The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Ask the experts
Villa dispute
QA group of us – six adults and six young children – decided to go on holiday to Turkey for the Whit half-term week. After an extensive internet search we found a suitable five-bedroom property, attached to a resort, that would accommodate all of us: the Villa Presidential at the Rubi Platinum Resort in Alanya in Turkey.
We made the reservation through Travel Republic back in November 2014, which we secured for a £1 deposit. The villa rental was £6,510 for seven nights and we paid the balance in April. We booked the flights to Antalya direct with Jet2.
On May 12, I received an email from Travel Republic saying the hotel could not honour our reservation and that we were being offered alternative accommodation. Having spoken to the agent and to the hotel several times over the next 24 hours, it is still unclear why this happened.
The hotel says that it still has our booking but will discuss it no further. Travel Republic is blaming its supplier, Hotelbeds, which it says mispriced the villa and cannot provide it for this price. We have not been told what the cost should have been but, as I am sure you will appreciate, we feel that having paid in full we have a contract and our reservation should be honoured. We know that the villa is still available and it is now only 10 days before the start of that rental week.
Please can you help us find a resolution? DR VINNY KHUNGER
Gill Charlton, consumer expert
AI asked Abta’s legal team for advice on your contractual rights. Abta says that if a genuine pricing mistake has been made, the agent can renege on the deal even at this late stage. However, it should always try to find an acceptable alternative.
Over the next couple of days Travel Republic passed on two alternative offers from the accommodation broker, Hotelbeds. The choice was either to take three smaller villas or squeeze into a single three-bedroom villa. Not surprisingly you turned down both options.
At my request Abta contacted a senior manager at Travel Republic to alert him to the situation. He quickly took matters in hand and opened negotiations with the hotel and Hotelbeds to try to reach a deal that would preserve the reservation.
Apparently, the pricing mistake was due to a “contract loading error” at Hotelbeds which was then pulled through automatically into Travel Republic’s own reservations system. It turns out that the rental for this villa in late May is almost twice what you have paid.
Fortunately, a deal was struck with the hotel (Hotelbeds covered the bulk of the additional cost and Travel Republic waived its commission) and you have been able to take your holiday as planned.
Pricing errors like this are uncommon but they do happen. If a villa looks particularly cheap (though it was hard to tell in this case), or a hotel website shows a very different rate to an agent, it is worth checking to avoid disappointment.
Making sure the price of a villa rental is right; avoiding the 18-30 crowd in the Algarve and driving around Cuba
Algarve holiday
QI am in my late 20s and am taking my girlfriend to Portugal. We will be flying to Faro airport and I want a holiday close to the beach and near activities but not too close to loads of clubs as I don’t want an 18-30 feel. Where should I look? LUKE CLARKE
Mary Lussiana, Algarve expert
AThe good thing about Portugal’s southern coast – with its hidden coves and long stretches of golden sands framed by limestone rocks – is that there is no shortage of beaches to choose from.
If you are keen on surfing, paddle boarding or windsurfing, head out to the unspoilt west coast (75 minutes from Faro) and base yourself at Memmo Baleeira (from €120/£87 for a seaview including breakfast; memmohotels.com) a sleek, all white, design hotel that stands on a cliff above the little harbour of Baleeira and offers excellent watersports from the beaches beneath it. Good fish restaurants are a stroll away and the hotel has a spa, and a lovely outdoor pool overlooking the sea. If you prefer a bit more nightlife but of an elegant variety, try the Conrad (€164/£121 including breakfast; conradalgarve.com), which is a 20-minute journey from Faro and lies in the middle of the exclusive Quinta do Lago Resort. It is nice enough not to leave at all, has an enormous spa and several pools, but if you do, chic restaurants and shops abound and the lovely Quinta do Lago beach is a nice walk away and just across Europe’s longest wooden bridge. For more detailed advice see my guide at telegraph.co.uk/algarve.
Cuba at Christmas
QMy husband, our 25year-old daughter and I are planning to go to Cuba (December 17-31). We would like to rent a car and explore. What areas would you recommend we visit and should we book hotels/ casas particulares before we arrive? KIM EDWARDS
Fred Mawer, Cuba expert
AAt around 800 miles long, Cuba is the biggest country in the Caribbean, so even with a car, don’t try to see it all in a fortnight. Apart from the main highway, many roads are very poor, and all sorts of incidents can crop up to slow your progress. For one thing, hitchhiking is a way of life for many Cubans, and some of my most memorable experiences have involved giving locals lifts. Also, Cuban rental cars are often not in great shape, so factor in possible breakdowns.
I’d concentrate on western Cuba. Don’t stint on your time in Havana – with its superb Spanish colonial old town, excellent museums and galleries and atmospheric bars and night spots, Cuba’s capital deserves at least four days. Then head west for a couple of days in Viñales, Cuba’s scenic tobacco-growing heartland, where sheer limestone outcrops rise above the little plantations. From there, drive back east beyond Havana to Playa Giron, where a good museum tells of the illconceived, CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Continue on to Trinidad, Cuba’s prettiest colonial town, where I’d base yourself for two nights. Finish by pottering on to less-visited towns such as Cienfuegos, Santa Clara (strong Che Guevara connections) and timestood-still Remedios, and perhaps treat yourself on your last night to a fancy hotel by the beach in the resort of Varadero.
As you’re intending to travel in a peak-season period, I’d book all your accommodation, and the car hire, well ahead. Cuba Direct (020 3773 2407; cubadirect.co.uk) can arrange everything, including stays in casas particulares (b&bs in private homes). Questions should be sent by email to asktheexperts@ telegraph.co.uk. Please provide your name and nearest town and, if your query is about a dispute with a travel company, your full address, daytime telephone number and any booking reference. We regret that we cannot answer postal or telephone queries.