Lou, they are two different hotels. If you google Inghams ski and type in your dates and Bansko in the resort it will give you 2 pages of hotels. The first one on the list is the Bansko hotel complete with pics and on page 2 is the Lion hotel with different pics. The Bansko doesn't have a spa but it does have a pool and sauna and a fitness centre.

I'd say they're two different hotels too.

They are obviously 2 totally different hotels. The one we have booked has got the pictures of the lion hotel all over the site, making out it's the hotel we are staying at. The hotel information even states the same as the lion hotel saying we are only 600m from the gondola. In actual fact we are 1.5km away and need a shuttle bus. Will they be running at 7.30am to get us to ski school in time ? It even makes out it's a 4star hotel when in actual fact it's a 3 star and trip adviser has a few bad reviews. It doesn't bother us staying in a 2 or 3 star hotel but it does bother us when we've been made to believe we are staying in a wonderful 4 star hotel. I've just phoned and left a message in the call centre and told them to ring me in the morning as I am NOT HAPPY!!!!!! I have printed out my booking and all the pictures have underneath them Hotel Bansko making out it's the facilities that we have. Where do I stand on this legally please!!! They are not going to get away with this!!!!! Right at the bottom of the page it says Please note all brochure content is supplied by a third party and the publisher does not accept liability for any discrepancies. What does this exactly mean????

Marlou have moved this into complaints for you as I think you may receive more advice in this forum

Thank you.

Please note all brochure content is supplied by a third party and the publisher does not accept liability for any discrepancies. What does this exactly mean????

Exactly what it says. They can in effect put any picture they want and claim it is someones else's fault . Would not stand up in court but then most people never follow theri complaints through. Besides printing the pages out save them to file together with links.

fwh

Well I spoke to the main man today and he said that there is a disclaimer on the site, so I cannot actually take it any further. He did however offer to refund our money. He said that there is no room in the actual Lion hotel so we can't be moved. We have decided to go ahead with the holiday as it is now too late to start looking for something else. Not only that, we have already paid £350 for ski school and can't afford to loose that money. I'm really angry at them and will never book off teletext again. What a bunch of . I've looked at the hotel we are actually going to and it doesn't look half as nice as the one we thought we were going to. We are just going to have to make the most of it but I am not best pleased!!!!

I thought that the price you'd had for that hotel was a bit too good to be true, but obviously there are bargains to be had. As it's just the two of you and you'll be out skiing all day, you should be ok with the other hotel. As long as the bed's clean and the food's eatable, you'll manage.

Well I spoke to the main man today and he said that there is a disclaimer on the site, so I cannot actually take it any further

But that is where he is wrong. Two places that will be interested - Trading Standards and these people - http://www.asa.org.uk/

The ASA is the UK's independent regulator of advertising across all media, now including marketing on websites. We work to ensure ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful by applying the Advertising Codes.

People not only read the words in an ad but look at the pictures. Often the picture is what draws them in first.

fwh

Could I send a complaint to them even though the company has offered me a full refund

I don't see why not, as you haven't accepted the refund ... but have you accepted any form of compensation?

The problem - theirs not yours - is that misleading advertising is against the law. You have a seperate problem in that when you booked the holiday you were under the impression, due to the pictures that you were going to a different hotel. Obviously you have a choice of accepting a refund, or not but that does not excuse the company in any way.

fwh

Alsacienne wrote:

but have you accepted any form of compensation?

No compensation was offered. When I explained to him that teletext's photos were wrong and misleading, he told me that teletext is the "search engine" and he can't be held responsible for them and their advertisements. I told him that we were going to go ahead with the holiday as we didn't have much time in finding an alternative, but that we would be seeking further advice on this as we aren't happy. He said that's fine as he has looked into my complaint and the site has a disclaimer on it!!!

he told me that teletext is the "search engine

If that's the case, then it's the fault of Inghams the tour operator.

When I booked the holiday with teletext the girl told me that Inghams was the holiday provider. The confirmation I've received though is from "Lowcostsunshine" are they the same??? FWH I've just sent my complaint to the link you provided so watch this space. Hubby just reminded me that 2 years ago, we booked with teletext to go to Hurghada. They did the same back then and showed us the pictures of steigenberger al dau beach, when they actually booked us into the Steigengerger al dau club . Once bitten, twice bitten, never ever ever again will I book with teletext!!!!

What an utter shambles!

First, teletext holidays is a travel trade advertising service - you haven't booked a holiday with them. You've booked with an agent that uses the service. That appears to be Sunshine Holidays which is a name we've had here before - read http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=147617 - was it Mr C* you spoke to? The tour operator who Sunshine are selling may be Inghams.

So far, so bad. Now it gets worse. I've just looked at teletext for Bansko and can see your problem - and it's so wrong it's unbelievable. The Hotel Bansko comes up with the inaccurate description you said, only when I've looked the agent selling it was Pinewood Travel, another name we've had trouble with. As you can see from the link I gave, Mr Clarkson denies any link with Pinewood even though they have addresses very close to each other.

Anyway, back to the dodgy description. The hotel name was clearly shown as Hotel Bansko and then the description went on about the Lion which is definately a different place. Deliberate deception or cock up? Well the resort info gives a clue when it mentions "secluded bays", "economical Mediterranean destination" and then "The three islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino" together with a photo of what seems to be Valetta harbour!! Grade One cock up!! The question is - who by? I'd guess the teletext holiday entry uses some form of indexing to link to prepared text in a database and something has gone wrong. But who is responsible for making the mistake? The culprits will be either teletext, Inghams or the agent. If it's the agent then it means Sunshine and Pinewood are linked - which has previously been denied. If it's teletext or Inghams the agent is still liable to you - but whatever the case, you say they have offered a full refund when the mistake was brought to their attention - and you've turned it down and agreed to go ahead with the holiday. In that case you really lose any hope of compensation for the mistake.

The ASA might take interest in it since it points to a deeper systems problem somewhere that could have massive effects throughout the year.

Thanks for your reply. Had we a bit longer to sort it all out then maybe we would have cancelled and re-arranged to stay at the Lion however we have only 15 days until travel, and have already paid for ski school, money which we cannot afford to loose. To be honest I'm not really out for compensation, all I want is to stop them from doing it to others. They are clearly full of bullshit and I am fed up of them. I asked the guy from sunshine holidays for the managers name and complaints address or number and he said my name is Phil and I'm the highest you can get I haven't even received an apology for the muck up!

I've just had a look and on the confirmation letter and it's lowcostsunshine.co.uk.

So nothing to do with sunshine.co.uk then - you owe them an apology!

But gives a clue to a possible root cause of the problem. Pinewood (the company whose name appeared next to the mistake when I looked) and lowcostsunshine are both members of the Hays Travel Independence Group and one of the benefits they get from membership is access to various IT facilities. I wonder if the description database is something to do with Hays? I've looked on Hays' own website and their description seems right, if a little optimistic about the distance to the ski lift. On the plus side, they have better photos and the Bansko does look nice, especially the pool. The big problem I'm getting is that because the hotel name is the same as the town any searches are getting mixed up and even when I find something that should be this hotel people have posted wrongly.