Booking.com cancelled my hotel.

Serafin121

Hi,
Need some advice on whether I have any rights on this matter or what I should do. Used Booking.com to (unsurprisingly) make a hotel booking in Milan. I made the booking on the 26th November. I received confirmation from the site and from Florentias Suites s.r.l. for the apartment in Milan. I received a further confirmation email on the 8th April 16. The booking was for the 13th April 16 to 18th April 16. Today (12th April 16) I received an email saying the hotel had been cancelled from booking.com. Called Florentias Suites s.r.l. and they said they would get back to us. They then sent a cancellation message via booking.com saying they could not validate the card.

1. We were expected to pay on arrival (as stated in the confirmation)
2. We were not notified that there was an issue with the card details otherwise we would have amended.
3. The website has now locked our booking screen with the message "Cancelled" so I can't check the details (I have requested them).

As there is a conference in Milan all hotels are either fully booked or well out of our price range.

We have asked for further details from both, neither are responding.

Is it unreasonable to expect contact if the card details were in correct? (I suspect they realised that they can make a lot more money if the resell the room now - tough luck us!).

We are now having to make last minute changes to our trip - as the flights are booked and we have tickets to the San Siro on Sunday.

We have now booked (and called to triple confirm the booking with the hotel) in Bellagio (approx. 1.5 hrs away by car).

Is there any recourse on this? I have looked at the confirmations I have and can not find anything (I may be looking in the wrong places) regarding the hotel cancelling the booking.

Please help.

Rob

Westin

Did you place invalid card information on the booking?

I suspect the hotel attempted to make a charge to the card details you provided and when this failed they informed booking.com that the reservation would not be accepted and was then cancelled. Hotels may attempt to check the validity of your card in advance even if your intention is to pay upon arrival. From the hotels point of view they will want to ensure your reservation request was valid. I believe booking.com T&C's cover this.

At any other time I'm sure the situation could be resolved by providing new credit card information. The hotel and/or the agent may likely contact you to obtain new payment details. When the area is busy and the hotel sold out they may possibly see reservations such as yours being easy ones to cancel or reject if their booking terms have not been met.

Westin

I would have a read of point 6 of the booking.com T&C's to see if this applies in your case.

http://www.booking.com/content/terms.en-gb.html?aid=7342845;sid=7665c9abd584fd818114dbc4617096c3;dcid=12

You will also need to look at the terms indicated against the Florentias Suites on the booking.com site and on the reservation confirmation paperwork to see what they say about payment being made and (I think likely) that a valid card needs to be available for a charge to be made.

Is there anything on AirBNB available for your dates?