Annoyed with hotel cancellation policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email the CEO or Gen Counsel. If you give name of co. I will look it up. Tweeting is also effective. I am a lawyer and have my assistants deal with this stuff all the time. Also contact your credit card co.

I know people do this but it seems wrong. Like what do you tell your credit card company? Yeah, I booked it but I don’t want to pay because I’m a dumbass who can’t follow policy? Why should the credit card company (read: other customers like me) eat this cost?

Yes, exactly. Sometimes things don't go the way you planned. That's life!

Credit cards don't automatically refund contested charges. They look into it and if it was a stated policy, they don't refund you. I contested once and lost because the business had a stated policy. I didn't think the policy was well communicated, but I still lost and had to pay.

This happened to me too. I gave my sob story and the responded with “ that company states in their policy xyz…. you need to try to work with them first and then call us back”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why you book a refundable hotel or buy trip insurance.

I just booked a non-refundable stay at a five star hotel and I spent the $55 on travel insurance. I had no reason to think we couldn’t go, but it was a lot of $$ and you never know….

What travel insurance did you buy? I can’t figure out how to do that

[Anonymous]

There are cancel for any reason trip insurance policies. Next time, get one of those

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are cancel for any reason trip insurance policies. Next time, get one of those

Like what?

[Anonymous]

Ugh this is like people that try to screw AirBNB owners. Come on. You know the policy when you book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email the CEO or Gen Counsel. If you give name of co. I will look it up. Tweeting is also effective. I am a lawyer and have my assistants deal with this stuff all the time. Also contact your credit card co.

I know people do this but it seems wrong. Like what do you tell your credit card company? Yeah, I booked it but I don’t want to pay because I’m a dumbass who can’t follow policy? Why should the credit card company (read: other customers like me) eat this cost?

Yes, exactly. Sometimes things don't go the way you planned. That's life!

Credit cards don't automatically refund contested charges. They look into it and if it was a stated policy, they don't refund you. I contested once and lost because the business had a stated policy. I didn't think the policy was well communicated, but I still lost and had to pay.

This happened to me too. I gave my sob story and the responded with “ that company states in their policy xyz…. you need to try to work with them first and then call us back”

With good reason! A policy is a policy. If credit cards consistently refunded money contra to stated purchase policy , companies would just stop accepting those credit cards to avoid the risk.

[Anonymous]

OP, your blame is misplaced. You should really be blaming the person who told you you should have kids in the first place. It's clearly their fault you need childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are cancel for any reason trip insurance policies. Next time, get one of those

Like what?

Just Google it. I got mind through Battleface for a trip we’re taking next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email the CEO or Gen Counsel. If you give name of co. I will look it up. Tweeting is also effective. I am a lawyer and have my assistants deal with this stuff all the time. Also contact your credit card co.

This is a hybrid situation where our family member’s hospitalization is preventing us from going. The childcare is secondary. Hotel is keswick hall. I went through LinkedIn in for the managing director who passed it down to the lower level. Not much other org chart I could find.

Hi OP...lawyer here again. No email addresses are listed for Molly + Robert Hardie. So try tweeting-- @Keswickhall
(twitter.com/keswick_hall) ...also ignore the naysayers + contact your credit card company . Good luck!

What good is contacting your credit card company? They failed to buy travel insurance. The policy is clear as crystal. Just because you claim to be a lawyer doesn’t make you one or right!

America is full of naive people like you. If you don't ask ...you don't get.

And YOU are clearly familiar with acting entitled!

[Anonymous]

OP, I get that it’s frustrating. It is why last time we went to Keswick, we got our room last minute when we knew we would definitely be there. We just watched the reservations and it wasn’t a big holiday weekend, we were fine. It is a frustrating policy. It’s a big hotel, not a tiny B&B. I bet they lose more money from people who do end up in Charlottesville but wanted a little flexibility as they made plans than whatever they get from forcing people to be on the hook so many days before their trip.

[Anonymous]

Let me guess. If you buy Broadway tickets and then can’t go because somebody is sick or you can’t get a babysitter, you pout when you can’t get a refund, right? Get over yourself!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that you’re treating the sitter’s hospitalization as if it’s your own. If you were hospitalized and couldn’t attend, you would definitely get some support here. But that’s not what happened. You have other options. There’s nothing stopping you from keeping this reservation.

Well they are my in laws so we are invested in their health. So while we aren’t their primary caretaker it doesn’t sit well not to provide some support either. So while we technically could take the kids we wanted to stay here in case they still need help to transition back home.

I think if your initial communication had been "my husband's mother is hospitalized and we need to stay close" you might have had better luck.

The fact that you didn't even mention concern for her, and just the lack of childcare, is odd.

But that ship has sailed. You've named them so now even if you call and claim your first concern is your MIL they have it in writing that it wasn't.

Why don't you go with the kids and your husband can stay and focus on his parents?

I’m in the hotel industry and we can’t make exceptions for anything. You should hear the stories we are told. I’m not in the business of telling my staff to be detectives or psychiatrists. If we fell for every sob story we’d have to close. I also don’t understand why OP thinks higher end hotels have more flexibility? Yes we charge high rates but we have thin margins and high expenses. The last thing I want is employees treating some customers differently. We treat everyone the same.

I tend to think higher end places have better policies for customer service and I get upset and feel hoodwinked when I find out they don't. I normally just mentally check those places off my list. I feel like, if I am paying a premium, it should count for something in both product quality and service quality. I can see why a hotel might be an exception to this when it comes to cancellations. But still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess. If you buy Broadway tickets and then can’t go because somebody is sick or you can’t get a babysitter, you pout when you can’t get a refund, right? Get over yourself!

Same. Do you get upset when the fancy restaurant or your hair stylist charges you for cancelling at the last minute?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I’m disappointed because I expect more from higher end hotels which have more flexibility when needed. While I could have booked with a different hotel, I also proposed at this one so there is a sentimental value there too. But instead of being excited to go there and spend money and have a good experience, I’m totally repulsed by their robotic inflexibility.

Many PPs have been assuming OP is female. I read the above comment from OP and assumed male, which seemed to track with the entitlement element of this and the focus on lack of childcare. Could be wrong. But in any case, the OP's predicament doesn't nullify the hotel's policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess. If you buy Broadway tickets and then can’t go because somebody is sick or you can’t get a babysitter, you pout when you can’t get a refund, right? Get over yourself!

Same. Do you get upset when the fancy restaurant or your hair stylist charges you for cancelling at the last minute?

Exactly. If you’re stuck in traffic and you miss your flight do you demand a refund? If you have to work late and miss a baseball game you have tickets for so you whine on the internet about how you should be reimbursed? This is not how the world works….