janisj

Rest assured I have nothing to do with Booking. And I will not make any further posts on either thread you are involved with. I am not being aggressive -- I merely noted that all your previous posts vehemently blamed Booking then all of a sudden at post #14 above It is " . . . this is UNETHICAL of the TITIWAGNGSA HOTEL". Maybe having the thread title changed ended up changing your primary target?? I have no idea.

If you will notice I did offer constructive advice "For that much money you might want to contact a UK based consumer rights organization or barrister -- complaining to a bunch of Americans really won't get you anywhere:

I wish you luck

bilboburgler

UK consumer law is very helpful in so many ways, you might like to look at section 75 which might give you a way out. 75 is a unique piece of legislation which puts the onus on the credit card company. I'm not sure where you are based but the hotel appears to be in the UK for tax purposes.

But blaming all this on Booking and then the hotel when the cause is much closer to home is disappointing.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/re...our-purchases/

bald0ne

Bilboburgler's post/link probably won't be helpful. It states that claims for refunds are not covered if:
"Bought something from a third party seller. This includes things like buying a ticket from a travel agent or something through Amazon Marketplace, as these are also treated as third party sellers. But you may be able to use chargeback."
Fwiw, I did once make a mistake booking a reservation. I reserved the wrong dates. I arrived at the hotel only to discover I'd booked the wrong date. I emailed hotels.com about my error. They said I couldn't cancel my reservation. I said I didn't want to cancel, only change it. This was upon check-in. The hotel was willing to change my reservation. Sounds like your hotel in question is being pretty asshole-ish. I can see them insisting on some sort of penalty, but the full amount?

sassy27

I have to agree that something isn't right with this hotel. I used to book through a 3rd party until the pandemic when they wouldn't refund my money when the hotel said it was ok and this was after the hotel canceled on me. My amount wasn't as much as the OP but I ate the loss and refuse to do business with them again. Most often, a hotel will offer just a penalty to cancel like bald0ne says if there isn't a full refund policy offered. I do wonder if the OP hadn't canceled so fast and then bought trip insurance if it would have been covered. Granted the loss of the insurance payment but still wouldn't have been out the full amount. Something to consider if someone finds themselves in this situation in the future. Mistakes do happen.

Paqngo

This is a very good example to not save a credit card.
I use booking.com a lot. Sometimes will book through them and other times directly with the hotel. Since the pandemic I usually only book fully refundable stays.

lavandula

I think bald0ne has come up with a good remedy ... if changes are permitted you could change your booking by reducing it down to a financially manageable sum (say 2-3 nights). You or your daughter wouldn't have to stay there, you could just forego the booking.

Could you do that?

Lavandula

jacketwatch

First of all very sorry to hear of this predicament. I can certainly understand your frustration. Who wouldn't be upset not only about losing $9200.00 but the position of the hotel as well to keep all of it and still have a year to resell that block is unconscionable. They are double dipping and yes its in the contract but to me its cut throat business practice to do this. They could as has been mentioned keep a portion of your money and return the bulk of it as a gesture of good will.

I saw another similar review to yours and I certainly would never consider staying there. There are enough fair to poor reviews to convince me to look elsewhere and it makes me think they will just keep your money.

No one here works for booking dot com AFAIK and its not the fault of them to begin with.

Personally I never book anything through 3rd parties. I have found that hotel fees are about the same booking directly with the property anyway. Once I did get a better rate through a 3rd party co., so I called the hotel, provided my info and got a matching rate.

Good luck going forward.

Always book with the property itself. Usually you put down a CC to hold the reservation and can cancel say a few days before the date of stay w/o a penalty.

travelingmom72

the problem is, I canceled it right away thinking my credit card company would just stop the charges (boy was I wrong). I think if I used my AMX or Apple Card I would have had a different outcome and they would have have intervened. I used my Bank of America Alaska card (I have had it for 24 years) and they were terrible to deal with.
Now I am out the hotel room and the $9200, the hotel is not budging at all. I will say the representatives who have tried to help at Booking.com are flabbergasted when talking to the hotel and are embarrassed to even relay their response. The representatives at Booking.com tell me to get my credit card to cancel the charges but it is Booking.com who is fighting the reversal (and yes, I am aware they are just representatives )
It is a crazy situation. One that needs to change!

travelingmom72

I agree, I really only use Booking.com for over seas travel when I want a small local hotel and sometimes it is the only platform to contact them with. I was not really intending to book this, just price shopping. The lawyer I consulted with this said I may have a case because although I agree to the contract when booking on the site, a contract needs to have "intent", which clearly I can prove. But what a mess litigation will be!

travelingmom72

Yes, and that is what is so weird about this situation and why I went several screens into the reservation. I was logged in to my Booking.com account and it has always done my overseas travel in US dollars. For some reason this particular day it was it pounds. My final reservation was even sent to me in pounds.

jacketwatch

good luck!
hopefully they will do the right thing. There was following the letter of the contract then there is being customer, friendly and extending a professional courtesy, especially in such a case like this.

travelingmom72

It has been beyond upsetting to say the least. This Titiwangsa One Paddington is being awful. They only have a cell phone, no other way to be contacted.
Booking.com also receives $ from this booking, they could refund their commission.

Sassafrass

Travelingmom72, I do not have any advice, but want to say how sorry I am this has happened. It is rotten that a business is ruthless and benefits so greatly from an obvious mistake. I hope you will be able to resolve this with some degree of compensation. If not, I hope that with time, you can go on to enjoying other things and not spend much time on remembering this. We all make mistakes: physical, financial, behavior based on emotions, rushed, last minute and tired, etc. I have made some doozies, some I just could not fix or mitigate the damage. I have cried many times in frustration and anger with myself. Hard to do at the time, but remember, mistakes are part of living.

aliced

Sorry this happened to you, but the copy of listing you provided in this forum clearly states "Non Refundable" -- We have used Booking.com for overseas and domestic trips for about 15 years and think they are wonderful. Always get updates when cancellation dates loom ahead, etc. Sorry for your loss. As the saying goes "let the buyer beware."

jacketwatch

this was a very nice response. It shows some sympathy for what happened and moving on from this mistake. We all make mistakes.

schmerl

Consider contacting Chris Elliot. He settles travel disputes.
How do I contact Chris Elliott?
Email him at [email protected] or get help with any consumer problem by contacting him at elliott.org/help.

schmerl

Consider contacting Chris Elliot.
He helps with travel issues.
How do I contact Chris Elliott?
Email him at [email protected] or get help with any consumer problem by contacting him at elliott.org/help.

schmerl

Contact Chris Elliot
He is an advocate for travel issue. I tried to post his website and email, but it wasn't permitted. Just google him.

travelingmom72

thank you! someone else suggested that too

AJPeabody

I did and posted a camouflaged link. Do it. You won't be sorry.