travel insurance unfairly rejected my claim. advice?

Question

We stayed in a hotel advertised in a qantas holidays brochure. It was mouldy and dirty and was not cleaned daily as advertised, so we checked out but were charged a nights cancellation fee, although we did not use the room at all that day. then we stayed at another hotel and had to pay for that rom too, so we payed for both rooms although we only used onr obviously. my travel insurance company is refusing to refund my original room, quoting that i chose a more expensive hotel as if i wanted to screw around trying to find accomodation on my overseas holiday!! There was a conference!! There were no other hotels to stay anyway!! but anyway, do i have a case at all? is someone liable to pay this, even if it be the company who advertised the hotel? I had to pay an extra $100 a night to stay at the clean place for 4 more days, i didnt have a choice but all i want back is the cheaper hotels 1 night accomodation which we did not use. what do i do?

Answer 1

See, travel insurance policies aren't standard. You'll have to read the wording. Is "I didn't like the hotel we were in" covered? Likely not.

But NO ONE can tell you for sure, without reading the actual contract.

Answer 2

How much did it cost for 1 night at the first hotel? $100, $200, $400? Is the stress and aggravation of dealing with this issue worth the money it cost for 1 night's stay? My advice would be to write a pointed but polite letter to the corporate office of the hotel you originally booked outlining your poor experience. Don't mention anything like "I'll never stay there again" or the problem won't likely be resolved. Put the ball in their court, then put the problem behind you. And forget purchasing travel insurance ever again.

Answer 3

Travel insurance is generally for circumstances that arise beyond your control. You cannot decide you don't like the hotel and then ask them to cover it, because YOU were the one that was unhappy and decided to leave. The hotel didn't cancel on you. Read your insurance policy very carefully, but I would seriously doubt if something like this is covered.

Answer 4

This isn't the type of problem that travel insurance generally covers. It would seem that your complaint is with the first hotel. Have you complained to their corporate headquarters if they're a chain, or to the hotel directly if they aren't?