To expect MoH to refund hen accommodation after we were refused access?

A venue cannot refuse a single sex group though only on that criteria.

they can ban stag/hen dos based on the activity.

they can ban all large groups

the can specify they want families only

they cannot simply say they ban single sex groups though as that is a breach of the Equality Act.

I am sympathetic but it is common knowledge that hens and stags are banned in many B and B type holiday properties. I see comments on most of these holiday lets that emphasise this clearly. I did tick "not unreasonable" though as it was a silly error for MOH to make and she should offer to cover the mistake. It is possible that some sort of 50/50 payment could be made, she pay half for example. You have learned your lesson though. This type of thing will not happen again.

I’m going to be honest, if I am in a group and someone books it I would be very unlikely to go and check it out myself. I just pay the money and ask for the address and when to turn up. Not sure why I would be personally checking out the property. I have just stayed with family in a holiday let and I didn’t look beforehand. My parent’s booked it and gave me the address.

But when you book they normally only give the lead bookers name so they wouldn't know.

It is very hard to get accommodation for single sex groups. Most places don't accept.

“Trashy groups” in northern cities?! Nice, thanks op.

Anyway, I would expect the host to refund this. They refused access on the day? Why didn’t they query it at the time of booking? I would be pushing v v hard for a refund. If the person who booked did so using a credit card, they might also want to pursue a refund through the credit card company as they do provide cover for some things like this.

We had this on a venue with booking.com but we contacted the owners to tell them we weren’t the partying in the house type and would be respectful of noise, neighbours, etc. they let us stay which we were grateful for, if the MoH knew this rule she could have messaged the owner or told you guys it was a risk.
otherwise, I think the refund is on the owner not the MoH it is a lot of money for something that wasn’t intentional for the MoH to now fork out.

If you didn’t check the website/T&Cs before you paid ( you say it clearly states no hen parties) then I don’t think you can ask MoH for a refund. She did a terrible job though.

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I think you can do some checking on the T+Cs. However, no hens or stags is common. For those stating right a poor review, I am not sure what this would achieve. If it just stated we turned up as a hen group and got turned away, the owners will just add that this is a T+C and the website is clear this is not allowed. Family groups reading the reviews would actually see this as a good thing, particularly if there are more than unit on offer.

Lots of places don't allow single sex large groups and have a minimum age for booking (to prevent large groups of 18 year olds who they believe might be more likely to go wild and cause damage).

I don't think you can expect the MoH to give everyone a refund as that would be a lot of money.
I can also see why you wouldn't question the booking as if I was invited to an event I would assume the person sending out the details had it all covered.

I also think the owner is fine to say about the terms and conditions. When booking you normally state how many are going, so if she entered 10 adults then it would be assumed that the rules had been checked and it was a mixed group (as others have said, a family all meeting up). To be honest though, how many people realistically read terms and conditions before booking or signing up to something?

Actually just googled my own question and yes it would be!

you can’t use sex as the criteria, but the activity. You can’t use ban hen do’s because of the activity , you can ban large groups, you can restrict to families and children but you can’t specifically say no single sex groups

I get the rule about no hen parties but surely a rule saying no single sex groups isn’t enforceable? That surely is discrimination? I have stayed in a house of 10 ish before, all women, when in my twenties and that was a school reunion of mates and we just went away for a weekend for a catch up.

I find it hard to believe 10 people went and no one else checked out the accommodation online to see what it's like. The MoH was wrong to take a chance when it's other people's money she's risking. I'm also surprised, when getting a booking for 10 people, the owner didn't say "can I just check this isn't a same sex/hen/stag group before we go further".

This is almost funny - how wrong can you be. The offer is based on the T&Cs to the person who books the property. That offer includes the ‘no hen party’ term. The MOH accepts the terms by agreeing to the booking. The MOH breaches those terms by using the property to host a hen party, The host can terminate the contract.

The host has no contractual relationship with any of the other guests so they cannot use the property or seek a remedy from the host. The fact that another group breached the terms, and damaged the property, does not give anyone else the right to breach the terms. Only the MOH can try to get a refund for this but she will need to prove that the restriction on hen parties was not in place at the time of booking so it’s back to the email that she cannot find.

Excuse me, what? If I had trouble in the past with a group of people and I refuse to open my doors anymore to certain groups of people how is it discrimination? Is my house, you have no rights in my house. if I don't want you there you can't come in.

Why though? Is private property, they have the right to select their customers just like any estblishment. If the rules are clear on the website there is nothing that can be done. Do not trash the establishment in reviews, is not their fault.

Forget MoH's error..its actually the host who is wrong!
What they have done is gender discrimination as per the Equality Act 2010. You can raise a dispute via Airbnb and contact Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) for some free advice. Also ask MoH to flag to her bank that transaction is under dispute.

If the owner changed the T&Cs after the booking, then the owner should be pursued for a refund.

If the MOH cocked up and chanced it, then it's on her to reimburse. Sorry, but if you are organising accommodation for a hen party, then that's something you check.

MOH managed the booking, but everyone had the opportunity to look at the accommodation website themselves before handing over the money. Id be annoyed, but I wouldn’t expect her to fork out

How on earth is the host supposed to 'vet the group'? Should she insist on going to each participant's home and interviewing them individually?

It is a common rule, with its roots in bitter experience for many hosts.

I know of another hen party recently that booked accommodation in an air B&B that said no hen parties. Apparently lots of the bigger places do. This party went fine and the owners did not appear although the hens arrived in dribs and drabs and not all at once.
so I guess the MoH thought they weren’t going to police it and also it’s hard to find a venue for hens / stags now.
I have some empathy with her. It’s one of those things so just suck it up and make the best of it.

If the no Hen parties was a clear clause in the contract when it was formed, then it's the MoH who is breach of the contract and the property owner is not obliged to provide the house to a group she has explicitly excluded in the contract. There may be a case for getting a cleaning fee back if the property owner can cancel that service. If they manage to rent it out to a different group for any of the time the Hen party were booked in then there's a a case for a partial refund - but that's unlikely to have been possible if the property owner only confirmed the party had breached the contract at checking in time on the first day of the stay.

If all else fails you can issue a letter before action and be prepared to take the platform to small claims court. In the meantime leave appropriate and dispassionate reviews for the host.

Under basic contract law, once a venue accepts a booking and takes payment, a legally binding contract is formed. By physically blocking entry at the door, the host is the one breaching that contract. The house rules do not override the fact that a contract has been made. If the host failed to vet the group before hand that's their fault. She cannot punish the group for her mistake. Collective punishment is illegal. The host cannot punish the group for what a previous group has done.

The group should bypass the host and deal directly with the booking platform. They should ask the platform for their dispute process. If the platform refuses to cooperate then they go to the card provider. The card provider will wish to see that they attempted to mitigate their loss by initially dealing with the platform..

It depends whether payment was made by Debit or Credit card. Most banks will want to see that you have tried to resolve with the platform first and may reject the claim if you fail to do this. For credit cards the card issuer is jointly liable with the platform so you can go directly to the card company.