Stress-free break as deposit returned
WEEKS of uncertainty and stress about a holiday is finally over for a couple who now have their £850 deposit back after discovering the hotel they were due to stay in is shut until 2021.
Relieved Caron and Daniel Fitzgerald are over the moon thanks to Crusader’s intervention.
They were growing increasingly concerned about their spa package trip to Lanzarote that was booked long before the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything.
Despite the pair making repeated efforts to find out what was going on from tour operator Loveholidays – they remained in the dark.
The trip to the Secrets Lanzarote Resort & Spa had meant to be a special treat to mark the 35th wedding anniversary of assistant head teacher Caron and her husband, a key hospital worker. “We chose it specifically and once we had booked there was no flexibility on times,” she says.
As the holiday date approached, she was asked, as is standard, to complete the booking and pay the remaining £2,000.
“I thought I’d email the directly just to check and when they explained they closed,” she confirmed.
“We didn’t want to pay for some
■ hotel that’s were thing that didn’t exist. We know package holidays are protected if there is a cancellation, but this has been very stressful.”
Aware of the consumer advice that customers should complete payments and honour their contract so as not to lose their deposit, Caron tried valiantly to settle. But she was blocked by technology. “I was constantly denied access when I tried to get into our booking,” she recalls. “Sending messages to their system meant I had no proof. I kept being directed to the website login. I was going around in circles, so then I also sent emails and had evidence. It was so very different to the previous times we’d booked with the company.
“Before this crisis we’ve been really happy with the service.”
And, unlike other tour operators facing similar customer complaints Crusader is also investigating, when we contacted Loveholidays it responded immediately
Apologising for customers’ difficulties before the weekend it said: “By the end of this week, we expect to have refunded more than 80,000 customers.
“Our goal by next week is to have issued refunds for hotels and transfers for all those customers who have requested refunds.”