Free cancellation hotel not honoured

bluegoldie

Not to be too long winded but the basics of the issue are : 
1) booked a hotel directly for a party of 10 people, 4 rooms between us. 
2) Price paid as shown on the invoice was per person.
3) included in the price was "free cancellation cover" reading the small print there was no specific detail about "cancellation" I.e only covered if whole party was cancelled or room etc, so as we paid per person with the flexibility safe to assume we are also covered as individuals.
4) cancellation was free up to 3 days before with 2 night penalty for a no show 
5) one of the party tested positive for covid after doing the "flow before you go" and was unable to travel. This was on the day so 2 night penalty applies ?
6) after a whole month and numerous messages they have now informed that they would not be paying out for the one person no show as all rooms were used (as stated cost was per person not per room). Also they couldn't accommodate us in 3 rooms! 

I have emailed back stating the above, we entered in to a per person contract which was reflected in the price. So even if we had cancelled the room everyone was out of pocket. I paid for the hotel booking with my credit card, not sure if section 75 applies in this case ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Annoyed that we took the extra precautions for no benefit really. 

jon81uk

Hotels normally charge per room. 

The price might have been shown before booking as per person, but what was actually charged? Did it clearly say £50x10 or similar.
how many nights was it so how much are you arguing over? As you say you cancelled too late so lose first nights.

It wouldn’t be normal to just refund one person if cancelling. commonly the only difference between one and two in a double room would be the cost of breakfast.

bluegoldie

The invoice itself is broken down as per person, and it's £840 so a little more than a breakfast  it was an all inclusive 10 night stay, so the total on the invoice is the price per person x10 no mention of charges per room.

Don't know if it makes a difference? 

jon81uk

That cancellation policy would apply to the whole booking. 

theonlywayisup

Were all the rooms used?

bluegoldie

theonlywayisup said:

Were all the rooms used?

Yes because they couldn't accommodate us any other way. Although in this case the value was not in the room as much as in the wrist bands for the all inclusive? 

Manxman_in_exile

jon81uk said:

That cancellation policy would apply to the whole booking. 

I'd be inclined to agree with that.

The OP makes a single booking for a party of 10.  I don't think it makes any difference that the "invoice" shows a price per person.

If you want to cancel, you cancel all or none.  (TBH, if I'd been the OP booking on behalf of myself and 9 others - especially during Covid - I would have expressly checked with the hotel what the situation would be if only one or two of the party needed to cancel).

Also, looking at the spelling "Reaservations", where was this booking made?  Is it subject to UK law?

bluegoldie

Spanish law in this instance. We have travel insurance but because of the query over the free cancellation have had to go the long winded way around it! Flight refund was sorted no trouble that was straightforward! The hotel on the other hand has been a minefield!!

Money_Grabber13579

I’m not sure whether this still happens but there used to be 3 of us went on holiday and that required 2 rooms, 2 people in one room and 1 in the other. Whilst the hotels charged per person, there was a single person supplement for the room with only one person, so in effect, the cost of the holiday was almost equivalent to 4 people going rather than three. So even if you do have a point that the rate is per person, the hotel could then seek to charge a supplement instead, so I suspect you’re on the back foot here.

cx6

The cancellation would be for the whole contract ie you could have cancelled and got your £8373.10 back

It is up to each person to have appropriate travel insurance in place to cover them for their individual £837.31

user1977

I agree I would interpret cancellation as being the full booking. Whether you get a partial refund if you amend the booking to reduce the number of guests depends on the "small print", which you haven't shared with us.