Urgent help needed - Booking.com cancellation

NadeneHarrison

In August 2013 I reserved a room at the Cress Hotel in Miami on the 21.3.14 for ten nights through the booking.com.

I received my confirmation with payment plan set as pay on arrival. However, allegedly on the 25th February the hotel attempted to take a preauthorisation from my bank card which was unsuccessful and therefore this resulted in the cancellation of my reservation. It’s only when I’ve gone to double check the address on my booking for my Visa that I’ve noticed the cancellation – purely by chance!!
Having noticed the cancellation I got in touch with booking.com straight away. When I spoke to the booking.com they advised they emailed myself on the 25th February explaining the situation and giving myself 24hrs to provide alternative card details. However, this email was never received and I was told it must have gone into my junk folder and deleted after 5days. I found this rather strange as all other emails from them go straight into my inbox, also when I asked for a duplicate of the email to be resent it turned up into my inbox instead of my junk folder.

Booking.com were adamant that there is nothing they can do and I was speaking to an extremely rude representative for a long time. After discussing this further, I finally after several times of asking, got to speak to a manager. He said that they need proof from my bank to state noting what attempted to be taken on the 25th February and then they will see where they can go from there. I have spoken to my bank who will provide me with a letter.

Even though the bank can confirm that no payment was attempted to be taken and are able to provide me with proof, Booking.com have not said whether anything can be resolved. I’ve already paid for flights out to Miami and the hotel we did have reserved have now resold the room (for double the price due to the festival that is taking place at the time of our holiday). Any other hotels are now either booked up or likely to cost us a significant amount more than we were expecting to pay. It’s left 4 of us with flights out and nowhere to stay.

I am really worried that this may not get resolved and I am travelling in 8 days! Do I have a leg to stand on and can anyone help me on my rights. Should Booking.com or the hotel have an obligation to us to find somewhere for us to stay?

InsideInsurance

For pay on arrival/leaving it is common for the hotels to verify the booking with an authorisation attempt for either (a) the actual amount (b) a set daily amount which is above the day rate to reflect likely extras (c) the minimum payable if cancelled eg 1 night (d) a token amount above the normal auto authorise (e) a truly token amount of £/$/€1

It is not a question of if they tried to take payment that you'd need your bank to answer, as that isnt what they've attempted, but if an authorisation request was made.

You evidently need to read the exact terms of the booking, which I believe with Booking.com can vary by hotel/supplier etc and see what it says there about supplier instigated cancellations and what notice period they have to give you. 24hrs feels fairly short.

NadeneHarrison

The T&Cs specify pre-authorisation may be taken so I was expecting it but no specific amount or date of the pre-authorisation is detailed.

When i've spoken to the bank they have no indication of any requests attempted or any amounts attempted to be taken by anyone which is why i'm so annoyed that they've cancelled, leaving me with seemingly no leg to stand on!

InsideInsurance

What do the terms say about notification of cancellation by the supplier?

NadeneHarrison

We can't actually seem to find any terms to do with cancellation by the supplier. Booking.com's T&Cs only seem to mention that the policies for each individual hotel are on the hotel details page but all that is mentioned is my right to cancel up to 24hours free of charge. Nothing about them being able to cancel my room.

ferf1223

maybe it's a stupid question, but if your bank says no attempt was made, is it possible that the details you gave at the time of booking in terms of the card number, etc. were incorrect? so an attempt was made but not against your card and that resulted in an unsuccessful pre-authorisation?