Hi

I have been reading posts, on here, going back to 2010 about OTB taking bookings and then calling 24/48 hours to say the flights had increased.

I was hit with this 'error', for our holiday in 2012, when we booked the hotel and flights with them (Ryan Air). Thinking this was a one off and because it was Ryan Air, we booked again for 2013 holiday to the same hotel but different airline (Thomson). This time we were caught with the 'Children over 8 do not qualify for the free children places.....'

I know some of you will call me stupid, and I will agree with you, as I booked the same hotel on OTB, but booked the flight directly with the airline last night, and guess what - YIP - the usual phone call this morning saying our daughter, who will be 11 when we go away, does not qualify for the free child place..... Oddly though when I checked the hotel's website and entered the details of a 7 year and 11 year child there was no difference in price......

I then called OTB and eventually the call was answered by an agent. I asked what the problem was with the booking and she informed me that it was down to the site not being live and hotels changing their prices daily. I then informed her that in fact we has been informed earlier in the day that it was due to my daughters age. She then stated that it is all down to the third party who OTB are dealing with. The strange thing is OTB show Hbeds as being the third party but there are no details of a third party on the receipt we received last year nor can I find Hbeds on the internet when I googled it. I asked why the site was not updated to reflect this as I was lead to believe that consumers should be protected and the price shown is the final price......

I then asked to speak to a manager but I was advised the manager was not prepared to speak to me. Odd that??

I have since spoken 'unofficially' to a Trading Standards Officer who has reviewed the exact same booking and I have been advised to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau and Trading Standards as she cannot see anywhere on the site for that specific hotel stating that children over 8 are not deemed as children and this is a material piece of information.

I am currently composing an email to Trading Standards, Citizens Advice Bureau and Watchdog as I believe that this is a common practice with OTB and do not want to see anyone else go through the same hassle......

So if anyone else has had a problem PLEASE PLEASE contact Trading Standards as if they do not know what is happening then they cannot do anything about it.

I am now booking the hotel with Travel Republic and hopefully will have a better experience.

Thanks for letting me have a rant.....