Hotel charged for Fire alarm triggering

jackyann

You have been given opinions here, I think that if you want certainty, you need to ask someone like CAB or your local Law Centre (which I suspect will echo the opinion given)
I do hope that your friend repays you, although I imagine that is a hefty sum for her to find. Rotten for you.
Sadly, no good deed every goes unpunished.

loztiggy

shegirl wrote: »

Seems perfectly fair,the post above me explains why.

When you book a hotel and/or check in there will be terms that state there will be charges in the event of damage and such things. As you're card is the one that booked it will be the one that's charged.

I'd have thought that was pretty standard.

Thats just it. Booking.com was all i saw, and the only terms they gave was if she didnt turn up id still get charged. Nothing else. I would have expected if they required securities they would have asked her for that. The hotel havent provided me any invoice of costs, just said that £50 is for her setting it off, and £100 for replacing the alarm.

rustyboy21

loztiggy wrote: »

Thats just it. Booking.com was all i saw, and the only terms they gave was if she didnt turn up id still get charged. Nothing else. I would have expected if they required securities they would have asked her for that. The hotel havent provided me any invoice of costs, just said that £50 is for her setting it off, and £100 for replacing the alarm.

But your friend would have had to sign in on arrival and most likely offer a card to let incidentals like food/drinks to be invoiced. If not, I have seen some hotels ask for a cash deosit upfront.

It wouldn't matter if you haven't seen any paperwork about charges, as your friend would have signed in and they would be acting as your agent, so you are responsible. If they had trashed the room, would you be saying that they couldn't take maony off you, even though your card is the only form of payment they have.

Which brings up another question to me. You say that you booked and paid for the room with booking.com? In that case you would have paid them not the hotel. Booking.com would pay for your room off their own account. Your card details wouldn't( or shouldn't) be given to the hotel, as they should be encrypted by the payment software at booking.com. They wouldn't have seen your card details, unless you gave them to them yourself. I have used Expedia many times and the hotels have never had my card details to check against.

IMO, I think you should just take it on the chin and remember not to offer to book any rooms for friends anymore.

Hulahoopgirl_2

I have work experience within the hotel industry, and with some of these online booking agencies the agency just takes their commision from the card and the hotel are then able to log in and the customers card details are provided for the hotel to take the amount due to them. I am not sure if this is the procedure with booking.com but it may explain why the hotel in question had your card details and were able to take the extra payment. You could contact your card provider and say the extra emount was taken without your consent and they can claim it back. It does seem a lot of money for a fire alarm being triggered. They must have proof (CCTV?) that is was your friend that set the alarm off? OK fair enough to charge if it was a prank, but sleep walking is different surely?

spacey2012

A short sharp lesson in letting "friends" apply continual authority direct debits to your card.
Sometimes they are reasons people don't have on of their own.

WickedWolfie

rustyboy21 wrote: »

Wouldn't the problem be that in your friend booking in to the hotel, that they sign up for the hotel and agree to any penalties that may occur ( damage to room,flooding room etc)?

Your friend did not have any money on them, the only recourse they will have is to invoice you and take payment.

It will be similar to someone smoking in a NS room. They charge things like £150 for a deep clean. A deep clean may consist of a quick spray around with fabreze, but there you go. They most likely have set charges for all eventualities, this being one of them.

You accept that your friend was at fault, someone has to pay. The fire service may have been sent out on alarm activation. Someone has to pay for that as they do charge now for false alarms. The system would have had to be reset and checked. You are not taking into account of the distress and inconvenience caused to other paying customers getting woken up in the night. How do you know that the hotel didn't have to pay compensation to other residents for the upset?

It seems fair enough to me.

Your argument is almost directly analagous to those used by the private parking industry and frankly about as convincing. That "industry" has had a kicking from the courts for purporting to charge penalties - it was made very clear that only statutory bodies had the legal right to charge penalties, other bodies could do no more than recover their costs.

The members of that "industry" now claim to charge contractual fees. The courts in at least some cases have ruled that the presence of such charges must be made explicitly clear in advance, and have specifically ruled small print on signs to fail to meet this requirement. There is a strong argument that hiding the possibility of such charges somewhere in an A4 page of 6point font text would similarly fail to meet the court's fairness test.

Were I the OP I would file a without consent complaint with my card provider and get my money back. If the hotel wishes to pursue the matter let it take legal action BUT it is probable that such action would only return their actual incurred costs (which they will have to prove, as will they have to prove that it was your friend that actually did the damage) and not their outlandish and unjustified fees.

I believe that Travelodge's charges for alledged violations of non-smoking rooms are coming under increasing scrutiny and will, if they have not already, face legal challenge in the near future.

Paddles

WickedWolfie wrote: »

Were I the OP I would file a without consent complaint with my card provider and get my money back. If the hotel wishes to pursue the matter let it take legal action BUT it is probable that such action would only return their actual incurred costs (which they will have to prove, as will they have to prove that it was your friend that actually did the damage) and not their outlandish and unjustified fees.

I agree with WickedWolfie. The charges seem ridiculously dispproportinate.

That said I would be asking sleepwalking friend to start saving to pay me back in case I couldn't recover the money

anotherbaldrick

A triggered fire alarm in a Hotel will cause an immediate automated call out to the Fire Brigade.
If it is a false alarm the Fire Authority will issue a charge to the building owner . That's what initiated the bill to your friend !

hcb42

booking.com do not take payments for hotels. Ever.

They pass on the card details, hotel will use card as guarantee, or for prepaid rates, will take payment on booking.

Although I would contest this charge strongly.

McKneff

Sleepwalking !!!

It;s the most unlikely story I've ever heard.

Give over, if that;s what your friend told you then you friend must think you are a mug to be honest.