Is a Cancellation Fee Disclosure Required?

[CaliforniaVacationer]

Jurisdiction

California

My wife recently called a small rural hotel in the greater Lake Tahoe area in California and booked a room. She did not have the necessary credit card on hand, so she had me call them 10-20 minutes after she got off the phone with them, so that I could give them the card number. When my wife asked them what the cancellation policy was, they said they would tell me when I gave them the charge card information. When I called, I gave them the number and again asked about their cancellation policy. They responded by saying that they had already told my wife. When I insisted, I was told that they accept cancellations within 14 days of the reservation.

Two days later, we received notice of an important family event that same weekend, so I called the hotel to cancel the reservation. When I spoke with the woman at the front desk, she then informed me that there is a $50 service fee charged for cancellations. When I tried to tell her that we were not previously informed of this, even when we asked directly, she basically just called me a liar and refused to wave the service fee. There is no statement of the cancellation policy on their website. We did receive a hard copy reservation confirmation in the mail, which did include a written out copy of the cancellation policy, which corresponded to her statement, five days after I called to cancel the reservation. Also, I called to cancel the reservation 51 days prior to the reservation date.

My question is this, do they have the right to charge a service fee without providing notice at the time the reservation is made?

 

[adjusterjack]

Well, they can charge the full price of the room or you can pay the $50. That's your choice.

You should have gotten the cancellation policy in writing in advance of giving your credit card information and walked away from the deal if you didn't get what you wanted.

But you didn't do that and now they pretty much have you over a barrel.

 

[army judge]

My question is this, do they have the right to charge a service fee without providing notice at the time the reservation is made?

You can always report the scamming hotel to your credit card company, and ask to dispute the charge.

The credit card company will then endeavor to assist you by simply reversing the charge.

TIP: Never book ANYTHING where you stand to pay money for NOT using the service or receiving the goods. In other words, don't book if you're required to prepay or can be scammed with a cancellation fee!

 

[hrforme]

However, if you dispute/reverse the charge, the hotel WILL get a chance to refute your dispute and it is possible they will win if they have their policy in writing. But if they can't prove you were told of the $50 fee at time of reservation, you do have a better chance at winning. They did answer the question that you asked -- what is the policy? you have 14 days. Your next question (in hindsight) should have been -- are there any cancellation fees? Because even if they let you cancel, there can sometimes be a fee.

But CC companies don't always "simply reverse the charge". I've dealt with this both on a personal side against Royal Carribean (for a gift ordered for another traveler) and as a business where a member stated they had never been given a cancellation policy (even though we had a signature on the cancel form!) We don't always win the ones we think we will win nor do we always lose the ones we think we will lose.