Advice needed re cancellation of holiday booking for hen party

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Fran1234

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Hi I'm wondering if anyone could give some advice. Due to go on a hen party in 16 days, however half the original group have now cancelled today so we are down half the people. Deposit of €700 had been paid which obviously is non refundable & that is fine. However when we rang to advise we now wished to cancel the owner stated that full balance must be paid. She advised it was in the booking agreement which I must add was NEVER sent to us originally. Is she allowed to charge us in full even though we have never been advised that this was policy and have given her over two weeks notice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated she has advised if we do not pay she wil be sending a debt collector. It's not like we don't want to go but nobody has the funds to pay for people that are no longer going and pay the additional money for transport.
 
Yeah it's booked in Ireland. The organiser (who is actually on holidays) sent her a nice email advising her of the situation the rest of us find ourselves in however she isn't budging at all. It was basically regardless of anything the full balance must be paid by 9th sept or details will be forwarded to a debt collection agency. We don't want the bride to know anything about all this as she has had way to much stuff to deal with the last few years
 
If you have proof that the company didn't issue you the T&C's you should get back on to the company and fight your corner. Tell them that you were not advised of the condition before booking and that you would not have booked with them had you known. I can understand that the company may be at a loss due to the drop outs but had you been aware of the T&C's you may not have booked through them or at least could have made an informed decision.

We booked my sisters hens through a well know hen party organisation company & it was an absolute disaster with hidden T&C's i.e. they were hidden on company's website and it was a job to find them. Basically we paid for B&B accommodation but they were putting us 6 to a room with no breakfast!! It was a hard lesson to learn.
 
Let's look on this coldly. A hen party was booked in the past which is due to take place in just over two week's time. You paid a booking deposit which you have no problem with the non refund. We don't know how many rooms were booked or if apartments were booked. Half your group for whatever reason have bailed out and won't travel - Lovely People, I'm sure! Two Fingers to the owner of the accommodation provided who is probably at a loss because of the situation.

Looking at the facts on the thread my sympathy is with the accommodation provider.
 
Too many open questions here to be able to comment yet.

1. How many were in the original party booking?
2. What was the booking for - accommodation only or did the owner go to any expense already to prepare for the party?
3. How was the booking made - over the phone, online, or in person? If online, is there a copy of the T&Cs on the website?
4. If the booking agreement was never sent out to the organiser, was anything ever signed by the organiser?
 
Did it not occur to anyone to maybe ask for a booking agreement prior to handing over €700?
 
There's a lesson here.

Personally I never buy into these group bookings and always sort my own accommodation, unless it's with a very small cohort of my closest (and likeminded) friends.
 
My views would be strongly influenced by the reason(s) why half the group pulled out, so bear that in mind in reading comments below (e.g. death or illness in a family?)

Are you saying that nothing was sent despite you paying 700 euro?? Nothing was said on the phone re booking, etc. I won't get hung up on whether the T&Cs were sent, I fully appreciate that it is an argument but can you really prove non receipt? I doubt it in practice. Does the company have a website with T&Cs on it? I would look to understand what are the T&Cs and armed with that decide how to proceed.

If the T&Cs require full payment then I would look to cut a deal, cede the deposit and fight hard to minimise anything else, or pay a modest amount only to avoid hassle. Unlikely they would/could go legal, they're simply playing hardball, which they need to do of course, else people would take the proverbial. The non shows should pay their share, in fact there is a strong argument that they should pay more than an equal share, unless there is a good reason for their pulling out. Though good luck with seeking a greater share all the same - would make for some lively discussion at the wedding!

Swap places with the owner. What would you do? The owner is most likely out of pocket significantly to the tune of several thousand euro, unless they can get late replacements (how likely?) I find it surprising that the owner did not look for additional payment perhaps 1 month out. Though seeking full and not partial payment seems OTT, depends on other factors (costs, food??, activities, etc). It is unreasonable to give 16 days notice in this situation, unless there is a truly exceptional reason(s). Depends on the circumstances, if half the group pulled out was it by choice or was there a very strong reason? Unless compelling reason then IMO there are consequences which you as a group must bear.

You could be clever by phoning a couple of days in advance of the intended date and see if they have availability or have someone else call to see if there is availability for a group booking. If there is no availability means they got replacements so I would be less inclined to pay.
 
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Was this booked on-line or over the phone?

Legally, if they wish to apply a cancellation charge, they must make that clear to guests before they make a reservation.

From the Irish Hotels Federation legal guide:

Cancellations
What about cancellation charges? Can the guest be charged where he does not turn up on the appointed day or cancels the reservation at an hour’s notice? This will depend on whether the guest was informed at the time of making the reservation or, at the time of the confirmation of his booking, that there would be a cancellation charge.

As there is no industry standard regarding cancellation charges, the guest cannot be deemed to have known that he would be charged for a cancellation or no-show. If a hotel wishes to charge a guest in these circumstances, the hotel should state the cancellation charges applicable in the information made available to guests before they make a reservation. The charges must be reasonable and proportionate to the loss likely to be suffered by the hotel due to the cancellation.

Where the guest is only informed of the cancellation charges and other restrictions (such as no pets, no dinner on Sunday etc.) at the time the reservation is confirmed to the guest, the guest must be given the opportunity to cancel the contract without charge within a reasonable time if he does not agree to the conditions or restrictions.
Click to expand...
 
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