Hotel building work ruins holidays
By Darren Cronian on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

I seem to be writing about hotels a lot lately, but when I book a holiday I assume that the travel agent or tour operator is up-to-date with any planned building work in my hotel and I would not be happy if I walked into the middle of a building site.

Hotel building work ruins holidays

Consumer concerns

Today, I received an email from a reader who found out online that the hotel he is staying in next month is being renovated. He has contacted the hotel and they have confirmed that there is building work in progress but it will not affect his stay.

He contacted the travel agent who he has booked through and they have told him that no work is being carried out at the hotel and that if this changes they will advise him prior to his holiday and look at what other options he has.

Hidden agenda

The hotel will not want to lose bookings, so, are they being truthful about the impact the building work will have. The travel agent does not seem to want to find out the extent of the hotel building work. I think they should be more pro-active.

Help the consumer

So, my question to anyone that can help out is what happens if the travel agency does not receive notification from the hotel and the consumer walks into a building site. Can they claim any compensation, or should the agent be liaising properly?

Tell me your hotel nightmares

I am also interested to hear of any building work hotel stories.


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9 responses to “Hotel building work ruins holidays”

Murray Harrold | 9 June, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Take this with a pinch of salt, if I were you. All *major* UK operators have a rep in resort who watches these sort of things and the days of “Elles Belles” have long past.

Trouble is, it is getting so that a hotelier can’t even look at a paintbrush without letters flying about the place re: renovations work. Clients do, bless them, very often throw their rattle out of the pram before they have fully taken on board what is going on.

Now, that said, if hotels are NOT booked via a mainstream operator, it is still possible that one may find a building site – especially if one takes the ‘net, only – and at face value. One would need to know a bit more about the how’s and why’s before being able to comment on any individual case, though.

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Nick | 10 June, 2009 at 10:52 am

Darren

We have had this twice in last year. In one case the hotelier informed tour operator of work taking place on indoor pool in November, but it was not completed 2 days before client arrived they shut the pool and carried on with work, but did not inform anyone. This client got £100 compensation from the tour operator for there £500 odd pound holiday. (alternative pool access was arranged next door). The second was a client who arrived in Caribbean to find there hotel was being renovated, the tour operator had advised the customer that renovations where taking place and they would be placed away from the the work. Instead they got placed in the block due to “overbooking” for 2 days. In this case the hotel gave the customers free evening meals for there stay, $50 US each and a free trip out. When the customer returned and complain the tour operator would not pay compensation because the hotel had a form signed saying that the client accept this as full and final compensation.

Other thing to note is if the building work is due to finish in July and your stay in August you will tend to find that no information is given till an over run date is known. Because most building work does finish fairly close on time.

As Murray says most “Package” operators monitor what is happening in resort and building work tends to effect more Independent travelers.

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Darren Cronian | 10 June, 2009 at 11:31 am

@ Nick / Murray

Thanks, I am not sure what type of holiday the consumer booked, so will get some more information.

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Davie | 10 June, 2009 at 7:11 pm

Hi,
I am booked up in an all inclusive package to the Dominican Republic. Hope this helps

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Nick | 11 June, 2009 at 10:43 am

Davie

What hotel and date, and I will look up the current advice for you. However there may not be any if the completion date is a week or more before you arrive.

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Nick | 11 June, 2009 at 10:56 am

Darren

The other problem with review sites is they give information when the reviewer was there. We experience this all the time now, in one case a post on a review posted few days before customer came in, about building work that had finished 2 months before. It all comes down to when the reviewer posts. (The customer that came into us was not traveling till 5 months later as well).

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Davie | 11 June, 2009 at 5:33 pm

Thanks guys,

I will be staying at the Fun Royale/ Tropicale complex in Playa Dorada, arriving on the 7th of July.

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Nick | 13 June, 2009 at 11:34 am

Davie

Can find nothing out for you, our records only show building work at Lifestyle Tropical, not Fun. However TUI’s agent facing system has been down for a few weeks now, if your booked with them and there was building work at your hotel they normally contact all customers within 2 weeks of finding out.

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Sydney | 2 July, 2009 at 11:15 pm

My friend and I stayed up in Sun Peaks (near Kamloops, BC) when it was first being built, so of course we expected some upheaval. This was a long time ago, over 12 years. However, the hotel we chose was completely gutted, and amenities that we had thought would be functioning weren’t. (The worst being no hot tub, what better way to relax after a day on the slopes). We did complain, which ended up getting us some free lift passes to the mountain, however, not before we were pulled into the manager’s office for being only 18 at the time. Apparently it was a hotel rule that we weren’t allowed to be there if we were under 19, but this was never mentioned when our moms booked with their credit cards! Wasn’t the best trip, but can laugh about it now.

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