To ask for a discount due to lack of parking?

[CleverQuoter]

We are booked to go on holiday next week on the south coast.

We booked a holiday cottage with private parking as parking in the area is a nightmare. Even the description for the holiday cottage says this when advertising the private parking as a selling point!

Today the cottage owners have advised the private parking is unavailable due to a wall collapsing (fair enough these things happen!) and have offered a permit in local car park and a discount off a future stay.

We have a disabled child and a van not a car due to this so parking isn’t always easy at the best of times! We do have a blue badge though which may make it easier for us to find “on street” parking.

I went on to street view to look at the general situation in the street and can see why the parking is out of action as the adjacent wall has collapsed. Photo is date stamped March 2024. Suggests this is not a new issue…

It’s too late now to book elsewhere and we have lots of activities booked which we cannot cancel and 4 children who would be very disappointed.

AIBU to ask for a discount off the actual week we have booked? We would be very unlikely to return for another stay we usually go abroad in the summer but I am awaiting surgery so we decided to stay in the UK.

They've offered you a parking permit so no I think you shouldn't be asking for a discount.

Yanbu.

I think you need to write back and tell them why their proposed compensation is inadequate:

It's too late for you to cancel and rebook now as nowhere else would be available. If they had alerted you in March you could have dealt with it, it was their decision to leave it this late.

A discount off a future stay is useless to you. You go to different places each year and have no interest in having the same holiday again for at least 4/5 years and there's no guarantee they would still be operating by then anyway.

The lack of parking is going to be a significant detriment to your holiday due to having a disabled child. Every time you go out that will mean one adult staying at the house with the child and one going off to the car park, navigating back to the house and blocking the street while you get the child safely into the car. It will make every day of the holiday include periods of stress and unpleasantness. This could have been avoided if they had either told you in March or used the intervening 4 months to get the wall fixed.

Under these circumstances you suggest that a 30% refund is a much more appropriate offer as an appropriate acknowledgement of the significantly lower quality experience this holiday will be. This will allow you sufficient additional holiday spending money this year to compensate for the additional stress.

Then you may subsequently consider coming back in a few years time and would have no problem paying the full price for the full quality holiday experience which won't include such stress and inconvenience.

A parking permit for a car park some distance away is nothing like and adequate substitution for you. It would be less of a problem for a family who can simply walk to the car park together carrying everything they need for the day. That's why you booked a place with parking.

Is it an Air B&b style booking where it can be cancelled?

I think you could email and set out your particular difficulties and see if they can suggest any other options.

My slight concern in going in too hard would be whether they have the option to cancel your booking?

Would you be more upset to pay full price for the holiday or have it cancelled last minute?

While it seems wrong they are not flagging an issue, sometimes you have to think about what will spoil it more from your perspective and go with that, then follow up later where there isn't the worry of feeling awkward (depending if you have to see anyone) or risking cancellation if you state explicitly that it no longer meets your needs - unless this is an option you want.

I voted YANBU. They knew about this as far back as Mar 2024. They've had time to get it fixed. It's cheeky of them to advertise it as a place to stay with off-street parking. TBH in your situation, I would ask for a full refund and look for somewhere else. I think they've been very disingenuous.

Are you running the risk of them cancelling your holiday? If the permit parking is ok and not a major issue, I get what you're saying that they must have already known the wall was down but I think I'd just let it be.

This is a difficult one, although I have voted that you are not being unreasonable.

Given that you have a disabled child and no parking at the cottage is a nightmare for you, when it would only be a mild inconvenience to others, I think it is reasonable to ask. Whether they agree or not is another matter. The wall may not actually belong to them and they may have been hoping it would be repaired by now.

The thing is, they could argue that as you are willing to take the cottage anyway, it won't be impossible for you. So I think you do also need to tell them that you have booked activities which you now can't cancel and it's too late to get something else more suitable at such short notice. But also, they may then cancel and refund you all your money if it isn't suitable at all for you. As I say - it's a difficult one

Do let us know how things go. Keeping my fingers crossed for you

If you booked after March 2024 then this is technically obtaining money via a deception, a criminal offence. Worth asking, not sure how you stand if you get nowhere.

Though not much sympathy as you are helping to day a local person a year round home in a way.

@OpizpuHeuvHiyo has nailed the response !

I think that it’s unreasonable as they’ve offered you an a.ternative. A 30% discount as suggested is laughable.

IAAL and this is just silly.

I definitely wouldn't ask for a 30% discount, because as an ex holiday let owner, I'd have told you where to go and just refunded the full amount. The fact that you have a Blue Badge is likely to be a BIG help in this situation, provided there is somewhere safe that you can use it, that is closer to the property than the car park they're offering. Are you renting via an agent OP, ie, someone like Sykes or Booking.com, as that will affect how much the property owner will make on the deal anyway. By the fact that you seem determined to go, rather than disappoint the children, and lose money on activities already booked, it does make it sound like the holiday won't be impossible for you, therefore, I would suggest that you write to the OWNER, (not the agent, assuming you have their details, if not, ask the agent for contact details - please bear in mind that if you deal with the agent, they won't care if you cancel because they'll already have had their money!``) telling them your situation, and asking for a discount. At this stage, don't name a specific sum, see what they offer, and go from there, as they may offer more than you might ask for, on the other hand if they offer less than you'd be happy with, go back and tell them that the offer isn't sufficient, due to the hardship you will experience. Presumably, if you are able to actually pull up outside the property, then one of you could offload your disabled child, and the other children, while the other drives to the car park, so not that difficult, hence I wouldn't be demanding huge discounts.

We booked long before March 2024 but I think if we had known then, we would have been able to cancel and rebook somewhere else. It’s too late now and yes I am worried they could just cancel and refund (not AirBnB we booked through Cottages.com).

I have asked for a discount of the week and the owners have come back with an amount equivalent to 6%. I was hoping for more like 10-15% but I acknowledge the car parking permit must also be costing them.

Yes the wall may not be theirs - may even be owned by the parish council or something as it boarders the road but then surely if it’s affecting their business they can take action against whoever owns it given its been like this for some time.

I suspect you may have to take it on the chin but I think 10% would be more appropriate. Noting that I have not found customer service from cottages.com particularly good.

Surely the parking permit is to make up for the loss of parking. The discount for next year is an added bonus if you use it. How would a discount this year make things any easier/or make the situation better?.
I don't think the company have any obligation to also offer the discount this year.

No I don’t imagine Cottages.com to have very good customer service either.

We are not having much luck in 2024 as at Easter our AirBnB near Disneyland Paris cancelled literally as we entered the channel tunnel 😫I must say though AirBnB were quite helpful which I wasn’t expecting and put us up in a lovely hotel for our first night and then I managed to find an apartment for the rest of the week. Cost us about £1k more overall though even without having to pay for the first night. Really put me off booking self catering accommodation though and now this!

Notreat it won’t make it any easier this year but it would compensate us for the inconvenience.

A parking permit also does not guarantee us a space in the car park in a small seaside resort in the school holidays.

A parking permit in a local carpark doesn’t really make up for parking next to the cottage especially if you have a disabled child.

I won’t even book caravans that don’t have direct parking and I don’t have a disabled child. It’s the lugging even shopping back and forth, any items for a trip out.

I think the best thing you can do is accept the discount. I'm unsure how more money off is going to help you.

I'd also leave a shitty review as they knew about the wall months ago.

So not even even a space at all then if it’s first come first serve on the day. So a pointless permit.

I’d write to cottages.com and state that you needed a cottage with accessible parking, this was advertised as such and is not.

The fact you have a blue badge provides you some protection here. Was it booked on a credit card? Even if it was just the deposit it gives you some protection. I would - state your terms, ie 10% off, ask for another cottage (they cannot give this to you due to availability I’d expect, which again evidences your case) go on the holiday, then claim it back via the credit card co who will deem a suitable amount to refund you.

Now that you have an idea of how much they're willing to offer OP, just go back and say that while their offer is kind, you feel that 10% is more appropriate. I think they'll likely give it to you, rather than receive a load of bad publicity. You could always approach the booking company, and ask if they do have anything else they can offer you, as with the weather having been so poor this year, I think bookings may not have been as high as normal, so you might be lucky.

I hope that whatever happens, you still manage to have a lovely break away.

If it’s Airbnb phone them up and cancel it . Find something more suitable

I think the outcome is satisfactory. They’ve remedied the parking problem plus offered you future discount, plus they’ve responded to your request with a further discount.

The haven't remedied the parking problem though as OP isn't guaranteed a parking space. If I've paid for somewhere with on-site parking I don't expect a first come first served space in the local car park, especially when the owner knew back in March.