No pre payment plus free cancellation caught my eye and the hotel is decent enough for my travel needs.
On Monday we submitted our appeal for the Portuguese visa which was first time around rejected. We had no idea for the reason for the rejection and why we had gathered so much extra information to submit for the appeal. This is a little misleading as an appeal is actually an entire new application starting from scratch. This is something you only find out once you are there and then they ask you for all the documentation again which they already had the first time around.
This process took another wasted 4 hours out of my busy schedule and I was not amused. Why can no one communicate properly anymore and it is like everyone works in code and it is some type of guessing game.
The good/bad news is we received an sms yesterday stating our accommodation had been cancelled and we needed to submit an updated accommodation. This was new to all of us including our travel agent who had booked the tickets and accommodation and cancelled them so we could apply for the visa. Standard practice for years by travelers not knowing how long the visa process takes nd kind of saves you the stress and hassle of having to cancel and rebook numerous times. Our French visa was done the exact same way which was approved and we booked the genuine flights and hotels afterwards.
Apparently this was the reason for the first visa application being rejected except we received no sms giving us a heads up. This meant we had to pay twice as the appeal was an entire brand new application that did not piggy back on the appeal. Why call it an appeal then if they are not connected?
This morning I booked the hotel which is most likely the same hotel we will stay in anyway. They offer a free cancellation and the ability to pay on site which is basically the same thig we have done with the vis application on both occasions now. The booking will be cancelled once we have the visa in hand and will rebook the hotel and book the flights. The flights was never raised even though we have not really booked them yet.
I suppose even though it is a hassle what they are doing is actually a good thing really as this shows they are actually checking and doing their job. I can only imagine if we had been forced to do this on the trip earlier in the year we would have cancelled and rebooked hotels at least 4 times due to the delays we experienced. Only hotels offering free cancellations or non payment upfront will benefit because booking anything else would be utterly stupid.
All I want to do is open a Portuguese bank account and to look at a few properties plus eat loads of Portuguese food. If we have any more hassles it will just be a Dubai bank account for now which I may or may not do on this trip. This would require a 2 day stay and using Emirates Airlines so I will check the costs first and may have to fly there separately or this will be included in the next trip possibly in March/April. For those of you that do not know I am not a huge traveler, but having to do this as my mother is very ill so am spending as much time as possible with her and combining other to do items at the same time. So travelling every 3 or 4 months for the foreseeable future.