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Hotel cancellation

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭august12


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    When my partner rang to discuss, he was pretty much told 'take it or leave it'. The email was sent at half 5 this evening! I also think the timeframe is very unprofessional!
    I would be very interested to know how much they are charging for these nights, I know you have quoted figures in the first post but have you checked online, I would imagine they are charging more, they don't need your business, hotels are fleecing people at present, I know someone who booked a 2 night stay for a family of 4 in the west of Ireland for 610 euro, was booked last January, same two nights if booked last week were over 1300. Personally, unless you can get reasonable accommodation elsewhere, I would hold this reservation but request some additional benefit for the inconvenience and email rather than ring, nothing like a written trail if disputing anything later.


  • Registered Users Posts: 354 ✭✭pauldavis123


    The fact the hotel left it so long to tell you about a known problem would be justification for hanging them out to dry in my book.

    Google, TripAdvisor, Trivago and Facebook would all get it.

    Disgraceful behaviour.


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    Dav010 wrote: »
    As the booking was done through groupon, the hotel would have been communicating with the site, they have confirmed this. As far as I am aware, you pay groupon who then book the room in your name, giving the hotel a lower fee than the customer pays. The voucher groupon give you can only then be redeemed with the hotel. The hotel in this case has confirmed they were in contact with groupon about this for some time, I really think that groupon are getting off a bit lightly on this thread and the hotel is getting blamed unfairly.

    Yes there is likely a shared responsibility here. I will see what Groupon advises tomorrow.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,461 ✭✭✭SweetCaliber


    The fact the hotel left it so long to tell you about a known problem would be justification for hanging them out to dry in my book.

    Google, TripAdvisor, Trivago and Facebook would all get it.

    Disgraceful behaviour.

    I agree. In my opinion I'd say the hotel knew about it and kept it quiet until now to see if they can pull the extra money out of you last minute knowing you wouldn't want to cancel.

    While I agree that this is between the OP and Groupon, the hotel could have easily contacted the OP themselves when they became aware but chose not to.

    Pretty shoddy imo.


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    august12 wrote: »
    I would be very interested to know how much they are charging for these nights, I know you have quoted figures in the first post but have you checked online, I would imagine they are charging more, they don't need your business, hotels are fleecing people at present, I know someone who booked a 2 night stay for a family of 4 in the west of Ireland for 610 euro, was booked last January, same two nights if booked last week were over 1300. Personally, unless you can get reasonable accommodation elsewhere, I would hold this reservation but request some additional benefit for the inconvenience and email rather than ring, nothing like a written trail if disputing anything later.

    I haven't checked online what their rates are. The Groupon was a great deal. It's about 2 miles outside Killarney so paying an extra 90euros for the Friday night isn't worth it. My OH found the manager pretty dismissive and not that interested in reaching a satisfactory solution so I can't see him agreeing to give them his business. I agree with you about a written trail. Have found out the hard way over the years!!!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 24,804 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    Whoever fûcked up, it 1000% wasn’t the OP.

    This should NOT be on them to fix.

    The hotel should be trying to deal with Groupon to recoup any lost revenue and put in a check whereby this error cannot be repeated.

    The OP should not be...

    1. Made carry the can by having to pay more money.

    2. Even have to negotiate with the hotel having made a transition through a third party in good faith that the hotel initially honored until changing their minds.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,001 ✭✭✭✭Dav010


    Strumms wrote: »
    Whoever fûcked up, it 1000% wasn’t the OP.

    This should NOT be on them to fix.

    The hotel should be trying to deal with Groupon to recoup any lost revenue and put in a check whereby this error cannot be repeated.

    The OP should not be...

    1. Made carry the can by having to pay more money.

    2. Even have to negotiate with the hotel having made a transition through a third party in good faith that the hotel initially honored until changing their minds.

    The hotel hasn’t lost revenue though, they also apparently did contact groupon about the misleading advertisement of the terms agreed.

    I do agree with you though that this is not the ops fault, groupon should be the ones stepping up here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22,431 ✭✭✭✭extra gravy


    antix80 wrote: »
    Op is giving the hotel the opportunity to put things right.

    You were encouraging him to leave a one star review before he even sets foot in the place, how is that giving them the opportunity to put things right? My advice OP as someone who works in the industry, ask to speak to the general manager when you get there, make them aware of your dissatisfaction and give them a chance to offer their explanation. These situations can more often than not be resolved by a frank discussion.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I think you need to use more exclamation marks!!!!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,910 ✭✭✭Tippex


    My 2cent from over 15 years in travel on this.
    The way reservation systems works (i would be 99.9% certain that when u book on groupon they to not book with the hotel system) I would be certain that groupon essentially had an allocation for dates and had ballsed up the booking form on their own site.
    When you booked the hotel on the groupon site you formed a contract with groupon (they are the merchant).

    The hotel noticed that groupon had ballsed up and had notified groupon of this. For whatever reason groupon dismissed the issue and did not inform OP.

    Usually how allocations work is that you send the reservations on to the hotel 48/72 hours prior to arrival, so it is likely that the hotel knew nothing about your booking until they got notified of your details today. Hence this triggered the email to OP.

    The contract is with Groupon not the hotel you need to deal with them directly (should the hotel be accomodating Possibly yes but if they have had a lot of bookings like this incorrectly booked by groupon I can understand their own frustration)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    You were encouraging him to leave a one star review before he even sets foot in the place, how is that giving them the opportunity to put things right? My advice OP as someone who works in the industry, ask to speak to the general manager when you get there, make them aware of your dissatisfaction and give them a chance to offer their explanation. These situations can more often than not be resolved by a frank discussion.
    That would also have been my past experience, i.e. that hotels would show a willingness to find a satisfactory solution. However, my partner phoned yesterday evening and spoke to the duty manager, who apologised but was quite dismissive, and advised that she could offer no further solution other than pay a 90euro excess or accept a refund. He felt she was quite unempathic, defensive and dismissive, but I suppose that's an opinion rather than a fact. He asked was it possible to speak to the hotel owner and was told no they're busy. I emailed Groupon just now, so look forward to hearing their side of the story.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,821 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    That would also have been my past experience, i.e. that hotels would show a willingness to find a satisfactory solution. However, my partner phoned yesterday evening and spoke to the duty manager, who apologised but was quite dismissive, and advised that she could offer no further solution other than pay a 90euro excess or accept a refund. He felt she was quite unempathic, defensive and dismissive, but I suppose that's an opinion rather than a fact. He asked was it possible to speak to the hotel owner and was told no they're busy. I emailed Groupon just now, so look forward to hearing their side of the story.

    In all fairness the owner employ's a manager to deal with these kind of scenario's.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    In all fairness the owner employ's a manager to deal with these kind of scenario's.

    Absolutely true. He should have asked for GM, but not coming from a hotel background I think he just assumed that the owner would have a managerial or hands on role. Crucially i think he felt that as the duty manager was not dealing with it effectively he wanted to escalate it. It was the curtness of her reply that I wanted to highlight! He felt that was characteristic of her approach.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,821 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    Absolutely true. He should have asked for GM, but not coming from a hotel background I think he just assumed that the owner would have a managerial or hands on role. Crucially i think he felt that as the duty manager was not dealing with it effectively he wanted to escalate it. It was the curtness of her reply that I wanted to highlight! He felt that was characteristic of her approach.

    To be honest with you I think the majority of Hotel managers are ruthless and are chosen by the owners for their ability to display a lack of empathy when it comes to contentious issues with customers.

    The job title seems to bestow a false sense of grandeur and an attitude of thinking they are above reproach. There are lots of exceptions though thanks be to God.

    Best of luck trying to get a satisfactory outcome.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭antix80


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    Absolutely true. He should have asked for GM, but not coming from a hotel background I think he just assumed that the owner would have a managerial or hands on role. Crucially i think he felt that as the duty manager was not dealing with it effectively he wanted to escalate it. It was the curtness of her reply that I wanted to highlight! He felt that was characteristic of her approach.

    This is what people aren't getting. You're the customer, you have a grievance, and you have a shift manager who fobbed you off.

    It is the hotel's choice to use that manager and that method of delivery (groupon). How's your experience as a guest of this hotel?

    I'd escalate with groupon and the manager. If you decide not to go to the hotel just write a review briefly outlining your experience.


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    To be honest with you I think the majority of Hotel managers are ruthless and are chosen by the owners for their ability to display a lack of empathy when it comes to contentious issues with customers.

    The job title seems to bestow a false sense of grandeur and an attitude of thinking they are above reproach. There are lots of exceptions though thanks be to God.


    Best of luck trying to get a satisfactory outcome.

    Thank you!!I think you could be right re. lack of empathy. I suppose we have been pretty lucky so, in that we have generally had issues resolved in a reasonable manner, and even in the absence of empathy, managers have been solution focussed and professional. We are both mid 40s so have logged a good few hotel nights between us over the years.


  • Registered Users Posts: 26,923 ✭✭✭✭Dempo1


    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,

    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.

    Is maith an scáthán súil charad.




  • Registered Users Posts: 20,929 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    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,
    check the small print, i bought one recently and went to book and found out it wasn't valid until Oct.


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    check the small print, i bought one recently and went to book and found out it wasn't valid until Oct.

    Good advice thank you. If you are within 14 days of the purchase Groupon are good at refunding. In our case there was a booking calendar in Groupon that allowed us to book those dates and confirmed same.


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    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.

    Your last point is unfortunately exactly what we suspect. Hotel rooms are at a premium in Killarney due to the staycation summer! I'm hoping Groupon will cast further light on how this operates. Will post their reply.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 873 ✭✭✭StackSteevens


    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.


    Seems to me that far too many barrack room lawyers are trying to blame the hotel for this Groupon cock-up

    Summing up what we know:


    1. The customer purchased a discount voucher through Groupon and made a reservation through Groupon's system. Groupon was made aware - we don't know when - that there was a glitch in said booking system bud din't rectify it.

    2. We have no idea when Groupon forwarded the customer's reservation details to the hotel.

    3. When the hotel realised that Groupon had facilitated an invalid reservation, it contacted the customer - this may have happened immediately after it received the reservation details, or it may not, we don't know - and although it was not to blame for Groupon's error, it has offered a goodwill discount to the customer.

    4. Groupon was made aware - some time ago - that there was a problem with the website booking system and did SFA either to rectify it or to notify any affected customers.

    On the balance of the facts it's Groupon who are wholly and entirely to blame for this balls up. The only way that I'd blame the hotel would be if it had been aware of the dates of this reservation for some time, but had failed to notify the customer until yesterday.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,506 ✭✭✭thomas 123


    Lol this is the hotels fault at least morally.

    Like others have said the hotel can see the rates they can get on their system now that there is no lockdown.

    They probably set up the groupon advert back when they thought they wouldn’t be able to extort as they usually do.

    The vendor is this case Groupon is the one you will need to pursue for a refund as they are the “seller” and thus legally(consumer rights act, not as described) responsible. If you accept any deals from the hotel your chances of getting anything back are very low in my experience.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭antix80


    4. Groupon was made aware - some time ago - that there was a problem with the website booking system and did SFA either to rectify it or to notify any affected customers.

    The hotel made groupon aware the terms and conditions stated on the site were incorrect and rather than cease their contract with Groupon or proactively gained booking info from groupon in order to notify affected customers in a timely manner, they just told groupon "if you sell these reservations, we won't honour them."

    This bad attitude extends to how the customer was treated when the hotel finally retrieved customer info from groupon.

    Groupon are basically agents for the hotel. Sure, they'll say they're not but the terms of their agreement is basically commission-based to drive sales for the hotel. Hotel should be more careful who they do business with if it affects their reputation.


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    Groupon's extensive response!! Copied and pasted below! ???

    This is in regards to your recent Groupon purchase for *** Hotel.

    I have received an update from the partner management that they are unable to honor your booking due to unexpected situation. They have requested you to reschedule your stay for an alternative date. Kindly contact *** Hotel for further assistance in rebooking,

    If you bought this Groupon as a gift, don’t forget you’ll need to inform the recipient about this news.

    That’s all from us for now. As always, please visit www.groupon.co.uk to see what other exciting deals are on offer in your city today.

    Kind regards,


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    thomas 123 wrote: »
    Lol this is the hotels fault at least morally.

    Like others have said the hotel can see the rates they can get on their system now that there is no lockdown.

    They probably set up the groupon advert back when they thought they wouldn’t be able to extort as they usually do.

    The vendor is this case Groupon is the one you will need to pursue for a refund as they are the “seller” and thus legally(consumer rights act, not as described) responsible. If you accept any deals from the hotel your chances of getting anything back are very low in my experience.

    You are spot on. We booked this on June 25th just before lockdown restrictions were lifted on 29th!! We have been assured that there is no issue re. a refund but that is less than satisfactory with less than 48 hours cancellation notice!! On what is arguably one of the busiest weekends of the year in Killarney!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 524 ✭✭✭snor


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    Groupon's extensive response!! Copied and pasted below! ???

    This is in regards to your recent Groupon purchase for *** Hotel.

    I have received an update from the partner management that they are unable to honor your booking due to unexpected situation. They have requested you to reschedule your stay for an alternative date. Kindly contact *** Hotel for further assistance in rebooking,

    If you bought this Groupon as a gift, don’t forget you’ll need to inform the recipient about this news.

    That’s all from us for now. As always, please visit www.groupon.co.uk to see what other exciting deals are on offer in your city today.

    Kind regards,

    Wow. Not even as much as an apology. Really poor form on behalf of Groupon. Would be Interesting to hear what the hotels response was - did they really not honor or are Groupon Just washing their hands. Dreadful customer service either way. Imagine you had given as a gift to someone and then had to tell them they weren’t going!


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    If you bought this Groupon as a gift, don’t forget you’ll need to inform the recipient about this news.

    That’s all from us for now.

    or

    "Now paddle your own canoe"

    My takeaway: don't get Groupon as a gift for anybody


  • Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 38,835 Mod ✭✭✭✭Seth Brundle


    Tippgirl74 wrote: »
    I have received an update from the partner management that they are unable to honor your booking due to unexpected situation. They have requested you to reschedule your stay for an alternative date. Kindly contact *** Hotel for further assistance in rebooking,
    What is the unexpected situation? That the hotel will not honour the booking because they told Groupon that they woudn't and Groupon failed to notify the OP? That wasn't unexpected, at least not to Groupon, because thy were informed by the hotel some time ago!


  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    snor wrote: »
    Wow. Not even as much as an apology. Really poor form on behalf of Groupon. Would be Interesting to hear what the hotels response was - did they really not honor or are Groupon Just washing their hands. Dreadful customer service either way. Imagine you had given as a gift to someone and then had to tell them they weren’t going!

    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.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Tippgirl74


    What is the unexpected situation? That the hotel will not honour the booking because they told Groupon that they woudn't and Groupon failed to notify the OP? That wasn't unexpected, at least not to Groupon, because thy were informed by the hotel some time ago!

    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!


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