B and B issue

[Flossie71]

We had booked a B and B for one night via late rooms website. The owners only take cheque or cash payments. The cancellation cut off time was 4 days prior to arrival at 10am. That morning a close family member suffered a totally unexpected brain haemorrhage and was having emergency surgery. As soon as we could we emailed the B and B owners to cancel our stay, it was a couple of hours past the 10am, 4 day in advance deadline and I just assumed that under such devastating circumstances they would be understanding. We had only booked the room 2 days before so it was not like it had been booked for ages.

The owner replied to say we had to pay in full (absolutely no mention of being sorry to hear what had happened - nothing just a curt note saying to send him a cheque for the full amount.)

I called late rooms and explained the situation. The person I spoke to was very sympathetic and said she would call the B and B owner. She got back to me and said she had spoken to him and there would be no charge and we didn't need to take any further action.

Since then, whilst we have had to deal with the family member being on a life support machine for the past 2 weeks, the B and B owner continues to email me demanding I send him a cheque for the full amount. I contacted late rooms and am awaiting a reply from their customer services - I have told this to the owner and he continues to email me. I don't know what to do.

I'm so sorry to hear about your family member. I hope they improve. Please bear in mind you don't know what is going on in the life of the b and b owner.

So sorry to hear of this and I do hope that your family member makes a full recovery. It can happen.

The B&B owner is being completely unreasonable. Just send your previous reply to all e-mails and wait for 'Late Rooms' response.

(You will be able to reflect on the high standard care you have had from this B&B when you write a review of your experience on their website!)

Good the b and b owner may have something equally stressful going on in their life and may be in financial difficulty.

The B and B had every other room booked up for that night so it's not like they were not making any money. I had the room booked for literally 2 days before I cancelled it so I wasn't really stopping others from booking apart from those 2 days. I just cannot imagine being in their position, no matter what, and not even saying sorry to hear about that to someone - just to send a curt reply, I really couldn't believe it.

It's a business. They might be busy this week but absolutely dead much of the year. You didn't follow the terms and conditions and tbh should pay.
I hope your relative is ok.

Sorry to hear about what happened but you've no clue how many of the other rooms booked cancelled & refused to pay

Plus although yours is true they've probably heard a lot of stories along the same lines

I also think you should abide by the terms and conditions and pay, you'd earmarked the money for the b and b anyway

You should pay and try and claim on your travel insurance, it's not the business owners fault x

I'm sorry for your situation.

I used to run a b&b.

Technically they've done nothing wrong. Their terms and conditions state their case. You have broken the contract not them.

However it was me I would have emailed how sorry I was. I'd have asked for payment in full but would have refunded it if we had rebooked.

To be honest we had a few of these and people always insisted on paying in full as they realised we were a small business and had travel insurance. And they were all for equally awful reasons.

On the other side I too have had to pay for a room I booked and had to cancel last minute. It's annoying and upsetting but I could afford to book that night in the first place so I can afford to loose it too. The b&b owner might be relying on that money.

To be fair, the b&b owner is entitled to chase you for the money, as per the t&cs. It would be nice if they waived it, but they're not obliged to. I'd pay it and claim it back on your travel insurance, as that's what it's for.

I know you're having a terrible time at the moment, and sorry for your situation

Firstly late rooms will possibly still charge the hotel the commission due, that may well be 20%. Secondly they may have turned away a booking for the week and be grumpy they now have a vacancy which they are unlikely to fill now. Thirdly they are a business. They have terms and conditions like any other business, bills to pay, staff to keep in work.... the answer like others have said is to claim on insurance. That's what it is for, not expect the small business to pay.

I am really sorry for your bad news, I am sure they are but this isn't the first time this season I have personally had a similar story.

I'm sorry about your relative. I would just ignore the b&b owner. He's agreed with late rooms that you don't have to pay and you booked through them so it's nothing for you to worry about. I'm not sure they can do anything anyway seeing as you haven't paid the money.
I had a similar situation with a non cancellation room with booking.com and had already paid the money but then was admitted to hospital and as a goodwill gesture they refunded the cost in the circumstances. If he wasn't willing to accept you cancelling then he shouldn't have told late rooms he would.

I feel for the b&b owner here - it is awful regarding your relative but unfortunately that is what travel insurance is for. Why on earth should a small business lose out just because you didn't go? You really should pay, I think it is terrible if you don't.