hotel charges after guest has left

Empty_pockets

So when do we get pics of you in said bathrobe?

I think it's fair tbh.

If something was nicked from your room during stay most automatically blame the cleaners/room service. Why the hell would hotel staff nick a bathrobe from your particular room?

Never nicked a robe but do help myself to a few soaps and bogrolls off the cleaners trolley!
MSE rulez innit!

arcon5

tellustuff wrote: »

a retailer cannot make unauthorised charges to your credit card. If they suspect theft they must treat it as theft and seek reimbursement through the courts or other means.

Have you read their terms and conditions? It may well be in there and therefore you authorised them to do so.

No hotel/B&B is going to waste time and money going to court for £20 -- but if it become a regular thing they could start loosing alot of money.

However it can be dealt with in a much better manner. With checkin/out inventories like landlords do -- however i'm not sure how practical this would be if they had a high turnover of guests.
This would also solve the aspect of proof.

Whether they notify you about the fact they are going to charge your card is also a tricky situation -- because if you trashed the room and left it in a state then I wouldn't expect them to notify me which would give me the opportunity to cancel my card. Whereas in a similar thread where the op got charged for a hand towel they discovered he accidently took, whereby the in effect emailed him saying 'weve charged you £20, if you return it we will refund you' -- I think it could have been handled much better indeed.

It's not fair a business having to go to court for small amounts which add up all the time -- whereas it's not fair for innocent parties to be charged without being notified or atleast the opportunity to defend themselves

---- but what else can they do ??? The law must protect business' just as equally as it protects cosumers.

texranger

Empty_pockets wrote: »

So when do we get pics of you in said bathrobe?

I think it's fair tbh.

If something was nicked from your room during stay most automatically blame the cleaners/room service. Why the hell would hotel staff nick a bathrobe from your particular room?

Never nicked a robe but do help myself to a few soaps and bogrolls off the cleaners trolley!
MSE rulez innit!

i have stayed in many hotels around the world and like to have momentos of the hotel, but i have never stolen/taken any bathrobes/towels from any hotel without permission.

I have always asked if i could take a bathrobe/towel as a momento and so far only 1 hotel has asked for a charge, most are will to let you have 1 as long as you are upfront and ask if you can take 1

System

arcon5 wrote: »

However it can be dealt with in a much better manner. With checkin/out inventories like landlords do -- however i'm not sure how practical this would be if they had a high turnover of guests.

I could just imagine 2 coach loads leaving at 9AM (a pretty standard occurrence in touristy areas)

'I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen but you can not leave for a further 4 hours after you have checked out as we have to do an inventory of 60 rooms. This will take 4 hours because we are also booking in 2 more coachloads of tourists at the same time'

There WILL be something in the T&C that they can charge for anything found missing. If you disagree then insist that the room is checked in your presence when you book out, but be prepared for a delay while it is done.

arcon5

!!!!!! wrote: »

I could just imagine 2 coach loads leaving at 9AM (a pretty standard occurrence in touristy areas)

'I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen but you can not leave for a further 4 hours after you have checked out as we have to do an inventory of 60 rooms. This will take 4 hours because we are also booking in 2 more coachloads of tourists at the same time'

There WILL be something in the T&C that they can charge for anything found missing. If you disagree then insist that the room is checked in your presence when you book out, but be prepared for a delay while it is done.

I concur.


.

System

vax2002 wrote: »

Checkout means that Check out, they are supposed to inspect the inventory and declare any damage or missing items, once you have left the room and they have signed of checkout the contract closes.
Always ask for a written receipt that you have checked out and they have inspected the room.
Find a review site and make sure others know of the scam they have just tried to pull.

What would the review say? I nicked a bathrobe and the hotel had the cheek to charge me!

tellustuff

there is nothing in the t&c and this is the point. They must make sure this is agreed to before deducting extra amounts otherwise its illegal, its theft if you like, and this is why credit cards will reverse the charge if this is done. I ask you how you would feel if you didnt steal a bathrobe and then found you had been charged for it? Would you then say well, i should have asked for a receipt at checkout stating the inventory had been checked? Do you think its right that if the hotel makes a mistake they can charge you? Quite simply they must make it clear in their t&c's. These days more often than not hotels are taking the money up front and theres no actual checkout.

Enfieldian

Is the OP Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop?

Rain_is_Insane

To be honest most hotels probably expect people to take the odd item. At our hotel we only put bathrobes in "premium" rooms and the price differs from a standard room to cover an occasion such as this. The hike in price for these rooms is advertised as a "hire fee" for bathrobes, slippers, trouser press etc, with the hotel reserving the right to charge fee's after checkout if any items are missing.
However, we can't make a charge on the credit card used to pay the bill, we can only send out an invoice.

I'm not sure if that is just my hotels policy, or if this is the law. I will ask my boss this just out of curiosity in the morning.

So.....did ya take it?

Naf

tellustuff wrote: »

Would you expect Tesco to make an unattended charge to your card because a couple of day after you shopped there they suspected that you had an extra yoghurt in your pocket.

But its not the same as your room was accessible only to you; the supermarket shelves are accessible to everyone in the store that day. This means the items in the room are temporarily given into your care; breakages and missing items are chargeable; its not your property after all.

tellustuff wrote: »

there is nothing in the t&c and this is the point. They must make sure this is agreed to before deducting extra amounts otherwise its illegal, its theft if you like, and this is why credit cards will reverse the charge if this is done.

Its not just T&Cs; what welcome pack was there in the room - there was very likely something that suggested what ought to be in the room, and if anything was missing to contact hotel staff. You didn't contact, so you are deemed to have agreed with them that everything was there.

My in-laws run a B&B and had a lot of trouble with breakages and stuff going missing. They never did charge anyone as they'd not put anything about it in rooms or T&Cs although I keep advocating to them to get it done. I believe they now have added it to T&Cs at least.