Главная цель этого сообщения - предупредить единомышленников о том, что если вы планируете заезд в отель, в котором собираетесь провести более одного дня, впритык к времени окончания заезда и есть вероятность опоздать, то лучше забронировать этот первый день отдельно от последующих, особенно если такая разбивка не влияет на цену. А дело вот в чём.
Забронировал два двухместных номера в Hotel Hoher Göll und Restaurant Hobelbank на два дня, с 2-го по 4-ое июня. 2-го приехать вовремя не смогли из-за жуткого наводнения, затопившего автобан Мюнхен-Зальцбург (на самом деле мы приехали впритык, но т.к. доказательств того, во сколько мы были в отеле, нет, то для простоты описания проще считать, что не приехали). В 19 часов (за час до конца времени заезда) написал в отель письмо по email, что мол едем по пробкам из-за наводнения, когда будем - не знаем, можете ли оставить ключи от номеров, либо ещё как-то посодействовать, но ответа на него так и не дождался. На следующее утро, в 8 часов приходит email от букинга, что ваша бронь отменена по причине No Show, а отель списывает с кредитки 80% от стоимости обоих дней. На второй день заезжали в отель три раза на протяжении времени заезда. Отель открыт, но из персонала внутри никого. Оставили на столе записку, что мол свяжитесь с нами и т.п., но так ничего и не дождались. Не солоно хлебавши уехали в другой отель. Написал в букинг претензию. По поводу первого дня доказать что-либо сложно, поэтому я особо и не спорил. А по поводу второго выяснилось вот что. Оказывается, рецепшн в этом отеле по понедельникам не работает, а наш второй день попал как раз на понедельник. При этом на момент бронирования никакой информации об этом на букинге не было (это сейчас они добавили это в важную информацию). В результате теперь сотрудники букинга пишут, что мол раз я не вселился в первый день, то отель в праве отменить всю бронь и списать 80% от стоимости обоих дней, даже несмотря на то, что время заезда второго дня ещё не началось. На мой взгляд, они пытаются таким образом оправдать отель, но насколько это правомерно - я не знаю. По логике вещей - не особо. Либо уж отменяйте всю бронь, но списывайте 80% только за первый день, либо списывайте 80% за оба, но дайте воспользоваться номером во второй день, доплатив оставшиеся 20%, раз уж вы его держите для меня и списываете за это 80%. Ведь по идее, бронь на два дня должна работать идентично двум броням по дню. Сам я дважды не успевал в первый день в отель и без проблем заселялся во второй день. Минимум два раза я слышал о подобном от друзей и знакомых, которые тоже заселялись без проблем. А тут получается, что если человек опоздал в первый день в отель, забронированный на неделю, отель имеет полное право снять 80% за всю неделю, но человеку номер вообще не предоставить. Как-то жестковато, по-моему. Хотелось бы услышать ваше мнение относительно того, насколько всё это правомерно.
Вопрос тут, конечно, не в деньгах, т.к. время, потраченное на эту переписку, стоит куда дороже, а в том, чтобы докопаться до правды.
Ниже прикладываю полную переписку с букингом. Мои сообщения обычным шрифтом, а их - косым.
Hello! I had a reservation in Hotel Hoher Göll und Restaurant Hobelbank from June, 2 until June, 4, but when I came to the hotel on June, 2 at 19:55, the door was closed. I spent 2 hours trying to get inside with no luck. Yesterday I came to the hotel at 14:30 and 17:00. The door was open but there was no one inside. I left a paper message and asked them to contact me by phone or email. When I came to hotel at 19:30, the door was closed, paper message taken, but no one contacted me. However they charged my credit card with 80% of full price. I kindly ask you to help me get my money back.
Thanks in advance.
We have now received a reply from the Hotel Hoher Göll regarding your No Show:
The Hotel informs that the reception was open until 20:00 h and that they did not see you coming in.
Furthermore the hotel informs there was a note left with the information to check in at the restaurant in case you arrive after eight o`clock until nine o`clock, a note from you has not been found by the hotel.
On Monday the reception is generally closed.
The Hotel lets us know that they can not cancel the reservation free of charge.
This hotel informs about many things which aren't true in fact. For example, the hotel informs on its site that restaurant works until 10:30 PM on Sundays http://www.hohergoell.de/restaurant_e.html which isn't true. Also they have information on your site that check in is form 14:00 until 20:00, which is also not true, because there is no check in on Mondays and there is no information about this. I used all this information when I decided to book rooms in this hotel. That's why I don't like them charging my credit card for both days, even though they messed all information up. I don't argue about the first day because I have no proves being there before 8 PM. But considering check in information on your site I should have had a possibility to check in on the second day and since I didn't have this possibility, I insist that I shouldn't pay for the second day. In figures, I agree to pay 102.4 euro for the first day "No show", but I don't agree to pay the same amount for the second day and the hotel already charged me for 204.8 euro.
It is clearly stated on the hotel´s webpage under the section "important information" that the hotel is generally closed on Mondays. We are sorry to not be able to provide other information.
Are you sure that this information was on the hotel's page on May, 18, when I made my booking? Because there is no such information in my booking confirmation, which you sent me on that day.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue but we have already informed you on the hotel´s check in times and policy.
Unfortunately we cannot offer you more assistance on this issue as the hotel denied to waive the no-show fees.
I know that you already informed me about check in time, but my question wasn't about that. My question was if this information was on the hotel's page before May, 18 or you added it later? Because since it's an important information, it should be in my booking confirmation. Moreover, since it's information about check in, it should be included in check in section. However, I can't see this information anywhere in my booking confirmation which you sent me after my booking.
First of all, we would inform you that the infomation of the reception closure on mondays is added after your booking.
However, this fact does not affect your booking because your arrival day was on a sunday.
As we have two different information for this sunday evening, we are note able to judge this situation.
We can only handle it in referrence to the information we have in our system. Therefore, we have to inform you that the hotel has the right to keep the charged no show fees in accordance to the policy.
We apologize for this situation.
You mean that if I didn't check in during the first day, I have no rights to check in during the second day? Why? Is there any rule about it? In my point of view (in fact, it's obvious and every hotel and booking system works like this), if I booked a hotel for more than one day, I should have possibility to check in any day (second, third, etc.) during check in time. So, now lets look at my situation. I had a reservation and booking confirmation, which reads that check in time is from 14 to 20. There was absolutely no information about closure on Mondays. I came to the hotel three times during the second day and I couldn't check in. I lost about three hours of my time. Could you please tell me where is my fault here, because of which I should pay for the second day?
You could have checked-in on the second day but the hotel has still the right to charge the no-show. Unfortunately, in your particular case the check-in was closed on Mondays. We have added this information after you made your reservation, that is why it was not on your confirmation.
Please accept our sincere apologies. We can offer you a refund of 20% as gesture of good will as this case was not handled in the most efficient way and because we appreciate you as a good costumer.
Please provide us with you credit card statement on which we can see the charges of the hotel.
Lets use simple logic here, step by step.
1. I booked this hotel on your site for two days and there was no information at that time about absence of staff on Mondays.
2. When I book a hotel for more than one day, I can check in any day and not only first day.
3. If first two statements are right than someone (you or hotel) should return me 80% of the second day's cost. It's half the amount the hotel charged my credit card for.
4. If any of these three statements is wrong please tell me, which one and give me a link to a rule. Also keep in mind that I don't ask for any compensation for three hours I spent waiting for the staff on Monday and one hour I spent searching for another hotel.
Please accept our apology for the confusion. It is correct that there was no information at the time of your booking, that the hotels reception is closed on Mondays. We have asked the hotel immediately after receiving your feedback to update this information which has been processed right away. Nevertheless your arrival was scheduled for Sunday and therefor not affected by this.
Regarding the check in, your booking is guaranteed for the arrival day. If you do not show up on that day and do not inform the hotel or us of an later arrival, the hotel has the right to cancel your booking as a no show and charge the fees according to the policys.
Your policy states the following:
If cancelled or modified up to 3 days before date of arrival, no fee will be charged.If cancelled or modified later or in case of no-show, 80 percent of the total price of the reservation will be charged.
As already confirmed we can offer you a refund of 20% as gesture of good will. Please send us your credit card statement for further procedure.
I have two questions for you here. Please answer both.
I tried to inform the hotel, but they didn't check their email. This was sent to their email at 19:01 on the day of arrival, June, 2.
Hello!
I have a reservation for two rooms from June, 2 until June, 4, but I'm driving through traffic jams now because of the flood. Could you wait for me or leave rooms keys somewhere? I'm 70 km away from you but I can't exactly say how much time it will take to pass them because there are traffic jams.
Thanks in advance.
The fact that I tried to inform them as well as the fact that the flood, because of which the Munich-Salzburg autobahn was closed, is obvious force majeure, give me the rights to dispute all charged sum.
Look at the hotel staff now. They know that their region struck by the flood. They know that some guests haven't arrived yet. They just charge them for No show and go home without checking their email. Is it normal? In my point of view, absolutely not.
Despite all these I don't ask to return all sum yet. I just ask for the half of it.
So my first question is why you write that I didn't inform the hotel?
The second question. Yes, I see in the policies that hotel can charge me for No show. But I don't see that I have no rights to check in on the next (second) day. Situations like this happened to me twice before. Also I read about such situations on forums. No one had any problems to check in on the second day. Since there were no information about absence of staff on Mondays, I should have had right to check in. Am I right or is there a policy that denies this?
Thank you for the understanding you have shown as we work toward resolving your concern.
Our customer relations specialists are working on this issue, and we hope to share their findings with you as soon as possible. If you have already been offered a solution, we will be in touch with you shortly to confirm the details.
Following our recent email correspondence regarding your reservation at the Hotel Hoher Göll und Restaurant Hobelbank, after careful evaluation of the issues you raised today I am writing to you with the outcome of your claim.
Honoring our duty of intermediaries between the Customer and the Hotel, we have contacted Hotel Hoher Göll und Restaurant Hobelbank and have explained the situation, from your point of view, taking all the details you provided into account.
In regards of your last email I would like to inform you that the hotel has marked the reservation as a no show on 2013-06-03 07:51. From that moment on your reservation was officially cancelled. So even if the reception was opened for check in the reservation was not active anymore. Furthermore, no-show policies can differ per hotel/accommodation but as a rule of thumb you could say that if someone does not arrive before the end of the check-in it can be considered a no-show. But as said before this all depends on the flexibility of the accommodation.
As you may already be aware of, the Hotelier is supplying us with a version of events that differs from the one you provide, in a way so substantial that we, as a mediator with its head office in the Netherlands, must commit to remain neutral. We are in fact unable to ascertain or judge the correctness of any of the two versions.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience, but please note that as an intermediary, we have no visibility over what happens during a stay, therefore in some cases we simply cannot form a fair judgment of a situation that takes place at a property. There is no way for us to assess some cases without any additional information, as we were simply not there, and we have to base our opinions on information received from third parties.
It is for this reason that, despite the efforts of our specialized Team we can only offer you a gesture of good will of 20%, which would result in a refund of 40EUR. If you can accept this gesture we would like to receive a copy of your credit card statement which will show the charge the property has made.
Could you please tell me which part of my previous letter differs from hotel's description of the situation? Do they say that I didn't write a letter to them at 19:01 on June, 2? I can ask for confirmation from gmail then. Or is it something else that differs?
Also tell me please, which rule, I accepted during the reservation, says that I can't check in on the second day of my reservation?
We have informed you regarding the hotels point of view on 2013-06-19 18:06:
*******
The guests statement cannot be true, because the restaurant is located in the house and only can be reached via the same (and only) entrance, that was open on 02 June 2013 until 9 pm. There are lots of guests and staff as witness.
As the guest didn't arrived until 8 pm (as per our check-in hours) and didn't call until 9pm they closed the restaurant and the house at 9pm as usual.
All the guests who stayed there knew about this and had a key.
In the entrance area there is a note that guests can contact the restaurant until 9pm if they cannot arrive until 8 pm. Another guest who arrived also from Finland on the 2nd of June could check-in at 3am as he contacted the hotel before.
As there was no contact by the guests the hotel had to mark the reservation as no show and they will charge the fees of 80 % of the total amount. If they had called, they could check-in later.
They didn't find any note or message, the guest didn't arrive within the check-in hours (Sunday until 8pm), they kept the room for him, so they will charge the 80 % fees.
*******
Especially the arrival time is crucial in this matter as you claim to have arrived on 19.55 and the hotel claims that they were opened until 21.00. You informed us that you did wrote a email to the hotel, however when it is 1 hour before the end of the check in time it would make sense to at least call the property to inform them. In case of a language barrier there is always the possibility to contact Booking.com for assistance.
To answer both of your questions:
- why you write that I didn't inform the hotel?
I have not wrote that you did not informed the hotel. If any colleague of mine told you that you did not informed the hotel, this will be due to the information the hotelier provided us, which is another part of the differences in stories.
- I should have had right to check in. Am I right or is there a policy that denies this?
As explained before (but try to use different words) the ' contract' was made based on the following time span:
- Sunday, 02 June 2013 - Tuesday, 04 June 2013. If you fail to meet the requirements to check in on the first day, the hotel preserves the right to mark you as a no show and they will not be obliged to honor the second day as the ' contract' has been terminated as the requirements were not meet. But as I informed you before hotels/accommodations can decide to be more or less flexible regarding this matter.
I hope to have answered your questions regarding this matter.
I read hotel's point of view, but it doesn't differ from mine considering my email. They didn't say that I didn't send it. To tell the truth, I'm surprised that you say I should have called them because it was only 1 hour before the close time. We live in 2013, not 1993. When receptionist sits at his/her desk and his/her computer is on, it checks email automatically. Email is normal way for communication and it's listed in hotel's contact details. So, yes, I'm surprised. Lets say that I informed the hotel, but you think that my method was inappropriate, however I don't see any reasons for such opinion. As for other differences, I have no proves for my words and that's why I don't argue paying for the first day. However, lets focus on the second day. What you said about contract is very arguable. In my point of view, one booking for two days should work like two separate bookings for one day. It's logical. And vice versa it's illogical to charge me for "No show" for the second day, even though check in time haven't started yet. They did it because they don't work on Mondays, but we shouldn't consider it in this situation, because they didn't include this information on their page on your site. So could you give me the quotation from rules I agreed during booking from which it is clear that I should check in during the first day and I couldn't check in during second or third, because it's absolutely unclear using simple logic.
And just for the record, what we have here. We have a hotel staff who didn't include information on your site about their unique holidays on Mondays just because of their carelessness, who didn't check their email neither in the evening during working hours, nor in the morning, even though they were at work for check out. Also we have a client who couldn't get at their property well before their close time because of the obvious force majeure (flood) and who spent 3 hours waiting for them next day because he didn't have any information in his booking confirmation about their holidays on Mondays. Despite all these facts you're completely on hotel's side. For me it's strange and unfair.
Firstly I would like to point out that Booking.com is a intermediary and we remain neutral at all times and I can only determine my decisions on the information that is provided by the guest (in this case you) and the hotel.
In my last email I have pointed out that the main difference is in the arrival time, not regarding the email you have sent.
We would always suggest to call, especially when there is a certain time pressure as there will be a direct answer given. In larger scaled properties, in general, there will be a receptionist available at all times, however in smaller properties like the one you have booked (9rooms) receptionists often have double functions, like bartender or waiter and thus will not be seated behind the reception at all times.
Regarding the booking I would like to inform you that you made one booking for 2 days, not 2 bookings for different days. Your booking has been made for Sunday, 02 June 2013 - Tuesday, 04 June 2013 where the check in date is the second of June and for this date the hotel considered you a no-show. That there is no check in on Monday is not a issue as the booking has been made for a check in on Sunday and there is the possibility to stay at the hotel on Monday.
The hotel had the right to cancel your booking as a no-show, because on the arrival date the reservation has not been honored as booked. At that moment it will be considered a no-show for the complete reservation not only the first night.
The following information is stated on your confirmation:
- Any cancellation or modification fees are determined by the property. You will pay any additional costs to the property.
I am very sorry that we can not help you any further regarding this matter as you have confirmed the no-show and the hotel cancelled your reservation accordingly.
If you wish to pursue the complaint regarding the no-show fees I would kindly ask you to contact the property directly.
Okay, thank you for the answers, now I understand your point. Answer two last questions please.
1. If I book a hotel for two weeks (14 days) and miss the first day, the hotel will have a right to cancel all my booking, charge me for 80% of all 14 days cost and will not be obliged to give me a room for remaining 13 days? You as a mediator couldn't do anything about it?
2. You don't have a rule clearly written on your site that I should check in only during the first day of reservation, however, despite this fact, I have no right to check in during any day, except the first?
In these questions I've meant rules and rights. I know that there are bad and good property hosts who can behave themselves differently, so I'm talking about obligations.
P.S. There is no reason for me to contact the property because I don't have any key factors (i.e. leverages) to have an influence upon them. If you can't help me I'll better save my nerves.
I am more than willing to answer your questions:
- 1.
When you book a hotel for any number of days more than one, a complete reservation can be cancelled if a guest fails to show up on the arrival day which is commonly known as a "no-show". Again, these conditions can change per hotel but it is fairly common that when not showing up on the arrival day the booking will be cancelled as a no-show. The amount that will be charged differs per hotel as well. This can be from the first night (but the booking will still be cancelled) up to 100% of the total reservation.
We as a mediator will always try to help whenever there are questions or issues, however:
- We have not been contacted at the moment the issue occurred, only after stay. If this was the case we could have requested the hotel to modify the arrival date or be more flexible regarding the cancellation fee.
- However we will still be depending on hotels flexibility regarding their policy.
- 2.
As a reservation can be seen as a contract, both the hotel have obligations towards each other (you could call this rules and rights if you wish so)
Obligation for the hotel would be to honor the reservation as it is being made, however also the guest should honor the reservation. In any case the confirmation you have received has a check in date and a check out date, regardless of how many nights this has.
- The hotel is obliged to have the room available on check in date (however this is not always the case unfortunately)
- The guest should present himself on the arrival date as confirmed on the confirmation. In most hotels it will be considered a obligation of the guest to do so and if they fail to meet this requirement than the guest can be charged for a no show. The amount of this no show fee depends on the reservation details.