Turkish Hotel changed owner

LucyNorthern

Hi, I'm a big stumped and not sure where to go from here.

So back in 2020 I was on holiday in Turkey, I liked the place so much that while I was there I made a future reservation for 10 nights for September 2021. At the time I did not realise how far reaching the whole covid pandemic would be etc. When I made the reservation I paid in full using my Revolut card and paid in lira. I took away a reservation confirmation sheet and the card payment receipt.

As things moved forward, and after losing my job, I emailed the hotel to request cancellation and refund. I received no reply.

On looking on the internet it became apparent that the hotel had been bought by a different chain. They kindly confirmed the reservation by email after asking for a copy of my payment. I sent photos of the receipt and confirmation that I have.

I asked them to cancel and refund, they have now come back to say the reservation was not made with them and to contact the person I made it with.......but it's the same hotel, they confirmed they have the reservation, I have asked them that if they bought the hotel and brought it into their chain with all existing bookings etc that surely my reservation etc is to be honoured by them? Again they have advised I need to contact the person I paid... I'm at an absolute loss as to how I'm supposed to do this, they told me when I paid the hotel had been bought by this new company and that nothing would change just the chain name. The payment went to the name of the hotel as it was on the day.

So now I don't know what I'm supposed to do. It's not a small amount of money to me, it's over £700. I just don't know what to do now. I don't speak Turkish so I'm communicating by email and Google translate where needed.

Can anyone offer any advice? I'm contacting Revolut to see what they can do as they payment was made through them.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Hi Lucy.  Cancelling any hotel  depends on the terms and conditions you agreed to at the time of purchase eg was it flexible?  I am feeling you may have booked non refundable?  

If this is the case and the hotel have acknowledged your stay for September 2021 I am sorry to say, but can’t see how you would be entitled to your money back.  I doubt Resolut would be able to help tbh.  (No harm in asking) Plain Fact is you have paid for something that is still available. 

Your best bet is to wait until September and hope the hotel is closed.  If it is open you won’t have any claim on the hotel. 

I know this isn’t what you want to hear but not a lot you can do. 

Upsidedownandaround

It's a bit unclear to me the issue. On the one hand you say they have confirmed they have your reservation but then you go on to say surely your "reservation is to be honoured by them"?

Are they saying your reservation will not be honoured by them or just that they won't refund you? If it's the latter as the above poster says you will only be entitled to a refund if the booking you made was refundable? Did you make a refundable booking?

mattyprice4004

Are you entitled to a refund - ie did you book a refundable rate? 
If not, this is a complete non-starter anyway. 
It sounds like the new company own the hotel and will honour bookings as part of the sale, but they didn't take payment from you so they are under no obligation to refund, only provide you with what you booked as part of the business sale (a room for a set date). 

Westin

Nothing additional to add that has not been covered by the responses received. All of which I agree with.

Thrugelmir

A downside of booking direct. Maybe cheaper but all protection is lost.  People will naturally resort to anything to survive in these challenging times. 

Idabiru

Thrugelmir said:

A downside of booking direct. Maybe cheaper but all protection is lost.  People will naturally resort to anything to survive in these challenging times. 

Yeap, totally agree

JJC1956

Look on the bright side, its April, hopefully you will find work soon and you will be able to visit Turkey and a nice hotel that you have already paid for, plus the £ is doing amazingly well against the Lira at the moment. 

superbigal

Be careful asking them to cancel.
They might just do that.
Then due to your potential lack of T&Cs, you will have nothing to show and they will have followed your instructions.

epm-84

Was the hotel rate booked a refundable rate?

If not you say you lost your job, was that after booking the hotel and did you have travel insurance? If so you might be able to claim under a redundancy clause on your travel insurance but there may be small print saying you need to have worked for the same employer for at least 2 years and you would likely lose an excess.

CKhalvashi

Thrugelmir said:

A downside of booking direct. Maybe cheaper but all protection is lost.  People will naturally resort to anything to survive in these challenging times. 

I disagree. Try having an issue even with a company like Booking and they take a firm line that nothing is their problem. Never had a problem going direct.

superbigal said:

Be careful asking them to cancel.
They might just do that.
Then due to your potential lack of T&Cs, you will have nothing to show and they will have followed your instructions.

The terms on booking (which hopefully OP still has in writing) will dictate the terms and conditions.

More important is whether this was a share transfer or an asset purchase, as this will dictate the situation if it comes to court. This won't be the easiest thing to find out, but will be possible with some work.