What Should You Do If a Hotel Refuses to Issue a Refund?
When you stay in a hotel and the service isn’t up to par, you expect to be able to talk to someone about it. Unfortunately, this does not always occur. Staff will occasionally claim that there is nothing they can do to prevent refunding your money or giving you a room in another part of the hotel. This means you can’t stay where you are, but you also don’t have a room in which to move either. If this has happened to you, you are not alone, but you are not powerless. Learn what you can do if the hotel refuses to return your money and avoid being saddled with an expensive hotel bill you didn’t mean to pay!
If you are refused the refund of your money, you may be able to sue for that cost. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FTC) of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides some protection for consumers who have been denied refunds for services they have not utilized or have never consented to acquire. If the hotel violated the FTC Act, you have the right to sue them. The first step is to figure out if you have a case. You may be out of luck if the hotel refuses to return your money because you cancelled too late. If, on the other hand, the hotel refuses to reimburse your money for any other reason, they may be held accountable for your losses. Hotels can be held liable in three ways for failing to repay clients’ money: breach of contract, quantum meruit, and conversion. In order to win one of these cases, you must prove that the hotel owes you money or property based on some kind of agreement or promise.
The first thing that you should do is gather all of your documentation. This includes the original confirmation email, any emails that you sent back and forth with the hotel, the phone call recording if you can get your hands on it, and any written correspondence from the hotel. Once you’ve collected everything, prepare a letter requesting a full refund due to what happened during your stay. Demand letters are a way of formally requesting something from the person or business that owes you money. The letter is frequently written and will include the amount owing, the reason for the debt, the amount of time they have to pay, and what will happen if they do not comply.
If the demand letter does not address your situation, you should consider hiring an attorney. When someone owes you money, you have several legal options. Before taking any action, you should counsel with an attorney who is competent in this area. It is recommended that you should not sign any agreement that offers less than what you believe you are owed. Finally, most companies only offer refunds under certain conditions, so it’s important to review the terms of service before making a purchase.