Booking.com

joncombe

aphrodita3 said:

Keep us posted, and so will I, but my question was really if it is legal (maybe some lawyers on the forum), I believe it is fraud to charge for something you know you can't deliver. I have given all data to Booking.com (who don't care), but the hotel knows they are in wrong and I am wondering that if all evidence is provided (which I am collecting) will be sufficient for a Credit Card company (mine is TescoBank) to do charge-back.... or if it at all possible to prevent them taking the money in the first place to avoid hassle... hotel being closed for business (for tourists) seem to be enough reason for an honest hotel to cancel reservation....

As requested here is an update.

The hotel I was booked in in Belgium will now certainly be closed on the dates I was due to travel there under the Belgium lockdown restrictions. When I presented this to them and explained it was not acceptible to charge for a service not provided (refundable booking or not) and asked again for a refund as it was clear they could not honour my booking anyway.

I've now had confirmation they will indeed refund (I didn't contact booking.com at all as in the case it was the hotel that directly took the payment). Hopefully the same might be useful for others. I do still hope to be able to go there (probably next year now) but who knows if that will be possible - hence wanting a refund.