Zen Hotels - Hilton Hotel Cancellation and Partial Refund

sujman

I booked a NYC Hilton hotel through an app called Zen Hotels (flex rate but the deadline to cancel had already passed) .  Following the travel restrictions, Hilton allowed all customers to cancel in full, regardless of the booking type and get a full refund.

Zen Hotels, who say the booking was actually not made by them but another company called Wolrd2Meet, eventually came back and said they would make a partial refund - £917 (Original cost was £1,084).  So I will be £167 short, or just over 15% of the original cost (assuming I actually see this money come back!).  PS I paid by CC

Is this a correct / fair end to the matter?

I have asked for further explanation as to why it is only a partial refund.  Standard T&C's say I am not entitled to any refund at all but as Hilton made an exception and gave all directly booked customers 100% back, I was expecting it to be also true for those who booked through 3rd party apps as well.

heatherw_01

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bagand96

Have you asked them why they are not refunding the full amount? Their T&Cs may allow them to charge admin fees or similar?

Another thing to consider is exchange rate.  Although you may have paid in GBP, and they are talking of refunding in GBP, the Hilton hotel will have priced in USD.  Zen hotel would have done a conversion at the time, and will have to do a conversion back now.  It may be a case that the GBP/USD rate is working against you.

sujman

bagand96 said:

Have you asked them why they are not refunding the full amount? Their T&Cs may allow them to charge admin fees or similar?

Another thing to consider is exchange rate.  Although you may have paid in GBP, and they are talking of refunding in GBP, the Hilton hotel will have priced in USD.  Zen hotel would have done a conversion at the time, and will have to do a conversion back now.  It may be a case that the GBP/USD rate is working against you.

Yes, I did ask why and Zen Hotels have now responded (they were quick!) saying "This is the penalty of our supplier for the cancellation of a non refundable booking".  Kinda of doesn't make sense.  If its non-refundable, how can you have a penalty for cancellation, as technically there is no refund due?  But anyway...

Rightly or wrongly, I think they want to retain some the refund they would have got from Hilton, as I am sure Hilton would have refunded them in full.

I'll keep pushing - I've said I'd like to make an official complaint (so have asked for a copy of their complaints procedure) and also a copy of the T&C's that describes this "penalty" charge that has been applied in this situation.

sujman

Update: I got refunded £936 out of the £1084 I paid originally.  Balance still being chased

sujman

Update: Got an email from Zen Hotels support that the balance of the £147 will be refunded also. If/when this comes thru, I will have got back 100% of what I paid.  Goes to show, dont give up on pushing for a full refund!