Will love holiday send debt collection

[Sarah2601]

I recently booked a family holiday with love holidays to a 5 star resort, I have only paid the initial £100 deposit. In the last week loads of terrible reviews showing broken tiles and smashed windows and uncooked food have been added so obviously I complained to love holidays and they say I’m still responsible for the cancellation fee of £1500, what happens if I don’t pay this amount and they can’t take it.
like I said I haven’t actually paid for the holiday yet… any advice on what they would do apart from cancel??? Having a massive panic that I’ve ruined my kids holiday and cost myself thousands

What do the T&Cs say? Read them properly.

Can you change hotel/location instead of cancelling?

If you have broken the T&Cs you can’t refuse to pay, you owe that money.

Where is it? Don’t forget people love to complain and only those who want to grumble will usually post a review. The happy ones won’t! I went to somewhere that had loads of similar reviews after I booked. I went with an open mind. It wasn’t sparkling new but it was a lovely, friendly holiday and we had the best time.

How did you pay the deposit? By cash? Because if you paid by card, they’ll charge the cancellation fee to that.

But I agree with a PP - What do the terms and conditions that you agreed to say, because that’s what they can legally require you to abide by. If there’s no mention of a cancellation fee in the terms and conditions then no, they can’t require you to pay it.

I did find somewhere else but they want to charge me an extra £2000 to change it

This is multiple people that provided pictures so it clearly gone down hill very fast and the manager replies on the complaints are very inappropriate also

Was paid by card but until I transfer money the card has nothing on it atm

So what do the T&Cs say?

Just says I’m liable for a cancellation fee but if they can’t retrieve the payment how would they enforce it?

£2000 to change it? Or the new holiday is £2000 more expensive?

Where is it you’ve booked? Someone here may have been and can share their experiences

I think I'd rather go and make the best of it with low expectations than pay NOT to go with cancellation fees etc.

I'm always suspicious of multiple similar reviews being dumped online at once. They can be fake.

Also, people love to whinge. We just booked a basic beach break & it was frustrating as everywhere had poor reviews. I had to just ignore them.

What is the hotel called and where is it. Maybe people on here can reassure you if they’ve been?

£2000 extra for the new hotel, I had to find somewhere with the same availability for kids club ages for my younger children and I would also have to pay £180 to change flights

This page might help you to know what questions you ask to challenge the cancellation fee, especially this bit:

Don’t just accept the business can keep your deposit and advance payments or ask you to pay a cancellation charge if you cancel the contract.
The business can only do this if the contract term is fair.
A cancellation charge is not fair just because it’s in the contract you signed – it needs to be reasonable.
Sometimes you’re entitled to a full or partial refund – but you can’t always expect all of your money back if you change your mind.

Just had this exact same issue with Loveholidays. Hotel reviews went sour (including people being spat at by members of staff). They told us if we didn’t go that they would seek resolution through courts as we had entered a contract when we paid the deposit and were passed the 14 day cooling off period.

It’s for September and we are just going to go. When we missed a payment they sent a message saying they would seek court action and as we are trying to buy a house it’s not worth the potential court fees, bailiffs or CCJ’s.

Then yes, they would use the courts and bailiffs.

You can’t not pay. You either go and make the best of it, pay the extra to change, or cancel and pay anyway, and in doing so ruin your credit rating.

Only poor reviews in the last week? What about before that? What about all review platforms? Was this just a blip one week? I’d go and assume things will be ok for me. Resorts have all sorts of food. It cannot all be uncooked! All tiles cannot be broken and who smashed windows? 5 star? On whose rating? Not The Ritz is it?!

Presumably you used the low deposit option, and agreed to this term when you paid:

"The initial low deposit is due per person and will be shown at the time of booking. Depending on the Travel Service(s) you choose, we will attempt to take the outstanding second deposit automatically from the same credit/debit card used to pay the initial deposit and you will be informed of the due date before booking. In the event you cancel before the due date of the second deposit, you will still remain liable for the full deposit amount (i.e. both the first and second deposit)."

They go on to say that you can cancel, but will have to pay 100% of flights and transfers, and accommodation depends on if you booked non-refundable or not.

If you transfer, you'll have to pay the difference in full.

The T&Cs seem clear. If they can't take the money from the card, then yes, they'll instruct debt collectors, and if the debt collector can't make an arrangement with you, then the small claims court would be the next step.

People love to complain, rather than praise. Be wary about accepting it on face value but you can raise concerns for reassurance that any valid complaints are being addressed. However LH is an agent rather than a supplier themselves so does not have the same standing as booking via TUI for example. Hence it is up to the hotel to respond.

Presumably this amount is not the full outstanding cost of 5*, so 2k extra is not totally in addition but instead of a final balance due. LH probably have this a lot with low cost deposits and will pursue the full balance legally.

It seems extremely unusual and unlikely that a 5 star resort would have smashed windows, broken tiles and undercooked food, as well as rude replies from management.

If you’re absolutely certain that the reviews are genuine, I would plead with Love Holidays to make some sort of allowance for you, e.g giving you the option to change your accommodation

People do love to moan, I take a couple of negative reviews with a pinch of salt, unless there are hundreds of bad reviews. What are the reviews like overall, where you happy with what you read before you booked, assuming you looked at reviews beforehand? Where is the hotel, someone may have been and be able to offer a different opinion.

I'm sorry you are in this situation but it does seem to state in the T&Cs that the deposit is to be paid. Love Holidays are terrible , I had a bad experience with them and will never use them again.

Love holidays (and OntheBeach) are not an ABTA package company, you basically use them as an agent to book flights and hotels. I would never use them.
However the low deposit thing is common. You are agreeing to pay the full deposit which is what you lose if you cancel.

That does sound extreme for a 5* hotel but look at all the reviews combined. One or two bad ones from a group can distort things. You may have had a large group who made themselves unpopular at the hotel and are taking revenge. I would go.

Yeah similar to the PP ,I went on holiday with 3 friends when I was 19, booked through Love Holidays. Turned up to the hotel and they had overbooked and told us there was no room for us, horrible experience for a group of young girls. I know you are stuck with them for this holiday, but I'd honestly consider using someone like Jet2 or a ABTA travel agent next time, I don't think you would be in the same position now if you had.

Can you name the hotel and the review platform so we can have a look?

Contractually I don't think you have a leg to stand on. Changing your mind because of bad reviews is not going to count as a reason to back out. You would have to get there and file a compensation claim if it's dreadful.

Also remember that in several countries there is a legal consumer complaints system (in Spain it's called a hoja de reclamación) and if enough people fill those in, the business can be in big trouble.