Hostel refusing to refund

Nod

I booked a accomodation via hostel bookers which required a 10% deposit and the rest due on arrival. We paid for the accomodation on arrival. Other guests in the hostel were very noisy on the first night. We discussed it with the hostel owner in the morning and stated that we wanted to leave. She assured us that the noisy guests were leaving and made some other changes for us - swapped uncomfy mattress. That night other guests were still noisy. We sat down with the hostel owner and explained we were leaving and requested a refund of the two further nights. She stated that we would need to make our request via hostelbookers - I got the feeling at this point that she was fobbing us off. Anyway unsurprisingly hostelbookers were not interested and the owner initially ignored my e mails and phone calls and then replied indicating that she would not refund us. The amount isn't much (£76) but it's the principle!


We stay in lots of hostels and have never had this problem before - the first nights noise was due to a football team!

I booked through hostel bookers with a credit card - do you think section 75 applies?

Any advice about the best course of action would be greatly appreciated. I fully intend to review the accomodation on trip advisor but wondering whether to send her a copy of the review first to see if she'd prefer to just pay up. Any thoughts from you lovely helpful people?

Thanks very much in advance :A

agrinnall

Is £76 the whole cost or the cost of the 2 nights? If it's the whole cost then you couldn't apply S75 anyway, as that has to be at least £100.

I have my doubts whether you'll have much of a case anyway, it's a hostel, you have to be prepared for some noise, good earplugs and/or copious amounts of alcohol are your best bets. If you want a guaranteed noise-free environment then you really need to be looking at a different type of accommodation.

DCFC79

The fact you have stayed in hostels before is irrelevant as each hostel is going to be different, some wuld be noisy and others wouldnt dependng on the other guests and when you stayed.

daggy

You pays your money and takeds you r chance.....

It may sound silly, but is the hostel advertised as quiet place to sleep? Do they have a cancellation policy?

Nod

Thanks for your replies guys.
The hostel's website talks about 'private family rooms' so this doesn't suggest a football team!
The £76 is the price for two nights so the total cost was over £100 - I read the article on section 75 and was concerned that it might be considered a third party i.e because I paid my credit card deposit to hostelbookers.

Looksguywalker

Nod wrote: »

Thanks for your replies guys.
The hostel's website talks about 'private family rooms' so this doesn't suggest a football team!
The £76 is the price for two nights so the total cost was over £100 - I read the article on section 75 and was concerned that it might be considered a third party i.e because I paid my credit card deposit to hostelbookers.

Did you get a 'private family room'? Or was there a football team sleeping with you?

System

Is section 75 designed for things like this? It appears you've booked a hostel and decided to leave because of noise. I'm not sure section 75 should be used to critique your hotel stays? If it was you could claim every time you experienced unsatisfactory customer service!

supergran2007

Nod wrote: »

I booked a accomodation via hostel bookers which required a 10% deposit and the rest due on arrival. We paid for the accomodation on arrival. Other guests in the hostel were very noisy on the first night. We discussed it with the hostel owner in the morning and stated that we wanted to leave. She assured us that the noisy guests were leaving and made some other changes for us - swapped uncomfy mattress. That night other guests were still noisy. We sat down with the hostel owner and explained we were leaving and requested a refund of the two further nights. She stated that we would need to make our request via hostelbookers - I got the feeling at this point that she was fobbing us off. Anyway unsurprisingly hostelbookers were not interested and the owner initially ignored my e mails and phone calls and then replied indicating that she would not refund us. The amount isn't much (£76) but it's the principle!


We stay in lots of hostels and have never had this problem before - the first nights noise was due to a football team!

I booked through hostel bookers with a credit card - do you think section 75 applies?

Any advice about the best course of action would be greatly appreciated. I fully intend to review the accomodation on trip advisor but wondering whether to send her a copy of the review first to see if she'd prefer to just pay up. Any thoughts from you lovely helpful people?

Thanks very much in advance :A

Please forgive me for appearing a bit dense, but does this phrase not intimate a hint of blackmail:eek:(i.e: pay up or i'll leave a bad review???)
My apologies if I have mis-interpreted this.:o

arcon5

Perhaps but it's hardly a situation any kind of authority is going to take seriously.

To be fair to op you book a room to sleep in and if you cannot sleep as a result of surrounding noise then surely the service is not fit for purpose? Although I accept the hotel have limited control over the issue, they should have a duty to deal with it effectively - after all the hotel is not intended to be used for an after-party, meaning the football team was using their accommodation in a way not intended.

Quite simply they should have been asked to leave if unacceptable noise continued.

Op gave the hotel the opportunity to rectify the situation and they failed to do so, therefore chose to leave. Op should receive a refund for these two nights.

Looksguywalker

arcon5 wrote: »

Perhaps but it's hardly a situation any kind of authority is going to take seriously.

To be fair to op you book a room to sleep in and if you cannot sleep as a result of surrounding noise then surely the service is not fit for purpose? Although I accept the hotel have limited control over the issue, they should have a duty to deal with it effectively - after all the hotel is not intended to be used for an after-party, meaning the football team was using their accommodation in a way not intended.

Quite simply they should have been asked to leave if unacceptable noise continued.

Op gave the hotel the opportunity to rectify the situation and they failed to do so, therefore chose to leave. Op should receive a refund for these two nights.

It's a hostel not a hotel. Hostels have communal rooms and by their nature tend to be noisy in my experience.

arcon5

Looksguywalker wrote: »

It's a hostel not a hotel. Hostels have communal rooms and by their nature tend to be noisy in my experience.

And they have bedrooms to sleep in.

If they have communal rooms they should ensure there is sufficient noise insulation to ensure noise levels are reasonable.