OnTheBeachHolidays, Strange as when you made the same mistake the first time round with my order your line manager cancelled my order as I was talking to him on the phone and sent the email to confirm it was cancelled, Which was fair enough as I then had complete piece of mind with that confirmation email, On this occasion I again talked to a line manager (different man) whom took a full two days to send an automated message about the cancelation, As I was supposed to be leaving the next day Departs Belfast at 0700, 22/06/2009 you really left it very very late to confirm this, Must admit that response alone says a lot for your customer services which indeed are appaling.
Below is taken from part of the email confirming the cancelation.
Unless you have received an email notifying you that your booking has been cancelled you must not assume this to be the case.

rwb46

We apologise that you have been unfortunate enough to see this issue occur on both orders you placed on our website. Whilst disappointing for you we can assure you that on hotel-only bookings this is a very rare occurrence as their prices and availability are generally very stable. Ultimately we do not control the suppliers pricing and availability and we can only apologise that you have been affected. We note on both occasions you have been contacted by a member of our team and that alternative options and a free cancellation were offered. Please note that we also have a call centre who are able to quote on live prices and availability they can be contacted until late every day on 08706 06 07 08

Im well aware of the number to call for the call center note that number is a non geographical number, That your company benefits from when a call is placed by a customer, Alternatively customers whom have problems with O.T.B. should try to use this number 0800 0858859 wherebye OTB pay for the privalage of your call, Note this number is still on as of today.
While problems arise from time to time I can accept that but certainly not twice in a row with different choices, Hotel and a Flight.
And you state you gave alternate options yes you did at a far greater price with the first order at far greater price of £190 more than I paid for the same hotel and with the second order again a far greater price of £120 for a flight I had ordered and your company offered me a completely different date and you really think thats good customer service, Oh yeah you did give me a free cancelation but hey who actually charges people when things go completely wrong from the buyer's perspective?
Mr Tour operator does, great service isnt it OnTheBeachHolidays.

My daughter and two grandchildren have just returned from a fortnights holiday in Icmeler, Turkey booked through O.T.B. Judging by the adverse postings on this company I was more than a little worried. However, all went well, the flight tickets arrived online as Etickets exactly ten days before departure as promised, as did the hotel voucher. The transfers which were booked through a link on the O.T.B. website were waiting at Dalaman, and the company supplying the hotel side of the booking had a rep. visiting the hotel daily. The return flight with Pegasus Air was delayed approx. 2hrs but that was no fault of O.T.B.. All in all she was more than satisfied with all aspects of the holiday supplied by this company, and got a much cheaper package than from any of the big companies. So perhaps we only hear the bad side of things about companies here, as most people dont bother posting on positive dealings, only negative ones, So in this case a pat on the back for O.T.B. Alan

Alan, Who actually sent you out your tickets, And was all your Daughters holiday booked with the same company?

The only contact she had was booking the package online with O.T.B. The Etickets for the flight were from a company called "Customflights" but both them, and the hotel voucher for the hotel component supplied by Med Holels, were emailed to her at the one time by O.T.B. Alan

gramps wrote:

My daughter finally got her tickets exactly 10 days before departure, and the company who was actually supplying the flights for Pegasus Air, Custom Flights, sent out the tickets as Etickets, thus avoiding postal problems, so it looks as if some of the smaller companies are at last following the scheduled airlines in this. I'ts about tine the big companies followed suit on this, and avoid all the hassle of missing tickets for their customers. Alan

Above is taken from what you actually said in a thread you started on Sat May 23, 2009 5:39 pm, Re, tickets sent out as late as possible

Rather strange alan you have changed your mind on who supplied the Etickets?

gramps wrote:

The only contact she had was booking the package online with O.T.B. The Etickets for the flight were from a company called "Customflights" but both them, and the hotel voucher for the hotel component supplied by Med Holels, were emailed to her at the one time by O.T.B. Alan

Custom flights did indeed send out the tickets with their heading on them, also on the left hand side of the Eticket was also the full O.T.B. address, who actually pressed the send button I dont know, for all I know they may be some link between the two companies, unbeknown to me, who has no knowledge of their set ups. Where exactly are you coming from regarding this ? I was merely making the point that in this particular holiday there were none of the snags I was half expecting from the experiences of other posters with this company, nothing else Alan

I have a holiday booked through otbeach. 5 of us travelling to sharm in september. As far as I can tell the small print seems ok but my problem is, that when booking, I mentioned that 3 of our party were disabled and had mobility problems. I booked the hotel I was recommended and paid in full (over 5.5 thousand pounds).

I have since learned that the old part of the hotel is totally unsuitable for disabled and have been trying to clarify which part we are booked in as I am advised that an upgrade to the "new part" will cost us £18 per night per room (we are booked for 14 nights).

My probem is that I can't get any sense out of them. I have e.mailed and I'm stalled while they "check with accommodation provider" - then nothing..... E.mail again and I'm told there are no records of my previous e.mails..

I'm sick with worry. This holiday isn't just for myself and my husband it involves 3 of our friends and they have all paid up....I daren't even tell them my concerns.

Now it may be that all is well- in which case why the heck can't they just confirm it?

I've taken legal advice and been told that if the rooms etc aren't accessible -they are in breach of contract..... but I just want to know that we can go offto egypt without worrying what happens when we get there.

They have this awful attitude of "Don't worry, you can sort it out when you get there" Not good enough, I'm afraid.

Hi Tigi781,

Sorry to hear your about your troubles. Which hotel are you staying at and what accommodation supplier are they using and i will see if i can find out myself for you. Not that i will be able to do anything with your booking as i don't work for them but i might be able to shed some light as to what rooms that the supplier normally has a contract with.

I would keep pressing them to find out for you or even better still, if you know yourselves who you are contracted through, contact your accommodation supplier directly to ask them as they may be more helpful if you explain what problems you are getting.

Normally, if it was a booking i was doing, we have a form that is filled out asking for exact needs and we send this through to the supplier for them to suggest a suitable hotel, purely to take the blame off ourselves if anything goes wrong. That may sound harsh but having done a booking like this before with the customer saying it is ok, only for them to come back and take us to court because the accommodation wasn't suitable.
I know it shouldn't be this way but alot of the accom suppliers don't make it that easy for us to be able to choose suitable accom hence why we have a form filled in and sent to the operator advising them of this and for them to suggest something that we can give to the client.

I do think that more should be done for people who have needs such as these as they don't make it easy for anybody to decide what hotel to look at.

Cheers

May I suggest that you send an email to this address explaining your problem;

forums@otbeach.com

In your email advise them you have been directed there from HT

OTB are members of HT and have offered (with permission from the mods) to try and assist people with a problem. If you read through this thread you can find confirmation of this.

fwh

Hi leisurelad

We are booked to stay at the Hilton Sharks resort - as this was recommended by our salesman (???). I know that in the e.confirmation he wrote a short paragraph under special requests which read "new section of hotel required for all rooms due to mobility difficulty of passengers, sea view prefered and all rooms together if possible. requests are not guaranteed"

The accommodation providers are Hotels4u.com ltd.

As I said I have been trying to clarify this for 3 weeks now. I read somewhere on this forum that "they just don't care" and I suspect that is true. They have had our money and if all was as it should be - then surely a confirmation e.mail would take 30 seconds and put my mind at rest. The fact that I just keep getting "we'll get back to you when we hear" messages makes me uncomfortable. I don't believe it's too much to ask that all the members of our party can shower and access their rooms (I asked for walk in showers and if the rooms weren't ground floor a lift).

I have just watched a tv program which reported that the hotel providers don't usually get their money until the last minute or sometimes even after the holiday..... I could, therefore, understand a lack of interest on their part but otbeach have taken my money and they need to reassure me!!!!

Thanks for you interest and anything you could do to help would be appreciated.

I will also send (yet another e.mail to the address suggested by fwh) If it was just for my husband and myself I'd feel a lot less stressed but I feel responsible for the others.

Hi Tigi,

Totally understand where your comming from about being nervous.

Looks like Hotels4U rooms are basically allocated by the hotel in either part of the building which is why they have put a special request in for you which does not stand any worth to be honest.

I think you are going to have to play travel agent on this one. best thing i can suggest you to is also email admin@hotels4u.com to advise them of your problems with OTB and see if they can help. The email address is for their operations team who are normally very good. It's mean't for agents really but hey.
Also, Hilton hotels are normally very very good so you might want to send an email to the hotel on Reservations.SharmSharks@Hilton.com and let them know too.

I know you shouldn't have to do this but i think for your own peace of mind it may be worth doing so as the service levels OTB have given you aren't exactly making you feel confident in them.

Hope the above helps in some way and let us know how you get on.

Thanks

Thank you so much.

I have dashed off a message to hotels4u and have my fingers crossed. I have made a note of the Hiltonsharks reservations address and will use this too, if necessary. Hopefully it won't be.

It's really kind of you to go to so much trouble for me and I do appreciate it.

I worked in travel many years ago and I am shocked at the lack of understanding and care shown by otbeach. I received far more respect and superior care when I recently booked a quick jaunt to Ireland at a 10th of the cost!

I will, hopefully, be able to relate my "happy ending" to you soon. You are a prince!

Your welcome Tigi,

I think we are all here to help other members, it's a shame that you have been pushed from pillar to post with OTB, all it takes as either an email or a call and they don't appear to be bothered to be able to do that.

Sad really as alot of us take pride in being in travel and helping people and it amazes me at some of the treatment experienced by some. As an agent, i think OTB should be doing alot more because i think if anything happens (goes wrong), they may well be liable because you have advised them what you need and repeatedly ask for some help or confirmation yet you keep being dismissed by them. More importantly, just by making a request as said before means nothing which is why i can't understand why they are not helping.

Anyway, less of me moaning. Lets hope for a positive outcome and i'm sure all will turn out right in the end.

Hi tigi781. You will definitely need to be on the new side of the hotel if your party has mobility problems. The older part is built on a slope to the sea and there are lots of steps. In the new part, if you got ground floor rooms I think you would be fine, and the showers are very large in these rooms. However, you would not get sea views here - it is some distance from the sea.

This hotel is excellent, and will reply very quickly to emails sent to the address provided by leisurelad. I am sure that they will also do their best to get you suitable rooms. It's a pity you have had this worry, but I have been twice to this hotel, and I am sure that they will do their very best to help. Not everyone has to pay for an upgrade to the new rooms - hopefully you will not have to.

Hi everyone

Thank you to all of you for your advice and empathy.

I am awaiting replies to several e.mails and now feel a little calmer - as it doesn't look quite as hopeless as it did. (I am usually an optimistic type! - it took otbeach to sqush that)

I'll keep you all informed - thanks again.

mh

Hi again.

It just goes to show what people power can do. Have had a phone call from otbeach (an actual phonecall!) I'm told there was a breakdown i communication with hotels4u and themselves which caused the delay but they can now confirm that we are not booked in the new part of the hotel.

If we want to be we will have to pay more as this, apparently is a "deluxe". Shame I wasn't told that when we booked, really. I am not preapred to pay any more £5,700 is enough, I think - so they are looking for an alternative hotel for us. I can only hope it will be disabled friendly and as nice as the Hilton Sharks. Does anyone have any suggested alternatives?

I won't pretend I'm not bitterly disappointed, because I am. I feel I was misled and mis sold this holiday. I now have to break the news to the others and I'm dreading it.

Hi Tigi,

Sorry to hear your news, funny though how you haven't heard from them for ages yet after our few little posts something seems to have happened. Not sure if that was because of our conversations or pure coincidence.

Hope they sort you out with something good, with that level of money being spent they should be bending over backwards to help you but having read in the past, there internet bookings i think they only make around £10 a head !!!

Let us know how you get on and keep pushing them, don't be fobbed off as i believe that when dealing with people who have such needs as yourselves, procedures should be followed and not just to do the booking on a wim thinking that everything will be ok for the sake of a sale. Personally, when i have dealt with these kind of things before, at the enquiry stage, i would rather loose a booking and have you find something suitable rather than what has happened.

Cheers