-
Want to become an expert user? Drop by the How to use this forum section and all will be revealed. We'll show you how to make the most of your experience.
Neither I nor the hotel can produce documents showing what occurred. Is there no need on the part of Holiday Inn to prove that I agreed to a non-refundable reservation?
Holiday Inn provided a mechanism to cancel the reservation, without warning, seven weeks before the intended stay. An analogy would be if a consumer returned an unused item to a store who accepted it, but then said "thanks, we are keeping BOTH the item you returned and the money that you paid for it, since that was non-refundable."
Andrea
Holiday Inn provided a mechanism to cancel the reservation, without warning, seven weeks before the intended stay. An analogy would be if a consumer returned an unused item to a store who accepted it, but then said "thanks, we are keeping BOTH the item you returned and the money that you paid for it, since that was non-refundable."
Andrea
Andrea, if you are sure that you booked a refundable room, spend the $100-200 (if even that) to have computer person look at your hard drive. This will give you the proof that you need for the hotel to refund your money.
I don't know the hotel system or how easy/hard it would be for them to be able to prove up the reservation at this point. Since you are the one asking them for either the favor, or for them to honor the agreed upon reservation, it is on you to come up with the paper work. I know, the hotel should be able to provide the reservation details as well, but they are not the ones wanting the money back, you are.
Have you offered to let the hotel keep the first night and refund you the rest, at least this would give the hotel something to work with?
One other question I have, were you charged in April or in July? This makes a difference to me, as generally, non refundable rates are charged at the time they are booked and fully changeable rates are not charged until the actual hotel stay. Of course, this could differ at different hotels.
I don't know the hotel system or how easy/hard it would be for them to be able to prove up the reservation at this point. Since you are the one asking them for either the favor, or for them to honor the agreed upon reservation, it is on you to come up with the paper work. I know, the hotel should be able to provide the reservation details as well, but they are not the ones wanting the money back, you are.
Have you offered to let the hotel keep the first night and refund you the rest, at least this would give the hotel something to work with?
One other question I have, were you charged in April or in July? This makes a difference to me, as generally, non refundable rates are charged at the time they are booked and fully changeable rates are not charged until the actual hotel stay. Of course, this could differ at different hotels.
If they charged you, their records indicate you chose the non refundable rate. Otherwise there would be no need to be fighting them- you wouldn't have been charged. So you have to prove you didn't and the only way to do that is find someone who can get into your hard drive and try and retrieve your email. I just hope you don't pay all that money to find out you did have the non refundable rate on your confirmation.
Thanks, Tanya.
I'm sure I intended to make a refundable reservation (and would have been willing to spend more for this option), but think it possible that I somehow clicked the wrong button. For one, I was charged on the day I made the reservation. So I am reluctant to spend $100 or $200 searching my hard drive but perhaps that is what I should do.
Yes, I have suggested a number of times both by phone and in writing that Holiday Inn keep the first night's deposit as compensation for their trouble, and my credit card company also attempted this compromise on my behalf. However, Holiday Inn has either said no to this request or has just not responded to my query.
Andrea
I'm sure I intended to make a refundable reservation (and would have been willing to spend more for this option), but think it possible that I somehow clicked the wrong button. For one, I was charged on the day I made the reservation. So I am reluctant to spend $100 or $200 searching my hard drive but perhaps that is what I should do.
Yes, I have suggested a number of times both by phone and in writing that Holiday Inn keep the first night's deposit as compensation for their trouble, and my credit card company also attempted this compromise on my behalf. However, Holiday Inn has either said no to this request or has just not responded to my query.
Andrea
I forgot if this was discussed but did the hotel express any willingness to allow you to use any portion of your payment as a credit? It seems like they may not budge here, without Chris' involvement. I noticed he dealt with a similar issue on his blog in 2006. There was a difference in that case as the LW stayed at another holiday inn property instead. However, Chris does mention:
"When I tried to determine Holiday Inn’s chain-wide cancellation policy, I ran into some difficulty. Even if you know to look at the Web site for the Holiday Inn’s parent company InterContinental Hotels Group, you would still be hard-pressed to unearth its policies for the Holiday Inn property you stayed in. I couldn’t." (Holiday Inn Runaround, 2006).
I think IHG needs to make their website more user friendly in any event.
"When I tried to determine Holiday Inn’s chain-wide cancellation policy, I ran into some difficulty. Even if you know to look at the Web site for the Holiday Inn’s parent company InterContinental Hotels Group, you would still be hard-pressed to unearth its policies for the Holiday Inn property you stayed in. I couldn’t." (Holiday Inn Runaround, 2006).
I think IHG needs to make their website more user friendly in any event.