Hotel charged for a no show.. took cc from a previous stay??

I

indebtedgal

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Hope some of you can advise on this.

Last year when checking out of a hotel after an annual event i asked receptionist to hold a room for the event this year again, as i always do.

Subsequently, this year i did not go to the event and yesterday i got a call from the hotel telling me they had charged the credit card with the cost of the room.

I should point out that at no stage this year did hotel contact me to confirm booking or did i get confirmation of the booking in writing which i do every year. When i made the provisional reservation i certainly would not have given them the credit card details so what they obviously have done is taken the payment from the card used to pay bill last year, which was the card belong to a friend of mine and not my own!

She can't access her cc statement online so waiting till tomorrow to ring MBNA to confirm this was card used but we are fairly sure it was.

Does anyone know if i have a leg to stand on here?

I worked in loads of hotels in my time and we would never have done this.

Aside from this issue both the receptionist and general manager were very rude and I'd go as far as saying aggressive towards me!
 
You asked them to hold a room for you. This is a verbal contract to book a room. The room was held for you and you did not cancel. The hotel acted within its rights.

I cannot comment on the aggression bit as I did not hear what you said to them and what they said to you.
 
i thought this might be the situation but i am just wondering were they right to charge a card that wasn't mine??
 
It's not a clear-cut case. Obviously, you should have cancelled the booking. But they should also have confirmed the cancellation policy at some stage. There may be data protection issues around their retention of the credit card details, as they really shouldn't be holding these for ever, or for purposes other than which they were originally given, i.e. the original booking.

Would the hotel have been full on the night in question, i.e. are they out of pocket as a result of your booking? Perhaps you should try to negotiate a settlement, and you can mention 'small claims court' and 'data protection commissioner' to bolster your case.
 
I would go along with Leper.

The big issue here is that you booked a room and did not cancel or show.

You owe them the money.

Brendan
 
booked

didn't cancel

pay up

image you actually did turn up and there was no room. where would they stand then. so of course they kept a room for you.
 
Did'nt somebody famous once say that a verbal agreemment was'nt worth the paper it was written on. Surley if you booked a room 12 mths ago, verbally, the hotel should have at least confirmed the booking with you first, even more so if they were going to be booked out. Personally given the current climate i'd say that they werent full and this is a way of generating some easy money.
 
To be fair, if it is an annual event, there are many people who would book from one year to the next, so I dont think that would be odd.

Also, if it were an annual event, they would be busy on the night in question and in fairness have held a room for you.

I do think they should have sent you an email prior to this confirming your reservation though.

I would try and negotiate a settlement with them, but in fairness, I do think they are owed because you made the booking and did not cancel.
 
Whatever about the rights or wrongs of having to pay for the hotel, the owner of the credit card has a right to her money back as she didn't give the hotel permission to use the card. She may have given it last year but that doesn't give them the right to take money out this year.

Ruam
 
Ruam said:
Whatever about the rights or wrongs of having to pay for the hotel, the owner of the credit card has a right to her money back as she didn't give the hotel permission to use the card. She may have given it last year but that doesn't give them the right to take money out this year.

Ruam
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i have to agree there.but surely you should only be liable for abookine deposit and not the full amount
 
WIFESLIST said:
...but surely you should only be liable for abookine deposit and not the full amount
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It depends on the terms and conditions that the hotel applies to bookings.

Personally, I have no sympathy for "no-shows". If you change your mind, or something crops up, it's usually not too difficult to phone a hotel (or restaurant, or whatever) to cancel. Booking, and not honouring the booking, denies the hotel an opportunity to sell the room to somebody else and, indeed, denies somebody else the opportunity to get a room.
 
OP, why didn't you actually show up after booking the hotel, and not letting them know you wouldnt be showing? I'd be interested to hear your reasons.

Perhaps this room was secured on the card that you used at the time, which evidently it seems has happened.
 
Complainer said:
Surely the T&C's must be communicated to the customer to be effective?
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Not necessarily in a case like this. It seems to me to be reasonably self-evident that if you book a room and do not cancel that booking, then you have to pay for it whether you use it or not.

I often book accommodation online, and always check the T&Cs. It's fairly standard that no-shows are charged the full price of the room, at least for the first night.
 
Smashbox said:
OP, why didn't you actually show up after booking the hotel, and not letting them know you wouldnt be showing? I'd be interested to hear your reasons.

Perhaps this room was secured on the card that you used at the time, which evidently it seems has happened.
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Got pregnant, and have 9 week old twins to look after!!! Social life gone out the window, and sleep deprivation and baby brain in!!
 
Two separate issues. You didn't cancel so it's fairly standard that there is a cancellation fee equivalent to at least one nights fees. That is your responsibility. Your friend can initiate a chargeback through her credit card company but it would appear to me that the hotel are within their rights to seek payment from you.
 
I'd say when you made the verbal booking they put it on file together with the CC details that were given to them the previous year, they probably assumed that was the CC to be used to guarantee the reservation. One way or the other I think you probably have to pay up.
 
Petal said:
I'd say when you made the verbal booking they put it on file together with the CC details that were given to them the previous year, they probably assumed that was the CC to be used to guarantee the reservation. One way or the other I think you probably have to pay up.
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IM sorry but i dont agree .if i had a pound /€ for every one who told me they wanted me to do a kitchen for them id be a very rich man.IF you dont get the deposit you dont have the job.Likewise if they did'nt take or inform you of a deposit or the need to take one then THEY DONT have your booking.
 
I don't understand wifeslist's point - are you saying that because people have entered into a contract with you and then gone back on their word then it's O.K. to do likewise to others ? - that without a payment then there's no deal/contract/booking ?
I imagine that legally and morally you're wrong.

( mind you, in this case the hotel could argue that they did have a pre-payment in the form of the cc details, though I don't know about the legalities of owners permission )
 
I guess you get the owner of the card to ring up the hotel querying the charge. I still think you should have to pay though because they kept a room for you as you requested
 
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