Would you make a further/formal complaint?

[Darwen Bird]

I’ll start this by making clear I am autistic and can’t deal with unexpected events very well but also have a propensity to not make a fuss.

Our flights, car and hotel were booked as a package through Virgin Holidays way back in Nov 2023. We had a brilliant flight out on 29 October and arrived at the Margaritaville Resort in Kissimmee around 5:30pm.

On checking in we were told there was NO RECORD of our reservation, the guy checking us in triple checked then asked if we had a confirmation of the booking - I don’t know why, but on my last day in work I actually printed all the vouchers & tickets from VH despite them being available electronically. I was so glad I’d done this as I was able to show a printed copy of the hotel booking. It did take a while for their back office staff to check what the issue was during which time I was beginning to go into my ‘shutdown down’ mode as a coping mechanism. I found out later that the resort had deleted our VH booking. Staff at the front desk were really good in getting things sorted and creating a new booking exactly as per our original VH booking (14 nights, a $100 resort credit and no resort fees), but the room allocation was less than ideal, and nothing was offered to make up for the problem.

The stress of this situation had a big knock on effect on me; I don’t think I’ve ever been to Florida and woken up later than 5am on the first day - it was 9:30am before I woke up, so we had quite a bit of rejigging of plans (which meant we missed out on one key activity in the end).

I did contact the VH USA reps to let them know what had happened. Again the reps were good in that they contacted the hotel, with the hotel offering just a $100 additional food and drink credit, but nothing else. They couldn’t move us to another room as the resort was overbooked.

We didn’t want the problems to define our holiday, so put it to the back of our minds and enjoyed ourselves.

On checking out it was clear the additional $100 food and drink credit had not been added to our room which given the earlier problems I half expected. It was added in eventually but only after I’d shown a duty manager a copy of the email I’d had from the VH reps.

In this situation would you make a more formal complaint to Virgin Holidays? I’d initially felt that it wasn’t their fault - that lies solely with the resort - but given the impact it had on me and the fact my booking was made with Virgin Holidays I’m reconsidering.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Personally I would let it go. Not a brilliant start to the holiday but the fault lay firmly with the Hotel and not Virgin. What a great success you had by printing things off. That saved further angst.
Box it off, focus on the great time you hopefully had and draw a line under it. If you do pursue matters it will only mar the holiday and create further stress.
Best wishes.

[kevin_cambs_uk]

I am very similar to you

I would leave it alone and forget about it

Kev

[Bellasmummy]

Id forget about it now and focus on the good stuff. No point spoiling what good memories you have by focusing on the negatives.

[ERICSMUM]

Which would make you feel better about the whole thing - making a formal complaint or letting it go ? Which would give you more and potentially worthless “stress” ?

The answer might not be the obvious one. It’s a toughie, good luck 😘

[Rac20]

Originally Posted by ERICSMUM

Which would make you feel better about the whole thing - making a formal complaint or letting it go ? Which would give you more and potentially worthless “stress” ?

The answer might not be the obvious one. It’s a toughie, good luck 😘

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I think this is very good advice. I think by drawing a line under it and moving on, then you will be more at peace but only you can decide.
Hope the rest of your holiday was great.

[Enchanted]

Things happen, it was a mistake and they rectified it. Plus you got a very generous $100 (I wouldn't have expected anything!)
Let it Go 😊

[Claudette]

I can easily understand that it would be stressful to turn up and find that a resort booking had disappeared. But it looks like it was sorted more or less straight away and none of us goes through life without being on the wrong end of somebody else’s mistake.

You need to let this go, it wasn’t even Virgin’s fault.

[Hmr89]

You mention that the room allocation was less than ideal but they were unable to move you?
If you'd paid extra for a particular type of room, location or view but weren't given it then I would make a formal complaint.

If this wasn't the case then I wouldn't take it any further.

[DisneyStacey]

I'd echo what everyone else has said, I'd let it go personally.

Mistakes happen - sounds like it was rectified pretty quick and $100 credit from the resort as compensation is definitely fair.

I'm glad you managed to put it to one side and enjoy your holiday still.