Hotel raised rate after deposit paid

SpreadsheetFiddler

I'm attending a convention next month at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole that was postponed from last year. Hotel bookings were made through the code for that convention, and required a deposit to be paid, equal to the amount of the first night. Email confirmation was received that detailed the nightly rate and total cost.

This reservation was automatically transferred to the new dates when the convention was postponed (same booking reference) but updated email confirmations were never sent out. Now that attendees are requesting them, they are arriving with no nightly rate specified, but with a total cost around £50 higher.

Are the hotel able to do this? A) Without actually informing anyone, and after money has changed hands in the form of a deposit? They aren't budging when attendees are asking them to reduce the rate to what they agreed to, just repeating that the rate has changed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

onashoestring

What were the T&Cs of the original booking - did it allow for refunds for cancellations / postponements . Or was the move of the booking & deposit to a later date a goodwill gesture ? 

 What were the T&Cs at that time you were notified of the postponement? It’s possible that there was a clause stating that no refund would be given but deposits would be transferred to the new date and any excess would need to be paid . 

DullGreyGuy

Who was responsible for the postponement? 

Have you spoken to the convention organisers? 

tightauldgit

Yeah I think it's going to come down to the terms and conditions on the booking and what was agreed regarding the postponement. 

It doesn't seem unreasonable that if you move a hotel booking you pay the rate for the dates you move it to but I do agree that they should have made this clear at the time of moving the dates. 

On the other hand if they moved the booking at the same rate and have since increased the prices and want to retroactively apply it to your bookings then that seems a bit off.