# Hotel will not refund



## roker (22 Mar 2020)

I booked a hotel in the UK in May, they charged the full price of the stay
€580 when I booked a month ago, it was a extra £50 to give me the option to cancel, which we did not take. They will not cancel because of the virus even though we are 76 and told to stay in doors (lesson learned) even then normally hotels take a deposit not the full amount. Little more than a scam. At present I am keeping the booking because
a) if they cancel it's  a different ball game
b) they cannot re let my room and obtain a 2nd booking and obtain a double fee


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## Brendan Burgess (22 Mar 2020)

Not sure I agree that it's a scam. 

I often face that dilemma.   Get a discount for no cancellation. Or pay the insurance premium to be allowed to cancel. 

I don't think that there are terms and conditions attached which allow you to cancel under some circumstances.

Brendan


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## IsleOfMan (22 Mar 2020)

Best Western were refusing to refund. A campaign was mounted on their Facebook page, listing the CEO's email address to make a complaint. They are now allowing refunds.


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## Bigbangr1 (22 Mar 2020)

Go with a charge back on your credit card


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## noproblem (22 Mar 2020)

Penny wise and pound foolish is a good old saying. The OP had an option to pay a small amount in order to give him the right to cancel, they decided not to pay that premium and now they want the cancellation.  Happened to me once, didn't happen again. Lesson learned and why should your age have anything to do with this?


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## Leo (23 Mar 2020)

Bigbangr1 said:


> Go with a charge back on your credit card



Chargeback is not a panacea for everything, the grounds as explained will not be accepted.


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## orka (23 Mar 2020)

noproblem said:


> why should your age have anything to do with this?


Normally it shouldn't. But at the moment the advice is to stay at home and self-isolate if you are over 70. 

OP, I'd say there's a good chance the hotel will be forced to close before May and through May so hang tight and they may cancel.  And as you say, you might as well hang on to the booking if they are giving zero refund - kind of short-sighted of them really - you might have accepted 50% refund but they'll likely end up having to give you 100%.


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## EmmDee (23 Mar 2020)

orka said:


> Normally it shouldn't. But at the moment the advice is to stay at home and self-isolate if you are over 70.
> 
> OP, I'd say there's a good chance the hotel will be forced to close before May and through May so hang tight and they may cancel.  And as you say, you might as well hang on to the booking if they are giving zero refund - kind of short-sighted of them really - you might have accepted 50% refund but they'll likely end up having to give you 100%.



After the lockdown announcement this evening I'd say the hotel will have to close


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## geri (24 Mar 2020)

Hi,
I had a hotel booked in Tenerife from 27 Mar for 7 days.  Last week I mailed asking what he process was if our flights got cancelled and we could not get to Tenerife.  I didn't get a reply.  So today,  I sent an anonymous query just through their website asking if the hotel was closed.  I quickly got a reply to say that it was.  So I have now emailed asking again what the process is for refunds or re-book seeing as they are closed and cannot accommodate us at this time. I feel bad for the hotel and its staff, but it was a lot of money and I cant afford to loose it.
Geri


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## roker (24 Mar 2020)

EmmDee said:


> After the lockdown announcement this evening I'd say the hotel will have to close


The lockdown did not mention hotels


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## EmmDee (24 Mar 2020)

roker said:


> The lockdown did not mention hotels



The lockdown specifically mentions hotels - "all hotels, hostels, BnB's, campsites and boarding houses" - with the exception of where they are being used as interim abodes or being used by key workers

[broken link removed]


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## roker (28 Mar 2020)

It says within hotels which suggest the hotel remains open

Restaurants and public houses, wine bars or other food and drink establishments including within hotels and members’ clubs.


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## roker (3 Apr 2020)

The hotel has now requested that they cancel my booking with a free cancellation, if I had cancelled earlier it would have been my fault


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## Brendan Burgess (3 Apr 2020)

Well done for holding out. 

Brendan


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## Bigbangr1 (3 Apr 2020)

We are not even getting replys from our hotels.im going with the charge back option on my credit card


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## allaround (3 Apr 2020)

fair play for holding out roker,


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## Kimmagegirl (3 Apr 2020)

I have had to resort to chargeback because Melia Hotels are only offering a voucher.


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## Bigbangr1 (3 Apr 2020)

Kimmagegirl said:


> I have had to resort to chargeback because Melia Hotels are only offering a voucher.


 
Which bank ? 
Bank of Ireland is playing hard ball.
Ulster bank is actually helping me


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## RedOnion (3 Apr 2020)

Bigbangr1 said:


> Bank of Ireland is playing hard ball


I thought you mentioned you had used PayPal?


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## Bigbangr1 (3 Apr 2020)

RedOnion said:


> I thought you mentioned you had used PayPal?


 
I paid true PayPal but don't have a PayPal account.BOI saying I should get onto PayPal.
The hotel only takes Payment true PayPal.im sending in all the emails I've sent too hotel too the bank of Ireland credit card services and let them deal with it.


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## RedOnion (3 Apr 2020)

Bigbangr1 said:


> I paid true PayPal but don't have a PayPal account.


I think the reason your bank might be being difficult is because PayPal automatically defend every single chargeback. The last time I saw their figures in marketing materials, they claimed to have 99.5% success rate in reversing chargebacks, and that's why hotels use them. PayPal pride themselves on this, and even provide an 'insurance' against chargeback to their customers.
So, the bank are probably suggesting you go through PayPals dispute resolution first?


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## money_man (4 Apr 2020)

orka said:


> Normally it shouldn't. But at the moment the advice is to stay at home and self-isolate if you are over 70.



What if they had gotten advice to stay at home because of some other medical condition?


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## fayf (5 Apr 2020)

Booked a 3 night stay in Venice last August, arrival Wednesday, departing Saturday in mid March, with the hotel directly, booking dot com had similar pricing, but they did have the full bedroom type choices, like the hotel did.

I prepaid, and knew the risk of this, and it was a good bit cheaper.

when i asked the hotel about the virus implications, they immediately offered(without me even asking), a reservation date change to any dates of my choice for the rest of 2020, so i moved it to October, at zero additional cost.

 I don’t believe i would have received the same flexibility, if i had booked with one of the hotel wholesalers like booking dot com. In my revised reservation, i also included a Saturday night, which is the most expensive night to stay in the hotel- this was not an issue.

It can work out better to book directly with the hotel.
I would be confident, if it turns out the city remains on lockdown in October, the hotel would offer a further date change, however i am hoping thats less likely, as its 6 months from now.


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## Leo (5 Apr 2020)

fayf said:


> I would be confident, if it turns out the city remains on lockdown in October



Let's hope they have the cash reserves to survive a lasting lock-down.


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## roker (10 Apr 2020)

allaround said:


> fair play for holding out roker,


Snag in the system. Booking.com has lost the documentation and are now disputing the charge back, even though I have documentation from the hotel via Booking.com


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## roker (19 Apr 2020)

Leo said:


> Chargeback is not a panacea for everything, the grounds as explained will not be accepted.


Chargeback doesn't work the Booking agent has contested the charge back even though I have several emails telling me I can have a full refund.Visa gave me back the charge and then took it back again despite me sending them the emails


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## roker (22 Apr 2020)

Lesson learned from this.
Always book with the hotel direct not a booking agent using Visa card, not  Paypal 
Never pay the full price when booking, as worse case only pay deposit. Say no if they want to have these condition, there are other hotels which are not as strict
If we all try and do this, they will have to relax their conditions


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## Leo (23 Apr 2020)

roker said:


> not Paypal



I avoid PayPal at all costs these days. Even if they find in your favour, they will only refund you if they can take the funds from the other party's account, at least VISA & MC will refund you and then chase the other party..


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## joer (23 Apr 2020)

We , my wife and I usually use booking.com but sometimes with the hotel but will always use the free cancellation option. It is usually more expensive but does give us peace of mind . So far we have had no problems.


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## roker (15 May 2020)

roker said:


> Chargeback doesn't work the Booking agent has contested the charge back even though I have several emails telling me I can have a full refund.Visa gave me back the charge and then took it back again despite me sending them the emails


Update on this, it went through a process called pre arbitration and it was found in my favour against Booking.com, Visa will now refund my account.
I don't understand why Booking.com would oppose when the hotel had agreed to give me a full refund


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## roker (15 May 2020)

noproblem said:


> Penny wise and pound foolish is a good old saying. The OP had an option to pay a small amount in order to give him the right to cancel, they decided not to pay that premium and now they want the cancellation.  Happened to me once, didn't happen again. Lesson learned and why should your age have anything to do with this?


I am not canceling the hotel is cancelling


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## RedOnion (15 May 2020)

roker said:


> Visa will now refund my account.


Well done for seeing this through, and it's absolutely the correct result in your case.



roker said:


> I don't understand why Booking.com would oppose when the hotel had agreed to give me a full refund


Kind of guessing here.

There are 2 different ways hotel agents work:
1. Just take a commission on the booking
2. 'pre buy' a bulk number of hotel rooms for the year at a discount, and resell them.

Just because the hotel was happy, doesn't mean the agent wasn't going to be out of pocket if they'd bought in advance. 

If it's a busy hotel in London, they would sell thousands of rooms in advance to booking agents. That's why sometimes you'll see booking websites still showing available rooms even if the hotel tells you they are sold out.


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## roker (18 May 2020)

Update on this, it went through a process called pre arbitration and it was found in my favour against Booking.com, Visa will now refund my account.
I don't understand why Booking.com would oppose when the hotel had agreed to give me a full refund


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