Online booking by 3rd party, now hotel wants more money

pozzydrive

Hi All

My friend here at my place of work has booked and paid by credit card for a hotel in London through Olotels. He rang the hotel just prior to booking and asked if the price was Ok, the lady on the other end of the line said it seemed to be right and that the hotel did deal with Olotels. Now the hotel has contacted his wife and told her that they need to pay approx 100 / 130 euro's more for their room, as they have not paid enough. Surely if they have already paid and this was confirmed by the hotel, that should be the end of it. Can anyone tell me in UK law how they stand with regard to this additional cost.

Regards

Pozzy

McKneff

Sounds a bit suss to be honest. It sounds as if he booked on a 'I cant believe its that price, lets book it quick' I say that because there is no earthly reason why anyone would ring up just prior to leaving and asking the hotel if the price was okay. Do you see what I mean.
It doesn't make any sense that he did that.

Did he actually tell you how much he booked it at.

Legally, He has the choice, either get a refund of the money he has paid or pay the balance of the true cost of it.

wealdroam

pozzydrive wrote: »

Hi All

My friend here at my place of work has booked and paid by credit card for a hotel in London through Olotels. He rang the hotel just prior to booking and asked if the price was Ok, the lady on the other end of the line said it seemed to be right and that the hotel did deal with Olotels. Now the hotel has contacted his wife and told her that they need to pay approx 100 / 130 euro's more for their room, as they have not paid enough. Surely if they have already paid and this was confirmed by the hotel, that should be the end of it. Can anyone tell me in UK law how they stand with regard to this additional cost.

Regards

Pozzy

What was your friend told when he asked Olotels for their explanation?

pozzydrive

I possibly did not make myself very clear, my colleague is not from the UK and he will not be going to the hotel until the end of August. He did check out Olotels prior to using them to book the room. Booking for the room was confirmed by the hotel, it was later that day the hotel phoned his wife and told her they needed to pay more. The room cost 710 euro for 10 days, which he paid through Olotels via credit card, the hotel as I have said phoned his wife and asked for a further 120 euro more. What I cannot understand is, if the hotel has a relationship with the online company (Olotels) and then initially accepted his booking at that rate, why ask for more.

arcon5

Tell them to cancel the booking and go elsewhere

paddyrg

What do olhotels day about this? I'd say it's pretty core to the situation, either they were right and the hotel are breaching their agreement with olhotels, or they were wrong in which case a refund would be in order.

Also try trivago which compares the deals the online travel agents offer, sometimes rooms are very different price through the different companies!

wealdroam

pozzydrive wrote: »

I possibly did not make myself very clear, my colleague is not from the UK and he will not be going to the hotel until the end of August. He did check out Olotels prior to using them to book the room. Booking for the room was confirmed by the hotel, it was later that day the hotel phoned his wife and told her they needed to pay more. The room cost 710 euro for 10 days, which he paid through Olotels via credit card, the hotel as I have said phoned his wife and asked for a further 120 euro more. What I cannot understand is, if the hotel has a relationship with the online company (Olotels) and then initially accepted his booking at that rate, why ask for more.

All good stuff, but do you have an answer to the question in post #3?

pozzydrive

Wealdroam

Sorry I cannot reply any sooner, I'm overseas and poor connection, also at work. Anyway, they said all should be Ok. My colleague has since phoned the hotel and managed to get hold of the lady he initially spoke to and she told him it was because breakfast had not been included for the 10 days, which works out at 12 euro's per day, for him and his wife, so I guess all is Ok. He accepted that and has paid for it. He was told by this lady that if he did not want to have the breakfast then the price would be the same and her own colleague should have told him that. So all well that ends well. However i would like to thank everyone for trying to advise.

Regards

Pozzy

shaun_from_Africa

It's always best when asking for advice on here to give as much info as possible.
I realise that you're new to the forum and probably didn't realise, but a lot of answers that could have been given may have been totally wrong due to the company concerned (Olotel) being based in Hong Kong and the booking being arranged from outside of the UK.

Because of this, the laws and consumer rights that apply in the UK wouldn't have any relevance to your friends problem and could have caused further trouble.