway and they will be left there indefinitely .

I think it is fine, I guess they want to do something helpful.

My summer booking was cancelled back at the very start of COVID because they wanted to let a keyworker stay there. I didn't mind, I felt my holiday was less of a thing than a keyworker having it.

In your situation I wouldn't mind, other than being out of pocket.

@Horcruxe

It isnt refugees.

She just found someone who will pay more

My first thought too.

There have been threads on here before about air B&B cancellations only to see it re advertised at a higher price.