Hotel to reimburse

[Jeannne92]

Booked a hotel for 2 nights in 5 days' time and have to cancel because of work.

Booked via Hotels.com and chose the option free cancellation BUT failed to read that this applies only 7 days in advance. Have booked a lot with Hotels.com and the cancellation has always been up to 24 hours before. I appreciate that not reading the T&C for this booking is my fault however I consider this U of the hotel/website.

Would be happy to reschedule the booking for another date.

Hotels.com say it's 0% reimbursement if we want to reschedule or cancel now.

How can we try to get at least a partial refund?

Why is it unreasonable of them? When I have booked the date to cancel/amend has always been clear.

you can phone them and ask them nicely if they can help but they are under no obligation to do so.

ring the hotel direct

and if that doesn’t work… work should pay

I'd say this one is 100% on you, you didn't read the T&C however agreed to them, so you should either reschedule or accept the loss.

The hotel/website is unreasonable because you didn't, by your own admission, read the T&C.

I think you might be a CF.

Reschedule. Then cancel that if needed.

she can’t
that’s the point

without losing 100%

To reschedule we would have to pay the full cost again, i.e. rescheduling is considered a cancellation and no reimbursement.

Did you have your annual leave approved before you booked it.

If not it sounds like you’ve made an expensive mistake.

I am not trying to be a CF. I am just a bit gutted. Money is tight and this would have been a great treat. It's all my fault. Luckily DH is not angry.

work not refunding?

I’ve had this before and simply had to accept it. I paid a lower amount for a hotel that was not fully cancellable in advance, and then suffered the consequences - not the hotel or booking site’s fault at all - it was quite clear in the ts and cs. Each hotel has its own policy and you need to check before you book.

So unfortunately either you need to pay or your work should reimburse you. Painful but just one of those things sadly.

It's a Bank Holiday; I do not work Bank Holidays. A junior colleague has had a bereavement last night that I heard about last night so I will be replacing her as she has a part of her work that can't be ignored.

Then you need to accept the loss.

Call the hotel directly, can't hurt, they might be willing to change your reservation

Why are people saying work should pay?!

Yes, I will call them tomorrow (answerphone now, presume no / fewer office staff on a Sunday evening.)

@Jeannne92 then work should be paying or you go on holiday and the work doesn't get covered

Because I've had to cancel the hotel in order to work (see OP).

Have you asked if work will refund you? Mine definitely would.

I have not yet asked. I will send an e-mail tomorrow or on Tuesday. Tbh we are all shocked by the colleague's bereavement. I am genuinely very happy to step in (although I had assumed I'd be able to cancel or reschedule the hotel. I really am so stupid.)

In those circumstances I would ask work if they would consider covering some or all of your costs, and if not contact the hotel directly and explain why you’ve ended up not being able to go. They may agree to you rescheduling as a gesture of goodwill.

I’ve spoken to hotels.com before on the chat function and they have called the hotel for me to see if they would make an exception. This suggests that the policies are hotel specific and not hotels.com.

You need to tell your work you are going away so cannot work.
IF they really need you then they'll need to pay the cost of your hotel

@Jeannne92 it's the wording of "work should pay" that confused me. Work would be under no obligation to pay. It's not clear if they have asked you to work, cancelled your leave or you volunteered. If work paid as a gesture of goodwill for your decency in covering at a difficult time that's great, but it's not a "should pay" situation. You could have said no?

Thanks, everyone. As I said, I will ask work.

I am a HCP and my junior colleague has a patient with a specific condition therefore I would be best placed to take on this patient in the colleague's unexpected sudden absence.