Hotel refund

Undervalued

Fourstars59 said:

Hi,
If I cancelled a hotel booking 48 hours before a stay due to awful reviews, should I be able to get my money back?
We were taking children and the reviews mentioned drug taking, unsafe bunk beds for children, filthy dirty rooms etc. (We only noticed these after booking).
We wanted to find an alternative, more suitable hotel so went through booking.com who contacted the hotel on our behalf but a refund was refused. As we didn't stay or use their services, could I submit a charge back claim through my bank?
Thank you

The hotel would most likely challenge that. It is important to understand the the bank does not (cannot) make any judgement on the quality of the product or service when dealing with a chargeback. It simply applies what the banking regulations require. A bank is not a court of law!

Even if you did get a refund that wasn't reclaimed via a chargeback the hotel could still sue you for their losses.

Regarding reviews, what you read might be right or it might be wrong. Or it might have been right when it was written but the problems have since been corrected. You simply don't know. Personally, I ignore 1 and 5 star reviews and only consider the sensible / genuine sounding ones in-between. Even then I add a pinch of salt!