Can you tell us the name of the hotle please?

fwh

He was booked to stay at The Crown Hotel and was given The Hotel Windsor.
We have no idea what the difference in the Hotels or the area is.
He as never been to Malta before and as you can imagine was very upset by the whole thing.

i had the same thing happen to me recently in costa brava. i booked with htop hotels through travel republic, and found out on checking into my chosen hotel in malgrat that i was being moved to a hotel in santa sussana.(details are on the tr thread in tour operators forum).
granted that i was moved into a higher * hotel, but i booked the hotel in malgrat because that is where i wanted to stay.
i submitted a claim through travel republic for the cost of a taxi each night to get me from where i wanted to be in malgrat back to the hotel in santa sussana.
this was accepted by htop, and i am just waiting on travel republic sending me the cheque.

Charlie

the first thing to establish is why it was closed and when. If something had gone wrong recently, forcing closure, it may have been a necessary change but if they had simply closed for the winter and Sun Spot knew about it ages ago your father should have been told before going. The word and is in bold there for a reason, if the owners made the arrangements to move guests then obviously Sun Spot aren't to blame (although they may have a contractual liablity!).

And the big problem is that your father presumably has no idea why it was closed or who owns either hotel so it's going to be an uphill struggle.

What exactly upset him?

Both hotels are owned by the Sovereign Group, website http://www.sovereignhotels.com.mt/hotels.html
I can't see anything that would explain why the Crown was closed, but the "news" tab does give contact details for the Customer Relations Manager, who may be able to shed some light...

Thank you for your replies.
I have now been told The Crown Hotel as been closed for a refurbishment.
My Dad was upset because he was already worried about the travel document arriving so late he thought that something was wrong .
He thought the company had ceased trading or something.
When they arrived and was told about the Hotel.
Alarm bells started to ring.
He was a bit worried all through the holiday incase something else happened.

the fact that both hotels are owned by the same company raises an eyebrow - and the queston of whether/when Sunspot were told themselves!

Late delivery of documents is always a worry, did they come direct from Sunspot or via an agent?

They came via CO-OP Travel in the post.
They could have easily been sent by email as it was an E ticket.
Just a sheet of paper with a booking number on it.

So Sunspot aren't necessarily responsible for the delay if they sent the email to Coop Travel in good time. It's normal practise that all documents go via the agent. Did Coop have an email address for your father?

There was no email sent .
The only thing sunspot sent to the CO-OP was the travel details by post 4 days before the holiday.
This had the name of The crown hotel as the Hotel they would be staying at.

You mean Sunspot posted an E-Ticket - I just assumed at some point it had been emailed, that was the reason for inventing them! Four days is a joke but it depends on the routing. Unfortunately Royal Mail have a reorganisation under way and in some areas it's a disaster (anything via the new Warrington centre for a start, and I'm told the West Midlands has some problems as well) so it might have been caught up in that.

Whatever, what do we do about your father? As I read it the problem wasn't that he got the Windsor instead of the Crown but the uncertainty caused by the change. The hotels seem to be the same standard (the Windsor sounds very slightly better from the write ups) although in different areas. It's no consolation to him but this sort of thing isn't uncommon and we've had many complaints about various operators in the past and in some cases there has been a marked difference in standards.

I'd write to Sunspot and ask if they knew of the change, and if so why there was no warning. And mention the delay on the tickets. If it's their fault they should apologise but if they've been victims of someone else messing up they may like to know. There's no real grounds for claiming compensation but they may offer a discount for the future. They aren't a company that have cropped up before so it would be interesting to see their attitude.

It was nothing to do with the post.
We were in the CO-OP the Tuesday before when the agent phoned to see where the flight document was, they said they would post it out 1st class that day ,it arrived on Thursday 4th November as they flew out Monday 8th November
I have written a letter to them.
I 'll let you no if they answer.

Update
My Dad had a reply to the letter I wrote to Sun Spot Travel.
It was a long letter full of apologies about how late the travel documents had arrived .
They should have been notified before they left about the change of resort and Hotel.
So they have been given £160 as a good will gesture .
Which is £40 each as there were 4 of them.

In cash? Actually getting an apology is pretty good these days, most companies like to avoid the word and make you feel they are being generous sending you vouchers.