Trade Descriptions Act... Acting as Agent?

[greatscotuk]

I returned from my summer holiday a few weeks back. The accommodation leaves a lot to be desired, so I submitted a letter to the Agent - Somewhere2stay dot com - a subsidary of Cosmos Holidays PLC.

This morning, I received a curt reply, saying that as they were not the Tour Opeartor, and only acted as agent, they had no responsibility to resolve my complaint and that if I wished to seek compensation, I would need to contact the hotel directly.

Firstly, I did not request compensation. My letter was simply advisory... also, how can this be? Surely my complaint should go the company who I did business with?

[Tony]

Interesting. basically, they are saying that you can have the assurance of ABTA by paying £10 extra or it is tough luck if something goes wrong - I am not sure they can do that. If it were a package holiday they definitely couldn't - The Package Holiday Regulations | Consumer Information

Whilst acting as agent on behalf of the many accommodation suppliers we feature, somewhere2stay also acts as agent for Cosmos Holidays plc. Cosmos Holidays plc is a member of the Association of British Travel Agents - ABTA (ABTA Membership Number V0531). For a supplement of £10 per person you have the peace of mind of knowing that your accommodation contract is with somewhere2stay’s sister company, Cosmos Holidays plc. That means that in the event you have a claim or complaint this will be dealt with by Cosmos. Our Booking Conditions deal with Cosmos’s liability when you purchase Principal Assured through us, though the below table sets out some of the key differences between a booking with Principal Assured and a booking without this extra.

from Us < About - somewhere2stay

Remember that if you paid more than £100 and paid by credit card the credit card company is equally liable.

Whoever packaged the holiday is principal to the booking - i.e if a travel agent booked your accommodation, flights & transfers then they are principal and are liable regarding the package travel regulations. If you booked all the different parts of the booking then it is down to yourself to deal with. I personally would have probably spent the extra £10 at the booking stage. Sorry!

[happywriter]

You made the point that you were not claiming a refund or compensation, which is pretty magnamanous. However, you were certainly entitled to what you were told you would receive.
That is the problem with many hotel bookings. A 'luxurious' hotel room is a bad definition, 'spacious' is also meaningless.
It is far overdue that many aspects of hotels and travel industry were regulated to international standards which had meanings - and repercussions.