Booking. com Holiday accomodation and host issues with a twist

norfolkandproud

My situation is as follows My holiday accommodation  in Portugal  was booked via  Booking.com in good faith and paid for in advance, arrangements were made for a late arrival between 2359 - 0100. This was  due to the flight arrival  time and also factoring in the  collection of hire car and then driving the  journey to the accommodation.  Due to problems regarding car hire collection which were beyond my control arrival at the accommodation was running one hour behind schedule. During the car  journey to the accomodation my wife received an aggressive phone call from the owner which  was both abrupt and rude, demanding to know why we had not arrived,   despite telling him we had problems  he   challeged the time it took to get from the airport to his accommodation. This caused some distress and was  upsefting for my wife.  Upon arrival I  phoned him to say we were outside. His reponse was, you are too late i am now in my bed. i said to him in that case we we have no option but to sleep outside in  our car.  A  few minutes later he appeared at the secure gate  and opened it.   He went into  a loud  unreasonable rant regarding our late arrival.   My wife and i were in disbelief,  i told him he was  a very rude and arrogant man. My wife added if this is the way you speak to guests you are in the wrong business  He gave us the keys and just walked off . Saying  he would take this further and would be speaking to booking.com in  in the mornning . After a few hours sleep early in the morrning  i received a email from my card provider  saying our accomodation had been refunded and another message  from booking.com re cancellation  I spent the next two hours trying desperately  to find alternative accomodation.  My wife was in floods of tears and re packed our clothes . This was a very bad start to our holiday and totally unacceptable.  A short while later after we had packed the owner  came to our door, my wife was visibly upset  he was now  calmer  and offered us breakfast. We continued our stay but  these events spolied our holiday,  in truth if it was possible we would have just returned home that day.  Further  during our stay we politely repeatedly highlighted the probem that there was no hot water in the accomodation for washing and showering. The owner explained these were known issues with  the plumbing and the  the supply of hot water. His solution was just keep running the tap. After running the tap for ten minutes there was still no hot water the issue was not resolved. 

The position one  month after returning home, is that  having  now been refunded by the accommodation cost in full, which incidentally was never discussed at the time   The owner is now seeking his full  payment,  I firmly believe his cancellation of our booking was made in  a burst  of  temper and as a  means to intimidate us,  when we were in a vulnerable situation. It was only when he saw the distress he had caused  my wife , that eventually softened his position. This was for us  a very unpleasant situation.  I do not feel that the service we initially paid for came upto our reasonable expectations. It is for these reasons i wish to make a reduced payment for the accommodation and level of service received.  Normally these issues involve a request for a refund from the customer, my situation is the reverse a belated request for payment for a service that did not me our expectations. Does anyone have advise on the legal position i find myself in.    

 

 

eskbanker

From a legal point of view, you received a service and should pay for it, but if there was a breach of contract in terms of facilities not being available then it's not unreasonable to expect some sort of discount for lack of hot water, although if you continued to stay there without it then that weakens your position.  The fact that there was a bit of a bust-up on arrival might have been awkward but personally it wouldn't seem like justification for any price reduction, so were there any other deficiencies that were flagged to the owner (or agent) during your stay?

eskbanker

norfolkandproud said:

Your response  appears measured and reasonable, my only position of strength at the moment is that i owe them money and i am not trying to get a refund for money they have in their account .  Ultimately i accept i may have to pay the full amount or be black listed by Booking.com or more seriously face some sort of threat of legal action, for not paying for the service by  with holding payment. so i feel this is the the time to try and negotiate a  reduced payment. With that in mind I  have offered them an amount i feel is proportionate to the service provided. whether that is false hope i don't know  but its worth a go. Thanks for your response and advice . Any other comments welcome.  

Yes, it's better to be in the position of holding the money rather than being the one chasing it, and as you say now is the (last) time if you're going to try to negotiate something - what percentage have you offered?

Theleak250

I’m a bit confused, did the owner cancel your trip while you were staying and then didn’t ask you to leave?

saajan_12

norfolkandproud said:

So yes we had the accommodation but it was tense we didn’t enjoy the facilities and went out everyday to avoid him. A month later he realises he doesn’t have the money and is probably regretting an impulse cancellation that triggered the refund. My small position of strength is I am not asking for a refund while he holds the money. I hold the money . So what kind of reduction would be fair if any ? In a restaurant you would just get up and walk out if someone yelled at you if you arrived late. Arriving at you accommodation late and tired in the night after a difficult journey is different you don’t have many options.  

How long was your stay overall? Agree you don't have many choices on that first night, but you could have moved hotels from the 2nd day and had a perfectly pleasant stay. Especially since he had refunded you. 
In the restaurant example, you would leave without payment BEFORE you've eaten. If you do end up eating, then I think you'd pay in full, not tip and perhaps they'd give you a free dessert. There's no free lunch (or even 50% lunch). 

I think an apology and voucher for next time, or 10% off (more akin to a tip) is the most I'd expect. The substantial parts ie place to stay, keep belongings, have breakfast, etc were given, so you should be paying the majority of the cost. 

eskbanker

norfolkandproud said:

Stuck my neck out  for a cheeky 50% and will see if I get any offer or flat refusal then rethink my options

If the owner is as volatile as you suggest, then I can just imagine his reaction to a lowball 'offer' like that!

eskbanker

norfolkandproud said:

One thing i should have added to eskbanker, hopefully i am not being naive here , but my stake for compensation is via  Customer Services at Booking.com, i have no direct contact with the host,  I am not sure whether they seek approval from The Host or act independently in any decision. One thing i am sure of is from  feedback on other sites  booking.com they don't appear to act quickly. 

My understanding is that they'll state accommodation bookings to be a contract between customer and host, with the booking.com platform just being used to facilitate the arrangement, but if you've been dealing with booking.com all the way through (and in particular advising them of problems with the accommodation) then there is an argument that they should be involved in resolution.

norfolkandproud

Thanks again

Theleak250

Personally, I would argue he ended the agreement when he cancelled your stay. So you owe nothing. Let him come at you with legal action if he wishes. I’m not sure of the local laws but they may side with locals out there! He needs to be chasing booking.com not you.

diveunderthebonnet

Theleak250 said:

Personally, I would argue he ended the agreement when he cancelled your stay. So you owe nothing. Let him come at you with legal action if he wishes. I’m not sure of the local laws but they may side with locals out there! He needs to be chasing booking.com not you.

If the poster refuses to pay pity help the next UK guests who book his accommodation .
Also a few heated words and lack of hot water in my eyes does not justify not paying or even offering 50%.