Unfortunately it's clearly stated in their T&C's that you are buying each element separately and if one is cancelled then you are still liable for any other elements.

luci

Once again we have someone caught out believing they have bought "A Package" holiday. The general public consider that when booking flight and accommodation together it is a package. They do not understand Dynamic Packaging.

fwh

Can't believe some of the advice being offered on here?

JKKne, of course you're not liable to pay for accom and transfers if they're not able to offer the flights you wanted to book!!

Travel republic website, it's not live, so when you go through the options and chosing you're flights etc and then press book to confirm it won't be an istant booking from that point. There will be a team of workers on the "otherside" recieving you're request and if all available will go ahead and book all the elements of your holiday.

If no longer available then either an alternative flight or accommodation is offered and if not wanted then no money should of been transacted.

If there was a transaction then a full refund should be made (usually taking 3 working days)

What are supposed to do with a confirmed hotel and transfers and no flight!!!???

whiskeytangofoxtrot,

sorry you don't like the advice being offered here but I'm afraid what's been said is true. TR don't offer 'package holidays' and as such aren't obliged to offer any moeny back for accomodation booked if the flight doesn't go ahead. Similarly if the accomodation isn't available, they are not liable to refund the cost of the flight. It doesn't seem fair but there you have it! If the customer isn't prepared to take that risk, the advice is to book a 'package deal'.

Unfortunately, what fwh, Luci and Shirley say is correct because TR don't do 'packages' in the way the big TOs do. They are an agent only and their T&Cs do make it clear that the different components of a holiday booked with them constitute separate contracts direct with the separate suppliers.

I use TR frequently, especially for hotels, but also for flights. However, I rarely book everything with them for this reason. For example, when going to La Gomera I provisionally book the accommodation through a local agent on the island, also checking whether it is available for a couple of days either side of my preferred dates, knowing that if I can't get suitable flights or need to change my dates in order to get decent flights, that they will do this without a problem and that either way, I'll only pay for it once I arrive. I then book the flights - and now usually do this through Travel Republic because they often undercut the prices quoted by the airlines direct. Then once the flights are confirmed i contact Cornelia and confirm my booking for the apartment.

On the other hand, for work related trips, I am allowed to book my own accommodation if I want to as long as it falls within the expenses limit and I nearly always book this with TR - I've got some really good deals in the smaller, more characterful hotels that I prefer to the sort of large corporate chains that I would otherwise end up in on a work trip. However, the flights then get booked for me by admin staff via a negotiated corporate contract with a local travel agency. I have little flexibility about when I travel in those circumstances and they simply get the best deal they can on the dates that are needed.

And I think that is the trick to getting the best out of TR - book what is important to you first - whether flights or accommodation - and be sure that you have a secured booking and then book the other components later. In my case, for personal travel, this usually means getting the flights sorted and booked first and then move on to finding accommodation but I'm sure that for others who want to stay in a particular hotel on particular dates, they do it the other way round, as I do for work. But either way, there's no getting around the fact that TR don't do packages and you are not entitled to a complete refund if one component of your booking falls through for some reason.

I assume that JKKne got a good deal pricewise for their accommodation and are happy with what they chose at the time and in their shoes, if TR couldn't find me suitable alternative flights, I'd now start shopping around for flights with other agents and get them booked. And once they are booked, contact whichever compnay is providing the transfer and negotiate with them direct for any changes to the pick-up times etc. I would imagine this wouldn't be a problem for them - after all travellers often find that this has to be changed anyway due to changes in flight times for flights booked well in advance or simply because of delayed departures. The only alternative is to lose the money already paid out for flights and transfers because TR are definitely not required to refund this, as is made clear in their T&Cs and which JKKne must have ticked they had read before being allowed by the TR website to proceed to the payment stage.

SM

I will try and find out what is going on, have sent JJkne a PM to confirm I am looking at right booking!

Steve

Have to say, travelrepublic have done some stirling Customer Service and refunded me, when they didn't have to.

Really appreciate them doing this as I realise this was within customer service.

Certainly hasn't put me off them and I'll certainly be using them again in the very near future

Thanks JJkne, cant claim too much credit on this one, our Operations team were asking for your refund, but didnt find out for sure until this late this morning!

Steve

Glad everything's worked out for the op. well done once again to TR customer services.

I have my accomodation booked for next April through them so crossing fingers I will be a happy bunny once again.

Well glad you got your money back JKKne.

Still not sure about their policy with regards to not refunding a confirmed element of a DP (Dynamically Packaged) holiday if if another lelemnt became unavailable?

It's easy to get out of a hotel or transfer booking as firstly suppliers tend to give 24 hours grace and secondly most hotel contracts allow cancelation free of charge up to, say, 14 nights prior to check-in.
It's more difficult to get out of a flight booking but again most tour operators and airlines tend to allow 24 hours grace if need to cancel due to an operational issue.

If operations at TR are confirming each element "back office" first they would check all is available and go ahead and confirm the accommodation then confirm the flight. Then if by chance the flight became unavailable or airfare was increased then at this point get back to customer to offer alternative or get permission to book at new price.

I can't see how or why TR would hold customers to booking if not able to offer the DP holiday?

Seem too risky, i wouldn't book with them!

Hi wtf, we do not all sit here making bookings manually. For 95% of our providers the availability and the booking process is automated. That means when one component of the holiday doesnt work, the others may well be booked.

Our policy was not to say we wouldnt refund the hotel and transfer, rather we would check with the providers if cancellation free of charge was possible.

That is why I stepped in, because there is a difference between 'no, you cant get a refund' and 'we cant give you a refund immediately, but we can check and will do so if providers booking conditions allow it'. In this case, the bookings are quite near to departure, so I can understand why our Ops team needed to check. I think there was some miscommunication there, so have made sure it doesnt happen again.

This doesnt happen that often, I was able to find JKKne's booking, from the 4000+ made yesetrday on our site, quite easily, with little to go on apart from the original post.

I would beg to differ on your saying it is 'too risky' to book with us. Though of course, you are entitled to your opinion!

Steve

And this sort of service is why I continue to use TR Many other agents would have just stuck to the letter of their T&Cs rather than negotiating on a customer's behalf with the suppliers. Glad you had such a speedy and satisfactory response JKKne.

SM

Well Steve now you've cleared that up it doesn't seem as risky does it!

4000 bookings!!!! no wonder you can't cope?!

Tell your bosses to get more staff in and to make sure you get these failed bookings cancelled down within 24 hours!

Well I for one say well done TR on this one & as usual Steved1 has come up trumps by helping our members

When booking DIY, I always book my flight first, as that's usually the most important element for me. For Easter, I have my flight booked wih Easyjet, and my accommodation with TR. I've used TR many times & had no problems so far Hopefully my next holiday will go off without a hitch. Terms & conditions are something which many people just tick without reading - it just goes to show how important they are.

WTF for your information, Things can go wrong no matter who you may book with. Steve, whilst being an employee of TR, is also a member here. He offered when he joined to try to assist anyone who had a problem. This he has done on a regular basis. Several others agents/TOs are also members and will assist where they can.The great pity is that the many other agents and TOs (big and small) who keep an eye on HT do not do the same thing.

fwh

Tell your bosses to get more staff in and to make sure you get these failed bookings cancelled down within 24 hours!

We don't know when JKKne made the original booking but it was sorted within 18 hrs of him posting here! But if done over the weekend - likely if the staff dealing with it had to wait until this morning to refer it to a supervisor and wait for an answer from the accommodation supplier - then this has been sorted pretty quickly in my book. And given that Steved1 was still able to find the correct booking out of those 4,000 on-line bookings this morning and get it sorted by just after lunchtime, suggests that they not only do have enough staff but that they have staff who are competent and get the job done.

SM