Hotel cancelled non refundable stay, refusing to tell me if I’m eligible for a refund

[SomethingInTheAirToday]

I had a Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy hotel room booked for a trip next year. Out of the blue yesterday I got an email to say it had been cancelled by Marriott Bonvoy as I booked through them and they could not honour the booking.

They didn’t mention a refund in the email, I’ve DMed them on Twitter and they’ve said that if I’m eligible for a refund they’ll be processing it. But they won’t tell me if I am, or how long it will take.

im mainly posting for traffic to be honest, what do I do? I have travel insurance through my bank so I’m guessing that if they don’t refund me I claim on that? But shouldn’t they be refunding me as they’re the ones cancelling?

ugh

It my payment was made to Sonder directly. So looks like I won’t be getting it back.

This. Refunds always take a while unfortunately. It's annoying but there's really no need to worry.

I saw reports elsewhere of people being kicked out of their hotel rooms in the middle of their stays. It’s a giant mess.

It’s awful. Marriott Bonvoy are handling it awfully as well. It’s just shocking that they will do this out of the blue.

No-refundable just means you can't cancel it, and wouldn't get a refund if you decided not to show up. You are entitled to a refund.

I would think that's why there is a comment in MB about them working with the card companies as they were not the ones who took the payment. It still reads to me that you should get the refund.

Did you book through the Marriott website? If so you will get your money back from Marriott. It is just that they can't simply reverse the transaction as the payment was taken by Sonder. It will be a more manual and therefore slower process.

For legal reasons you then to get stock replies
but can’t imagine they can charge you for something they can’t supply

but it will take time to process I wouldn’t expect my money back in under 10 days

Sonder have now filed for bankruptcy.

Apparently all bookings are being treated as Marriott Bonvoy bookings and will be refunded. I now think they didn’t do their due diligence during the acquisition last year

I need further help, please!

marriott are now saying that the only way to get your money back is to file a chargeback and they’ll “support” that.

nationwide won’t let me file one for at least two more weeks.

can I claim on my travel insurance to get my money back?!

I wouldn't, because a) they will look for any other way you can claim, so will send you to your bank, and b) there will be an excess of probably £100.

I suppose you could speak to them for advice though.

That's because you told them they cancelled.

You need to find the email address and send them the evidence that Sonder have filed for bankruptcy. That will move it on.

But, don't old your breath, you'll get it, but it takes aaaages. I've done it a few times.

We can raise a chargeback straight away (another major bank). Can you try speaking to Nationwide again to confirm thats definitely correct?

No, I told them they’ve cancelled because they filed for bankruptcy. I’m going to call them in the morning and work out what the fuck they’re playing at, to be honest

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/payments/disputing-a-payment/

Nothing on here about waiting 2 weeks. I've also raised 3 chagebacks with nationwide over the years as I bank with them and not had to wait.

I’ve tried four times on the app and it just says that I have to wait and they won’t do anything before then. They won’t pass me to a human to talk to either.

im going to search out an email address

On that link I sent, you can raise it on there on the docusign link (theres two options, via the app or their webpage) - that's how I did it and it went through quickly.

Edit- I just had a quick go, selecting cancelled services, put that it was just cancelled and it let's me carry on to submit it. Worth a go before you call them.

Yes I’ve just done that. It wouldn’t let me progress without putting a date for receiving the services though, so I put the date I was due to receive them. I don’t think I’ll be the first one to do it, so I’m hopeful that a human will review it and understand! I’ve attached my payment receipt, the cancellation email and the DM from Marriott telling me to raise a dispute. Hopefully that will be enough.

It will get reviewed by a human, don't worry... if its not successful, come back on here and I will help wirh some further advice, but I think it will be successful. Let us know either way.

I think (from my limited experience), if it’s not successful I appeal, then complain and then financial ombudsman? But to be honest if it’s unsuccessful I’ll go to my insurance

I can't see any reason it wouldn't be successful.

I can think of two S75 disputes I have raised, and one cc dispute where it was under the £100 but they refunded anyway, and one debit card chargeback where the firm went bankrupt. All paid out.

But, while the decision was quite quick, it took a little while to get the money.

I’m quite confident it’ll be successful because we obviously have such strong consumer protections here. But the company constantly switching up on what they’re saying to customers is really grating now.

I've spoken to Marriott again today. They refuse to help with the additional cost of rebooking. They advise as I paid Sonder they can't see the payment details but they will refund within 10 working days if I raise a chargeback with the bank. I started that process today, the bank takes 5 days to decide if a chargeback can be raised but I have sent my evidence.

marriott are having you on.

they aren’t refunding anyone. The chargeback is separate to them and they’ll “support” the chargebacks. It’s an utter shambles. Some people have had success at rebooking at the same rate, but it seems they’ve drawn the line. I’ve submitted the dispute to my bank last night. Marriott also have no say in how long the bank takes to refund.

at least, being from the UK, we have stronger protections and better travel insurance. In the USA it’s basically nonexistent

I knew they wouldn't rebook me as the price difference is huge. I'll only believe the refund when I see it, just saying what I was told.