tom_mn

Absolutely do what JanisJ suggests, it is the fastest way to a resolution.

Also do what I suggested, take the credit card company to small claims court (or whatever your state calls it). The "contract" is not legitimate for reasons specified earlier, and this contract is being enforced by your credit card company. So they are the ones you go after. If you don't pay, your credit card company is the one who will take action against you.

I don't think there is a foreign contract law component here. The OP "signed" the "contract" in the US. Booking.com is a Dutch company but there must be a US branch operating under US federal and state law
https://craft.co/bookingcom/locations
so this "contract" is subject to US state laws for both parties. Not a lawyer but I don't think UK law enters into how OP approaches this, unless OP takes action against the hotel in British court.

Adding: If Booking.com USA is headquartered in NYC (as it appears to be) you can file in small claims there, also, for issuing a contract that is not legitimate under NY law (for reasons specified above). My assumption is that in going after either the credit card company or Booking.com USA in court is that your case will be forwarded to a legal team who will decide in your favor and drop the charge, that it won't actually go need to go to court.

mrwunrfl

suing would useless

enzian

The POints Guy did an article on this, and included the following indication that Titiwangsa One is closed until January 2025. So they would not have been able to provide the accommodation she booked, had she not canceled.

“Is Titiwangsa One Paddington out of business?

GOOGLE
“As I contemplated sending one final request to the hotel and letting the owner know of the impending article, I noticed a Google alert on the business listing of Titiwangsa.

“The property on Booking.com that McKay accidentally reserved for 70 nights is now temporarily closed until at least Jan. 31, 2025.

“The irony here is that if McKay had not canceled her reservation minutes after booking it, she would now be eligible for a full refund. The hotel could have never hosted McKay's daughter for those 70 nights this summer, so she would have gotten her money back.”

From https://thepointsguy.com/news/bookin...eader-mistake/

Their website still exists but it does not operate, and booking.com has removed their listing from their site. However, the property has actually re-opened under a new name, Putera Puteri Residence. The address is the same (190 Sussex Gardens) and the photo on booking.com is the same property. This one IS listed on booking.com. They also have their own website, which is taking bookings currently.

Their own webpage has a photo of their “onsite restaurant” which they name as “PP Cafe” but the photo shows it is called Putera Puteri, a Malaysian restaurant. (Of course no one would name a restaurant “PP Cafe”). What is interesting is that the real Putera Puteri restaurant is nearly a mile away, at 179 Queensway.

I am not posting the links to the two websites because I am afraid I will lose what I wrote if I leave this page, but you can easily find them with Google: “Putera Puteri Residence” and “Putera Puteri Restaurant”. Oddly enough, Google maps will sometimes, but not always, come up with a different Putera Puteri Cafe which is on Queensway at Inverness Pl or 56A Queensway. But a look on Streetview does not show anything by that name there. (Streetview of 179 Queensway, OTOH, does show the same Putera Puteri Restaurant in the Residence website photo of their “on site” restaurant.)

The whole thing—-refusing to budge on the refund, then closing and re-opening at the same site under a different name, with a phony photo of their “on site” restaurant, all seems highly suspicious.