I'd suggest you contact Ros Fernihough on 01922 621114. She is a travel law solicitor and assists our members. She will offer you free legal advice.

The group who were moved maybe entitled to compensation.

was everyone on the same booking or were bookings seperate

holiday companies do not operate that way.
You may well be angry at them but to suggest this is just nonsense.

holiday companies do not operate that way.
You may well be angry at them but to suggest this is just nonsense.

I think Shelley might well be right, and I can't see on what basis you are attempting to rubbish her viewpoint.

Unless you have a vested interest in the travel industry ...........

Peter

POY i am in no way rubbishing anyones views.
I go on holidays a lot and use the travel industry to book my holidays so yes i have a vested interest.

Surely if your not connected to the travel industry then how can you catergorically say that's it's nonsense for them to operate this way ?

I most definitly suspect that's exactly how they operate, large group, split them and re-sell at inflated prices and hope as it's a large group they wont be too upset at the move.

The TO's are in the business of making a profit like all business's and thus it being a cut throat market too then I reckon this move will have been to benefit them and certainly not Shelley and her party.

The only thing I would say is that given the upset of last years problems I can't believe she booked with them again for another large party and all the ££££ that gave them again

I can assure you as someone who does work in the travel industry that neither Direct Holidays or any other tour operator work in this way.

Overbooking happens and 99% of the time it is the fault of the hotelier and not the tour operator. The tour operator will only be advised of over booking at short notice as this is when manifests are passed over.

Spies

Thus far only Spies has mentioned overbooking, the complaint is about the way in which the early bookers getting discount are sidelined for those who book nearer the holiday date and pay more.

This appears to be what is happening and it's appalling for even an industry that appears to lack any form of ethical code of conduct, despite the pretence of ABTA to have one.

I think Shelley has hit the nail in the head -

This is obviously how they operate - get people to book early and then penalise these people who paid the cheaper prices by moving them to another hotel because they can resell the popular hotels for more money.

If it were otherwise, on a 'last in first out' basis, the ones to get another hotel would be the last to book. That would be the fair and honest way to do it.

Peter

If its happening then I can assure you that the person behind the counter selling the holiday, certainly has no knowledge of this.
Kath HT Admin

I would be reasonably sure of that too, it will be the travel company booking departments who are responsible.

Peter

Thus far only Spies has mentioned overbooking, the complaint is about the way in which the early bookers getting discount are sidelined for those who book nearer the holiday date and pay more.

This appears to be what is happening and it's appalling for even an industry that appears to lack any form of ethical code of conduct, despite the pretence of ABTA to have one.

On the contrary, those booking closer to departure (e.g. 12 week lates booking period) will pay less. Those who booked closest to departure will be the customers informed of any overbooking situation. Of course, this is all dependent on what room type has been overbooked etc"¦

Spies

On the contrary, those booking closer to departure (e.g. 12 week lates booking period) will pay less. Those who booked closest to departure will be the customers informed of any overbooking situation. Of course, this is all dependent on what room type has been overbooked etc"¦

But this does not appear to be what has happened on two occasions with MyTravel/Direct Holidays. Those who booked well in advance are the ones being messed around.

We are losing sight of the original complaint I would echo Glynis's advice -

I'd suggest you contact Ros Fernihough on 01922 621114. She is a travel law solicitor and assists our members. She will offer you free legal advice.
The group who were moved maybe entitled to compensation.

Alleged overbooking does not excuse anything. What we require are tougher Package Holiday Regulations to give more protection to the consumer and tougher penalties for breaches, with punitive compensation built in.

The industry seems unable to regulate itself via ABTA, the law must step to protect us.

Peter

I echo your comments Peter. If they had overbooked why were they still selling apartments in that hotel, for the exact same dates? The reason why we gave them our money a 2nd year running was we had many discussions and assurances from DH that this wouldn't happen again. It was also £300 cheaper per family than the other travel agents - needless to say in future I would pay £500 extra with another company, rather than have to use DH or My travel. Thanks for all your comments.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the above company Shelley. It is a sad FACT that TO's overbook their holidays. You only have to look at the hundreds of complaints on this website. They have ruined so many customers special vacations because of this. I was a loyal customer of DH/MT/AT over the years but not anymore. They do offer some fantastic deals and I have had many good budget holidays with these TO's but the one time I needed them to get it right, they didn't and they lied on several occasions to cover up what they'd done.

Shop around for another TO. It may mean spending more cash but it's worth it to be treated well and to actually get the holiday you chose in the first place. While we as a nation continue to just accept bad customer service, the unprofessional companies will simply continue to treat us badly.

I hope you get this awful situation resolved. My heart goes out to ya!!!!!

Jules

I agree that travel companies are held responsible for the bookings. But it is their duty to inform whether the bookings are made seperately for everyone or they were on the same booking!

What a horrible situation. I'm sure there are many, more reputable companies that would help you in future. I've think they have treated you terribly - twice.

However, there is something missing, I just don't understand. It's not in their interest to split you up, and risk 44 or 20 people cancelling, or complaining. They certainly wouldn't do it to profiteer from the circumstances. Group booking are great for Tour Operators. At one fowl swoop they have guaranteed seats and rooms, with 1/22 of the hassle, paperwork, administration and costs of booking 22 couples.

I think someone has messed up somewhere, and they are not letting on. I know that's guesswork & speculation, but it all is.

Shelley - why have they said this is happening? Have they offered any compensation? When are you travelling (i.e. could an alternative with another company help?)?

I have been coming on to this website for a while now and observing what has been said and I must admit this is one of the few sites on the net that gives sound advice.

Before we go any further I would like to say that I am currently working in the travel industry; I hope that this will not make people start flaming me like I have seen in previous posts. Just because we work in the trade does not make us all bad people. Tarring, people and brush springs to mind!

With regards to this problem it would be impossible for the TO to overbook 20 out of a party of 42 if they booked under the same booking reference. It simply cannot happen. One reference for one group on one flight at one hotel. You cannot have half in one hotel and half in another as it would not sit on the computers.

If the booking was made with seperate booking references but they were linked they would do everything they could not to seperate them but they could not guarantee it.

If the bookings were seperate with the TO having no reference what was linked (irrespective of what the TA had said because they dont always link bookings on the system!) then the TO would seperate the party as they would not know the party was travelling together until arrival at the overseas airport.

One piece of advice I can give to anyone with regards to large group bookings is get as many of you together at the first instance and make the booking. Get the head of the group to have the booking reference and then when you want to add people on add them on per room not per person to keep the cost down. that way it is registered as a group of 40 travelling not 11 groups of 4.

Hi Mike, welcome to HT. Always nice to have someone who works in the travel industry on the site, you to have valueable info regards problems etc about travel and your points of view are most welcome

Mike

welcome to HT. if as you say you have been watching HT for a while you will have noticed that we have several members whom work in the industry along with those who work for the t/v,press or as independent journalist, We welcome all who can assist the holidaymaker with local knowledge,legal and technical advice,
our request of such members are few in addition to our normal rules, no spamming, no promotion of companies you are involved with and to be honest and truthfully with our members,

I have been coming on to this website for a while now and observing what has been said and I must admit this is one of the few sites on the net that gives sound advice.

for the above comment we thank you as we always strive to give the best [albeit personal opinion at times] advice available.

again welcome and please join in where you have specialist knowledge

wizard