To think you should be able to transfer a holiday?

[FFOXGLOVE]

I’ve never had to try and do anything like this before …..
but basically my elderly parents booked a last minute trip away through an independent travel agent but then my dad came down with a chest infection and now they don’t want to go.

They wanted to transfer the holiday to me and my partner so it wasn’t wasted as they knew there was no way of getting money back.

the travel agent booked flights through Tui and accommodation through someone called JETSET.
I was expecting to pay charges to sort it out but not to be told it’s just not possible.
Tui will change the name on one flight only so we have to buy another ticket … okay fine.
but JETSET / the hotel are reusing to make any changes - I mean it affects them the least!

anyway we can’t take it up and I’m just gutted for my parents.

am I being unreasonable?

dad is 87 so things like chest infections really exacerbate his health conditions

they used to visit this hotel regularly around 10 years ago and familiarity was why they wanted to go back but the illness made them realise they’re not as mobile and fit as they were.

I think people saying it’s nothing to do with age perhaps don’t have elderly relatives! Outlook changes with age and they become more vulnerable to being sold things that aren’t suitable. It’s awkward I try and look out for them but can only do so much.

I think people saying it’s nothing to do with age perhaps don’t have elderly relatives! Outlook changes with age and they become more vulnerable to being sold things that aren’t suitable.

But it's not the holiday provider's business to decide whether the holiday someone wants to book is suitable for them. How would they know?

We do in fact make exceptions for transfers within family (rather than selling on to strangers) but only up to 2 weeks prior to travel. At that point the airline has the names from us, so it’s not just a case of our team over typing it, the whole manifest has to be sent again via a chain of touch points. We clearly display no changes & no refunds within 14 days on our T&Cs, and stick to it because we’re running a business (in the same way that a retail shop has a cut-off for returns. Returning something 33 days after purchase rather than 31 might make no actual difference but you have to draw a line somewhere).

We’re a small local business and you would simply not believe the amount of exceptions we’re asked to make on that basis, often amid threats to take it to the almighty Facebook. We’d be bankrupt if we agreed to them all.

Lots of interesting posts - thanks. I do see that companies need to draw the line somewhere I suppose it just feels to us like an easy solution to transfer it because we know we’re not trying to profit or do anything dodge etc.

Im hoping my dad can get stuff sorted for the insurance so they’re not completely out of pocket. I doubt they’ll ever attempt a holiday again.

Re @HelenaWilson they did go to an independent travel agent to book because they want to be looked after and the resssurance. i get it’s ultimately up to them. But they weren’t advised about the total lack of flexibility. And they don’t know what most people might - that would be expected of last minute deals.

Never use a travel agent, it’s a nightmare when things need changing or things go wrong. They don’t want to know! Book independently or at least through companies like Jet2

This is what I keep telling my parents 😢

Been through similar and unfortunately it was under 7 days so it had to go to the hotel to agree… they did not! without question everything else (TUI/flights) could be but hotel didn’t budge.

cancelled and claimed in the end

Yanbu at all

Agreed. What a load of bull. I refuse to believe it cost a penny to change a name on a booking.

I must admit my first thought on reading this was to claim on insurance.
Sounds like it depends whether you have an understanding GP whether s/he will be happy to say he’s medically unfit to travel which it doesn’t actually sound like he is.
For what it’s worth I think it’s bull they can’t just transfer the booking. I get all the resell/fraud etc reasons people are citing but surely they can build in safeguards against that kind of thing? My thoughts on that don’t really help you though.
Would they change the date? Your dad might feel more like himself in a few months.

I think it’s bull they can’t just transfer the booking. I get all the resell/fraud etc reasons people are citing but surely they can build in safeguards against that kind of thing

There are lots of very smart people working at places like airlines and the travel industry in general whose day job is to prevent fraud/touting/ticket/website scalping etc...

If there was a simple solution or safeguard that would also allow ticket transfer whilst not penalising the airlines financially it would have been introduced by now.

Why do you need to change name on hotel. They don't have ages just check in as mum.and dad.

This won't work because they take a copy of your passport when you check in.

If people could check into a hotel in someone else's name that could cause all sorts of issues.

Did you ask about changing the dates and pushing it back?

I wish organisations would stop using gdpr as an excuse. An admin fee to make the changes and get the new person to sign up to the necessary contractual bits, yes. But too many hide behind gdpr as an excuse to do nothing.

What safeguards could they put in place ?

You think nice people should be able to change the name on a booking but not bad people. How do we tell if people are nice or bad?

Travel insurance is there if people need to cancel.

Their job is to maximise profit. If it's not financially worth it, they'll find every excuse to not transfer.

Indeed, an acquaintance works for a major airline with one of those job titles that sounds like it's made up bullshit, revenue maximisation and protection executive or some such.

She sets the prices you see when looking at the online booking calendars for flights and her annual bonus is dependent on getting the highest £££s income per flight. Set the prices too high and people don't book, set them too low and people hoover them up and the flight is at risk of losing money for the trip. T&Cs too flexible and piss takers exploit the system to the airline's disadvantage.

Of course their job is to maximise make a profit for the airline - and those margins are thin.

Most of it comes from tickets bought late on and that allows the cheap fares that you see that go on sale first (dynamic pricing etc).

Why should a tout hoover up the cash instead of the airline?

I suppose one solution might be to simply scrap dynamic pricing (i.e. no cheap tickets if bought as soon as the window opens, then price ramps up), but I can't see that being very popular with many on MN

Operating safeguards would also be an expense that would be passed on to customers.

Aw, that’s awful. I don’t have much experience in your exact situation, but I would keep hounding them, via all means possible, phone, e-mail, social media….they will have to escalate to manager eventually and once you get to an actual human being with some authority you may have some luck. Also, comment publicly on social media on the hotel, in a nice way, but just stressing how disappointed you are that you won’t be able to stay there due to strict policies etc. good luck. 🤞

This. Posters on this thread are tying themselves into knots trying to justify ridiculous policies that are just terrible customer service. No wonder customer service is so terrible in most places now given how people are willing to accept and tolerate anything.

You're trying to solve a hypothetical problem that doesn't exist!

I get what you mean about businesses taking advantage of older customers - my parents spend A LOT of money each year with a particular travel agent, as my dad likes the fact they are local, he can "pop in to pay" and they know him. All fine. However my dad also insists on paying for everything in cash or cheque. I was with him once when he was paying over £1k in cash to them and said "you should use a credit card for this as if the company goes bust you can then get your money back" - the lady "helping him" replied with "oh dont worry about that Mr X, shes just scaring you, we are more than happy to accept your cash" - it wouldnt have cost her anything to say that yes, paying for expensive things in cash over a year in advance probably isnt the best of ideas and that they do also accept card payments instead of reaffirming his belief that he doesnt need to modernise his ways to give him more protection.

The reality is that younger people do have an easier time when it comes to booking travel independently. I have never used a travel agent and always buy direct, put everything on my credit card for the protection etc whereas some older people really want to go in person, are very trusting that the people in the travel company are "looking out for them" and will tell them everything they need to know, even though in reality they are just interested in lining their pockets and cant care about Mr and Mrs Jones who booked a last minute break that they probably shouldnt have done/wouldnt advise their own parents/grandparents to do. It can be really tricky.

It doesn't exist because we don't let people transfer tickets without cost. So the financial incentive to buy cheap and resell isn't there now.

We could run things differently, but if the argument is that we could allow more flexibility and have safeguards to prevent ticket touting, obviously those safeguards would also require resources. So it's not immediately obvious how they'd be cheaper for the consumer than buying flexi options is now? Happy to hear an explanation from someone who knows about these things if there's something I've missed.