Requesting Refund Of Hotel

Kaz2008

Sorry, but before I stay in any hotels and shell out hard earned money I always check Trip Advisor for reviews. You have stated above that you did read reviews before going to this hotel so I think you only have yourself to blame. I wouldnt have touched it with barge pole!

Equaliser123

meer53 wrote: »

If you book a hotel then choose not to stay, the hotel will charge for the room for 1 night. Check their terms and conditions, it will probably be mentioned there. It was your choice to leave and they wouldn't have been able to re let the room at such short notice. No chargeback rights through Visa if this happens. Legal action may work but is it worth it ?

I think you miss the point. The OP "chose not" to stay because of the apparent condition.

OP - if you can substantiate that it was reasonable to walk away due to the condition, you will win at court.

As others have said, the matter will be heard at your local County Court and it simply would be idiotic for the claim to be defended.

Freddie_Snowbits

Before we all go off, is not the defendant the Hotelier and they may like the case to be heard local to them?

Oops, still not on OP's side on this matter.

System

Optimist wrote: »

I would be surprised if the hotel would consider it worth it to travel the 260 miles to the OPs home court to defend a Small Claims action.

Even if they did the OP says they have pictures that prove this hotel isn't meeting its obligations and didn't live up to the description.

This type of contract is one of the few were the OP can actually claim for "loss of enjoyment" too although the amounts involved are likely to be small.

I would be interested to see this go to court as I am not 100% certain the OP would win. As I understand it they turned up went into their room, decided it was disgusting and walked out of the hotel. Surely it will count against the OP that they didn't ask for another room first? Or for the problems they have identified to be sorted out. I think before you demand a refund on a paid for room you should give the hotel an opportunity to fix the issues?

Plus it seems like an abuse of the law that the strongest point to the case is that its 260 miles away and its unlikely the hotel will bother turning up! I'm not sure that is what the small claims court was set up for! Besides I think they will turn up as the OP has obviously p1ssed them of!

System

Kaz2008 wrote: »

Sorry, but before I stay in any hotels and shell out hard earned money I always check Trip Advisor for reviews. You have stated above that you did read reviews before going to this hotel so I think you only have yourself to blame. I wouldnt have touched it with barge pole!

I like the person replies from the manager to each bad review on the site. Thats never a good sign for a hotel! I would not be suprised if they don't rock up on this forum soon!

Optimist

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Before we all go off, is not the defendant the Hotelier and they may like the case to be heard local to them?

Oops, still not on OP's side on this matter.

In a case were their is a individual against a business and the case is defended then the case will be transferred to the court nearest the individuals home.

It will be in the local practice directions somewhere

GraceCourt

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Before we all go off, is not the defendant the Hotelier and they may like the case to be heard local to them?

As the legal basis of the claim is in respect of a contract for services (the use of the room) and not goods, what this boils down to is (a) who are the parties to the contract, and (b) what does the contract specify in its terms and conditions.

(a) is not trivial... Laterooms could be the second party to the contract (in which case you have no recourse whatsoever against the hotel), or they could be acting as your agent in obtaining your night's accommodation from the hotel, or they could be acting as the hotel's agent in providing you with the accommodation.

You need to read what the contract actually says... although (and you know this is coming!), it's much better to read it before you do anything, and - best of all! - before you even hand over your money!

lovefreebie

When you book through Laterooms the contract is with the website indeed. It's a shame that :
1- you did not try to sort that out with hotel by asking another room
2-did not contact Laterooms rather than the hotel to make your point. They would have dealt with the hotel directly:)

I agree with others your letter to them was rather harsh (even if yes standards were not what they should have been). Since their latest letter did you get in touch with Laterooms?

I think you should get in touch with them and see what they say. I used to work in a hotel and when there were problems with clients booked through a third party website, they would deal with issues for their clients.

Best of luck.

hcb42

I would say the opposite, the sites such as laterooms generally won't deal with complaints like this but are only too happy to pass to hotel to deal.

that said, I am suprised that the hotel has taken such a firm stance on it, if it is as awful as they say, although the car parking part is not relevant to the complaint, most hotels in cities do not have free car parks, and this may have clouded the issue somewhat.