We want a refund for ill-starred trip to India

My wife and I decided to attend the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, and built an 18-day trip around it, with three nights to be spent in Prayagraj. The Kumbh Mela is the biggest gathering of humanity in the world, and this one was the most important for 144 years because of planetary alignments, with more than 660 million visitors over 45 days.

- By Jill Insley

In April 2024, I booked and paid 9,294 INR (£91.40) for accommodation through Booking.com for 2-5 February 2025 at the FabHotel New Shanti. I was surprised the hotel’s rates were still low, especially as the booking was cancellable (by me) free of charge up until midnight on 31 January 25. We were due to fly out to Delhi on 24 January. On 2 January I received an email from FabHotels saying my booking had been cancelled and a refund would be made in 5-7 working days. I received confirmation of this from Booking.com later that day. I hadn’t cancelled, so I called FabHotels - twice. Both agents were incredibly rude and the second said that they wouldn’t honour the booking as they could let the room for a lot more during the Mela.

Booking.com offered another hotel and said it would pay the price difference of 14,226 INR or €160.47. However, this hotel was shown as two-star and had poor customer reviews, while the FabHotel New Shanti was shown as three-star with good reviews. I booked instead with Imperail House, another three-star FabHotel with good reviews, at a cost of 42,914 INR. I paid a 30% deposit of 12,875 INR (£122.61) immediately.