My complaint:
Hotel booked through Travel Republic on 9th November 2022 for stay on 6th May 23 in Sorrento. The full amount of hotel cost was paid on 1st April 23. At 4.45pm on the 3rd of May I received an email from you asking me to contact you, which I did and was advised that the hotel we booked (
Grand Hotel Europa Palace Sorrento ) was fully booked and that we couldn’t stay there! And the best alternative you could offer was a hotel a long way from where our choice of hotel was. We were given overnight to think about it and someone called the next morning to say “well you either take the option we have offered or you can have your money back” and as it was such short notice we couldn’t find any available rooms in alternative hotels that weren’t costing thousands of pounds. So unhappily we took the alternative hotel, Hotel Isabella, which was in Sant’Agnello and a half an hour walk into Sorrento each way, or a €25 taxi ride each way ! I explained to the lady from Travel Republic that we had specifically chosen the Grand Europa hotel as my husband is waiting for a knee replacement surgery and this hotel was central and we could get to everything with very little walking. Suffice to say by not getting the hotel we booked and PAID for, it made the difference between a great holiday and a disappointing one.
I didn’t want to cancel the holiday as a great deal of planning had gone into just having a week away, we had had to arrange Carer’s for my parents, boarding for our dogs, time booked off work , flights etc etc, to say we are disappointed is an understatement.
Can you please tell me why, as we had booked 6 months ahead and paid you the full amount more than a month before our travel dates, that if you had reserved the room for us and taken our money, why was the hotel only able to tell you that they were ‘fully booked’ less that 72 hours before our arrival?? Did you book the room or just sit on our money until the last minute?? I’m absolutely disgusted with your service and guarantee that I will not be using your company again.
Suggested solution:
Explanation as to why the hotel we booked suddenly wasn’t available and definitely think we should be compensated for the upset, inconvenience and extra costs that we incurred having to use taxis every time we wanted to go into sorrento !
