Was this booked direct with the TO or through an agency? And are you sure that this was a confirmed booking or simply that they had confirmed in the first instance that they had received your booking request. Also, did they actually take any money at the time from your account when you gave them your debit card details or did they simply place a 'hold' on the account for the required amount pending the booking (as opposed to the request) being confirmed.

If it was definitely a booking that you made direct with the TO on their website then you probably have some comeback, but if it was done through an online TA site then it will all be in the detail. The T&Cs of many on-line booking sites make it clear that they are providing you with a quote but that the final price will depend on a confirmed price from the TO and/or airline concerned. For example, I have booked hotels online with Travel Republic in the past and the initial 'confirmation' makes it clear that this is confirmation of receipt of my booking request and not confirmation of the actual booking itself which arrives separately once they have confirmed the price and booking with the hotel. I have been lucky in that these have always matched but their T&Cs make it clear that they are not guaranteeing this and that in the event of the hotel not confirming the quoted price that they will come back to me for confirmation that I am willing to pay the price confirmed by the hotel or their agent before actually making the booking. Are you sure that this isn't the case in this instance?

If this is the case then annoying as it is, it is legal and there's little you can do about it. The problem often lies not with the site you boooked with which can be acting in good faith on information supplied by the supplier but with the supplier themselves not making sure that their info is regularly updated. In the end, when it comes to booking via a 3rd party booking agency or TA the quote is an 'offer to treat', it isn't necessarily a guaranteed price and there is no contract until they have actually taken the money from your account, even if they have placed a 'hold' on it so that the money is no longer available for you spend.

SMa

Thanks you SMa,

This has been a very well articulated response and explains the process of booking very well. I believe, (although not yet confirmed) that the monies were paid only this morning after agreeing the new price and therefore leaves me in a like it or lump it" situation. Thank you for your explanation which is really helpful, though I would question these companies "acting in good faith" because I believe there are very few people who have tried booking a holiday via teletext or online and EVER end up paying the prices quoted.
I realise there is nothing I can do about this situation and have to live with the UK holiday experience and wait until next years new ideas.

Thanks once again,

Goldenclogg

Hi Goldenclogg,

I've never booked using Teletext or a complete package via an online site either - I usually book our air tickets direct with the airlines' own websites and with the exception of Ryanair (one of my particular pet hates!) find that the pricing is usually transparent these days. Also, it seems to be the way to get the best prices. I have booked hotel rooms though and certainly have found that Travel Republic usually has the best price for the hotels I've been looking for and has never come back with a higher price from the original 'offer' price even though they don't guarantee it.

According to a friend in the industry, most of these booking sites arrive at the prices they quote by a regularly automated trawl of the websites of the hotel chains etc and they are reliant on the said websites being accurate, but of course many of these advertise their lowest prices, which are bound with all sorts of restrictions etc, as the headline price - a bit like Ryanair was notorious for with their air fares. That is what I meant by them acting in good faith, the bad faith is on the part of the supplier that then quotes a higher price from the one featured. This is why the specialist TO my friend worked for wouldn't give quotes for their custom built packages via their website. Instead they asked you to put together your perfect package on their site and then they contacted you later with a detailed price breakdown and often suggestions for how you could do it cheaper if you were prepared to fly with Cubana rather than Virgin (they specialised in Cuba!), stay in a different hotel that had a better offer on at the moment etc. But of course you paid for this personalised service and she openly said that anybody wanting a bog standard beach hotel package would probably still get it cheaper through a mass market site - even if not as cheap as they first thought!

Which brings us back to how come Travel Republic can do it when others can't? Well I suspect that it has to do with them being more selective about who they deal with in the first place but also the sort of hotels I've used them for - always smallish city centre 3* plus and never mass market beach resort hotels. Plus I suspect that TR are not always the cheapest, just the most reliable in my experience and the sort of hotels I've used them for are probably not aimed at a market that shops mainly by price (and hence attracted by the lowest one).

SM