Booked a 4 star hotel through booking.com which clearly isn't 4 star but can't get anything back

joncombe

In April of this year I booked a hotel on booking.com for a stay in Belfast a few days ago. I set the filter to only show hotels and only 3, 4 or 5 star rated hotels. I booked a hotel that was listed as 4 star (and over £100 a night, so certainly what I consider a 4 star price range).

However the hotel was exceptionally basic and did not provide any of the facilities listed as required for a 4 star hotel in Northern Ireland. It turns out it is actually previously student accommodation and it seems nothing much was done to convert it to a hotel apart from change the signs to say it is now a hotel. The rooms were very basic and small. There was no restaurant or bar (facilities required to be classed as 4 star in Northern Ireland). The breakfast was a few pre-packed croissants and cereal served in a shared kitchen on each floor that was from when it was student accommodation. The kitchen was locked outside of breakfast hours (depsite advertising one of the facilities of the rooms as "shared kitchen"). There was a single table with 6 seats around it which was the only dining facilities in the hotel and you were expected to wash up afterwards. The kitchen was shared by all the rooms on that floor (at least 10) so not enough space. Basically it was a hostel with private rooms, not a 4 star hotel that was claimed.

Rooms were not serviced daily (again, required in NI to be classed as a hotel, let alone a 4* hotel) and when they were serviced very little was done. This was only once every 3 days and if you wanted the room serviced daily you had to pay £25 a day extra. For example when my room was "serviced" used mugs were not cleaned or replaced, but just left on the counter. The room was very hot, there was no thermostat to control the temperature and the window only opened a crack. The bed was against a wall.

Basically it was extremely basic, but advertised as 4 stars which it clearly wasn't. I complained to the hotel who told me the photos on the website and booking websites were accurate so it was my fault if I hadn't checked them. Whilst they do show the room, the show nothing else, e.g. the breakfast. When they sent me an email asking me how my stay was I responded with my complaint but I got a very short response which was "Your comments have been noted and shared with our management team so that we can review where improvements are necessary."

I compalined to booking.com that the hotel was clearly not the 4 star hotel they are stating it to be. The hotel was listed on the booking confirmation email as 4 star and is still advertised as such on the website and still shows if I search for 4 star hotels in Belfast. However they put me on hold, then cut off the call a few minutes later. I had to call back and go through the whole process of provide all the details again to the AI agent (required before you can get to speak to a person) who then asked for all the same details I had just provided again, despite the AI agent conforming the hotel details and dates of my stay. Then I was told I had booked a "partner" booking so they wern't liable. I escalated to a manager who again said this is a "partner" booking so according to the terms and conditions the booking is with the "partner" not booking.com so they are not liable. I have no idea what this means. All the email I got from the booking are from booking.com and branded as such. The payment on my credit card statement is listed as to "booking.com Amsterdam". They told me that all they did was pass on the payment I made to the hotel, so it's up to the hotel to deal with any complaints I am not happy. So they flat out refuse saying it is a "partner" booking and according to their terms and conditions this means they are not liable. They initially refused to tell me who the supposed "Partner" I was supposed to have booked with was, but eventually told me it was the hotel themselves. This is not so, I booked on booking.com and all the emails are from booking.com and branded as such.

So getting nowhere I contacted my credit card company. They told me as far as they were concerned it was indeed a transaction with booking.com and not the hotel as booking.com had taken the payment BUT because the transaction was more than 120 days ago (it was in April) it was too long ago for me to dispute it, so they could not do a charge back either as there is a 120 day limit! I did explain to both booking.com and the credit card company I am not seeking a 100% refund (I did stay there), but not the full price because the service provided was clearly not as described when I booked and paid for the hotel because it was not up to 4 star standard, or even close.

So I am infuriated. As far as I can see I have been ripped off paying for a hotel advertised as 4 star that is nothing like a 4 star more like a youth hostel, but everyone washes there hands of it and blames someone else. It was over £100 a night so hardly budget hostel prices. I think it is clearly false advertising to claim a hotel is 4 star, but not provide the facilities required of a 4 star hotel and all the companies involve deny responsibility.

What are my options now? Apart from never use booking.com or this particular hotel again? But I can't believe it is legal to advertise a hotel as 4 star which is nothing like a 4 star standard and then all the companies involved (the hotel, booking.com and the card company) all wash their hands of it!

Emmia

For a 4 star hotel in a city I'd be expecting a price closer to £200+ a night rather than £100 a night - did you look at any online reviews before booking e.g. trip advisor, or photos of the rooms and facilities on the website? Or were you solely motivated by price?

Okell

If you paid by credit card and paid over £100 go back to your credit card comapny and tell them you want to pursue a s75 claim and not a chargeback.

Tell them you are pursuing your claim on the basis of misrepresentation.

Put together your evidence showing what facilities a hotel should have to qualify as 4 star, and contrast those requirements with what facilities the hotel actually did - or more importantly did not - provide.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Okell said:

If you paid by credit card and paid over £100 go back to your credit card comapny and tell them you want to pursue a s75 claim and not a chargeback.

Tell them you are pursuing your claim on the basis of misrepresentation.

Put together your evidence showing what facilities a hotel should have to qualify as 4 star, and contrast those requirements with what facilities the hotel actually did - or more importantly did not - provide.

I think Booking.com breaks the link so Section 75 doesn’t apply.

Contract for accommodation will (most likely) be with the accommodation owner.

Whether Booking.com have fulfilled their obligations as an agent I’m not sure, you’d expect them to have accurate information on their website. 

OP out of interest is the 3,4,5 stars based on the type of hotel or something else such as customer reviews? 

user1977

joncombe said:

the facilities listed as required for a 4 star hotel in Northern Ireland...

(facilities required to be classed as 4 star in Northern Ireland)...

Rooms were not serviced daily (again, required in NI to be classed as a hotel, let alone a 4* hotel)

There isn't any mandatory star rating scheme in N Ireland (or, as far as I know, anywhere in the UK), so unless it claimed to have been certified under e.g. a tourist board's inspection scheme then there's nothing specified you can point at there.

Okell

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Okell said:

If you paid by credit card and paid over £100 go back to your credit card comapny and tell them you want to pursue a s75 claim and not a chargeback.

Tell them you are pursuing your claim on the basis of misrepresentation.

Put together your evidence showing what facilities a hotel should have to qualify as 4 star, and contrast those requirements with what facilities the hotel actually did - or more importantly did not - provide.

I think Booking.com breaks the link so Section 75 doesn’t apply.

Contract for accommodation will (most likely) be with the accommodation owner...

Probably right.

One of the reasons I'd never use an intermediary rather than booking direct with the hotel itself.

@joncombe -  what "hotel" was this?

joncombe

I have just realised, April 20th (when I booked the hotel) is NOT over 120 days ago from today. It is 109 days ago. So clearly I was being fobbed off. I will raise it with them again in the morning.

Emmia said:

For a 4 star hotel in a city I'd be expecting a price closer to £200+ a night rather than £100 a night

Really? If I look in Central London (more expensive than Belfast) ok booking.com in a months time for 4 star hotels there a number priced less than I paid and I booked nearly 4 months in advance. So personally the price was what I expected for a 4 star hotel in the area.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP out of interest is the 3,4,5 stars based on the type of hotel or something else such as customer reviews? 

It is based off type of accommodation. It states "The star rating is provided by the property, and is usually determined by an official hotel rating, organisation or another 3rd party". So it is not based off customer reviews.

There is clear information online as to what is required for the various star ratings for a hotel in Northern Ireland here https://www.tourismni.com/globalassets/business-development/quality-and-standards/accommodation-quality-assurance/hotel-grading-guide/tni_criteria_for_hotels.pdf.

I do not think reading that, this hotel would qualify as 2 star and probably not even 1 star. Certainly not 4. 

elsien

“ There was no restaurant or bar.”
Did you do any research at all before booking the hotel because even the slightest website or review search would have  shown you what facilities there were (or weren’t) ?

35har1old

user1977 said:

joncombe said:

the facilities listed as required for a 4 star hotel in Northern Ireland...

(facilities required to be classed as 4 star in Northern Ireland)...

Rooms were not serviced daily (again, required in NI to be classed as a hotel, let alone a 4* hotel)

There isn't any mandatory star rating scheme in N Ireland (or, as far as I know, anywhere in the UK), so unless it claimed to have been certified under e.g. a tourist board's inspection scheme then there's nothing specified you can point at there.

 NI tourist board gives ratings 1-5 which is similar to how the AA rates hotels

Emmia

joncombe said:

I have just realised, April 20th (when I booked the hotel) is NOT over 120 days ago from today. It is 109 days ago. So clearly I was being fobbed off. I will raise it with them again in the morning.

Emmia said:

For a 4 star hotel in a city I'd be expecting a price closer to £200+ a night rather than £100 a night

Really? If I look in Central London (more expensive than Belfast) ok booking.com in a months time for 4 star hotels there a number priced less than I paid and I booked nearly 4 months in advance. So personally the price was what I expected for a 4 star hotel in the area.

I travel a fair bit to various European (usually capital) cities for work and I'll be honest £150 a night is probably about the cheapest I've found recently for a hotel that would probably under your criteria be a 3 or 4 star. 

My minimum is a reasonable bed, good shower, clean. I'm ok with no breakfast/food if there are suitable cafés close by. 

I always check online reviews, trip advisor etc. before booking into a hotel that I've not stayed in before, did you do this?

user1977

35har1old said:

user1977 said:

joncombe said:

the facilities listed as required for a 4 star hotel in Northern Ireland...

(facilities required to be classed as 4 star in Northern Ireland)...

Rooms were not serviced daily (again, required in NI to be classed as a hotel, let alone a 4* hotel)

There isn't any mandatory star rating scheme in N Ireland (or, as far as I know, anywhere in the UK), so unless it claimed to have been certified under e.g. a tourist board's inspection scheme then there's nothing specified you can point at there.

 NI tourist board gives ratings 1-5 which is similar to how the AA rates hotels

Yes, but both are optional schemes. Looking at booking.com's terms:

"We don’t assign star ratings. Depending on local regulations, they’re assigned either by the Service Providers themselves or by independent third parties (e.g. organisations that rate hotels)."