Booked a ground floor room for disabled child - put on the top floor

[2boysnamedR]

We have just arrived in Spain and booked a ground floor family room with a garden. With have two disabled kids and one has a blue badge due to severe autism.

We booked back in March and have a email confirmation that we booked this first floor room.

Anyway we are on the top floor level eight.

Anyone know what recourse we have? Service paid for not received or anything like that? Holiday rep can't help, reception staff say the hotel is full.

Ideally we want to be moved but that looks imposible so what the chances of getting some money back? It was the treason we choose the holiday.

I presume this is a package holiday as you talk about the Rep not being able to help.

If you booked a specific room that cost more than the room you've been allocated then you could try to get the extra money you paid refunded. Perhaps contact the holiday provider. However, if you just made a special request for the room you wanted you're unlikely to get anything back as there's normally a disclaimer saying special requests aren't guaranteed.

I hope you have a lovely holiday.

Start tweeting using the holiday company hashtag.
It's dire. You have that email - use it, publicly.
It wasn't a fraction as bad as you are going through, but last week I turned up late at night to a hotel where I'd booked a double bed with ensuite - got a twin room with shared loo a floor down. I haven't finished with them yet...
Don't accept their first offer if it's money - push for a lot more. I hope they move you, as money doesn't make up for a ruined holiday.

Is there not a lift if there's 8 floors?

Why did the rep say they couldn't help?

You've not got what you paid for. Apart from anything else you paid for a garden, which I assume you don't have on the 8th floor.

If you've booked through a tour company then use whatever social media outlet you can - Facebook, twitter, emailing, name & shame here.

Of course the rep can help keep on at them and ask for their manager's number so that you can complain about disability discrimination. Maybe they could arrange a swap?

'Can't help' is not good enough.

You booked a specific category of room, for specific health and safety/disability reasons.

Was your booking a firm booking, or a 'your request is noted and we'll do our best, and did the hotel/holiday company know the reason you needed that specific category of room?

If a firm booking/disability was known about I would (funds permitting - do you have a credit card?) be finding the first available accommodation which did suit my needs, moving to it, and Leto g the company know I would be seeking to get the costs back ASAP.

It is utterly unacceptable. We had a similar issue when staying in a premier inn recently - we had interconnecting rooms guaranteed (3 dc, all with autism), only to turn up, get told out specific guaranteed rooms are ready, walk out of the lift and find they are adjoining rooms (therefore not what was guaranteed, and unusable by us). The entire management of that particular premier inn knew exactly how unacceptable (and why) what they had done was, and they rectified their mistake for our 2nd and 3rd nights (although sadly not the 1st, which left us with some issues).

Keep records of all your conversations with the rep and hotel staff. You might need these if you need to try to get compensation when you get home. As the others have said you rights will depend on whether you were specifically allocated a room or it was to be taken into account. It also depends on how much the company knew about you needing rather than preferring that room.

Keep a record of how this has negativily affected the holiday eg if your child couldn't use the lift due to autism and that fact restricted your holiday and enjoyment, also the time you are spending trying to sort all this out. Photos might be useful as well (eg show how high up your room is.)

I found this on citizens advice bureau website (copied and pasted in case you can't access it) Thought it might be useful to think about when you record the problems:
"something goes wrong that causes you distress or disappointment, eg if the pool was closed for the whole trip - this is called ‘loss of enjoyment’
There’s no strict guidance on how much you can claim for loss of enjoyment. You’ll need to think of an amount that reflects the portion of the holiday that was affected.

You’ll only be able to get the full cost of the holiday back if it was completely ruined - this rarely happens."

Good luck

Ask the hotel to move the other guests.

To update, we was moved on day 3. We booked "family room with garden or terrace" we got a family room with a balcony - very bad idea with ds who is at a severe / profound / complex needs asd school.
We emailed the company who said "garden or terrace which does not gaurantee a ground floor" but that didn't tie up with the booking on the website where we had the choice of "garden or terrace on ground floor" or a "balcony room" we specifically choose the garden terrace. So very misleading booking page.
Lesson learned to screen shot as I book next time. The Hotel agreed with us that we had booked a garden / terrace.
It was a lovely time in the end. Disabilty services in Gatwick however was shockingly poor. Two wheelchair users had to wait 45 minutes for a wheelchair off the plain and our son had to walk 200 ish meters to the scooter type van. I don't think he "looked" disabled enough. Spain side was spot on. Pram at the gate on arrival then escorted all the way through on the return.
God forbid he ever ends up needing a wheelchair. Really opens your eyes to having a disabilty and how society isn't geared up for that

As an aside, we were in Orlando a couple of weeks ago and I was very impressed with the provision for people with disabilities. We saw loads of people in wheelchairs at the parks, and all the shuttle buses are properly geared up for wheelchairs.