travel law for travel website

[Yuka]

Jurisdiction

Oregon

I had a troubles with a hotel owner with hotel fees. I made the reservation of the hotel through a hotel website. The hotel seems an individual apartment managed by an individual owner. The day when was my trip, I received a call from the hotel owner and was told that I needed to pay extra $100 for cleaning fee. In my opinion, if it is not part of the deal I concluded before I booked there is nothing I owe them. I asked the owner to let us stay without the cleaning fee because of the reason. He claimed that it is mentioned on the website although there was no way to check whether it's true or not because the owner is maintaining his page according to a customer service. Everything was last minutes. The hotel owners required me to decide that I accepted his requirement or I canceled, paid cancel fee, and found another hotel. I choose the latter because it was not first time that he asked me strange things. In fact, I had checked whether the hotel is fine place or not to the hotel site before. I felt scare of causing more unreasonable things by him if stayed. I'm a reasonable person. when it's my fault, I take the responsible. But this case sounds a little different for me. I asked to the website. they said what the owner said to me is not right thing, but the owner refused the refund. therefore, it is impossible to get my money back. Do I need to give up about this matter?

 

[mightymoose]

Yes, you likely need to let this go.
In the future try to stay at more reputable places that don't pull silly tricks.

 

[zddoodah]

So...you paid the cancellation fee (how much was that?) and found a new hotel. Was the new hotel more or less expensive than the first one (or were they exactly the same price)? If it was more expensive, how much was the difference?

 

[Yuka]

Yes, you likely need to let this go.
In the future try to stay at more reputable places that don't pull silly tricks.

I see. Thank you for your advice.

 

[Yuka]

So...you paid the cancellation fee (how much was that?) and found a new hotel. Was the new hotel more or less expensive than the first one (or were they exactly the same price)? If it was more expensive, how much was the difference?

Thank you for your asking. The fee for the first hotel was $171. I just didn't get this money back as the cancel fee. The fee for new one was $195.56. Therefore, the difference was around $24.

 

[Yuka]

I also would like to ask whether it is worth suing the hotel site including the hotel owner.

 

[adjusterjack]

Yuka, I'm guessing you don't live in the same city (or even the same state) as the hotel owner so suing where the hotel is located hardly seems practical.

Next time check these things more carefully before you put up any money and take screen shots of whatever appears on websites.

 

[mightymoose]

Your problem is that this was all last minute. You were likely beyond the agreed cancellation period (buried somewhere within details). Having canceled the day of you should expect to be on the hook for the rental. Most places require you to cancel 24 hours in advance at minimum.

 

[Yuka]

Yuka, I'm guessing you don't live in the same city (or even the same state) as the hotel owner so suing where the hotel is located hardly seems practical.

Next time check these things more carefully before you put up any money and take screen shots of whatever appears on websites.

Thank you for your advice. Yeah, I was just visiting the city (LA) where is the different state from where I live (OR). I'll definitely be careful in the next time. I want to ask you the further question for the future. If I confront the same kind of problem and have screen shots, how should I handle it in order to avoid losing my money? In this time, the owner suddenly brought it on the day I was planning to stay.

 

[Yuka]

Your problem is that this was all last minute. You were likely beyond the agreed cancellation period (buried somewhere within details). Having canceled the day of you should expect to be on the hook for the rental. Most places require you to cancel 24 hours in advance at minimum.

Yeah, I know the owner brought it up in the last minutes on purpose in order to make me cancel it on the out of the due day for the cancel. Well, you mean there is no hope, right?

 

[zddoodah]

Thank you for your asking. The fee for the first hotel was $171. I just didn't get this money back as the cancel fee. The fee for new one was $195.56. Therefore, the difference was around $24.

So...instead of paying $171, you ended up paying a total of $171 + $195.56 = $366.56?

I also would like to ask whether it is worth suing the hotel site including the hotel owner.

I don't know what "the site including the hotel owner" might mean. The booking site and the owner of the hotel are (presumably) completely different and unaffiliated entities.

In any event, whether it's worth suing depends on the relevant facts. In your case, it appears that your damages would be less than $200. Even if we assume you sue and win, is that worth your time and effort to sue in small claims court? Only you can answer that question.

However, winning is not a foregone conclusion, and full consideration requires reading the terms and conditions of the booking web site. I would expect that those terms and conditions include the following two things: (1) a waiver of liability; and (2) a provision that any dispute may be resolved only in some sort of binding arbitration. My guess is that you (like pretty much everyone else) did not read the terms and conditions. However, you certainly agreed to them when you signed up to use the site. You also have issues of you being in Oregon, the hotel being in California, and the booking site possibly being based in yet a third state.

If I confront the same kind of problem and have screen shots, how should I handle it in order to avoid losing my money?

We don't have all the relevant facts, but I can tell you that I have used third party travel sites on hundreds of occasions without issue, so I think you probably can chalk this up to bad luck.

 

[mightymoose]

Yeah, I know the owner brought it up in the last minutes on purpose in order to make me cancel it on the out of the due day for the cancel. Well, you mean there is no hope, right?

I mean there is PROBABLY no hope. Whether or not you could succeed in pursuing a refund depends on the agreements you made when you made the reservation. I'd bet somewhere in those agreements is a clause that pretty much buries this matter.

 

[Yuka]

So...instead of paying $171, you ended up paying a total of $171 + $195.56 = $366.56?



I don't know what "the site including the hotel owner" might mean. The booking site and the owner of the hotel are (presumably) completely different and unaffiliated entities.

In any event, whether it's worth suing depends on the relevant facts. In your case, it appears that your damages would be less than $200. Even if we assume you sue and win, is that worth your time and effort to sue in small claims court? Only you can answer that question.

However, winning is not a foregone conclusion, and full consideration requires reading the terms and conditions of the booking web site. I would expect that those terms and conditions include the following two things: (1) a waiver of liability; and (2) a provision that any dispute may be resolved only in some sort of binding arbitration. My guess is that you (like pretty much everyone else) did not read the terms and conditions. However, you certainly agreed to them when you signed up to use the site. You also have issues of you being in Oregon, the hotel being in California, and the booking site possibly being based in yet a third state.



We don't have all the relevant facts, but I can tell you that I have used third party travel sites on hundreds of occasions without issue, so I think you probably can chalk this up to bad luck.

Thank you for your kind answers. You gave me really clear points, which opens my perspective. You're right. I'm used to using booking site too much and got careless in details. I think that I should let this go. This case and advices here were good lessons for me. I sincerely appreciate you. Have a great day!

 

[Yuka]

I mean there is PROBABLY no hope. Whether or not you could succeed in pursuing a refund depends on the agreements you made when you made the reservation. I'd bet somewhere in those agreements is a clause that pretty much buries this matter.

I see. Thank you for your points. I decide to let this go. I'll never forget your lessons and be more careful. I feel better now because I can understand this matter, which persuade me well. Have a great day!