Pay for a 14 night holiday, receive 13 nights
By Darren Cronian on Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

This week I received an interesting email where the consumer explained that they have paid for a 14 night holiday, but in reality they will only stay in the accommodation for 13 nights. This seemed a little unfair but it appears to be a regular occurrence.

Pay for a 14 night holiday, receive 13 nights

Common consumer issue

Here’s what the consumer wrote to me and said.

I booked a 14 night holiday and my first night is 17 September, making 30 September as my 14th night. However the tour operator has me leaving the resort just after midnight. No 14th night. This has happened to me three times in recent years, and I was wondering if anyone else has had the same issue?

Lack of customer care

The consumer went on to say that they have to leave the accommodation at mid-day on the 29 September, and have 12 hours to wait until the coach arrives to take them to the airport. Trading Standards apparently informed the consumer that they would expect the resort to allow them to spend most of the night in the accommodation, or it can’t be described as 14 nights.

Flight schedules to blame

I suspect it is the flight schedules that have caused this problem, but you would have thought that the tour operator would make sure that accommodation is available for the holidaymakers to relax, shower and have a sleep before setting off to the airport – at a minimum.

Share your experiences and thoughts

I wonder if the tour operator pays the hotel for the last night. I would be interested to hear from anyone else (within the comments) who has come across a similar issue like this, is it a common trend, or just a case of bad flight timings?


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5 responses to “Pay for a 14 night holiday, receive 13 nights”

Donna W | 20 July, 2011 at 5:34 am

I suspect the tour operator has to pay for the last night at the hotel if the traveler used the room at all. The room has to be cleaned, stocked with supplies, etc. A consideration might be a lower price for the last night. Or, even an offer of another service in exhanged. Or change advertising wording.

I believe the reason is the flight schedules are different for everyone. The same thing happened to me when I was on an international tour – I had to leave the hotel in the middle of the night, the last night, for an early morning flight departure to USA. (leaving the room to be prepared early the next day) I missed breakfast that should have been included too. I did use the room and shower. I forgot to ask about a box breakfast to take with me, although perhaps a nice gesture from either the hotel or tour operator is to have been provided without my asking.

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Nick | 22 July, 2011 at 12:26 pm

Darren, in the UK there is a simple reason for this and will try and put it below

31 August Flight leaves UK
1 September arrives at 3 am
1 September arrive hotel 6am go to room (which means the Operator has paid for the room from the 31st August). The other option is to wait till 2pm, 3pm or 4pm before going to the room and people did not want that.
13 September Last night
14 September checkout – midday (so room can be cleaned for those arriving 6am on 15th)
14 September 8pm transfer to airport
15 September Flight departs at 1am

I am sure you release this is an example

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Henry Williams | 27 July, 2011 at 3:59 pm

I think the flight schedules have something to do with this

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Dee | 30 July, 2011 at 11:48 pm

Donna, out of interest did the tour operator charge you for the separate transfer? I have to say if it were literally the middle of the night, we would not arrange for a breakfast box from the hotel (which we would if it were a early start, though not super early because we don’t want to inconvenience the type of hotel we work with, they’d have to get their catering staff to wake up super early, I suppose they’d have to pay them extra, but we just wouldn’t ask). However, in our occasional group trip, we never charge for the separate transfer for our customers from the USA and elsewhere who have different flights, it’s complimentary even though costs us extra.

(I haven’t commented on the general post as I don’t know enough about the sort of mainstream travel talked about – I always assumed when they said nights they meant all nights you were way whether you were in a hotel or on a plane).

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Simon | 22 September, 2011 at 9:39 am

You will find this is a fairly common issue and caused by a combination of poorly timed flight schedules and hotels own late-checkout policies. Most hotels will allow a late checkout, subject to room availability for a % charge of the daily room rate, but this tends to be up to early evening. However if you are occupying the room until midnight, they will not be able to admit another full-paying guest until the next day. The other alternative is to book a late checkout and spend the evening out somewhere before going to the airport for your flight.
A tour operator can always try and negotiate a lower rate given that you will depart during the night and not have breakfast but really it comes down to a matter of discretion from the hotel itself. We have a good relationship with our hotels in the Seychelles and can usually negotiate with them to avoid paying the full amount.

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