Hello, I have read this forum with avid interest for a while now and am grateful for those that take the time to contribute. I now find myself needing some direct advice. Hopefully someone will be kind enough to oblige.

I am a seasoned traveler and usually make travel arrangements independently. On this occasion I have made a flight and hotel booking with Travel Republic. I understand that this is a Dynamic booking and that Travel Republic act as an agent and source the flight provider and hotel provider separately. In this instance the hotel was supplied by Med Hotels.

In order to get a good price, the booking was made in September 2012 for 2 couples to celebrate our anniversary at the 5* Ultra All Inclusive Voyage Belek Golf and Spa Resort in Belek, staying for 1 week in September 2013. At this stage i should mention that two other couples booked this hotel via Travel Republic, to share our celebrations, in October 2012. At that time, the cheapest hotel provider was another provider and not Med Hotels.

In April 2013, i received notification from Travel Republic of a major hotel change. Apparently Med Hotels had advised that they had lost their accommodation contract at the Voyage Belek. Med Hotels offered us the 5* Paloma Grida as an alternative or our money back. Med Hotels hastened to advise us that they were quite within their rights to do so but would not accept any direct contact from myself. All communication must go through Travel Republic.

After some persistence i spoke to Customer Relations at Travel Republic. I explained that this was not acceptable for a number of reasons....

1. We had other friends travelling to the Voyage Belek that week to celebrate our anniversary with us

2. How can Med Hotels accept a booking for Hotel accommodation in September 2012, when they do not have a contract with the Hotel in place, covering the period that is being booked in September 2013? If Med Hotels knew this to be the case, this is mis-selling. If it is a case that the Hotel withdraws from a contract mid term then Med Hotels would receive compensation on that basis, which should be passed to the travelling party.?

3.. Why at the time of Med Hotels claiming that they had lost the Voyage Belek contract, were they still offering the accommodation at the same hotel, albeit at a higher price?.

4. Obviously, they will state that they abide by the terms, by offering a "comparative" Hotel, but using my case as an example.... this is not acceptable as we have other guests staying at the Voyage Belek to celebrate our Anniversary and more importantly the Paloma Grida, although 5 star in rating, is by far inferior to the Voyage Belek as is substantiated by the price for a like for like stay (as of Travel republic website on 16th April).
Voyage Belek £1,544
Paloma Grida £1,034

How can this be a comparative Hotel ?? Even if offered a refund for the price difference, it is certainly not comparative and therefore Med Hotels have not fulfilled their own terms and conditions. At no stage have they offered a comparative Hotel to Voyage Belek !!

These points were raised via telephone and backed up by an email to Travel Republic customer relations who said they would pass my comments to Med Hotels for their consideration.

In the meantime Travel Republic suggested it would be a good idea to look at another provider at the Voyage Belek as this was a very popular hotel and the longer we left re-booking the accommodation, the higher the price would be, with a distinct possibility that the hotel may become fully booked with no further rooms available. In order to re- book with another provider, it would be £260 per couple dearer (as we had obtained good rates in Sep 2012) . Travel Republic kindly offered to discount that the new accommodation price by 10% meaning there would be an increased cost of £102.60 per couple. I agreed to go ahead on this basis but hold Med Hotels fully responsible for the increased cost and we seek redress.

Afer chasing Travel Republic about my complaint / redress, i finally received a reply on 27th June. This was a standard rebuke from Med Hotels claiminng

they act as agents only,
they are not members of ABTA,
they do not have to provide redress in circumstances such as this, and i quote

" As you will be aware from our website booking conditions and pre-notification email to your team, medhotels acts as agents for the hotel properties / hotel groups which are featured on our website. Medhotels’ third party contract with Voyage Hotel Group was terminated by Voyage at that time and accordingly, alternative accommodation was sourced for impacted customers.

If there is a change to or cancellation of your booking we will pass on the new details as soon as we can. As agent only for the principal we cannot accept any liability for any changes or cancellations made to your booking unless they are due our own acts or omissions. However, except where the change is a result of circumstances outside of the control of the principal or ourselves (listed in Clause 7 below, ’Circumstances Beyond our Control’), if you accept the significant change or amend to different accommodation offered for sale by us, you will receive compensation in accordance with the table below . A significant change is one which entails a change to accommodation of a lower official rating and/or a change of resort area. If you reject the significant change and cancel your booking no compensation is payable but you will be entitled to a refund of all monies paid to us.

As the decision not to keep the bookings was that of the accommodation supplier and was beyond the control of medhotels, regrettably therefore, we are unable to accede .......... request for reimbursement in this instance. "

They conveniently overlooked the major point that Med Hotels were still offering the same accommodation as booked at Voyage Belek, throughout this time and are still offering it today, albeit at a higher price than i paid in Sept 2012.

I suspect that either Med Hotels accepted my booking in Sept 2012 without a contract in place with Voyage Belek or indeed if there was one then Med Hotels under estimated the cost and were not prepared to suffer the difference. Either way, in my opinion, they are ultimately responsible!

I sent an email to Travel Republic in early july reiterating all of the above and saying my relevant points had not been answered... Med Hotels replied in August that they are within their rights.

So taken literally, this means that Med Hotels have the right to cancel your accommodation right up until actually entering the hotel and the only redress you will receive is an alternative hotel (even if the same star, it can be inferior) or your money back.

I wonder if prospective travelers are aware of this when they make bookings with Med Hotels.......PLEASE BEWARE !!

If anybody could advise if i have grounds for recourse through a different channel i would be most grateful.

Thank you