The Crusader: Family reimbursed after bungled holiday cottage reservat | The Crusader | Finance

The spirits were on a traveller’s side when he called on Crusader to help with a bungled holiday cottage reservation that had come to a standstill with him £150 out of pocket.

The two-day stay Bill McKie booked for himself and his son last month was in Lyme Regis, Dorset. But when the confirmation came through it was for a hotel in Workington, Cumbria. Both venues had one name in common but their addresses were completely different and Bill was confident he hadn’t slipped up when filling in the online form.

From there he was plunged into a multi-layered world of liabilities and disfunctional demands. Finding the cottage through Trivago, a widely promoted comparison operation listing accommodation, Bill completed a form and payment was taken by Algotels, a booking platform.

“I immediately contacted both of them to resolve the issue,” he told Crusader. “Trivago pointed me to Algotels as it took the booking and Algotels told me to contact the hotel for a refund. But Algotels has the reservation record. Now I’m being sent around in circles and getting the same repetitive answers as if I am not being really heard.”

++ If you’ve been affected by this issue or feel you’ve been a victim of injustice, please contact consumer champion Maisha Frost on maisha.frost@express.co.uk ++;

We took up the case with both companies. Algotels has never replied but at least Trivago did although the responses at first appeared distinctly robotic with the same questions asked over again.

It pointed out to Bill that as an “accommodation metasearch Trivago is not part of the booking or payment process”. But we argued that with Algotels not responding “was a goodwill gesture not possible? Otherwise the outcome would be most unfair with a consumer wasting hours of his time and paying for something he had never wanted or received”.

After several attempts we were happy to learn that Trivago did take this on board and has confirmed in writing both to Bill and Crusader he will be refunded. It told us: “We would like to update you that the user has been assisted. Unfortunately they were affected by a technical error. We always strive to help our users.” Thanking us, Bill said: “I could never have defeated the tech spooks without Crusader.” [Name has been changed]

Always take a screenshot of completed online form

Bill’s struggles highlight a factor relevant to any traveller who books online through various parties. Before sending off a completed form take a photo or screenshot as a further record. Bill kept being asked for proof of the details he sent but was unable to as all he had was the confirmation. This made claiming more difficult and vulnerable to a long-winded process. It also turns out that the elusive Algotels, whose online ratings are extremely poor, are now part of Trivago and the acquisition was happening around the time Bill was being rejected.