Man left £7,000 in debt after arriving in Thailand to find hotel didn't exist
27.04.2024 - 17:43
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A British holidaymaker found himself £7,000 in debt after arriving in Thailand to discover the hotel he had booked didn't exist. Glen Parke, 30, had paid £282 for a 59-night stay at Lek Lek Residence, advertised on Booking.com as a "one-bedroom house".
However, upon arrival, he found only a small roadside shop and no sign of his accommodation, leading him to spend an additional £3,044 on alternative lodgings booked online.
To add insult to injury, when he arrived at this second hotel, it was fully booked, forcing him to shell out another £3,579 on a third hotel. He claims that Booking.com assured him they would cover the costs of both hotels as an apology for the initial non-existent booking.
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Stressed-out Glen got the money for this first and second hotel within a week - but didn't receive a refund for the third hotel until April 18 when Booking.com were approached for comment.
Booking.com said have now apologised to Glen and said they did not handle the refund of the alternative accommodation as swiftly as they would have liked.
Glen, a construction worker, from Bishop's Stortford, Herts, said: "For the whole trip I expected to spend two or three grand but within the first two nights I'm spending £7,000. I was trying and trying to get my money back for months.
"The first couple of days I wanted to go home. I'd had enough. Getting the money back from the invoice for the third hotel was a real palaver.
"I'd been on the phone with Booking.com all week and had been told there was no complaints department. They told me to send a bank statement with the payment for the hotel and told me