Hotel cancels ...voucher or cash refund?

mjones1970

My wife booked and paid for an 'advanced payment room' (which is none refundable if we cancel) to stay at the Savoy in June this year. This was to be for my 50th and we saved hard and paid the £2000 in full. They have sent her an email offering the refund in vouchers valid for 12 months. This means if we accepted the hotel it may be closed for several of those 12 months plus there may not be availability when we wanted to go. Because of this we want to have the cash refunded back to us in full and not accept the vouchers. Are they legally obliged to refund the cash as we haven't cancelled? Or can they legally just send vouchers that may not cover the time of year we wish to go? This is my first time on the forums and any help and guidance would be massively appreciated.

jimexbox

The Competition and Markets Authority are unequivocal in their advice. You are entitled to a full refund if a company fails to provide a service or you cancel due to the current pandemic. A force majeure clause is all smoke and mirrors, do not accept vouchers if you don't want them. 

sassy_one

Telephone them and request a cash refund.

Life__Goes__On

Some are trying  to hoodwink customer into taking vouchers.
They are offering vouchers  before they are cancelling rooms,  says take vouchers as that is all you are entitled too
This is correct if they haven't cancelled the booking on a non-refundable room,  but they are failing to tell people that they can wait and get a full refund once they announce they are closed.

Lokolo_2

Life__Goes__On said:

Some are trying  to hoodwink customer into taking vouchers.
They are offering vouchers  before they are cancelling rooms,  says take vouchers as that is all you are entitled too
This is correct if they haven't cancelled the booking on a non-refundable room,  but they are failing to tell people that they can wait and get a full refund once they announce they are closed.

Sneaky! I wondered this myself, if the hotel is still technically open "for key workers only", in the case of one Travelodge I have booked for early June, then does that give them a sneaky way to not cancel rooms and therefore leave no option but to take the cancellation voucher? At the moment they are only offering free amendments to another date or a voucher for the value of the original booking as it is a non-refundable saver rate booking!

Life__Goes__On

"

Lokolo_2 said:

Sneaky! I wondered this myself, if the hotel is still technically open "for key workers only", in the case of one Travelodge I have booked for early June, then does that give them a sneaky way to not cancel rooms and therefore leave no option but to take the cancellation voucher? At the moment they are only offering free amendments to another date or a voucher for the value of the original booking as it is a non-refundable saver rate booking!

I doubt they will get way with no refund,
It's a notable difference to how Premier Inn are handling it.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6136678/premier-inn-refund/p1

Lokolo_2

Life__Goes__On said:

"

Lokolo_2 said:

Sneaky! I wondered this myself, if the hotel is still technically open "for key workers only", in the case of one Travelodge I have booked for early June, then does that give them a sneaky way to not cancel rooms and therefore leave no option but to take the cancellation voucher? At the moment they are only offering free amendments to another date or a voucher for the value of the original booking as it is a non-refundable saver rate booking!

I doubt they will get way with no refund,
It's a notable difference to how Premier Inn are handling it.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6136678/premier-inn-refund/p1

Interesting, thank you for the link! Funny thing is I book with Premier Inn quite often, this time my travel partner wanted to stay in Travelodge, damnit! Ah well I think I will play the long game and contact them in the week before the booking to see if my room is still available! Much of it might depend on what the government decide but as someone else mentioned on another thread Scotland may take a longer lockdown, which is where the hotels I have booked are!

Life__Goes__On

Lokolo_2 said:

Much of it might depend on what the government decide but as someone else mentioned on another thread Scotland may take a longer lockdown, which is where the hotels I have booked are

Could have been me,  as I've said as much today.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77122338#Comment_77122338

Lokolo_2

Life__Goes__On said:

Lokolo_2 said:

Much of it might depend on what the government decide but as someone else mentioned on another thread Scotland may take a longer lockdown, which is where the hotels I have booked are

Could have been me,  as I've said as much today.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77122338#Comment_77122338

Indeed, credit to you  Mine is 1st June, I am just worried that Travelodge will not officially cancel any of the rooms/bookings either way, I mean if I contact them and they still refuse to offer a refund say in last week of May then I would probably be stuck with taking the voucher because for the price of the bookings it's not worth taking them to court, not sure if the Ombudsman can help in that respect, as the bookings were less than £100 each so I guess my credit card provider won't help there either!

hb2

We were supposed to be staying at a Travelodge last month. The hotel is still open for keyworkers. They notified us and refunded our payments without having to be asked (non-refundable booking).

Robinkent73

I any currently battling with Hotels.com. I have received a voucher for a cancelled booking. the booking was for two rooms in a hotel in Krakow.  When I've tried to re book for next year 2021 and apply the voucher I am told that the voucher can only be used for single room bookings and not multi room booking. when ive spoken to them they are now saying use the voucher to book one room they will then issue another voucher for the balance and then when that is received book your second room!!!! the voucher will take up to 30 days to arrive! Hotels.com are taking the absolute mick! what are my rights on this?