Cannot get refund from hotel booking

alsace-dave · 17 December 2018 at 4:28PM

I used Booking.com to make a hotel booking for next June 2019 in Palma Majorca for 1 night. I was not concentrating, and managed somehow to book 2 rooms for the 1 night, instead of 1 room for 2 adults for 1 night. I immediately realised my error, and tried to cancel within a couple of minutes. However, as it was a special non-refundable rate, I was not able to cancel. My credit card has been charged for the extra room. Despite phone calls and emails to both booking.com and the hotel, they refuse to refund me, even though it was a geniune error by me, and is some 6 or 7 months in advance. Really not happy. Do you think I have any recourse, or do I have to suffer the loss. At around 125 euros, it's not a fortune, but very annoying.

heatherw_01 · 17 December 2018 at 4:30PM

All you could do is see if they would change the dates for you.

jonesMUFCforever · 17 December 2018 at 4:34PM

No case to answer I'm afraid.

Genuine error or not it was a non-refundable rate.
You could send an e mail direct to the hotel to see if they would partial refund you minus Booking.com's commission (17%?) - better than nothing? ( I note you have already tried but did you offer to pay their commission?)

If they don't want to have anything to do with it can you sell it on?

alsace-dave · 18 December 2018 at 11:25AM

I do understand that under the terms of the booking it is non-refundable. However I had hoped that customer service at booking.com together with the hotel would see that this was a genuine mistake, particularly as I tried to recover my mistake within 2 minutes of the booking. I've stayed at the hotel several times in the past and used booking.com frequently. I have offered to pay reasonable admin fees.
I will exercise the only power left to me as a consumer, and will not use the hotel or booking.com again in the future. Fortunately there are plenty of competitors to both.

Westin · 18 December 2018 at 11:44AM

Booking.com can only follow the instructions of the hotel. You should not have any issue with them. They are innocent in this issue.

The hotel holds the key. Only they can waive the second mistake booking. Perhaps try asking them again one more time with a polite request and explaining that you are a repeat guest, still coming but that one of the bookings was a mistake. If they agree to cancel the mistake booking then they can process this via booking.com and a refund applied. Keep in mind that your loyalty to that hotel may be seen as questionable as if truly loyal you would have booked directly with the hotel and therefore avoid them paying booking.con a commission.

Voyager2002 · 18 December 2018 at 12:16PM

Westin wrote: »

if truly loyal you would have booked directly with the hotel and therefore avoid them paying booking.con a commission.

That sounds sensible, but last time I tried to book directly with a place that was also available on Booking.com they ignored my messages, but responded immediately through Booking.com (I was arriving in the middle of the night and so needed to confirm that was OK with them).

Cannot get refund from hotel booking

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free