Non-refundable hotel reservations

jack75

Hello,

My girlfriend's parents had planned on visiting us in London from Germany this coming weekend and had booked 4 nights in the Hilton in Islington. Unfortunately her mother has had to go into hospital and so they cannot make the trip. The Hilton won't refund the reservation cost as they paid in advance and it was non-refundable.

This amount of money they paid is not small, and it would be annoying to cancel the reservation when it would mean the Hilton keeping the money and then probably booking the room out to someone else. Does anyone know if it would be possible to sell on the reservation (at a maximum of the the price they paid) to a third party?

Thank you,

Jack.

richardw

Who are they selling it to?
Can they claim on their travel insurance?

jack75

Thanks for the reply.

It would be us trying to sell it from here, rather than them in Germany, and I don't have anyone in mind yet, I'm first wondering (after a fruitless google search of the subject) (a) if it is legally possible and (b) if anyone has any experience of doing it previously.

Unfortunately they don't have travel insurance for this trip.

dmg24

You would need to check if the reservation is transferable. If it is not, you could chance selling it and the buyers pretending to be your gf's parents, but you would need to consider the possibility of them being turned away.

Incapuppy

jack75 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately they don't have travel insurance for this trip.

Might they have 'free' travel insurance with a credit card provider?

duchy

I think you'd be on dodgy ground trying to sell it especially to strangers as the hotel will ask for a creditcard "to cover incidentals" at check in-and the names won't match.

I have done this successfully in the past however-as the reservation I had-had only one name on it (was a room for two) I added the "other" person on as "They are arriving before me" . It isn't legal though and it could backfire on you. I did it with a friend who was fully aware it was a risk and I asked her not to pay me til they got back and we knew it had worked.

eggface_2

Does anyone know if hotels can legally refuse to refund the money? I want to cancel a reservation a month in advance. Surely that is plenty of time for them to resell the room. They refuse a refund or a credit. So I have wasted 100 pounds. That doesnt seem fair when I have given them plenty of notice and they will resell the room again.

Incapuppy

eggface wrote: »

Does anyone know if hotels can legally refuse to refund the money?

What were the booking T&Cs?

andyrules

Many hotels offer 'Advance rate', which can be considerably less and generally non-refundable. As the op paid in advance, it does sound like this may be the case. Unfortunately.

pennylane99

eggface wrote: »

Does anyone know if hotels can legally refuse to refund the money? I want to cancel a reservation a month in advance. Surely that is plenty of time for them to resell the room. They refuse a refund or a credit. So I have wasted 100 pounds. That doesnt seem fair when I have given them plenty of notice and they will resell the room again.

you booked through hotels.com, its their terms & conditions you need to look at for the individual hotel, it may have been a special non-refundable discounted rate/offer you booked

old_motters

Even non-refundable airline tickets are refundable in some instances (e.g. bereavement, emergency medical attention) so maybe Hilton could be persuaded the same? I wouldn't bother contacting the hotel directly, I'd speak to the national customer service number and ask for their advice, would a doctors certificate be sufficient for a refund or maybe Hilton vouchers you can use at another time?

Best of luck.