Xmas Day Lunch cancellation. Refund rights?

galvinonthewing

Family of 5 booked for Xmas day lunch at local hotel at £135 per head and paid in advance. Mother in law was taken ill suddenly with Covid and hospitalised. As a result, we had to cancel the booking. Cancelled one person the day before and the other four on the morning of Xmas Day. 

Hotel have said no refund or credit as food had been ordered and it was too late to resell the table.  I had hoped that they might offer a partial refund or credit, especially as we’ve dined there several times before on Xmas Day. No booking conditions/cancellation rights were stated or provided in the booking process.

Any thoughts on how I might change the hotel’s mind? 

Keep_pedalling

Unfortunately you are unlikely to do so, they will have had no time to give your place to other customers and the food and staff still need t9 be paid for. 

user1977

I also doubt you have much in the way of consumer rights here - in theory they ought to mitigate their loss, and I guess at least some of the food/drink would be resellable another time. But they may also have lost out on extra sales on top of whatever the £135 included?

You can of course try to point out you're regular customers etc.

Hoenir

If you had given more notice of cancellation then you may have received more preferable treatment. The morning of Xmas day gave the business no opportunity to resell the table. Why should a business give it's profit margin away ?  On what is one their most important trading days of the year. Customer loyalty is more than just wallet deep. 

cymruchris

With that short notice, I'd expect the only thing you might get if you ask nicely and point out that you are longstanding regular customers would be a small token gesture of goodwill towards a future booking.

Alderbank

You say that you have eaten there on Christmas Day before, therefore at least a year ago, but that is of no relevance. Even if you had also eaten there on Easter Day and Trafalgar Day as well, would be of no relevance.

You cancelled a matter of hours before the lunch on Christmas Day.
The hotel said food had been ordered and it was too late to resell the table. You ask how you might change the hotel's mind about what appear to be facts?

That's straightforward. Like refuting any claim you just need evidence. You simply need evidence that the hotel did not order food for that meal until Christmas Day morning and the hotel had a list of customers who were ready, able and willing to take your places on Christmas Day.  If the hotel do not refund you, you take that evidence to the small claims court.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. Covid is unpleasant, I hope she is recovering well. If I had been your m-i-l I would have said to the family, 'Please, please don't let me spoil your enjoyment of Christmas Day. We'll all be together next Christmas. Here's £40 for another bottle of bubbly to toast absent friends.'

PHK

I'm sorry to hear that your mother in law was poorly.  I hope she is recovered.  

£135 each is a lot to lose, so I can understand why you want to get something back. 

However £675 is also a lot for the hotel to lose, especially because at that price this would be fresh food (not so easily sold at a different date) and they'll still need to pay staff. 

As there doesn't seem to have been any formal conditions to the contract then the law says that the hotel must mitigate their loss (and so should you) They'd keep what they can't get back.  You'd be paid the difference.

As an example, if you'd cancelled a month before then the hotel would easily have resold the table and you should receive a partial refund. 

As it happens the food had already been bought and received. The staff would be present and need to be paid. Hotel food generally has a gross profit margin of 20 to 30 percent but the more expensive the meal the percentage tends to be less. The law would also allow them to keep a reasonable profit as if you'd turned up but taking into account that they didn't have to serve that table. Although it was probably already laid for 4 by Xmas morning. I think the best you could hope for is a gesture of£5 to £10 per person. (But see below)

So if you were to take this further you'd need to show that they could have re-used the food, they could have avoided staff costs, heating lighting etc OR that they could have resold the table. 

As I mentioned above, you also had a duty to mitigate your loss. So you'd also have to show that the rest of the party couldn't still have turned up. There may be perfectly valid reasons but you'd need to make the case that it was reasonable . If it went to court, it's possible that you'd have costs awarded. 

Taken altogether, I am afraid I don't think pursuing this is a worthwhile route to take. 

Personally, I would write to them explaining the circumstances. Apologise for the last minute cancellation and ask them politely if there is a possibility of a small discount on a future booking so that you can all enjoy there food and atmosphere together. (This is a case where flattery is better than moaning)

Murphybear

My favourite carvery is open for Christmas menus in December.  They are closed on Christmas Day until January 5th to give their hard working staff a decent Christmas break.     You have to book for December, pay a non refundable deposit and fill out a menu choice form.  They specify that “no refunds for the deposit includes Covid”. 

born_again

galvinonthewing said:

Family of 5 booked for Xmas day lunch at local hotel at £135 per head and paid in advance. Mother in law was taken ill suddenly with Covid and hospitalised. As a result, we had to cancel the booking. Cancelled one person the day before and the other four on the morning of Xmas Day. 

Hotel have said no refund or credit as food had been ordered and it was too late to resell the table.  I had hoped that they might offer a partial refund or credit, especially as we’ve dined there several times before on Xmas Day. No booking conditions/cancellation rights were stated or provided in the booking process.

Any thoughts on how I might change the hotel’s mind? 

Hope she is getting better.
Once a year is hardly a regular customer. Once a week, maybe.

Is there any reason that the other 4 could not go for the meal?

You can ask if you can offset against another trip for a meal, or a % discount adding that given covid, they would not have wanted people complaining later that they caught it there. Although people no longer have to isolate with covid. 

But would guess that food cost & staff wages are their driving force & T/C will say no refunds, which a cancelation on the day is not giving them chance to fill again, as no one would turn up hoping for a meal on christmas day.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

In terms of consumer rights this falls under terms which may be unfair from the CRA regarding 

A term which has the object or effect of requiring a consumer who fails to fulfil his obligations under the contract to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.

Where the term is classed as unfair the ordinary position applies meaning the hotel can retain either net costs or loss of profit but not both so you could ask them which they are seeking retain from the payment. 

From a more pragmatic viewpoint it would have been best to ask if you could have popped in to collect the food as takeaway, if they agreed you would have still paid a lot but at least would have some food, if they refused perhaps that would give you a better position to argue as it would perhaps appear they aren't being reasonable.

In terms of them buying the food I think it's a difficult one as it's Christmas, anything that would appear on a regular menu wouldn't be a cost, if they run their Christmas menu for walk ins during this period between Christmas and New Year again they could sell the food to someone else. 

It is tricky as you've cancelled so close to the date but if you want to chase this as above ask whether they wish to keep costs or lost profit from the advanced payment made, whatever they pick, something is due back.

Hope your MIL is doing OK  

RefluentBeans

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

In terms of consumer rights this falls under terms which may be unfair from the CRA regarding 

A term which has the object or effect of requiring a consumer who fails to fulfil his obligations under the contract to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.

Where the term is classed as unfair the ordinary position applies meaning the hotel can retain either net costs or loss of profit but not both so you could ask them which they are seeking retain from the payment. 

From a more pragmatic viewpoint it would have been best to ask if you could have popped in to collect the food as takeaway, if they agreed you would have still paid a lot but at least would have some food, if they refused perhaps that would give you a better position to argue as it would perhaps appear they aren't being reasonable.

In terms of them buying the food I think it's a difficult one as it's Christmas, anything that would appear on a regular menu wouldn't be a cost, if they run their Christmas menu for walk ins during this period between Christmas and New Year again they could sell the food to someone else. 

It is tricky as you've cancelled so close to the date but if you want to chase this as above ask whether they wish to keep costs or lost profit from the advanced payment made, whatever they pick, something is due back.

Hope your MIL is doing OK  

Why would this be an unfair term?