Last minute holiday alteration - Help!

[Thinfield]

We are due to go on holiday to Portugal (Villamoura) this Thursday. The Holiday agents have just been in contact to advise they cannot offer us the original accomodation due to a contractual dispute between themselves and the holiday village.
They have offered alternative accomodation which at a quick glance, looks inferior (though it has the same star rating)! Overall reviews are poor online.
We have stayed in the original accomodation (Old Village / Eden Village) before and they are excellent - how can we ensure we stay in the same or better accomodation?
Any advice on negotiating with agents please - time is not on our side!

Panic about to set in!

 

[gebbel]

how can we ensure we stay in the same or better accomodation?

Sorry but you can't. You will probably have to take what they give you and write a strongly worded letter of complaint when you come back if it does not conform. This may entitle you to a holiday voucher from the provider for your next trip. That is my experience having gone through something similar last year.

 

[oldtimer]

What company did you book through? Similar happened to me two weeks ago - also holiday to Portugal. Read the contract but holiday agent was covered. Once they offer similar accomodation you have to take it. Wondering did you book with same company as myself?

 

[ClubMan]

As above read the terms & conditions of the booking agreement/contract but even if they are covered haggle for some sort of discount/perk etc. I have done this twice in the past when faced with similar situations and got a refund of a significant portion of the total holiday costs. In both cases the issue dragged on for a while and took a bit of effort to purse and resolve. You can probably read about my experiences if you search for "Concorde Travel/Croatia" and "Sunway/Sicily".

 

[Mauri]

A similar thing happened to me a couple of years. The travel agent rang and said our chosen accommodation was over booked and they would put us in the same rating accom. I said leave it with me, I took a few minutes to think about it and rang them back and very firmly told them I was not accepting alternative accom as I had contracted with them for said accom. I also told them to tell tour operator I didn't want any hassle or change of plan when I arrived at hol destination airport. We got accom we had originally booked. Be assertive with them. or else look for upgrade that u are happy with. A hol is supposed to be for R an R and not stress. Good luck

 

[Thinfield]

Hi All - Thanks for the useful responses. It's gret to have such a pool of knowlegde to draw from!
A quick update - we rejected the alternative accomodation (Rio apartments) and requested different accomodation (Jardins Vale Parra) from the same company. This accomodation gets a much higher rating on Tripadvisor.
So, although we could have done without the hassle, we are now setting off in a much happier frame of mind!

Thanks