Advice on misrepresentation of hotel

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Please can someone help me? I booked a secret room via lastminute.com. It was advertised as 'luxury' and a 4 star property. After booking I found out which hotel it was and the hotel's own website lists it as 3 star.

lasminute.com later admitted their star rating is their own, not an independent one. I feel this wasn't made clear on the website. I'm not a frequent traveller, this was my first weekend away in about 5 years, and I took their site at face value.

When I got the email confirmation they included a link to the room facilities and it listed slippers, bathrobe, fruit and mineral water etc. I didn't get any of these things in the room.

Having done a bit of research I feel that this falls under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 as I was induced to enter into the contract by them misrepresenting the hotel as 'luxury' and '4 star'. Since I then got an email detailing specific facilities which I didn't get, I feel I'm entitled to damages.

I've contacted them and told them this but they are not interested. They've offered a refund which is about 7% of the amount I spent but I don't feel that's enough as I paid more than I normally would have, based on the fact that I thought I was getting a luxury 4 star hotel. I feel they should refund the difference between what I actually paid and what I would have paid if I'd known what I was getting.

Can anyone advise me on how to take this further please? I feel I have a case but I'm not too sure of the legal standing. From what I;ve googled it does sound to me like it falls under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 but I would really appreciate some advice. Thanks.

timbo58

I think for misrepresentation you'd have to prove 'intent' wouldn't you?

I'd be inclined to see what other hotels in the area for that time period charge for a 3 star and politely point this out and ask for the difference if more than the 7% offered.

I thought all 'star' ratings were arbitrary anyway?

mije1983

*Rainbow*Warrior* wrote: »

Please can someone help me? I booked a secret room via lastminute.com. It was advertised as 'luxury' and a 4 star property. After booking I found out which hotel it was and the hotel's own website lists it as 3 star.

lasminute.com later admitted their star rating is their own, not an independent one. I feel this wasn't made clear on the website. I'm not a frequent traveller, this was my first weekend away in about 5 years, and I took their site at face value.

When I got the email confirmation they included a link to the room facilities and it listed slippers, bathrobe, fruit and mineral water etc. I didn't get any of these things in the room.

Having done a bit of research I feel that this falls under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 as I was induced to enter into the contract by them misrepresenting the hotel as 'luxury' and '4 star'. Since I then got an email detailing specific facilities which I didn't get, I feel I'm entitled to damages.

I've contacted them and told them this but they are not interested. They've offered a refund which is about 7% of the amount I spent but I don't feel that's enough as I paid more than I normally would have, based on the fact that I thought I was getting a luxury 4 star hotel. I feel they should refund the difference between what I actually paid and what I would have paid if I'd known what I was getting.

Can anyone advise me on how to take this further please? I feel I have a case but I'm not too sure of the legal standing. From what I;ve googled it does sound to me like it falls under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 but I would really appreciate some advice. Thanks.

Did you take up the issue of no slippers etc with the hotel while you were there? What was their reply to that?

Where was the hotel? UK or abroad?

How much money does the 7% equate to? Is that the difference between a 3 and 4 star in the same city?

Star ratings do tend to vary quite a lot and can be subjective, and there isn't a blanket rating system unfortunately.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

timbo58 - from what I've read you don't have to prove intent. Even if the misrepresentation was innocent I think you can still claim.

Regarding the star ratings - ok I'm naive, but as I said I'm not a regular traveller and I honestly thought the star rating system was independent and that there was one uniform rating system.

mije1983 - We told the hotel we were disappointed and they kindly upgraded our rooms - but even the upgraded rooms did not have those facilities that we were promised and were not of the 'luxury' standard we had expected (they were just a bit bigger than the original rooms, but the same standard). I didn't say anything further to the hotel as I was embarrassed about the situation they (and we) were in. The hotel did nothing wrong - it was a perfectly adequate hotel, it just wasn't what lastminute.com had led us to expect.

I'm going to do a search now and see what the price differences are between 3 and 4 star - though I think they vary wildly! We paid £663 for 2 rooms for 2 nights and have been offered £50 refund. When I booked the hotel I briefly saw some prices for 3 star hotels (before I filtered them out of the search) and it seemed to me they were up to £200 cheaper overall. The hotel was in London.

bris

Luxury and 4 star are subjective, no law governs them. Did you pay for a proper luxury 4 star hotel, no of course you didn't or you wouldn't have went to late rooms. You pay your cheap money you take your chances.

Any thing they offer is a bonus not a right.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

bris wrote: »

Luxury and 4 star are subjective, no law governs them. Did you pay for a proper luxury 4 star hotel, no of course you didn't or you wouldn't have went to late rooms. You pay your cheap money you take your chances.

Any thing they offer is a bonus not a right.

Erm... surely that's the whole premise of lastminute (not late rooms ).. they advertise that you can get a luxury hotel for less. And £663 might be cheap money to you but it's a LOT to me!

mije1983

Are they still advertising the incorrect facilities at the hotel?

*Rainbow*Warrior*

They described it as 'luxury' and '4 star', and I assume they are still saying that. The room facilities were not listed on the website - they were in the email booking confirmation. Since it was an email addressed to me about my booking - not a generic email - I think it's reasonable for me to assume the facilities in the email applied to my booking.

mije1983

*Rainbow*Warrior* wrote: »

The room facilities were not listed on the website - they were in the email booking confirmation.

Ah ok. When you said 'they included a link to the room facilities', I assumed you meant the link led to their website.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

mije1983 wrote: »

Ah ok. When you said 'they included a link to the room facilities', I assumed you meant the link led to their website.

No, it was a link within the booking confirmation email. Had it been a link on the hotel site then you could argue it may not apply to all rooms but since it was within my booking confirmation it seemed reasonable to assume it related to my specific booking.

mije1983

So where did the link take you when you clicked on it?