holiday cancellation

[gina32]

i booked a hotel for several days and paid the deposit, i did this 4 weeks before i was/am due to go, the same day i found i couldnt go and phoned the hotel straight away, about 3 hours later, when i explained i wanted to cancel they said i couldnt unless i lost all my depsit, i thought you were given a time scale to cancel? any help please

[dzug]

There is normally a sliding scale of charges for cancellation on holiday contracts - at 4 weeks it is normally that full balance has to have been paid and you lose 50% or even all of it if you cancel. At whatever time you cancel, it normally involves loss of deposit.

So the hotel is in the right unfortunately.

[gina32]

just reading the receipt i had from them and it says cancellation at any time loss of deposit! they werent interested that my husband was havingan operation and would be unable to drive for several weeks, i didnt know at the time of booking that my husband had heard from the hospital with a date for his op

[ojread2]

The hotel didn't know your husband had his appointment through before you booked either.
Hospitals can make allowances for holidays as they are not in the business to make a profit (unless it was BUPA), an hotel is not.
It is standard practice to lose the deposit if you cancel

[gina32]

yes i know but it wasnt as if it was a long time after id booked was it

[gina32]

have you ever cancelled an operation and then see how long you have to wait

[buildersmate]

You asked a question and you've been given the correct (legal) explanation. I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter that you only just made the contract for the contract before you had to cancel - its just the same as if you made the contract months ago for the holiday. There's no cooling off period as there is for some credit transactions.
They had no control over what risks might crop up in your life that might prevent you going. Only you could assess the probability of not being able to go.

[Dee Sa]

Unfortunately[ for you], you entered in to a legal & binding agreement and all the debating and arguing wont get you out of it.Is there someone who would take over the booking from you?

[hippyhoppy]

Post it on e-bay. You never know - you can get all sorts on there!

[gina32]

thanks all for your replies