Hotel cancellation

brs73

Good morning
I have had to cancel an Austrian ski hotel outside of the free cancellation period

I broke my ankle on 15th December and thought I would still be able to honour the booking. I have since been told by a doctor that I won’t be able to ski
I haven’t purchased insurance yet.
The hotel wants to charge me €2750 euros to cancel
I want to act in good faith but what course of action do the hotel have in terms of enforcing payment.
Thanks in advance.

Alan_Bowen

Another person without insurance! If you agreed to pay on arrival, and I assume that is the case as you haven't said, then the contract will set out the cost of cancellation. If you are due to travel next week I am not surprised they want their money and it is relatively easy to enforce a judgement within the EU but if the booking was for the week of Half Term, then there could be an argument they can re sell the room and you should only be charged a reasonable cancellation fee and cover any loss they suffer.

Without knowing what you agreed to at the time of booking it is impossible to give a definitive answer but if you agreed to pay in full, acting in good faith is complying with the contract!

brs73

Thanks for your response Alan.
We were due to travel on 28th February which is 30 days from now.
The hotels cancellation policy is any thing less than 31 Days is 70% of the full price.

jpsartre

If that's what you agreed to then that's what you should pay.

brs73

My problem being I cannot afford to pay because I haven’t been able to work for six weeks due to my broken ankle.

heatherw_01

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do other than claim on travel insurance but you don't have any.

The hotel won't refund you it all because of the broken ankle if that is their policy.

zagfles

I'm not sure travel insurance would have covered you anyway. For instance if the doctor said you can travel, but you can't ski, it would depend on the small print, which might say you need to be deemed unfit to travel, rather than unfit to do the sport you intended to do when there.

Caz3121

Hopefully others that have booked holidays/hotels and have not yet taken travel insurance and plan to take closer to the time, read this post as it demonstrates the exact reason why insurance should be taken as soon as booked

Could you still go but not ski?

Voyager2002

Either you pay, in accordance with the contract that you agreed;

Or you write to them pleading poverty, and pointing out that your cancellation was within hours of their deadline, so that for them to impose the full penalty is unduly severe. At which point they might negotiate; they might simply abandon it; or they might pursue you through the courts. If it were to end up in a court in England then it is probable that the judge would rule that the actual loss to the hotel was less than the amount claimed, so the cost to you would be reduced, but there is also the risk that you might be billed for substantial legal costs.

All in all, you have nothing to lose from attempting to negotiate.

unforeseen

I would have thought it would be dealt with via the European e-justice system so heard in Austria and enforced in the UK so the thoughts of a UK judge don't come into it. And for €2750 I don't see them forgetting about it.

dawyldthing

Can the rest of the party not still go or you join them and just not ski?