Can a hotel charge me for their mistake?

zagfles

Westin wrote: »

The OP didn't answer my earlier point on the registration card. This likely gives the authorisation to collect and settle all outstanding amounts.

Really? I've never signed a registration card which gives a hotel the right to collect whatever they want from the card I use for payment.

Morally, the money also appears to have been owed. I think the OP knows that.

So, legally and morally, what sounds like was due for payment should I believe be paid.

Yeah - lets' just let anyone take whatever they think someone else owes them without even asking first. You owe me a tenner for my time on this thread, I've decided. I'll just take it out of your account.

callum9999

zagfles wrote: »

Really? I've never signed a registration card which gives a hotel the right to collect whatever they want from the card I use for payment.

Yeah - lets' just let anyone take whatever they think someone else owes them without even asking first. You owe me a tenner for my time on this thread, I've decided. I'll just take it out of your account.

Stop being so obtuse. They aren't taking "whatever they want", they are taking payment to cover what YOU have used. Your analogies are plain absurd. And if you've never signed such an agreement then you clearly haven't stayed in many hotels (or bothered to read what you're signing).

zagfles

callum9999 wrote: »

Stop being so obtuse.

Stop being so clueless then.

They aren't taking "whatever they want", they are taking payment to cover what YOU have used. Your analogies are plain absurd. And if you've never signed such an agreement then you clearly haven't stayed in many hotels (or bothered to read what you're signing).

I've stayed in hundreds of hotels and always read what I'm signing. You clearly haven't. Registration cards don't give the hotel a blank cheque, try actually reading the next one you fill in.

I can't believe the utter cluelessness in this thread. It's a simple principle, if the hotel think the OP owes them money, it sends a bill. It hasn't got the right to charge the OP on a card they just happen to have used to pay the bill. If the OP gave the hotel a card swipe to charge for incidentals, that's a different matter, but it seems she didn't.

jpsartre

Kudos to the hotel for using a bit of common sense and charging the oustanding amount to the card used rather than waste everyone's time sending out a bill.

littlereddevil

The OP seems very reticent to tell us the true story

jonesMUFCforever

OP if you had agreed a price with the hotel and all the monies was in your account - this needs to have caused you no financial loss at all - has it?
If they took less at check in or out they are entitled to their money.
If they took more than was agreed then you complain - from what I have read this is not the case.
Were you hoping to make a profit?

zagfles

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

OP if you had agreed a price with the hotel and all the monies was in your account - this needs to have caused you no financial loss at all - has it?
If they took less at check in or out they are entitled to their money.
If they took more than was agreed then you complain - from what I have read this is not the case.

Exactly. That's the way to resolve mistakes in billing. One party complains to the other and requests thing are put right. If the hotel had overcharged, you don't just march into the hotel and take the money out of their till, you don't demand a chargeback from your bank, because you've authorised the C&P transaction so you have no grounds to. You explain the mistake to the hotel and ask them for a refund.

Exactly as the hotel should do if they'd undercharged. Contact the customer - explain the mistake - and ask for the outstanding amount.

Westin

Zagfles, why don't you highlight the complete sentence that jonesMUFcforever wrote and read the point again.

It looks like the OP wasn't overcharged. The hotel collected the full and correct amount the OP had agreed with them, just in two separate payments, one after she left the hotel. That was her original complaint.

zagfles

Westin wrote: »

Zagfles, why don't you highlight the complete sentence that jonesMUFcforever wrote and read the point again.

It looks like the OP wasn't overcharged. The hotel collected the full and correct amount the OP had agreed with them, just in two separate payments, one after she left the hotel. That was her original complaint.

Err...I did. I was comparing the actual situation here with the hypothetical reverse situation mentioned where the hotel had overcharged.

People here reckon that if a hotel identifies a mistake in the bill in the customer's favour, they are entitled to simply take the extra without first getting the customer's authorisation.

So...what if the customer identifies a mistake in the bill in the hotel's favour? Can they do the same?

Err...no, they complain to the hotel and ask for a refund. Just like the hotel should have done in this case.

Still...I guess if people are happy with hotels operating like this, they'll carry on doing so. Doesn't means they are entitled. Just like customers aren't entitled to steal the towels, even if hotels often let them get away with it.

fifeken

zagfles wrote: »

Yes. Hotels often ask for a swipe for this, but the customer has to agree to it (I always refuse as I don't like charging stuff to my room).

As been said several times already, authorisation will likely have been given at check in.

Just because you have a bee in your bonnet about this doesn't change what most hotels expect, most customers agree to, and what gives agreeable outcomes in the great majority of situations.

OP: Are you going to elaborate as to whether the money was actually owed to the hotel?