Travel Lodge Rip Off

cymruchris

pinkshoes said:

Belenus said:

pinkshoes said:

As the date has been and gone I'm guessing you perhaps didn't try and re-arrange it, as usually this can only be done BEFORE the date.

Unless I have missed something or slept for a month, the 3rd June is still one month away. 28th April was the date the booking was made.

I booked a room in Cambridge for the 3rd June for £110 on the Travel Lodge website on the 28th April.

Doh! Half asleep! My brain was telling me the room was booked FOR the 28th April!

In which case, the OP can either find another way to get to Cambridge or move it to another date! 

Yes - they can amend the date - although I believe there's a fee - and if on the new date chosen the rates are higher, you have to pay the difference. There are options. Including as has been said taking a bus. I usually take the train from Wales to London, but recently tried Megabus and National Express - both went smoothly for a lot less money - but did take a little longer. I planned it into my schedule though and it worked out well. Maybe the OP can look at Megabus and National Express options as well.

Caz3121

title of post is not accurate. It is not a 'rip off' since you specifically chose a non-refundable rate.
The fact that you decided to cancel after a short period is not relevant since there is no cooling off period.
Since covid I no longer book non-refundable rates at hotels, the difference in cost is often minimal to get a refundable rate

Alderbank

Retaining the full payment after cancellation is neither fair nor reasonable. It would likely be considered an unfair contract term in a consumer contract and therefore not enforceable.

Not just my opinion but that of the Competition and Markets Authority, a Government department.

The CMA expands on this:

• If you cancel the contract, the business is generally only entitled to keep or receive an amount sufficient to cover their actual losses that directly result from your cancellation (eg costs already incurred or loss of profit).

• Businesses must take reasonable steps to reduce their losses (eg by re-selling the goods or services).

• Non-refundable deposits should only be a small percentage of the total price.

• Cancellation charges must be a genuine estimate of the business’ direct loss.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cancelling-goods-or-services-guide-for-consumers/cancelling-goods-or-services#:~:text=If%20you%20cancel%20the%20contract%2C%20the%20business%20is%20generally%20only,incurred%20or%20loss%20of%20profit).

So you should never be charged for food not taken (eg breakfast) and if they manage to re-let the room their costs should be just be admin plus any extra discounts given.

Megabus and National Express are a good idea.
However Megabus in particular is very popular even in normal times and on rail strike days is likely to be fully booked now (like the Travel Lodge hopefully!)

unforeseen

Not just my opinion but that of the Competition and Markets Authority, a Government department.

However that is still only an opinion

Aylesbury_Duck

Where's the "rip-off"?

cannugec5

I made a mistake and booked a non refundable room at an airport hotel for the night before a flight. Within 30 minutes it was pointed out to me by my clever husband that I had booked it at the wrong airport! 

I emailed immediately, acknowledging my own stupidity and the fact I knew it was non refundable but I’d really like to rebook at the correct airport. I got an immediate refund. 

I was aware that it was not a right and really appreciated their goodwill. 

Belenus

cannugec5 said:

I made a mistake and booked a non refundable room at an airport hotel for the night before a flight. Within 30 minutes it was pointed out to me by my clever husband that I had booked it at the wrong airport! 

I emailed immediately, acknowledging my own stupidity and the fact I knew it was non refundable but I’d really like to rebook at the correct airport. I got an immediate refund. 

I was aware that it was not a right and really appreciated their goodwill. 

We made a not dissimilar mistake.   

We wanted to visit Porto in Portugal for a week. We looked at a number of hotels and decided that the Fábrica do Chocolate | Hotel Chocolataria Museu, a hotel converted from a chocolate factory, might be fun so we booked it. We also booked return flights to and from Porto Airport.

The day before travel we checked out the costs of a taxi or a bus from the airport to our hotel. We then realised that the Hotel Chocolate was not in Porto but in Viana do Castelo, about 50 miles to the north.

In our defence both towns are on a river estuary and we had misinterpreted the map when we were booking.

Fortunately we had booked through Booking.com and they agreed to change our booking to a Porto hotel. We only had to pay the small extra cost of the Porto hotel.

The holiday was excellent. Porto is a lovely place to visit.

tightauldgit

Alderbank said:

Retaining the full payment after cancellation is neither fair nor reasonable. It would likely be considered an unfair contract term in a consumer contract and therefore not enforceable.

Not just my opinion but that of the Competition and Markets Authority, a Government department.

The CMA expands on this:

• If you cancel the contract, the business is generally only entitled to keep or receive an amount sufficient to cover their actual losses that directly result from your cancellation (eg costs already incurred or loss of profit).

• Businesses must take reasonable steps to reduce their losses (eg by re-selling the goods or services).

• Non-refundable deposits should only be a small percentage of the total price.

• Cancellation charges must be a genuine estimate of the business’ direct loss.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cancelling-goods-or-services-guide-for-consumers/cancelling-goods-or-services#:~:text=If%20you%20cancel%20the%20contract%2C%20the%20business%20is%20generally%20only,incurred%20or%20loss%20of%20profit).

So you should never be charged for food not taken (eg breakfast) and if they manage to re-let the room their costs should be just be admin plus any extra discounts given.

Megabus and National Express are a good idea.
However Megabus in particular is very popular even in normal times and on rail strike days is likely to be fully booked now (like the Travel Lodge hopefully!)

Unless the Travelodge sells out though they can (rightly) claim that your room has not been resold (and how often do Travelodges sell out?) and they've lost the full value of your booking. 

The fact that so many hotels do offer non-refundable rooms seems to suggest that it is indeed considered reasonable (and legal) to do so. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Alderbank said:

Retaining the full payment after cancellation is neither fair nor reasonable. It would likely be considered an unfair contract term in a consumer contract and therefore not enforceable.

Not just my opinion but that of the Competition and Markets Authority, a Government department.

The CMA expands on this:

• If you cancel the contract, the business is generally only entitled to keep or receive an amount sufficient to cover their actual losses that directly result from your cancellation (eg costs already incurred or loss of profit).

• Businesses must take reasonable steps to reduce their losses (eg by re-selling the goods or services).

• Non-refundable deposits should only be a small percentage of the total price.

• Cancellation charges must be a genuine estimate of the business’ direct loss.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cancelling-goods-or-services-guide-for-consumers/cancelling-goods-or-services#:~:text=If%20you%20cancel%20the%20contract%2C%20the%20business%20is%20generally%20only,incurred%20or%20loss%20of%20profit).

So you should never be charged for food not taken (eg breakfast) and if they manage to re-let the room their costs should be just be admin plus any extra discounts given.

Megabus and National Express are a good idea.
However Megabus in particular is very popular even in normal times and on rail strike days is likely to be fully booked now (like the Travel Lodge hopefully!)

This is sound advice.

I do wondered what their loss of profit is though as it must be a high % of the fee given most of the hotel services are there anyway rather than room specific.

I know they have to attempt to find another customer before claiming loss of profit but I would have thought unless the hotel (or perhaps that room type) is fully booked for the night booked it's hard to say if they replaced the OP's booking or the other customer would have booked regardless. 

You'd think they just keep 80% of the fee to stay on the right side of the legislation rather than not complying with it by stating non-refundable. 

baser999

If OP can’t make the booking because of travel issues and they won’t refund, then the only options would seem to be to reschedule to a more convenient date, see if there’s friends or family that could use it (Cambridge after all is a nice place to visit) or advertise it on say eBay if that facility is still available.