Refundable and non-refundable hotel bookings your rights
I am a consumer champion and in most situations will provide the laws and regulations you need to complain about almost anything. However, the consumer is not always right and in these rare situations I have to side with the business. A true consumer champion knows the law, even when the result might not be what the customer wants as an outcome.
When booking a hotel on a website, you may be offered pricing options for free refund for cancellation and no refund for cancellation. The price for the former is more expensive. Once you have clicked “submit” and paid, the contract is formed and is legally binding.
If a consumer makes a mistake and books the wrong hotel or wrong price, they are not entitled to any redress. Recently, TV presenter Nick Stapleton spoke about booking the “no refund” price for a hotel by mistake. He didn’t notice until the following day (but within 24 hours) and asked for the refund. The request was refused.
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This may seem very unfair. However, when two different prices are shown it is very clear which price you are paying. If everybody who wanted to cancel within 24 hours paid the cheaper price and then tried to get the benefits of the more expensive price, there would be no point in offering the difference in prices.
Nick is fully aware of his consumer rights and knows he has no right to that refund. However, he is, perhaps understandably, saying that it’s poor practice by the hotel because they haven’t lost any money and they could have refunded him, as they had another three weeks to find an alternative customer. Now, whilst it may not be great customer service, imagine if everybody did this, it’s not fair on the business.
Nick also tried to get booking.com to help refund. The booking platform have made it clear that no terms and conditions or consumer law have been broken.
We’ve all made mistakes where we’ve not read terms properly and clicked too quickly. I’ve got ADHD, so I’ve done it many times and I should know what I’m doing!
Each time I have tried to get my money back and have sometimes been successful. Some you win, some you lose!
In conclusion, if you have made a mistake and you want to try and get your money back, you need to act quickly. If, however, the hotel has made an error you will then be due redress.
@thecomplainingcow How to get a refund when you cancel a booking #hotelbooking #Traveltips #MoneyTipsAndTricks #Refund #Holidaytips
How to complain about a hotel
There are times when you will be right to make a complain about a hotel. See How to complain about a hotel
Further help to complain effectively
All you need to know about booking/complaining about holidays/flights provides links to a variety of posts discussing how to prevent problems, successful complaints, your rights when booking and after your holiday etc.
For more templates, advice, information on holidays and most other sectors Get the Book! How To Complain: The ESSENTIAL Consumer Guide to Getting REFUNDS, Redress and RESULTS!
Want to get better at complaining? See 101 Habits of an Effective Complainer
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