I wanted to relate our recent, live experience with Love Holidays so that potential customers can take an informed view prior to making a booking with this company.
In April 2016, my pregnant wife and me ordered a flight and hotel package for a holiday to Greece in late May (i.e. 4 weeks hence). We based our choice of holiday destination on a specific 5* hotel - which appeared available when we made the booking. Reservation was confirmed in paperwork after we put down a £450 deposit.
I received an email several days later advising that the hotel had become overbooked, and we were offered an alternative hotel. Exploring this online, it was clear that in terms of both quality and price it could not be considered a reasonable alternative.
On rejecting this, we have now been warned that it is unlikely that there will be other options elsewhere in the area given (a) the time available and (b) the fact that the core of their business offering is for flights + hotel. As flights are now confirmed, the latter point is hardly a surprise!
We are now left in a situation where our deposit has been effectively used to overpay for flights (comparable flights should be c. £370 total return) to a location where we have no accommodation confirmed, and where we have been advised that it is going to be challenging to source accommodation for the reasons given above.
This issue is live as I write. As it stands loveholidays has not offered any concessions over the deposit; whilst also inviting us to use other sites and suppliers to procure accommodation directly (notwithstanding the fact that we firmly view this as their issue to put right). They do not take responsibility as a provider of holiday packages - rather act as an intermediary between flight and hotel providers. It is important to note this distinction - as this means that they are beholden to their ability to manage suppliers, rather than being able to address issues directly themselves.
I make no recommendations for potential customers, though I would urge extreme caution in making a booking without thoroughly reviewing terms and conditions in advance. We have been left really exposed through this experience - and whilst individual employees have made some efforts to help - the stress (at a time when my wife is 15 weeks pregnant) is most unwelcome.
I really empathise with you, as we had exactly the same experience with this company.
I booked a holiday for 2 with this company early July for Sardinia. I took my time and searched for a hotel in the designated location, especially to be close to the town centre as we had friends we were visiting and some even staying at the hotel I booked. I month after I booked, I received an email from love holidays saying: 'It is with regret that we have to relocate your booking due to the hotels overbooking.' As you can understand, I was really unhappy about the change. After almost 2 weeks of going back and forth with emails, they couldn't give us our original hotel booking, knowing we'd booked it to be near friends and due to the location being 10 minutes walk to the town centre. I knew I wasn’t going to be hiring a car and my mum who was travelling with me couldn’t walk long distance due to her health condition. I even spoke to customer service when I first received the email about the change, who informed me that when one makes a booking, it's not confirmed until 72 hours. She wasn't interested when I told her I'd booked it a month ago and had received all the relevant confirmed documents of my itinerary.The hotel they moved us to was on a hill and it cost 50 euro's in the evening to get to the town centre and back ( 25 each way ), hence the journey was only 1.5 miles. Buses stopped running at 7pm and my mum has arthritis, so walking up and down the hill every day created agony for her knees and hips. This was another reason why I chose the hotel closer to town in the first place. They said they would move us to the same standard room hotel as what we'd paid for, except our room was so basic and minus a balcony ( something the other hotel had ). We worked out we'd actually paid more for our room than other people staying in the re-located hotel who had better rooms than us. This hotel had so many stairs ( as they stuck us on the bottom floor ) without a lift, which was very inconvenient for my mum. Also there was no spa or other facilities ( kettle in the rooms ) unlike the hotel of our original booking. When we arrived at the hotel and expressed our disappointment due to the room not having a balcony ( something we’d paid for ) the receptionist called a representative from love holidays and handed me the phone. The representative assured me she’d get on the case and call us back. We didn’t unpack and waited. Yet we received no phone call the whole time during our 1 week stay.Also we had paid for a private transfer with our original booking which cost £50 extra and the hotel they located us to had a free airport shuttle, yet they didn't even compensate us the difference.The ironic part is that I run a travel company and host retreats in the UK & Europe and I would not treat my customers this way.I wouldn't trust this company and would not recommend booking with them. Their customer service and communication is beyond poor, unfair and unacceptable.
I booked a holiday for 2 with this company early July for Sardinia. I took my time and searched for a hotel in the designated location, especially to be close to the town centre as we had friends we were visiting and some even staying at the hotel I booked. I month after I booked, I received an email from love holidays saying: 'It is with regret that we have to relocate your booking due to the hotels overbooking.' As you can understand, I was really unhappy about the change. After almost 2 weeks of going back and forth with emails, they couldn't give us our original hotel booking, knowing we'd booked it to be near friends and due to the location being 10 minutes walk to the town centre. I knew I wasn’t going to be hiring a car and my mum who was travelling with me couldn’t walk long distance due to her health condition. I even spoke to customer service when I first received the email about the change, who informed me that when one makes a booking, it's not confirmed until 72 hours. She wasn't interested when I told her I'd booked it a month ago and had received all the relevant confirmed documents of my itinerary.The hotel they moved us to was on a hill and it cost 50 euro's in the evening to get to the town centre and back ( 25 each way ), hence the journey was only 1.5 miles. Buses stopped running at 7pm and my mum has arthritis, so walking up and down the hill every day created agony for her knees and hips. This was another reason why I chose the hotel closer to town in the first place. They said they would move us to the same standard room hotel as what we'd paid for, except our room was so basic and minus a balcony ( something the other hotel had ). We worked out we'd actually paid more for our room than other people staying in the re-located hotel who had better rooms than us. This hotel had so many stairs ( as they stuck us on the bottom floor ) without a lift, which was very inconvenient for my mum. Also there was no spa or other facilities ( kettle in the rooms ) unlike the hotel of our original booking. When we arrived at the hotel and expressed our disappointment due to the room not having a balcony ( something we’d paid for ) the receptionist called a representative from love holidays and handed me the phone. The representative assured me she’d get on the case and call us back. We didn’t unpack and waited. Yet we received no phone call the whole time during our 1 week stay.Also we had paid for a private transfer with our original booking which cost £50 extra and the hotel they located us to had a free airport shuttle, yet they didn't even compensate us the difference.The ironic part is that I run a travel company and host retreats in the UK & Europe and I would not treat my customers this way.I wouldn't trust this company and would not recommend booking with them. Their customer service and communication is beyond poor, unfair and unacceptable.
Whilst I have sympathy for the above posters, I also have to say that my experience of Loveholidays is somewhat different; we booked with them months in advance, and just a few weeks prior to travel were informed that the tour operator had changed our hotel as they no longer had a contract with that hotel. The "new" hotel was in a different resort, some 50km from the one we booked. When I contacted Loveholidays, they went to the TO, and came back with various alternatives, including a full refund, transferring to another holiday completely (paying any cost increase) or moving to any hotel in the TO's brochure in the same destination at no extra cost. It should be noted that NONE of these options is required by their T&Cs, so I was quite happy in the end to change to a hotel of my choice at no extra charge, and they even threw in a private transfer! Oh, an in the end, it turned out to be a better (for us) hotel!
Maybe I just got lucky, maybe it's something else, I don't know, but I'm more than happy with Loveholidays.
Maybe I just got lucky, maybe it's something else, I don't know, but I'm more than happy with Loveholidays.
Post a Reply
Please sign in or register an account to reply to this post.
Similar Topics
-
Terrible holiday experience in Marmaris
Posted by ardath in Holiday Complaints
-
Terrible Direct Holidays/Airtours.
Posted by Punta Cana Fan in Holiday Complaints
-
Love holidays
Posted by Deb Harrison in Travel Agency Complaints
-
Love Holidays
Posted by Katievans121 in Holiday Complaints
-
Love Holidays
Posted by Madaleine in Holiday Complaints