Hotel cancellation

Bubbaclaus

Tippgirl74 wrote: »

Well to be fair we only have the hotel's word that they contacted Groupon and on what was agreed?? I have no correspondence to prove either party's version and unlikely to get it at this stage! Interestingly they are still advertising on Groupon!

Not surprised by that at all. Groupon had deals for a restaurant that was closed last year. Brought it to their attention and nothing was done. Was up there for months.

Got caught out by turning up to the restaurant with the voucher I had purchased to find a different restaurant in its place.

messrs

OP - sorry if this has already been answered? but on the original voucher you have is there any mention of having to pay a supplement for Friday & Saturday nights stay? If not, then your dates should be honored and its up to the hotel and groupon to sort out who takes the hit for the supplement night

Dav010

messrs wrote: »

OP - sorry if this has already been answered? but on the original voucher you have is there any mention of having to pay a supplement for Friday & Saturday nights stay? If not, then your dates should be honored and its up to the hotel and groupon to sort out who takes the hit for the supplement night

But the op bought the voucher from groupon, not the hotel. The hotel informed groupon when voucher could, and could not be used.

paddyjoe183

Tippgirl74 wrote: »

On June 25th we booked a hotel in Killarney via Groupon for this Thursday and Friday night. At 5.30 this evening (Tuesday)we got an email from the hotel to say Groupon had made an error. This deal should not have been available Friday night. We would be refunded our money from Groupon. Our other alternative was their goodwill gesture of having to pay an extra 90euro for Fri night! My partner rang them and the duty manager refused to budge. This is less than 48 hours before arrival. I am shocked that a hotel would treat us this badly! Also by the fact that the mail states they addressed it with Groupon weeks ago (but never contacted us!!). I'd be interested to know how others would handle it!! I copied and pasted the mail below.

I do apologise as I know the following may be frustrating for you to read, However, the fault with this booking lies with groupon, I have contacted groupon and they have confirmed same.



Please allow me the opportunity to explain where the fault lies with them;


We have been waiting a number of weeks for groupon to modify the terms and conditions our hotel has agreed with. We have informed groupon and they are aware that we will not honour any bookings which are outside the terms and conditions we have agreed with them.
It is our confirmed agreement with groupon that once a guest has selected a date, That date cannot be modified. This is our agreement as with groupon offers we have very limited availability due to the low rates
The package you purchased with groupon is a package for Sunday – Thursday only. As you are paying a Sunday to Thursday rate we will not be able to accommodate on that package for a Friday night (I have since contacted groupon, They confirmed this and they will be happy to refund you as the error is on there end)


As a gesture of good will, I would be able to offer you the following option with ourselves:

should you wish to book directly for the two nights, I would be able to offer you a discounted rate of €230, Normally a direct booking for Thursday & Friday would cost €270.

Again, I do apologise for the frustration that this booking has caused you however, the error is on groupons end.



Kind Regards,

Was it the killarney oaks by any chance? 🀔

Seth Brundle

Tippgirl74 wrote: »

Wow is right!! I have requested for it to be escalated to a Groupon manager, but not optimistic that this will ever be resolved! I've given up on this!! Yes, it is a consolation that it's only ourselves involved. Also that we haven't booked expensive flights or even train fares. And I expect the refund will not be problematic. But not a good feeling to be treated this way and powerless to resolve it. I still maintain that there is a shared burden of responsibility between the parties.

Can you have an actual conversation with someone in Groupon rather than communication by email as its easier to fob you off by email?
If you do manage to get talking to someone, get their contact details and confirm anything back by email.

Tippgirl74

messrs wrote: »

OP - sorry if this has already been answered? but on the original voucher you have is there any mention of having to pay a supplement for Friday & Saturday nights stay? If not, then your dates should be honored and its up to the hotel and groupon to sort out who takes the hit for the supplement night

No it's not a supplement. There was no supplement mentioned. Yes I feel like there was no willingness from either party to resolve their screw up.

Tippgirl74

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Can you have an actual conversation with someone in Groupon rather than communication by email as its easier to fob you off by email?
If you do manage to get talking to someone, get their contact details and confirm anything back by email.

I couldn't find any number for them. Good tip to confirm in writing always!

Tippgirl74

paddyjoe183 wrote: »

Was it the killarney oaks by any chance? 🀔

I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to mention the hotel's name? I have no issue otherwise in mentioning it. Did you perhaps have a similar experience with a hotel in Killarney? I'd be very interested to hear.

messrs

Dav010 wrote: »

But the op bought the voucher from groupon, not the hotel. The hotel informed groupon when voucher could, and could not be used.

I know she bought the voucher from groupon - what I was meant was that if in the original dealings with groupon the hotel didn't specify anything about supplement for Friday and Sat night then the onus is on the hotel to honor what they originally offered, but if they did stipulate about supplements but Groupon just forgot to mention it on the offer then the liability falls to groupon and they should pay the supplement to the hotel for their error

Dav010

messrs wrote: »

I know she bought the voucher from groupon - what I was meant was that if in the original dealings with groupon the hotel didn't specify anything about supplement for Friday and Sat night then the onus is on the hotel to honor what they originally offered, but if they did stipulate about supplements but Groupon just forgot to mention it on the offer then the liability falls to groupon and they should pay the supplement to the hotel for their error

I think the op posted that the hotel contend that weekends were not eligible for groupon offer and had communicated this to groupon a number of times.

messrs

Dav010 wrote: »

I think the op posted that the hotel contend that weekends were not eligible for groupon offer and had communicated this to groupon a number of times.

Yes but OP has said that there was no mention of supplement on the voucher she bought. So surely this matter should be between hotel and groupon and OP should be honored to use the voucher she bought in good faith?

Also, I wonder did hotel communicate this in the beginning before offer was put on groupon or just after some bookings were been made

Dav010

messrs wrote: »

Yes but OP has said that there was no mention of supplement on the voucher she bought. So surely this matter should be between hotel and groupon and OP should be honored to use the voucher she bought in good faith?

Also, I wonder did hotel communicate this in the beginning before offer was put on groupon or just after some bookings were been made

The supplement, which is at a discounted rate, appears to be a gesture of goodwill from the hotel, not associated with groupon deal.

Tippgirl74

Dav010 wrote: »

I think the op posted that the hotel contend that weekends were not eligible for groupon offer and had communicated this to groupon a number of times.

That is exactly what they contend.

Tippgirl74

Dav010 wrote: »

The supplement, which is at a discounted rate, appears to be a gesture of goodwill from the hotel, not associated with groupon deal.

Yes precisely. But discounted from their current high rate due to demand and not rates available in June last unfortunately. I therefore query the goodwill of that. Especially in light of the timeframe.

Tippgirl74

messrs wrote: »

Yes but OP has said that there was no mention of supplement on the voucher she bought. So surely this matter should be between hotel and groupon and OP should be honored to use the voucher she bought in good faith?

Also, I wonder did hotel communicate this in the beginning before offer was put on groupon or just after some bookings were been made

I do not have any information on when this communication took place, other than as posted.

messrs

Tippgirl74 wrote: »

I do not have any information on when this communication took place, other than as posted.

I know that, i was saying that as i was trying to explain to another poster why i was wondering about if there was any mention of supplement on the deal you bought
As to when the communication took place that needs to be sorted direct between the hotel and groupon. The point i was trying to make was if hotel didn't mention supplement charge for friday or saturday when first getting on to groupon then the hotel need to take the hit for it but if they did mention it and groupon failed to put it on their add when posting then groupon need to take the hit - either way you should be honored the deal you bought in good faith and shouldnt have to pay any supplement at all

StackSteevens

It it was me, I'd be taking Groupon to the Small Claims Court. It's an open goal.

So accept the hotel's discounted offer and then sue Groupon for the difference - plus look for extra for the stress, upset and allied inconvenience that their incompetence has caused you.

Rows Grower

StackSteevens wrote: »

It it was me, I'd be taking Groupon to the Small Claims Court. It's an open goal.

So accept the hotel's discounted offer and then sue Groupon for the difference - plus look for extra for the stress, upset and allied inconvenience that their incompetence has caused you.

Don't think small claims court entertain claims for that.

Dav010

Rows Grower wrote: »

Don't think small claims court entertain claims for that.

Especially since op was offered a refund.

Darc19

Dempo1 wrote: »

Whatever about the right and wrongs of this the hotel is at fault here, they've essentially admitted there was issues with Groupons terms and conditions and they were fully aware of said issues. To put this in context, Hotels use various booking engines to drive sales, they allocate a certain amount of rooms to each booking engines at a discounted price and it is they that have to monitor availability, prices etc, they in turn reduce or remove availability as rooms sell. Whilst Groupon are not essentially a booking engine, they work much the same. Notwithstanding this, most hotels have an in-house bookings system, reservation management etc which talk to / manage availability and pricing with 3rd party sites, maintaining a core amount of rooms they sell directly , it is simply bizzare that so close to the booking, this error showed up, dare I say they got a better booking perhaps and have shifted the less profitable booking down the pegging order.

Correct in relation to booking.com and laterooms, but sites like hotels.com buy bulk rooms and then resell them.

Seems Groupon were both the seller and the booking agent here and they did not adhere to their agreement with the hotel.

It was for Groupon to contact the op and not the hotel as they are a third party in the booking.

Money was given to Groupon, booking was made with Groupon. Groupon must correct their error

StackSteevens

Rows Grower wrote: »

Don't think small claims court entertain claims for that.

Possibly not - but it's worth a try! And threatening Groupon with it just might get them to make a decent offer. I used it once - against Ryanair - and won!!! and I got the impression that the judge was very pro-consumer! (or maybe he was just delighted to screw Ryanair!)

Type of claims dealt with

• a claim for goods or services bought for private use from someone selling them in the course of a business (consumer claims)

............................

Where possible, the Registrar will negotiate a settlement without the need for a court hearing. If the matter cannot be settled, the registrar will bring your claim before the District Court (which you will have to attend).

It's possible that a service such as "a holiday deal" offered by a business may be covered. And the fact that a refund was offered doesn't really fully compensate the consumer in this situation. A "good" was offered and was purchased and subsequently - much too late - it turned out that the vendor couldn't deliver.

It's probably best to contact the local District Court Clerk's office.

https://www.courts.ie/small-claims-procedure

runawaybishop

StackSteevens wrote: »

Possibly not - but it's worth a try! And threatening Groupon with it just might get them to make a decent offer. I used it once - against Ryanair - and won!!! and I got the impression that the judge was very pro-consumer! (or maybe he was just delighted to screw Ryanair!)



It's possible that a service such as "a holiday deal" offered by a business may be covered. And the fact that a refund was offered doesn't really fully compensate the consumer in this situation. A "good" was offered and was purchased and subsequently - much too late - it turned out that the vendor couldn't deliver.

It's probably best to contact the local District Court Clerk's office.

https://www.courts.ie/small-claims-procedure

Waste of time and 25 euro, small claims court will fire it right back as a full refund has been offered.

Dempo1

runawaybishop wrote: »

Waste of time and 25 euro, small claims court will fire it right back as a full refund has been offered.

Agreed, again, it's the hotels error they've admitted as much, refer to my first response, there is nothing any other organisation, consumer rights, small claims court etc can or will do, the OP needs to chase this up with the hotel.

Dav010

Dempo1 wrote: »

Agreed, again, it's the hotels error they've admitted as much, refer to my first response, there is nothing any other organisation, consumer rights, small claims court etc can or will do, the OP needs to chase this up with the hotel.

I must have missed it, where did the hotel admit it was their error?

My understanding is that it was groupon’s error which the hotel had contacted groupon about but groupon hadn’t rectified it.

Dempo1

Dav010 wrote: »

I must have missed it, where did the hotel admit it was their error?

My understanding is that it was groupon’s error which the hotel had contacted groupon about but groupon hadn’t rectified it.

If you read original op, Hotel states they knew of issues with Groupons terms and conditions and it would appear for quite some time. Again, it's up to the hotel to manage any and all 3rd party booking engines, prices, availability and in particular any discounting companies they agree to do business with. It is beggars belief they did not spot this until 2 days prior to OPs arrival. Seperate to this, their own internal reservations system should have picked this up.

OP, couLd contact IHF and also use social media, primarily Twitter or FB to stir this up, with the emphasis on staycations, neither the hotel or the IHF want bad publicity and over what is a trifling amount of money.

Dav010

Dempo1 wrote: »

If you read original op, Hotel states they knew of issues with Groupons terms and conditions and it would appear for quite some time. Again, it's up to the hotel to manage any and all 3rd party booking engines, prices, availability and in particular any discounting companies they agree to do business with. It is beggars belief they did not spot this until 2 days prior to OPs arrival. Seperate to this, their own internal reservations system should have picked this up.

OP, couLd contact IHF and also use social media, primarily Twitter or FB to stir this up, with the emphasis on staycations, neither the hotel or the IHF want bad publicity and over what is a trifling amount of money.

But the op confirmed the booking was made on the groupon site, not the hotel’s, and confirmation was received from groupon.

Is your post an example of the woke phenomenon I hear so much about nowadays?

Dempo1

Dav010 wrote: »

But the op confirmed the booking was made on the groupon site, not the hotel’s, and confirmation was received from groupon.

Is your post an example of the woke phenomenon I hear so much about nowadays?

Not sure what you mean woke phenomenon, but just to explain, yes reservation make through Groupon but this would have also been verified by the hotel would would in turn make rooms available for discounting sites. Groupon don't just pick any old hotel out of a hat and offer a discount, again, hotel freely admitted they were aware of issues with Groupon weeks ago, how would they know that exactly?? It's my belief hotel are ultimately at fault here and I'll go further, I suspect the ops booking was trumped by a more profitable booking that came in.

Hotel reservation systems manage bookings, months, weeks, days in advance, this just didn't pop up. Anyway that's my piece, hope the op gets some satisfaction.

StackSteevens

runawaybishop wrote: »

Waste of time and 25 euro, small claims court will fire it right back as a full refund has been offered.

I would imagine that the helpful District Court Clerk will advise the consumer of that if she contacts him. Hence no €25 will be lost and the only cost will be that of the phone call.

StackSteevens

Dempo1 wrote: »

just to explain, yes reservation make through Groupon but this would have also been verified by the hotel would would in turn make rooms available for discounting sites. Groupon don't just pick any old hotel out of a hat and offer a discount, again, hotel freely admitted they were aware of issues with Groupon weeks ago, how would they know that exactly?? It's my belief hotel are ultimately at fault here and I'll go further, I suspect the ops booking was trumped by a more profitable booking that came in.

Hotel reservation systems manage bookings, months, weeks, days in advance, this just didn't pop up. Anyway that's my piece, hope the op gets some satisfaction.

So although the hotel has clearly indicated that its agreement with Groupon doesn't cover weekend nights, you know for a fact that Groupon had informed it of this particular booking months ago and the hotel had confirmed it!!!!!

Quite an exceptional insight - I assume that you're psychic!

august12

I think you need a holiday after all this OP!!!!!