Hotel Deposit and Covid Restrictions

[Bobwood]

I had booked a hotel for Mrs Wood's 60th birthday in early April. It's a 5 star place in the Lake District, Michelin Star restaurant etc. and accordingly, the suite I booked was 'reassuringly expensive' as you would imagine. On booking, a deposit was payable but was fully refunded if the room cancelled more than 7 days prior to arrival.

As the hotel will be still be closed during the time of the planned trip, I was about to email them to confirm they'd be sending my deposit back when i received an email offering me two choices: rebooking now for a future date, or a voucher to be redeemed within 12 months. I wrote back and requested my own third option, a refund. They say this isn't on offer because of their own 'Covid Clause' that states (at the time of booking) the above two options.

As they cannot provide the service I booked due to the hotel being closed, is this legal?

BTW in case any points this out, I have already realised that all I need do is rebook and then cancel, more than 7 days in advance, and get my deposit back that way. My question here is are they acting legally or can I insist on my deposit being returned now because they will be closed during the time of our planned stay?

[swill453]

You seem to be quoting two parts of the same contract that contradict each other. Were they presented to you at the time of booking? In what form?

Scott.

[Bobwood]

The confirmation at time of booking stated:

CANCELLATIONS

Where cancellations are made for reservations involving 1 or 2 rooms, no charges will be made provided that 7 days notice is given of cancellation or amendments of reservations (for reservations involving 3 or more rooms. 28 days notice is required); any deposits paid will be fully refunded. All cancellations must be confirmed in writing.

Non-arrivals and reservations which are cancelled or amended within the above cancellation periods will be charged 80% of the booking value. If we are able to re-let the accommodation we would, of course, not charge cancellation fees except for any shortfall.

CLAUSE RE COVID-19: Where "Hotel Name" cancels any booking as a result of or otherwise in connection with Covid-19 or the Government's ‘s restrictions and guidelines, it shall at your option:

i) re-allocate the booking to a future date and retain the deposit; or

ii) provide you with a credit voucher in the amount of the booking, which shall be valid for use within 12 months of the date of issue and failing the use of which within that period, "Hotel Name" shall issue you with a full refund.

However, is the clause enforceable when the hotel is closed and they cannot provide the service I booked?

Note I have removed the name of the hotel.

[Dod101]

That is an interesting situation. As the hotel cancelled because of Covid it sounds as if they are invoking their 'Covid Clause.

But you don't appear to have a 'third option'. Where and how did you arrive at the conclusion that you do? Obviously you will be deemed to have accepted their terms and conditions when you made the booking in the first place, in other words you were taking the risk that the Covid restrictions might not allow the hotel to open, and their 'Covid Clause' would apply.

As it is only a deposit you are contesting I assume the amount involved is not too significant anyway, but personally I think their T & Cs are as clear as they could be and you have no argument. If you claim a credit voucher and do not use within twelve months, you then get a full refund? Sounds very strange but pretty good I'd say. Your only risk then is that the hotel goes bust in that twelve months.

Be interesting to know whether if you rebook there will be another Covid clause and whether in any case if you cancel a rebooking, their 7 day cancellation clause will apply. Seems fairly generous to me.

Dod

[Mike4]

Looks to me as though these T&Cs creates a 'race to cancel'.

If the customer cancels at least 7 days in advance they get a cash refund, if the hotel gets in first and cancels invoking their "COVID clause", the customer is locked into still using the hotel with 12 months or waiting 12 months to get their cash back.

No mention of what happens if Bob accepts a re-booking in, say September then cancels it immediately!

[vrdiver]

If you claim a credit voucher and do not use within twelve months, you then get a full refund? Sounds very strange but pretty good I'd say. Your only risk then is that the hotel goes bust in that twelve months.

Be interesting to know whether if you rebook there will be another Covid clause and whether in any case if you cancel a rebooking, their 7 day cancellation clause will apply.

I think Dod has pinpointed the two key questions. Before deciding on a specific date for rebooking or voucher, why not ask them these two questions?

Again, as Dod has pointed out, the contract, based on the confirmation, doesn't seem to allow you a refund. Had you got your cancellation in before their email it would have been a different story (i.e., cancellation by you with more than 7 days notice), but you didn't, so that clause would appear irrelevant now.

One comment re the 12 month voucher; if there are other guests in the same boat, combined with normal bookings and even a pent-up demand post lockdown being lifted, you may find availability to actually use your voucher becomes a problem, with the dates you want and the dates they have available not really overlapping. If you can, I'd rebook specific dates now so as to avoid throwing the voucher away as unusable this time next year...

VRD

[Bobwood]

Looks to me as though these T&Cs creates a 'race to cancel'.

If the customer cancels at least 7 days in advance they get a cash refund, if the hotel gets in first and cancels invoking their "COVID clause", the customer is locked into still using the hotel with 12 months or waiting 12 months to get their cash back.

No mention of what happens if Bob accepts a re-booking in, say September then cancels it immediately!

Exactly Mike. I've already written to them agreeing to a future booking at a date of their choice, and telling them I'll be cancelling using the 'more than 7 day clause' and how silly this all is.

But my question is different; if the hotel is closed, can they legally keep my deposit?

[vrdiver]

Looks to me as though these T&Cs creates a 'race to cancel'.

If the customer cancels at least 7 days in advance they get a cash refund, if the hotel gets in first and cancels invoking their "COVID clause", the customer is locked into still using the hotel with 12 months or waiting 12 months to get their cash back.

No mention of what happens if Bob accepts a re-booking in, say September then cancels it immediately!

Exactly Mike. I've already written to them agreeing to a future booking at a date of their choice, and telling them I'll be cancelling using the 'more than 7 day clause' and how silly this all is.

Looks like you're booked in for this weekend then!

[Bobwood]

That is an interesting situation. As the hotel cancelled because of Covid it sounds as if they are invoking their 'Covid Clause.

But you don't appear to have a 'third option'. Where and how did you arrive at the conclusion that you do? Obviously you will be deemed to have accepted their terms and conditions when you made the booking in the first place, in other words you were taking the risk that the Covid restrictions might not allow the hotel to open, and their 'Covid Clause' would apply.

As it is only a deposit you are contesting I assume the amount involved is not too significant anyway, but personally I think their T & Cs are as clear as they could be and you have no argument. If you claim a credit voucher and do not use within twelve months, you then get a full refund? Sounds very strange but pretty good I'd say. Your only risk then is that the hotel goes bust in that twelve months.

Be interesting to know whether if you rebook there will be another Covid clause and whether in any case if you cancel a rebooking, their 7 day cancellation clause will apply. Seems fairly generous to me.

Dod

I think you've slightly misunderstood the third option Dod, perhaps I wrote it badly.

I created the third option, not them. Just like in summer when many people inc. me had flights cancelled and the airlines cunningly offered two options: rebooking or a voucher.

Legally of course they were also on the hook for a refund they just didn't initially offer this, but I and many others no doubt pointed this out to these airlines, and thus got a refund.

My question therefore is really asking if the hotel situation is analogous to the situation with airlines last year when faced with two options created by the airlines, there was in fact a third option, in law, of a refund.

[Mike4]

Looks to me as though these T&Cs creates a 'race to cancel'.

If the customer cancels at least 7 days in advance they get a cash refund, if the hotel gets in first and cancels invoking their "COVID clause", the customer is locked into still using the hotel with 12 months or waiting 12 months to get their cash back.

No mention of what happens if Bob accepts a re-booking in, say September then cancels it immediately!

Exactly Mike. I've already written to them agreeing to a future booking at a date of their choice, and telling them I'll be cancelling using the 'more than 7 day clause' and how silly this all is.

But my question is different; if the hotel is closed, can they legally keep my deposit?

Apologies, I see. I would have thought no they can't, but in their defence I would say they do not appear to be seeking to. They are just seeking to hang on to it for a year before handing it back!

I guess the more pertinent question is "is their contract enforceable", but being a plumber my opinion on the matter is worthless.

[Bobwood]

So I guess the key questions is this: regardless of how silly that Covid Clause is and unworkable in practice, is it legal and enforceable (based on the hotel being closed during the period that the booking was made for)?

When airlines played a similar stunt, they were in fact legally obliged to also provide a refund.

[Dod101]

The rules for booking airline flights is possibly quite different from the law pertaining to a domestic hotel booking as they are covered I should think by international rules and regulations. I have no idea if the hotel in law is allowed to keep your deposit for 12 months, but it does not seem unreasonable to me.

In any case, assuming the deposit was less than the full price of the 'reassuringly expensive' rooom I assume we are talking of a few hundred pounds, not a huge amount to get upset about. You seem to be a serial booker of trips notwithstanding the risks of Covid so really you ought to have known to cover the point before you made the booking.

Sorry I cannot be of more help.

Dod

[Mike4]

So I guess the key questions is this: regardless of how silly that Covid Clause is and unworkable in practice, is it legal and enforceable (based on the hotel being closed during the period that the booking was made for)?

Well filling out a "Money Claim On Line" (I think it is called) might illuminate things a little more clearly. Crafting what to put in the "Particulars of Claim" box especially.

Then sending a printed copy of the form off to the hotel with a covering letter asking again for your cash back, might shift their perception of the matter.

Then if it doesn't, submit the claim (plus claim fee) and find out what the court decides about it. Anything short of this is really guesswork I suspect.

[Bobwood]

I'm hanging out for ClitheroeKid tbh, he'll know!

[pochisoldi]

So I guess the key questions is this: regardless of how silly that Covid Clause is and unworkable in practice, is it legal and enforceable (based on the hotel being closed during the period that the booking was made for)?

When airlines played a similar stunt, they were in fact legally obliged to also provide a refund.

The covid clause is poorly drafted, probably in an attempt to make it clear that if the hotel is subject to a lockdown, then they can cancel the booking, subject to them providing a credit note or a fresh booking.

There's no reference to a refund, because that already exists (and the 7 day rule can't apply when you don't have a booking any more, so the right to cancel becomes absolute).

The problem is that the less than clueful person who wrote that clause, is probably the same person who is dealing with your refund request, and has probably forgotten the underlying reason for adding the clause in the first place...

My approach:
Polite written request for refund (refund within two weeks please)
3 weeks
Letter before action (refund within 7 days or legal action will be taken without further notice)
2 weeks
Money claim online

Note the difference between what I say and what I do (to allow for any "covid related" excuses for delay).

PochiSoldi

[Clitheroekid]

I'm hanging out for ClitheroeKid tbh, he'll know!

Well I’m between courses in a delicious feast from Nigel Haworth (unashamed plug for a local business) - https://www.nigel-haworth.co.uk/product/5th-march-box/ but I’ll do my best.

The wording of the contract isn’t particularly important, as the contract itself is subject to the Consumer Rights Act 2015. And what that means in practical terms is that you’ve already won your case.

The reason I say that is because the CRA has very strict requirements that contracts between businesses and consumers are fair. Any terms that are not fair (by the very high standards of the CRA) are unenforceable (section 62 CRA).

I’m quite sure that any contract term that said a business could retain your deposit simply because they were unable to perform their side of the contract would be deemed unfair.

You should therefore contact them quoting section 62 of the CRA and saying that you want your deposit refunding in accordance with the law. With any luck you may get a result; if not, report back for Stage 2!

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Unfair Contract Terms & Conditions
The Unfair Contract Terms Act (UCTA) 1977 regulates contracts by limiting the extent to which one party can avoid liability through use of exclusion clauses such as disclaimers.

AiY

[Bobwood]

I'm hanging out for ClitheroeKid tbh, he'll know!

Well I’m between courses in a delicious feast from Nigel Haworth (unashamed plug for a local business) - https://www.nigel-haworth.co.uk/product/5th-march-box/ but I’ll do my best.

The wording of the contract isn’t particularly important, as the contract itself is subject to the Consumer Rights Act 2015. And what that means in practical terms is that you’ve already won your case.

The reason I say that is because the CRA has very strict requirements that contracts between businesses and consumers are fair. Any terms that are not fair (by the very high standards of the CRA) are unenforceable (section 62 CRA).

I’m quite sure that any contract term that said a business could retain your deposit simply because they were unable to perform their side of the contract would be deemed unfair.

You should therefore contact them quoting section 62 of the CRA and saying that you want your deposit refunding in accordance with the law. With any luck you may get a result; if not, report back for Stage 2!

Many thanks, I knew you'd have the info to help. I'll drop them a line after breakfast and report back when they reply.

I haven't eaten a Nigel Haworth meal for years, but he was one of the first prominent chefs whose food I had the pleasure of eating. Big on his local meat, and even introducing offal to fine dining back in the 1990s, we ate a couple of times at Northcote and have been more recently too since Lisa Goodwin-Allen took over head chef duties. Our first Michelin star meal was just round the corner at Paul Heathcote's Ribchester restaurant, probably around 1995 if I remember correctly, when he'd come out of the kitchen to chat to you over dessert to ask what you thought of various dishes. It was a tiny place by modern standards, far smaller than the bistro he subsequently opened on Winckley Square in Preston, that was also a regular haunt for us in those days.

If we're name dropping chefs, the hotel I'm having a squabble about, and it's the manner in which they're behaving rather than the amount of money in question, is Hrishikesh Desai's place, which if you've been to you'll know how fantastic the food is. If not, it's worth the trip, the food being far superior to the customer service they're currently exhibiting. And as we can't go to the hotel in question for my wife's birthday, I'm cooking a (Rick) "Stein at Home" menu box, wish me luck!

Thanks again.

[Bobwood]

I'm hanging out for ClitheroeKid tbh, he'll know!

Well I’m between courses in a delicious feast from Nigel Haworth (unashamed plug for a local business) - https://www.nigel-haworth.co.uk/product/5th-march-box/ but I’ll do my best.

The wording of the contract isn’t particularly important, as the contract itself is subject to the Consumer Rights Act 2015. And what that means in practical terms is that you’ve already won your case.

The reason I say that is because the CRA has very strict requirements that contracts between businesses and consumers are fair. Any terms that are not fair (by the very high standards of the CRA) are unenforceable (section 62 CRA).

I’m quite sure that any contract term that said a business could retain your deposit simply because they were unable to perform their side of the contract would be deemed unfair.

You should therefore contact them quoting section 62 of the CRA and saying that you want your deposit refunding in accordance with the law. With any luck you may get a result; if not, report back for Stage 2!

Just reporting back to confirm that I did write to the hotel quoting the law and requesting they refund my deposit. It did the trick, and I received a reply saying it would be refunded and how much they are looking forward to me returning soon.

So thanks for all the help, especially 'Clitheroekid' for the details on the CRA, which I quoted in my email.

As an aside, I mentioned Paul Heathcote in a previous post, one of the first 'celebrity chefs' back in the 1990s, in the NW at least. One additional thing I remembered about him was that he was one of the first people I saw with a personal number plate on his car, quite prevalent nowadays of course, but something of a rarity in Lancashire in those days. I think he had a BMW soft top coupe, again far less prevalent, and I think the number plate was '1 CHEF' or similar.

How times have changed, they're everywhere now!