You could ask for a different hotel of your choice, but you may have to pay extra if it costs more. Failing that why not cancel and rebook your original hotel with a different supplier?

i suspect that to cancel and rebook with someone else will involve increased costs.
you need to ascertain exactly who you have a contract with. hays are probably just agents for one of the others and your contract will be with them.
normally your contract starts when you receive your accomodation voucher, so if you received that on 24th October then trying to wriggle out of it a month later will not go down well if the case goes to court -unless there are extenuating circiumstances like the hotel being closed etc.
you do not say when your holiday is for, but this could affect availability in other hotels.
i believe that in cases like this the supplier should offer you alternative accommodation of at least a similar level so i would look at other hotels with the same * rating in the area you want to stay and get hays to try and get you into your choice before going down any other routes.
unfortunately in cases like this where problems occur before you go, compensation is less important than securing your holiday so you should speak to hays about an alternative suitable to you and about a cancellation with a full refund.
also check prices/availability with other suppliers like alpharooms, travel republic and lowcostholidays before you speak to hays so you are reasonably sure about alternative options if hays are not too cooperative.

Hello Dawsonac
Thank you for raising your concern about Medhotels.com, part of the Hotels4u.com company. Please can I ask you to contact Hays Travel directly and they will be able to assist you with this query.
Kind regards.
Adam
PR Representative
Hotels4u

Hi adam i contacted hays travel on saturday morning but have heard nothing, .We travel 19th january and as we now have flights booked it is a worrying time for us all.We booked las palmeras as this is in the area that is suitable for our needs being central with nice facilities, the only other hotel nearby that is 4* all inclusive is bitacora. The thing is we booked hotel and received vouchers ect, and it is upsetting for us all for them to say a month later there has been a system error. There is nothing wrong with hotel as a quick search on their website shows plenty of rooms available..

Just had contact with hays travel saying hotels4u not prepared to offer any other suitable accomodation so i am thinking about getting legal advise and taking this further. Very angry with HOTELS4U for their shabby treatment , do NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY.

I'm afraid that the hotels4u booking conditions make it clear that your contract is not with them and that they are acting only as your agent with the 'principal' which in this case could be either the hotel direct or perhaps a bed bank. Either way, who this is should have been on your confirmation invoice and that is who you will need to take this up with because that is who your contract is with.

http://www.hotels4u.com/bookingconditions.aspx

If you had made this booking direct on the hotels4u website you would have had to ticked the box saying that you read and accepted these conditions. However, as your booking was for 4 rooms, all the same booking I assume, then they would have treated this as a group booking and it would have had to be done via their call centre. So you might have a case if you can provide evidence that the booking conditions weren't fully explained to you at the time. That could be difficult to do as it could boil down to your word against their's unless the call was recorded but did you actually speak to hotels4u or did Hayes do all that? In the first instance I suggest that you go over the paperwork that you were given to check which company is named as the 'principal' because that is who your contract is with and who you need to be dealing with to try and sort this out.

Another tack is that from the sound of it you are entitled to cancel and receive a full refund. Depending on when your holiday is, this might be your best option. However, you need to bear in mind that many of these companies specialising in cheap accommation deals work in the same way, that is, they act as your agent to make the booking but your contract is not with them.

Equally did Hayes put this together as some sort of package for you - did they book the flights etc as well as the hotel rooms? If they did then I would suggest that you go back and check the details of the T&Cs that relate to any paperwork they gave you. If what you booked was a full package with them (for example you have an ATOL no etc on their confirmation invoice) then you might after all have a case for arguing that you have a contract with them that means that they have to over you alternative hotel or a refund for the whole package.

SM

As I said earlier, and as SMa has just said, cancel and get your money back and book elsewhere. Whether it's been booked as a package, a component booking, or just accommodation only, you are entitled to cancel with a refund.
There are too many middlemen involved and it can get complicated. Far better to book direct with the hotel, or with an accommodation supplier, and cut out the agent altogether. If you book with another agent eg travel republic, lowcost, alpharooms, on the beach etc you are still going to have more people in the loop, which is where the complications can arise. There are too many different terms and conditions and you have no ownership of your own booking.

I have had a look at hotel vouchers and it says medhotels it also mentions jumbo tours

This seems to have been a very complicated way of making this booking with an awful lot of 'middle men' involved but I would hazard the guess that the 'principal' in this case would be Jumbo Tours. As far as I know they are a Spanish company and I have had hotels booked with them a number of times without problems. These bookings have always been via Travel Republic and mainly done that way because it was cheaper than booking direct with the hotel concerned.

If the hotel you want still has vacancies then if it was me, I would ask for a refund, which you are entitled to because this would count as a major change, and then re-book either direct with the hotel ( because at least that way you know that your contract is direct with them ) or via another reputable 'bed booker' with fewer links in the chain. As I said before, I have booked hotels in Spain using Jumbo Tours via Travel Republic without any problem.

SM

Thanks for your advice it has been invaluable

hotels4u: Good Prices but be careful if problem no solution

I am travel three times with them without problem until the last time in September 2012: a hotel booked in Malta as well as the transfer to the hotel by car, not bus. The hotel was perfect.

For the transfer to go everything works as expected, and even with two hours later at 2 o'clock in the morning the car was waiting for us.

The return on the other hand instead of a car it was a bus: instead of 30 minutes to airport we need 90 minutes to arrive at the airpor; t time to make the tour of all the hotels and we had our plane narrowly.

Back in France I send a complaint to the transfer company by fax = > never reply.

I wrote about 7 e-mails to hotels4u.com: every time it tells me that my complaint is being processed but cannot go faster.

Now 4 and half months after I'm still no response on their part.

In conclusion the prices are perhaps interesting but it is better not have any problems because it is almost inevitable that it will not be successful solve. You can see. Personally my opinion is made.

Welcome to HT PB. I hope this is resolved for you soon.
In fairness to hotels4u- we booked our Mexico hotel through them( but they were agents for the hotel directly). When BA decided to drop some flight days to Cancun we had to change our holiday dates slightly. I contacted Hotels4u thinking this would cost me a fair bit to change. When it started with being told they would have to cancel the holiday and rebook I thought I was right in what I thought.Not at all. It was all done quickly,in a friendly manner and strangely enough, although we had one day longer in the resort we only paid £40. I was really impressed.
Its a pity they hadn't responded to you in a more positive manner.

after reading the problems some people have with booking their holidays through agents i am so glad i always use the high street travel agent for package holidays.
ok so you pay more money but in the long run i think it pays to have peace of mind and people on hand like shop worker/holiday rep if there is a problem...

madasharley wrote:

after reading the problems some people have with booking their holidays through agents i am so glad i always use the high street travel agent for package holidays.
ok so you pay more money but in the long run i think it pays to have peace of mind and people on hand like shop worker/holiday rep if there is a problem...

i always use the high street travel agents but i print off the internet price before i go to book, the travel agents have always matched it.

madasharley wrote:

after reading the problems some people have with booking their holidays through agents i am so glad i always use the high street travel agent for package holidays.
ok so you pay more money but in the long run i think it pays to have peace of mind and people on hand like shop worker/holiday rep if there is a problem...

We tend to book package holidays through either Thomson, Thomas Cook or Cosmos, although I often just book direct on their website.

I do think travel republic, onthebeach, hays etc have a valid role to play though as otherwise the giants would have no competition at all.

I know it sounds harsh but I think a lot of the time people don't read the terms and conditions and when they book a dynamic package seem to think they have booked a package holiday. This seems to cause an awful lot of confusion.

I remember reading maybe on here or the opposition someone moaning about travel republic because something had gone wrong (probably the hotel had over booked themselves which seems to be a theme) then admitted it was something like their 14th holiday with them. So they can't have been that bad !