Hotel says I made a booking - no confirmation

marks87

It seems things do come along in threes - after issues with travel insurance and my car, I'm now having a problem with a well-known hotel group.

I made a reservation about 6 months ago for a single night stay (flexible rate). I then found a hotel closer to where I was going for a cheaper rate, so I cancelled.

A couple of days before I was due to stay, I received a "we look forward to seeing you" email. I put this down to their systems not keeping up and thought nothing more of it - after all, I had a cancellation confirmation so if I was charged, I'd have recourse.

Checking my credit card statement last week, I saw a charge made by the hotel I cancelled, although not for the full amount of the reservation. After calling their customer services, and being contacted by the hotel itself, it turns out they had another reservation in my name, made nearly a year ago and the charge was the no-show fee (the room rate for the night).

Now, I can't ever recall making this reservation and when I search back through my emails there's no confirmation. But it turns out it was for this reservation I received the "we look forward..." email.

I'm at a loss as to what's happened and they keep claiming "human error", i.e. I made the booking then forgot. I'm adamant I didn't make the booking, but there's no way of proving that so I kept going round in circles with customer care.

For me, though, the central issue is that even if I did make the reservation the only reason I made the second one is because I thought I still needed to do so. Had there been an email confirmation, this reservation would never have been made. I also have Gmail set up to automatically add things like this to my calendar, so even if I didn't actively search for a confirmation it would be in my calendar.

Let's assume worst-case that I was forgetful and made the first reservation (since they aren't going to budge on that); where do I stand on the lack of confirmation email indirectly leading me to make a second reservation, in the belief that one didn't already exist? Is there any chance of chasing this further for a refund, or should I just let it go and chalk it up to experience?

It's not that big an amount in the grand scheme of things, but it's more the principle than anything else.

p00hsticks

You're probably better off asking on the 'consumer rights' board
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=173

For what it's worth, I can't really see you getting very far unless you use the chain a lot and can get them to make a goodwill gesture.

The absence of an e-mail from 12 months ago isn't really good evdience that you didn't make a booking - in hindsight you should have followed up on the 'welcome; e-mail, as this presumably would have alerted you to the booking and allowed you to cancel in time to avoid a charge.

Are you registered online with the chain in question and/or do you have a loyalty card (e.g. Holiday Inn Priority Club, Hilton HHonors etc) ? Either might enable you to retrieve your activity history and show exactly what bookings and cancellations you had made.

marks87

I did think it was a bit of a long shot.

I'm not a frequent customer as such but I have sent a lot of business their way when organising accommodation for visitors to my work, including a recent high-four-figure block booking.

Something I forgot to mention in my original post is that on Monday evening when I called, the agent I spoke to originally offered me enough loyalty points to pay for a night's accommodation; I declined, at which point they offered a full refund and would contact the hotel to arrange this.

However, this is now being denied. The agent hadn't made notes to that effect and the company are refusing to retrieve the call recordings.

I received an email this afternoon from a "case manager" whose tone was quite dismissive and curt, and failed to address the above. I had been prepared to let it drop, but decided to fire back an email asking them once again to retrieve the recordings and listen for themselves.

It's still my firm belief that I didn't make the reservation but I know I'm definitely urinating into the wind trying to convince them of that.

Voyager2002

You could dispute it with your credit card provider...

Voyager2002

Apart from anything else, if you had really made a reservation a long time in advance, then their system should have warned you if you attempted to make another reservation for the same date (presumably the same place).

marks87

Voyager2002 wrote: »

You could dispute it with your credit card provider...

I called my credit card provider to ask their advice, but I missed the callback from the "disputes department" so will have to wait till tomorrow to see what they say.

I want to be careful with this - I want to make sure they fully understand the situation before making their decision. The last thing I want is to be accused of credit card fraud because they've misinterpreted the course of events.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Apart from anything else, if you had really made a reservation a long time in advance, then their system should have warned you if you attempted to make another reservation for the same date (presumably the same place).

Well indeed, especially when the guest name is the same.

p00hsticks

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Apart from anything else, if you had really made a reservation a long time in advance, then their system should have warned you if you attempted to make another reservation for the same date (presumably the same place).

although as the OP says that they use the chain to block book accomodation for visitors, two bookings for the same date may not have seemed unusual

marks87 wrote: »

I'm not a frequent customer as such but I have sent a lot of business their way when organising accommodation for visitors to my work, including a recent high-four-figure block booking.

marks87

p00hsticks wrote: »

although as the OP says that they use the chain to block book accomodation for visitors, two bookings for the same date may not have seemed unusual

This was done via a business account, though, and the reservation was under a business name (with guest names then confirmed later).

Bogalot wrote: »

OP you're relying on a goodwill gesture here, don't go trying to shift the blame on to their system. Did you know you would be needing to make a booking nearly a year ago, and if so is there any possibility you could have booked and forgotten about it? The problem you have is that any booking will be effectively date stamped by the system, something that cannot be changed by human intervention, so if that is what is showing up on their records it would be very difficult to prove otherwise.

That's the problem I have - I had a reason to look for accommodation on that day (and I have an email confirming changes to my loyalty account) but no reason to book because the event I was attending had only just been announced and I was simply costing my options.

As I said, I was prepared to let it drop and chalk it up to experience, but on Monday I was given the impression the company was making a goodwill gesture with the initial offer of loyalty points, then the full refund. This is being denied, with no written record and a refusal to listen to the recording of the call. I feel I want to keep pushing them on that (part of me is wishing I'd just taken the points because the agent said they could process that themselves).