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

[Hennightmare]

I attended a hen party at the weekend - Friday to Sunday, staying close to a seaside resort in a private accommodation. I paid my share in advance - nearly £300.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the owner who refused entry on the basis that hen parties (and same sex groups/stags) are not allowed and this is stated in the booking terms and conditions and elsewhere on the website. Despite reasoning, the owner was not backing down, and said there’d been an incident with a same sex group two weekends ago which required costly repairs.

MoH said she was aware of other hens who had stayed and this is how she found the place on instagram. She was told no refund would be given as there wouldn’t be time to let it again for the weekend.

We managed to find budget hotel rooms in the area but this scuppered the plans which were in place for the house - games etc.

I have looked myself and it is prominent on the website about the rules around hen parties etc. It is clear there has been inconsistent approaches in the past though.

Should the MoH cover us for her mistake? I am out of pocket after the hotel booking.

YABU - suck it up, it happened
YANBU - her mistake, she should offer to cover it

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.

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.

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.