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In April we booked a Hotel for our vacation in Greece in June. The booking took place on the hotel's website. We decided to pay immediately and not have the classical "make a reservation that you can cancel until a week ahead"-type of booking. That way we could save a few bucks.

After having submitted the form, the Hotel approached us via mail,the payment did not work out. They asked us to send them our credit card information in plain text. I was somewhat reluctant, since this is not a secure way of transferring sensitive data. So I asked them whether they could cancel the booking and we just try it once more with another credit card via the website. They refused. So we sent them the credit card data via mail. They still could not book (we did not receive any notification from our bank about some sort of denied request). So we sent them my girlfriend's credit card information. No response, upon request they claim the booking was once more unsuccessful.

Next they ask us to transfer money via bank deposit. We refuse since we lose some control over the process, apart from hefty fees for international bank transfers. And somewhat everything looks very fishy and untrustworthy to me.

That's why we asked them now to cancel the booking altogether. They want to charge us a cancelation fee. I find this an absolute disgrace.

Am I wrong or are they wrong? The hotel is olive green in Crete BTW.

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    How would they charge you the cancellation fee if all payments you sent really failed?
    – bogardpd
    Commented May 13, 2017 at 12:18
  • exactly my latest response..
    – AnatraIlDuck
    Commented May 13, 2017 at 12:53
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    @bogardpd: Theoretically they could sue you in court.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented May 13, 2017 at 15:33
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    @AnatraIlDuck Are you US-based? If yes, did you inform your bank that charges from abroad are expected? It may be that both you and your SO have charges from abroad on your cards disabled, in which case it would not be the hotel's fault that the charge could be made. Also, did you call your bank to check if charging the card has been tried? The online banking systems do not always show all requests, and your bank's customer service center may see more details.
    – DCTLib
    Commented May 13, 2017 at 20:11
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    I would argue that since you chose the option to pay the full amount upfront, you have not yet actually made a reservation, since this transaction has not completed (and there is therefore nothing to cancel and no fee to pay).
    – brhans
    Commented May 15, 2017 at 13:33

2 Answers 2

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The hotel has very good reviews on Tripadvisor and as long as you booked it on their actual website (http://www.olivegreenhotel.com/) its unlikely to be a scam, although it sure looks like one.

Stating the obvious: if they weren't able to charge you for the room, I don't see how they can charge you for a cancellation. I'd do the following:

  1. write a back a polite letter "unfortunately you have not been been able to process our payments even after three different options were given. We therefore need to cancel the reservation and cancellation fees do not apply".

  2. Keep a copy of that letter.

  3. If a charge pops up on your credit card, dispute the charge with your credit card issuer and send them a copy of the the letter as proof.
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    Hilmar - Writing a letter and telling the hotel that they can't charge their cancellation fee does not negate the contract and their right to charge a cancellation fee.
    – user13044
    Commented May 13, 2017 at 15:07
  • @Tom . Agreed. It's a purely defensive measure. In case of conflict having the letter is better than not having one. What alternatives would you suggest ?
    – Hilmar
    Commented May 13, 2017 at 18:11
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Do not pay them anything. I doubt that they will try to charge you because they know it's their fault that you cancelled.

Threatening them that you will write your story (along with a low rate review) in Tripadvisor or booking.com might convince them to cancel your booking right away.

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  • The OP has failed to pay for reservation. How it is hotel's fault?
    – user45851
    Commented May 16, 2017 at 11:45
  • @9ilsdx9rvj0lo It is the hotel's fault not to recognize that it is not the client's fault if the OP has any problems. They know that the client did anything they could in order to make the payment possible and since the OP or anything else (but not the client) failed, they should cancel the reservation without any obstacles. What they are doing is extremely unprofessional.
    – papakias
    Commented May 16, 2017 at 14:27
  • No, it's not. They didn't do anything, because they refused to do bank transfer, which is the most logical thing in such circumstances. He had also probably no way to check why the card was blocked. It's possible that giving overcharged prepaid card data to force cancelling booking is a common trick in that area.
    – user45851
    Commented May 16, 2017 at 14:38
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    @9ilsdx9rvj0lo The hotel asked for credit card details in plain text. I would have stopped any interaction with them at this point.
    – papakias
    Commented May 16, 2017 at 14:54
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    @9ilsdx9rvj0lo You are obliged to pay if you have used the hotel's services. In this case no services were used.
    – papakias
    Commented May 16, 2017 at 15:19

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