Holiday mis-sold (I think) any consumer lawyers or anyone have experience of something similar

[MargoLovebutter]

I booked a hotel through TripAdvisor, only I didn't! I shall try and explain.

I found a hotel I liked on TripAdvisor and I clicked on the booking link. I thought I'd booked it and TripAdvisor sent me a confirmation saying that I'd booked it. The name was slightly different, so I clicked on the link they sent me and it took me to the lovely hotel and the photos and reviews were all of the place that I'd wanted to book, so I just thought it must have a slightly different name in their booking system.

I turn up in Greece and the taxi drops me at the place but instead of being booked into the lovely hotel I thought I was booked into, I am in the local shithole. The address is the same, it is just a few doors away, but it is most definitely not the lovely hotel that I thought I'd booked. It is a disgusting hovel that I wouldn't even have stayed in as a backpacker.

I obviously phone TripAdvisor and initially they are shocked and can't understand it and have the other hotel on the phone, saying what's going on why haven't you got this lady booked in. The hotel have no record of the booking and haven't received the money, so they've got no idea what TripAdvisor are on about (I actually walked to the other hotel to verify this myself). I'm on the phone to TripAdvisor for nearly two hours and slowly their story changes and they start saying "nothing to do with us, this booking was actually with Hotels.com". So they call me back with Hotels.com patched in and the adviser from Hotels.com says that I'm booked into the right hotel according to their records (i.e. the shithole). So I go back to TripAdvisor and tell them that their booking system led me to believe I had booked the lovely hotel, not the shithole and they basically said that it was nothing to do with them, I should have checked with Hotels.com. Thing is I did check and the details Hotels.com sent me tallied with the details from TripAdvisor, so I presumed that they were correct - why wouldn't I?!!!

Anyhow, even according to the booking from Hotels.com the shithole falls far short and I got a refund after two days of hassle, but was also left in the horrible situation of having to find alternative accommodation in Greece at very short notice.

I feel like I was deceived or mis-sold - even if unintentionally via a dodgy link by TripAdvisor who I made the original booking through. I still have their email with confirmation and the link that take me to the lovely hotel.

Do I have a legal case of any kind for mis-selling? It was only a short holiday (6 days long) and two days were ruined with this.

Any thoughts or advice?

Misselling is a financial services thing- it doesn’t apply to holidays. As you got a refund from hotels.com it’s difficult to see what you could sue for. What’s your loss?

My loss would be the actual hotel I thought I'd booked, the grim night spent in the shithole and then 5 days in mediocre accommodation, plus 1.5 days spent on the telephone trying to find out what the hell had happened and then get a refund and rushing around the resort trying to find alternative accommodation.

Sounds more like caveat emptor. I'm not sure how you've booked the wrong place with tripavisor as the intermediary?

In financial services you can be sold to or you can buy - a salesperson can tell you to go for that particular loan, or you can click online to apply for the loan you've chosen yourself.

If this were finance you wouldn't be able to claim Mis-selling as instead you'd have mis-bought.

I didn't book the wrong place, I booked the right place but there was an issue with the link on TripAdvisor which took me to somewhere in the same location but that was VERY different. The links that TripAdvisor sent me confirming my reservation are for the nice hotel that I wanted, but something went wrong between TripAdvisor and their 3rd party agent, Hotels.com and I ended up in the shithole a few doors away. Each claim that the other is at fault and muggins here is the one who ended up with all the hassle.

I would try and complain to trip advisor directly and include the screenshots that you received of the confirmation of the booking. Even though you have been refunded for the hotel I would at least try and get some money back for the phone calls you had to make and time wasted (may also be worth trying to do the same with hotels.com but feel the may direct you back to trip advisor) I would word the email to them that you have been inconvenienced and have had been lost money with the phone calls and been put under stress while out of the country trying to sort this out and that while you appreciate the refund for the hotel this isn't something you should of had to deal with when you were meant to be on holiday. If they refuse anything I'd ask who you can take the complaint further to (for exampl insurance complaints are taken to fco if complaints can't be resolved with the company) may be the same with them but you may also be able to find that on google as well 😊. While you have been given a refund for the hotel it wasn't your fault their website took you to the wrong hotel booking in the first place and that you've had to deal with this while away! Xx

Trip advisor is not a booking site. It’s a search engine. You can link through to booking options for a hotel or location depending on your search.

You booked a hotel on Hotels.com. By the sounds of it you knew it was the wrong one before you went.

@LemonTT I appreciate that TripAdvisor is a search engine, but TripAdvisor sent me an email confirming my booking and showing the hotel on it. I then got a further confirmation from Hotels.com showing the same details. Why would I think it was a different place?

The link was faulty, so the hotel I thought I was booking with all the photos and reviews that were so good was on the same link as the shithole place. The shithole place isn't even on TripAdvisor, so how could I have deduced that the place I thought I booked was the shithole?

I start to feel like I'm going mad myself when I explain it, but I've had other people look at the confirmation and the link and it definitely looks like I booked the lovely hotel from all of that.

The good news is that I've found a template letter from a solicitor for how to start a claim for a mis-advertised holiday, so I'm going to give it a whirl.

I'd think you would have a good case if they hadn't pay you back, but they did and if you had a night at the shit hole place, that was one day less to pay elsewhere with the full refund.

Was the price the correct one for the shit hole place or the nice place? If the nice place, you had enough money to get somewhere else, with one night less to pay. If the price of the shit hole, then you though you got an exceptional deal, and that was just a dream that didn't come true.

I don't think you'll do better than a full refund.

Did the price not give it away?

No the price didn't give it away. If I hadn't got a refund, I'd have been beside myself. The mediocre place that I found at short notice was a million times better and was cheaper than the shithole!!!!!