A family claims to have been “left in tears” after their luxury Cornish staycation at a five-star resort was cancelled – and they were offered an alternative hotel in London.

Ian Tomlinson and his family booked to spend their summer holiday at the Retallack Resort near Newquay, Cornwall six months before their check in date.

The hotel is one of Cornwall’s popular waterspouts centres and features an aqua park, floating volleyball court, wave pool and wakeboarding.

So, the family were set for a real adventure!

However, after a four hour drive to the hotel, Ian was told that there was no record of the reservation they had made through Booking.com – and there was no room left to accommodate them.

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After being notified of the issue, Booking.com told the family that they had found them a similar alternative – in Uxbridge, a London suburb close to Slough and St Aubyns.

In the email, the agency said it hopes the family was “having a great day”, reports the Guardian.

And, despite attempts to reach Booking.com by both email and phone, Ian claims he was unable to reach a representative and so had to make the long journey home with his family in toe.

Ian commented: “Uxbridge was 250 miles away and not a place anyone would choose to have a holiday.

“I had two very tired, upset children who were looking forward to all the resort’s attractions including a FlowRider wave machine for surfing, and my wife was in tears. We were not having a great day.”

It took a whopping 11 days for the travel agency to respond to Ian where it said that the hotel had overbooked.

It also said that it would consider refusing his costs, but would not compensate him for upset children.

The online agency refunded the family’s expenses and paid an additional £700 in compensation, but would not explain why the error occurred.

A spokesperson for Booking.com said: “In exceptional circumstances where a property is unable to accommodate a guest, we always seek to rectify that immediately and will be working with this partner to ensure all future guests have a good experience.”

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