Hotel Charged Cancellation Fee That Was Never Stated

*Bargain_Hunter*

visidigi wrote: »

Im confused, how do they know how many people are coming?

Did you actually have to name every person staying in the rooms? Seems VERY odd to have a per person charge instead of per room.

They asked how many people at the time of booking but i never gave names etc just the numbers. I also thought it was odd as their hotel prices are per room but when it comes to cancelling it's per person.

System

visidigi wrote: »

Im confused, how do they know how many people are coming?

Did you actually have to name every person staying in the rooms? Seems VERY odd to have a per person charge instead of per room.

I would assume its a B&B or small independent hotel as they often go per person because the breakfast is charged individually. Its only really the big chain hotels that do per room tarriffs

pmduk

I'd contact your card issuer and inform them that the transaction is in dispute as you didn't authorise it. You gave them the card details to charge you for your stay. This isn''t taking place now and the company has no authority to debit your account.

Equaliser123

goater78 wrote: »

The one that says a £10 per person deposit may be taken and will not be refunded. The hotel has basically decided to take the £10pp deposit after receiving the cancellation notice, its a bit underhand but there is nothing in the T & C's which says they can't do this

Don't agree. As others have said, deposits secure bookings. Not applied upon cancellation.

System

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Don't agree. As others have said, deposits secure bookings. Not applied upon cancellation.

There is no law that says a deposit has to be applied at the time of booking. The hotels T&C's say a £10 per person deposit may be taken to confirm the booking, it also says this is none refundable.

Therefore on cancellation of the room the hotel were perfectly in their rights to take the £10 per person none refundable deposit that the OP had agreed to pay at the point of booking.

System

pmduk wrote: »

I'd contact your card issuer and inform them that the transaction is in dispute as you didn't authorise it. You gave them the card details to charge you for your stay. This isn''t taking place now and the company has no authority to debit your account.

I don't see how the Op can dispute this with the bank as he did authorise for the £10 per person deposit to be taken. The hotel have now taken this. They have not taken anymore money than they said they would take at the point of booking.

Equaliser123

goater78 wrote: »

There is no law that says a deposit has to be applied at the time of booking. The hotels T&C's say a £10 per person deposit may be taken to confirm the booking, it also says this is none refundable.

Therefore on cancellation of the room the hotel were perfectly in their rights to take the £10 per person none refundable deposit that the OP had agreed to pay at the point of booking.

I'm not sure how you can construct the clause to be valid. It says: " we reserve the right to request a non-refundable deposit of £10 per person to confirm any booking made"

The charge here is not being used to confirm the booking but to apply a cancellation charge.

bod1467

Equaliser123 wrote: »

The charge here is not being used to confirm the booking but to apply a cancellation charge.

And I suspect that this is the angle zzzLazyDaisy is coming from.

System

Equaliser123 wrote: »

I'm not sure how you can construct the clause to be valid. It says: " we reserve the right to request a non-refundable deposit of £10 per person to confirm any booking made"

The charge here is not being used to confirm the booking but to apply a cancellation charge.

We'll agree to disagree.

Personally i think people like the OP are bad seeds. They sign up for a hotel where they are told they have to pay a £10 per person non-refundable deposit for the hotel rooms. They knew at the time of booking if they cancelled the rooms they would lose £40, they are now just trying to get out of paying this £40 because the deposit was taken after they cancelled the hotel. Technically they may get away with this, however in reality they are obviously a bad person.

Equaliser123

goater78 wrote: »

We'll agree to disagree.

Personally i think people like the OP are bad seeds. They sign up for a hotel where they are told they have to pay a £10 per person non-refundable deposit for the hotel rooms. They knew at the time of booking if they cancelled the rooms they would lose £40, they are now just trying to get out of paying this £40 because the deposit was taken after they cancelled the hotel. Technically they may get away with this, however in reality they are obviously a bad person.

Not disagreeing with you about the rights and wrongs.

However, my interpretation of the clause is that it doesn't help the hotel in this circumstance. The English law principle of contra proferentum which means that any ambiguity or confusion in the clause will be construed against the party relying upon it reinforces my view.