Need guidance on refund from Credit Card company over missold Hotel booking.

Charsiu

Happy New Year all, I need some guidance on next steps as my credit card company has rejected my claim against a booking agent on a Hotel that I have essentially been mis-sold on.

To remain coherent and concise, here are the bullet points of events in chronological order:

July

• I booked a hotel for a stay in December in Asia for 5 days, all paid on the credit card for about £950 GBP. Company I paid is Prestigia. All ages of my party were specified during the booking.

• I emailed the hotel directly regarding my reservation, as I wanted to check/ensure on the bedding arrangements as I'm travelling with kids.

• Hotel responded regarding the beds and also informed me that as one child is 13, I have to pay an additional $650 per night (£65) as they are counted as an adult. Over five nights, this makes the booking about 20-25% more than what I paid.

• Emailed Prestigia of this "hidden" charge, they said to pick up the invoice and then they will look into it, but as the booking was in December, I insisted on clarification now and not to wait and deal with the hassle after the holiday.

• Days later they confirmed that they reached out to the Hotel and that this was indeed the case as was the hotel's policy, but at no point during the booking was this stated. The agent offered to help me cancel the booking.

September

After weeks of back and forth and them not honouring to cancel/refund me and to give them "more time" I finally initiated a chargeback/dispute with my credit card company. Funds were frozen.

November

Prestigia provided a cropped screen shot of "additional" charges supposedly of this additional charge for 13+ as evidence, which I had apparently accepted before booking. This is categorically untrue! None of my email receipts, booking confirmations, nor their website portal for my booking lists this additional charge. The screenshot actually looks like something from Excel.

December

• I submitted video evidence of me on Prestigia's website, reviewing my booking and no where on the platform is the additional charges listed.

• Whilst away on the actual holiday, I emailed the hotel directly just to see if I actually still had a reservation (curiousity), they confirmed that it was cancelled and I had no bookings.

• I returned home yesterday and the Credit Card company sent me a letter whilst I was away, and they have rejected my claim. Citing my claim exceeding the timescale stipulated under the MasterCard Rules and Regulations.

• They also added that under Section 75, they stated that the booking was made through a third party, essentially meaning that the Debtor-Creditor-Supplier change is broken and I can't make a claim either.

I need guidance on the next step, note that the credit card company doesn't yet know that the Hotel I intended to stay at actually had no reservation for me, presumably cancelled by Prestigia despite taking my money during the dispute. Can I raise a new claim for there being no service provided with the hotel's email as evidence?

Woodstok2000

Hve you had final confirmation ftom Prestigia that they wont be providing any refund?

Section 75 does need a direct 2 party link, so uing a booking agent usually invalidates the cover.

You could try a chargeback. That has a shorter time limit, but the time limit starts when you expected to receive the service, not when you made the booking.

Charsiu

Prestigia never explicitly stated they won't provide a refund in black and white text, but their consistent ignoring of my requests prior to chargeback is basically refusal.

As of right now we have gone beyond the dates for which the service was booked for (26th - 31st Dec) and the credit card company already refused a chargeback as above - do you mean trying a second chargeback for failing to provide the service? i.e. the Hotel no longer having a booking for me.

Grumpy_chap

Did you actually stay at this hotel?

Okell

Charsiu said:

... July

• I booked a hotel for a stay in December in Asia for 5 days, all paid on the credit card for about £950 GBP. Company I paid is Prestigia. All ages of my party were specified during the booking.

• I emailed the hotel directly regarding my reservation, as I wanted to check/ensure on the bedding arrangements as I'm travelling with kids.

• Hotel responded regarding the beds and also informed me that as one child is 13, I have to pay an additional $650 per night (£65) as they are counted as an adult. Over five nights, this makes the booking about 20-25% more than what I paid...

Why did you feel it necessary to check the arrangements at that time, after you'd made the booking?  Were you concerned you might have overlooked something?

Charsiu said:

...

• Days later they confirmed that they reached out to the Hotel and that this was indeed the case as was the hotel's policy, but at no point during the booking was this stated. The agent offered to help me cancel the booking.

September

After weeks of back and forth and them not honouring to cancel/refund me and to give them "more time" I finally initiated a chargeback/dispute with my credit card company. Funds were frozen...

So when Prestigia offered to cancel the booking, did you instruct them to cancel but they didn't?

What were the cancellation terms in the T&Cs of the original booking?

Okell

And can you go back to the website and do a test booking to look at the T&Cs?

Dunno if it's possible to use the wayback machine to check T&Cs in July?)

Charsiu

Okell said:

Charsiu said:

... July

• I booked a hotel for a stay in December in Asia for 5 days, all paid on the credit card for about £950 GBP. Company I paid is Prestigia. All ages of my party were specified during the booking.

• I emailed the hotel directly regarding my reservation, as I wanted to check/ensure on the bedding arrangements as I'm travelling with kids.

• Hotel responded regarding the beds and also informed me that as one child is 13, I have to pay an additional $650 per night (£65) as they are counted as an adult. Over five nights, this makes the booking about 20-25% more than what I paid...

Why did you feel it necessary to check the arrangements at that time, after you'd made the booking?  Were you concerned you might have overlooked something?

Charsiu said:

...

• Days later they confirmed that they reached out to the Hotel and that this was indeed the case as was the hotel's policy, but at no point during the booking was this stated. The agent offered to help me cancel the booking.

September

After weeks of back and forth and them not honouring to cancel/refund me and to give them "more time" I finally initiated a chargeback/dispute with my credit card company. Funds were frozen...

So when Prestigia offered to cancel the booking, did you instruct them to cancel but they didn't?

What were the cancellation terms in the T&Cs of the original booking?

We're 2 adults, a young teen and a child, I needed to ensure the arrangements were that of two large Twin beds, etc. 

Yes, I explicitly requested for a refund as it was a clear and straightforward mis-representation of the true cost and almost 25% extra on top of what I had paid already.

Their site curiously lacks any thorough T&Cs as well, but on the invoice:

"Cancellation policies for Premium Room - 2 pers., 2 children (11 years, 13 years) : From Wednesday 23 July 2025, 10:35 PM to Friday 26 December 2025, 11:59 PM (Arrival date): 21% of the total amount of your stay will be charged to your credit card. All the dates are expressed using the following time zone: UTC"

Charsiu

Grumpy_chap said:

Did you actually stay at this hotel?

I did not, I made an alternate booking at another hotel as I simply didn't want to wait for this to be resolved first, it's over the Christmas period, so availability was slim.

In theory, I should of had this hotel room as well, since they had not refunded me and still had to provide me with accommodaton. But, upon contacting the hotel, they confirmed I no longer had the reservation despite still having my full payment.

Woodstok2000

Charsiu said:

Prestigia never explicitly stated they won't provide a refund in black and white text, but their consistent ignoring of my requests prior to chargeback is basically refusal.

As of right now we have gone beyond the dates for which the service was booked for (26th - 31st Dec) and the credit card company already refused a chargeback as above - do you mean trying a second chargeback for failing to provide the service? i.e. the Hotel no longer having a booking for me.

You mentioned they rejected an s75 claim, rightly as you used a 3rd party. However you may still be able to process a chargeback  claim against the third party. Get back in touch with the bank and see if that is an option...

Charsiu

Woodstok2000 said:

Charsiu said:

Prestigia never explicitly stated they won't provide a refund in black and white text, but their consistent ignoring of my requests prior to chargeback is basically refusal.

As of right now we have gone beyond the dates for which the service was booked for (26th - 31st Dec) and the credit card company already refused a chargeback as above - do you mean trying a second chargeback for failing to provide the service? i.e. the Hotel no longer having a booking for me.

You mentioned they rejected an s75 claim, rightly as you used a 3rd party. However you may still be able to process a chargeback  claim against the third party. Get back in touch with the bank and see if that is an option...

I haven't made a S75 claim yet, but they said in the same rejection letter that if I did, it would not be successful either due to Prestigia being a third party.

Crazy, that means the likes of Expedia, Booking.com, lastminute.com and so forth are never accountable for anything they sell.

powerful_Rogue

Charsiu said:

Woodstok2000 said:

Charsiu said:

Prestigia never explicitly stated they won't provide a refund in black and white text, but their consistent ignoring of my requests prior to chargeback is basically refusal.

As of right now we have gone beyond the dates for which the service was booked for (26th - 31st Dec) and the credit card company already refused a chargeback as above - do you mean trying a second chargeback for failing to provide the service? i.e. the Hotel no longer having a booking for me.

You mentioned they rejected an s75 claim, rightly as you used a 3rd party. However you may still be able to process a chargeback  claim against the third party. Get back in touch with the bank and see if that is an option...

I haven't made a S75 claim yet, but they said in the same rejection letter that if I did, it would not be successful either due to Prestigia being a third party.

Crazy, that means the likes of Expedia, Booking.com, lastminute.com and so forth are never accountable for anything they sell.

They are, through the courts.