Hotel wants me to cancel and triple the price of the booking due to demand, what are my rights?

k3lvc

Had you pre-booked on a gamble that said event may be announced or is your booking/stay completely unconnected.

If unconnected and your stay isn't date-critical then negotiate with them for an alternative future stay at either a better price or more nights.

Out of interest is it a chain hotel or an independent ?

elsien

k3lvc said:

Had you pre-booked on a gamble that said event may be announced or is your booking/stay completely unconnected.

If unconnected then negotiate with them for an alternative future stay at either a better price or more nights.

Out of interest is it a chain hotel or an independent ?

Won't work if OP is visiting for another reason that needs to be on that date - family event for example?

k3lvc

elsien said:

k3lvc said:

Had you pre-booked on a gamble that said event may be announced or is your booking/stay completely unconnected.

If unconnected then negotiate with them for an alternative future stay at either a better price or more nights.

Out of interest is it a chain hotel or an independent ?

Won't work if OP is visiting for another reason that needs to be on that date - family event for example?

Good point - I knew what I meant - post corrected now

cybergirl98

I’d booked tickets for a specific family reason that can’t be changed and unable to stay with them or nearby now. 

They haven’t cancelled it yet so going to wait a few more weeks and see what happens. I cant book anywhere now anyways with the prices

pogofish

Edinburgh can be bad for this IME - Its happened to me several times now, with hotels from several good/high demand companies so I hope the sharp practice isn't spreading.

Their typical MO is to come back fairly shortly before the date but too late to easily re-book somewhere nearby, at a similar rate. Claiming a "mistake" in the original booking and offering me "alternative" accommodation in some vermin-ridden tourbus dorm or a guesthouse out in the sticks or to give me the room I'd originally booked for umpteen times the price.

They can then be very slow to refund when told what to do with their "offer."

Because of it happening so many times, in recent years, I've just stuck to the chain hotels - Premier Inn/Travelodge etc and never had a booking dishonoured.  Which says something.

snowbird20

i cannot imagine they are allowed to do that.  When you paid for your room, you effected a 'contract'.  

elsien

snowbird20 said:

i cannot imagine they are allowed to do that.  When you paid for your room, you effected a 'contract'.  

Contracts usually have wriggle room. The OP needs to be clear on whether the hotel has cancelled or not before they get there, because they last thing they want is to arrive, be told there is no room and then not be able to afford the alternative increased prices. 

p00hsticks

elsien said:

snowbird20 said:

i cannot imagine they are allowed to do that.  When you paid for your room, you effected a 'contract'.  

Contracts usually have wriggle room. The OP needs to be clear on whether the hotel has cancelled or not before they get there, because they last thing they want is to arrive, be told there is no room and then not be able to afford the alternative increased prices. 

I'd agree - the OP shouldn't wait until the last minute and assume that because they haven't cancelled the booking themselves it has to be available when they turn up, because from the sounds of it it's highly likely that it won't be. Their best course of action is probably to push for the apatment owner to cancel now and provide an alternative via Expedia if necessary.

Hotels will always have clauses in their contracts that enable them to turn booked customers away at the last minute - sometimes it's necessary due to unexpected catastrohes such as flooding etc. Hotels can also overbook on the assumption that not everyone pre-booked will actually turn up. As pogofish says, this is where the larger hotel chains tend to come into their own as they'll usually say that they will try to provide alternative accomoation in one of their other nearby locations in such cases.

cybergirl98

Hi everyone, I already can’t afford it the price hikes so not sure what I’m going to do. I haven’t heard anything further to say it’s cancelled so it’s still showing as booked, I have free cancellation for a while yet so I’m going to wait and then possibly cancel just before the free cancellation ends, at least it will reduce their chances of scamming someone else 

onashoestring

I can not see the benefit of cancelling yourself ( unless you no longer want to go ) 

If the hotel do go ahead and cancel - then you will be entitled to a full refunded in full . If the hotel does not cancel you can go ahead with your planned stay .

Am I missing something?