hi everyone, this may or may not be a potential problem but would love some advice just in case please if you can so I can relax and look forward to my holiday !
A certain flight operater/company had a sale the other week so I looked at flights to portugal as my mam lives there, for april. I also narrowed down accomodation to 2 hotels, the holiday is for 2 adults, 1 x child age 3, 2 weeks all inclusive, second week is beginning of easter hols. I went onto their website 3 days before sale was due to end and flights for 3 of us were aprox £315 with 2 x luggage, a fab deal alone, I then noticed they did the hotel I wanted so priced it up as a package as they also had a sale on hotel rooms too.(up to 70% off and 150,000 free rooms)
The price per person on initial web page showing hotel was £349 all inc sea view for 2 weeks per person, no reduction for 3 year old but still a great deal. Thing was I only had £883 in the bank so at this point was looking to book flights now and hotel in 2 weeks time as I was a bit short.
I then clicked to confirm price, add luggage etc to get an idea of combined total price to compare against other sites offering the same holiday/hotel and this is where the problem? started the full price for the holiday on the confirmation page (adding on 2 luggage) was £545 (sunday) so I was then thinking is this an error or is it part of the sale and if sale i could afford it that day? all details were displaid correctly, 2 adults, 1 child return flights, 1 x room sea view 2 adults, 1 child age 3 all inclusive for 2 weeks, 2 x luggage.
erring on the side of caution I didnt book and thought if it was an error surely they would rectify it soon as they would get lots of booking and be out of pocket . by tuesday the last day of sale and after checking gawd knows how many times daily it was still showing this very cheap price on confirmation (now £563 for flights, all inc hotel for 2 weeks, 2 luggage for 3 of us) so I thought I would give them a call as I had cash for flights and this holiday IF correct but if incorrect only the cash for flights and would have to pay hotel 2 weeks later seperately.
I called, explained what had happened over the past 3 days and at first she didnt understand until she clicked 'confirm' and dispaid correct hol details but incorrect price -I also said I was being honest with them and that if others saw the deal they could be potentialy out of pocket by thousands and she thanked me for my honesty and would inform IT department immediately as she was unsure if it was sale or not, I asked her about making my booking and at 1st she advised to wait 2 or 3 day until I pointed out I'd then miss out on the flight sale price and possibly a genuine hol price, so she went away to talk to someone and said book it now, take screen shots etc and as I was paying with debit card it would be instant confirmation and they would have to honour it.... so i did, I was sent an incident number and she thanked me profusely once again, because if it was an error it would cost them, as soon as I paid I received my flight booking ref and also a hotel voucher via email which I have now printed off, all states correct details, accom, all inc, 2 adults 1 child etc for 2 weeks and states without this voucher I may not get room as standard , and since 12th jan I have received nothing to question price paid and it has been taken from my account, so after all my poor explanation (sorry), can they now come back and ask me for the correct amount after telling me to book, could the hotel accept my voucher than call me to reception and request more cash..... I will have the remaining cash if needed in 2 weeks but had hoped to use it for spends I need to be armed and ready should the worst happen I havnt nemed the site as they still have the reduced price showing so am hoping it was a genuine deal as surely IT would have amended it quite quickly after it was pointed out?
Well I wouldn't worry if I was you. You got a price, checked it several times, booked, paid and received confirmation for it- A genuine good deal I'd say. The only thing that's bugging me is what was the incident number for? do you mean a booking reference number? Somebody here may correct me but I'm sure if you've paid the price asked for, that they can't come back and ask you for more. The hotel reception certainly shouldn't be able to and I don't think the TO can either. I wonder what the rest of our members think.
It happened once to us years ago, I booked a holiday through an agent, got free child place and really cheap price. I did query it. She rang the tour op who said the 1 week price had been loaded up for a fortnight as well, but if I booked it, they would have to honour it. So I did. The tour op did go back to the agent trying to extract more money, but was told no as it had been confirmed at a price, they had to honour that price.
after my call I did keep checking back to the site to see if the pricing changed and for almost 2 hours the site was down for maintenance, or very intermittent, since then 13th onwards the price still shows as in the £500's for 2 adults 1 child, my flights were £340 with luggage so basically I have only paid £223 for 3 of us for 2 weeks all inc for the hotel, all other sites are quoting aprox £1200 for same hotel board and flights now, yet this one has had ample time to rectify if it was a mistake but they havnt after being informed.
cheers sunaddict thats great to know too, methinks the hotel price is for one person only and somehow the system isnt calculating correctly but as said I did inform them and was honest with tem and they still told me to book, good point on the voucher too, yep they wont know how much was paid will they.... such a shame I didnt book the 5* that was coming up at £900 for all of us but hey I aint greedy and really wouldnt have had the extra had they been able to demand it
However, if a problem was spotted between booking and the invoice run - then potentially there was an option to contact the person who made the reservation and/or cancel the booking.
It was one of the ways that staff used to find some great deals for their families and friends!
Shell
Limassol, Cyprus
Similar happened to me Shell - Last year I booked a holiday before I went to work, the TO took the full amount,
emailed me all the confirmation/receipt details etc (including a letter congratulating me on my choice) and on my return late afternoon,
I had another email from them cancelling the holiday due to an error in the price.
I said Icouldn't cancel that holiday just like that but she said they can and did! .
Had to wait quite a while to get my money back too!
Ozzie, the difference between your and my holiday was mine was cancelled by them on the day of booking but you have spoken to someone and took their advice. Just look forward to it.
If they are still advertising at a good price, could you let me know the name of the Company cos I love a bargain and could do with a holiday.
I've read this post with great interest and I'm so happy you got a fantastic deal ! doesn't happen very often nowadays, so grand job, i'm with somersetsuzie on this one, share the details of this bargain with us !!
Can we know what it is or are you still concerned?
I would love to surprise my family with a holiday, last year was very tough!
Jules x
if I am allowed to... it was an easyjet holiday (go on, all say oh your stuffed now ) ncl-faro staying at the auramar beach resort 2 weeks all inc in april , I tried to look again late last night to see if they had sorted it but the hol site was down for maintenance so maybe sorting it out now.... reviews for hotel are more for, than against, I know 3 who have stayed there and for the price so long as you get a newer room its fab -food basic etc, but for me I was originally booking just for the price for a nice area, basic base etcfor our hols nothing more as my mam has a car based in olhao and we plan to roam ( as I have a 3 year old and she lives on Culatra on a yacht that is being renovated, so no electric and only a porta loo at the mo I needed a proper roof and loo etc) so , my friend was looking to book and is waiting for a cheque to clear, she put it through the other day and forgot to add her daughter on in the drop down box and it showed full price,,, as soon as she added her daughter it dropped, so its very confusing, best of luck in getting a deal
forgot to say , I did the holiday search for albufeira inc flights and all hotels available came up then I clicked #board# to change it to price them all for all inc, if you get a deal make sure your there over the 14th and we can have a big party for my hubbys bday
just checked...site STILL down... I guess there may now have been massive problems with other destinations?? and not just the 4 hotels I spotted.....in albufeira..... hmmm wonder if its related or not, if it is they have taken a silly length of time to do something about it as they were warned on the 12th jan...I watch with abatyed breath and anticipation of the blimmin phone ringing
I think you may have been lucky and got a cracking deal. Just had a quick look on Expedia for this hotel and it has rates for £22 a night for the first two weeks in April. That was B&B but sometimes places do all inclusive upgrades for something silly like 1p (I have seen this before with First Choice). Reason I looked on Expedia is something similar happened to me found flights and 4* hotel in Malta for something silly like £150 per person for a week checked on Expedia and checked with hotel directly and prices were correct so I booked. No issues as yet and we booked before xmas, although we booked directly with hotel and have confirmation from them on price.
Hi kim, great deal on malta, well found Easyjet holiday website is still down...thats aprox 37 hours now.... so think its def a pricing problem rather than a great deal as surely they wouldnt be keeping the site down this long when everywhere else is offering sales etc and they would be losing out big time... best thing it they were told about possible problem on 12 jan so have taken an awful long time to act, assuming thats what its down for. It was happening on 4 hotels alone in albufeira, maybe its been happening at/in other destinations too, dropped a big booboo if thats the case
I remember booking an all inc deal once a long time ago ! (the alloc on arrival deals - don t see them so much any more! ) , it was a 5 * deal alloc on arrival with thomson to St Lucia , price £999 ,could nt believe the price as the only property in their brochure at that time which was 5* was Sandals so customer booked straight away ! The very next day the price went up to £1999 but they honoured it , think they had missed the one off when loading on the details !!! It was for new year too !!! And yes the customer did end up in sandals !!!! Best bargain ever !!! x
The easyjet holiday prices have been lowering by over a half on alot of holidays for a few months now as we have booked a 2 week all inclusive 5 star holiday to Kos in June for just over £900 (the price was £1800 but dropped to the £900 price on the confirm page).
We booked ours early december 2010. We have been in touch with the hotel by email to confirm our booking but they haven't received it yet which is worrying, also i have read that easyjet holidays were in partnership with Hotelopia but are now in the process of using Lowcost for the hotel part of the booking.
Can they cancel the holiday if there has been a mistake on their part? as if any of us wanted to cancel a holiday for a mistake we made we would get hit with loads of charges.
there are 2 of us alone on here so at least we can keep each other informed if any contact is made re the 'issue' as for the booking BBB sometimes hotels dont get our bookings (names etc) until a few days before we are due to arrive, Off to try to find an email addy for mine now, just to see out of interest if they have anything on me.
I've booked with independent operators TR, Sunshine etc and have waited to contact the accommodation in the last 2wks before my arrival with any special requests or for information and have never had a problem with them not being aware of my reservation.
Usually, an operator will buy an allocation for a number of rooms at a hotel and if they don't fill them up to a specified number of days before arrivals, they allow the hotel to take them back and sell them privately. Some hotels buy an allocation for the whole of the season and these are often referred to as guarantees. They are usually the accommodations that will appear in the very first brochure of the season and also used for Allocation on Arrival holidays. It's one of the reasons why sometimes you can pick up a holiday brochure and not find a hotel that you know that tour operator uses - but if generally is available in a later edition. Tour operators want to fill the rooms they've purchased in advance and it also gets bums on seats in the aircraft.
I am aware of apartments and hotels in Spain, Canaries, Portugal, Turkey and Cyprus that tour operators have purchased on guarantee basis at less than 5GBP per room per night during early and late season and less than 10GBP for a room on half board basis. So there are always bargains to be had.
Shell
Cyprus
very informative post cyprus, thankyou
I think you may find if it is a genuine mistake and a computer error they will not honour it.
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