Bed and Breakfast

Savrona

I gave my credit card details over the phone to pay for my son in law's stay in a B and B. I had booked four nights but he had to leave the following day due to business issues. However, they charged the whole amount £180 to my card the night before he had even spent one night in the place. They said he had booked 4 nights and he had to pay the full amount. Is there any comeback on this as to me it doesn't sound right.

PeacefulWaters

What do the booking T&Cs of the booking say?

That's what it boils down to.

zagfles

Hotel booking terms vary a lot, some are refundable, others aren't, some charge in advance, others when you leave. B&B's I imagine would normally be non refundable.

bengal-stripe

Many establishments offer a non-refundable "Saver" rate. If that was the case, than it's exactly what it says - non-refundable. If there was a cancellation time of, let's say, 24 hours, then your son might be due to pay the first night, but not the subsequent three nights.

As your son has made the booking, he should know what terms were agreed.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Savrona wrote: »

...he had to leave the following day due to business issues...

If this was because of an employer's change of plan they may be willing to make a goodwill payment to cover the cost.

In any case, the B&B should only be looking to cover their loss of profit if they were unable to re-let the room.

Brock_and_Roll

Almost all B&B's have a "no refund" policy in such circumstances and this should be stated in the T&Cs.

As an ex-B&B owner please remember these are small businesses with just a limited number of rooms and weekends are the main booking time. So if someone leaves/cancels at short notice they will have no time to fill the vacant space and it can be quite a painful hit. If they did not have this policy the booking diaries would be full of "speculative" bookings that would only be used if it turned out to be a sunny weekend etc!!! From my experience upto 50% of people who did not pay at least a deposit in advance would not turn up and in popular areas like where we had our B&B we would maintain a blacklist or serial "noshows" offenders.

That said, if people cancel/leave for genuine reasons, and spoke to me nicely I would always come to an agreement with them.

fozmcfc

When it comes to accommodation, most B&B's can't afford to lose 2 or 3 nights money, even every now and then.

If it was me, I would say providing I can fill the room, I will refund the days as a gesture.

If someone leaves during the stay, then it is highly unlikely, unless in high season, a B&B would be able to sell rooms, with little or no notice.

Ultimately, why should the B&B be out of pocket, when they have providing their end of the contract.

Never sure, why people who book items that are non refundable, expect that they should get their money back, if they don't use whatever they have book, for whatever reason.

The ones that get me, are the my OH had a heart attack and it's so unfair they won't refund us. Errr, don't you think perhaps, that worrying about losing a couple of hundred in that circumstance, is the last thing, that should be on your mind.

In certain circumstances, insurance is the answer.

Biggles

fozmcfc wrote: »

The ones that get me, are the my OH had a heart attack and it's so unfair they won't refund us. Errr, don't you think perhaps, that worrying about losing a couple of hundred in that circumstance, is the last thing, that should be on your mind.

It's not unfair at all, for the reasons mentioned above.

I don't think it's fair to put them in the position of having to make a judgment, especially when it's common these days for people to have an annual travel insurance policy that would have covered something like this.