To want to cancel this holiday?

[EpicGem]

In March, I booked a short Christmas Markets break with a travel provider. As I wheelchair user, I requested a wheelchair accessible room at the time of booking. I was told that I would hear "shortly" regarding the room I booked.
My final payment date is fast approaching and I am still waiting for confirmation that I have a wheelchair accessible room and, if, as I suspect, not; what options they can offer me.
I have phoned up to try and get answers and am told continuously not to worry about it, they do these things in date order and, even if I have to pay extra for a more expensive hotel, they'll make sure I've got a room or they can cancel it and fully refund if there's none left.
I'm fed up of being told they've contacted to hotel each time I phone and that they're waiting for a response. Finding a hotel room in a Christmas Market hotspot during the markets at the last minute can be problematic enough (and expensive the closer the travel dates are) and wheelchair accessible rooms are like hen's teeth.
Do I give them one last chance by phoning again, bite my tongue and pay the holiday off and hope I get an answer before I'm checking in at the airport or just cancel and go back to doing it DIY style next time round?
It's just annoying that, if I didn't need my wheelchair, I wouldn't be having to wait for my hotel room to be confirmed.

It does sound plausible that they're not in a position to confirm which rooms will be free this far in advance.

However, I wouldn't rely on an unconfirmed reservation. So I vote to cancel and rebook it somewhere more reliable.

I have a hotel room, they just won't tell me if the hotel room they've booked for me is one of the wheelchair accessible ones.
And it's sadly not just this travel provider, it's endemic across the industry. Unless I book the hotel direct, the wheelchair accessible request is left until as late as they feel they can get away with it. As a comparison, I booked a different holiday down the DIY route as I was only going away for the night. Requested a wheelchair accessible room via the special request box as the hotel stated they had them, but there's no way of booking them. Got an email the following day confirming I had a wheelchair accessible room.
I'd just hoped to have one holiday where I didn't have to do all the "leg" work of booking everything.

Course they can. They look at their computer system and see if all the disabled rooms are booked. If not, they slot OP into there. They are choosing not to. Happens all the time to disabled people and it sucks.

Call. Ask again. Follow up with an email highlighting these points and that the point of a package is that it'd supposed to be easier and you are paying for convenience.

Ppint oit that non-wheelchair custoemrs dont have to deal with this insecurity over booking and you are disappointed by their indirect discrimination which is resulting in you being unclear whether you have a workable holiday, which you have paid for.

Leave the ball in their court. Depending on what they come back with I'd consider asking why its so hard and whether they treat all disabled customers this way on wider social media.

Phone the hotel directly. They will also have the booking details.

I would call or message the hotel directly. Tell them who you've booked with and your reference number, although you may find they haven't yet booked the room which is why you're being fobbed off

I’d probably try calling the hotel directly. Failing that I think cancelling would be the best option as it sounds more stressful than it’s worth, not knowing if you’re even going to be able to access your room.

Keep using the word discrimination op, because that's exactly what it is and it'll hopefully make them jump.

I've just gone onto the hotel website. They have a grand total of 4 wheelchair accessible rooms. None of which show up as an option when trying to book on their website. It's currently 50/50 as to whether or not I have been booked into one of them. I'm waiting for the holiday provider staff to start work at 8.30. Their chatbot on Whatsapp had no matching options. I'm going to tell them that, once I've finished the chat, I'll be calling the hotel direct and asking them myself because obviously the holiday provider aren't doing their job. Obviously a touch more polite than that.

Call or email the hotel as they may be able to confirm for you, it's really unacceptable that the travel agent can't sort it out or confirm it though

I always call the hotel directly. I’ve often found accessible rooms don’t show up on booking sites and can only be requested when phoning.

This is unacceptable. If you still want to go, call them this morning and tell them you want an answer by this afternoon. Say you will cancel, with a full refund expected. If not sorted, report them to a watchdog for discrimination.

Report and of course cancel!

How very annoying for you, OP.

I'm going to tell them that, once I've finished the chat, I'll be calling the hotel direct and asking them myself because obviously the holiday provider aren't doing their job. Obviously a touch more polite than that.

I think that's already more polite than they deserve OP. How pathetic they don't just get this done at the time they secure the room (which it sounds like they have already done). I'm very sorry to hear this is a common theme, you'd think in 2024 wheelchair users would be properly catered to as standard!

I agree with this tbh. It's disgusting they just make you wait and hope for the best.

Of course they can, they are choosing not to because of poor customer service by either the tour operator or hotel.

You can book wheelchair accessible rooms a year in advance online with both premier inn and travel lodge so no reason why others cannot either IF they actually have them which in older buildings is not guaranteed.

My hunch is they don't actually have them available to the tour operator at least, did you at any point indicate you could cope with a standard room? I'm wondering if they are trying to leave it as late as possible so you don't cancel?

It's a newer building. Many moons ago when I didn't need a wheelchair and stayed at a different hotel that has no wheelchair accessible rooms, I'd go past the one I've booked on public transport. They are confirmed as one of only 2 hotels offered by the holiday provider to not only be wheelchair accessible, but also have wheelchair accessible rooms. I've never stated that a regular room would be fine. I have already stated more than once that I will be beyond unhappy if I get to my destination and find out I don't have a hotel room that is suitable. Especially as it's an evening arrival which means they're going to have to pull overtime to find a room for me.
The holiday provider have been telling me they have emailed the hotel every time I've contacted them. Given I've had email dealings with other hotels in the same city, I'm starting to doubt that excuse. Unless, of course, I've found the one hotel with a "meh" attitude in that city. In which case, it doesn't fill me with confidence for how the holiday is going to go.

My husband and I were on a tour of Scandinavia this summer. Twice we arrived at hotels to discover that the tour operator hadn't requested wheelchair accessible rooms.

One of our "accessible" rooms was a larger room but with no specialist shower or toilet. Every time he needed a wee, I had to wheel my husband to the conference centre which had an accessible toilet.

One hotel booking was changed while we were travelling as the hotel "couldn't guarantee" an accessible room. Less than 10 days and they still weren't prepared to say whether or not the room was accessible or not.9

Contacting them on WhatsApp is a waste of time. I've just been told to phone them. I'm now on hold while I wait to hear what today's excuse is for not having an answer.

This honestly doesn't surprise me. The industry could change and make things easier for the disabled community, but they've decided it's easier to keep things as they are. I know someone who works in the industry, looked at booking a holiday via her employer to use her staff discount. On realising that she was going to have to use the likes of Booking, Hotels.com and hotel websites for accessibility information, she gave up and just booked the hotel direct and used her flights discount.
She raised the issue with her employers and pointed out that they could liase with the hotels and resorts and have accessibility filters. Got told they'd look into it. That was 8 months ago.

My call got cut off/hung up, so I'm taking a few moments to calm myself before my next step.

This year was our first holiday with OH as a wheelchair user. It may well be our last.

Call or email the hotel direct and ask for confirmation of the accessible room, give them your booking details and dates of stay.

I've done this before for lots of different things when booking through a third party, for example to request an extra child's bed or request specific room placement such as not ground floor or away from the bar, or check catering for allergies. It's never been an issue they've always accommodated any requests despite having booked with hotels.com or similar.

Phoned travel provider back. They finally got a response from the hotel. It seems to be a hotel issue "wheelchair accessible rooms are not guaranteed."
Myself and the rep looked at other available hotels and I did consider switching to one of the other options just so I didn't need to also book my own flights. In the end, I made the decision to cancel as it's too close to the final payment date to be messing waiting for hotels to confirm wheelchair accessible room availability.
I've found a hotel the suits and has a wheelchair accessible room so I've booked that room. It's a bit further out then the original hotel I booked, but I'm not going to waste my time chasing a hotel that can't confirm one way or the other.
Just have to book my own flights now.

I'm so sorry OP. You shouldn't have to put up with this rubbish.

The second rep I spoke with was just as annoyed. She's said they've raised this so many times with their managers and it always comes down to the hotels not wanting the travel providers to be able to allow disabled customers to directly book the room they need.
I've managed to get flights sorted. Using the travel provider as they worked out cheaper than RyanAir.