Cancelling Hotel - Hotel still want to charge - Transfer all my money out?

Yes, call them up as soon as possible.

Depending on the hotel in question, many of them overbook customers because they know some people would cancel at the last minute.

Try to postpone it for a week and then call up the next day or so, and cancel. Normally, there is no charge if you cancel X days in advance.

very last question and thank you for your help.

This is supposed to be for tomorrow, and I will try to do so. They said their cancellation period was 12pm today, but I had an exam at that time.


If they say no what do I do?

Please reply soon.

If they say no, tell them that you won't pay their extortionate cancellation fee and hang up.

After that, inform your bank manager to stop any outgoing transfers unless authorized personally by you.


- The only issue is that you may have already booked and paid for the hotel online meaning that the hotel may decide to deduct £74 and then send you the remaining money. You can't do anything in this case apart from reviewing their service.


The best thing to do is be reasonable on the phone and don't threaten actions which you know sound bonkers like "I'm going to sue you". Emphasize on how sorry you are and if their service is good, you will recommend it to your friends.

Could they actually take it to court as such.

You'll go overdrawn if you take the money out. If you've given them a reasonable amount of time then just say you've been reasonable, and would hate to have to leave negative feedback online about them.. then negotiate a cancellation fee

Thank you for this, this is really stressing me out.

May I finally ask you, if they still say no, I will go to my bank manager tomorrow and say what you said - but can they still after that take the money out, like from an overdraft etc.

Ideally, your bank should stop any outgoing transfer because you've told them to (you might want to record the phone call), but if the hotel still takes the money, then ask your bank to refund you.

Yes, call them up as soon as possible.

Depending on the hotel in question, many of them overbook customers because they know some people would cancel at the last minute.

Try to postpone it for a week and then call up the next day or so, and cancel. Normally, there is no charge if you cancel X days in advance.

Thank you so much they have changed it, hopefully I can cancel it in the future.

May I kindly thank you so much for your help.

If there is anything I can help you with, please let me know.

I'm glad it's worked out for you.

Have a good evening.

My parent's run a hotel and I can tell you that there is nothing more annoying, disrespectful or dishonest than what some people are suggesting. You agreed to the terms and conditions, including terms of cancellation, when you booked and paid for the room. Not paying for the room might not seem like much to you but to the hotel it could mean the difference between employing staff or not. Lying to the hotel like that is even worse, to move the date then cancel is beyond disrespectful.
Just pay for room that YOU booked, and that the hotel and its staff will no doubt spend time effort (and money in consequence) to prepare for you.

My parent's run a hotel and I can tell you that there is nothing more annoying, disrespectful or dishonest than what some people are suggesting. You agreed to the terms and conditions, including terms of cancellation, when you booked and paid for the room. Not paying for the room might not seem like much to you but to the hotel it could mean the difference between employing staff or not. Lying to the hotel like that is even worse, to move the date then cancel is beyond disrespectful.
Just pay for room that YOU booked, and that the hotel and its staff will no doubt spend time effort (and money in consequence) to prepare for you.

So you are loaded then?

Not everyone is rich like you.

I got completely messed around by an exam board, who moved the location of my exam two days ago, to a completely different area. And now I have to catch a coach and a train ride to the centre. I was a victim of circumstance.

As long as she sticks to the obligations placed upon her when booking the room, then she is entirely within her rights to also ask for her rights under such a contract.

It might be annoying, yes, but so is forking out £74 for a cancellation. That is extortion. It's not like hotels book out every room. No, like airlines, they overbook passengers and in the unlikely event that all the guests/passengers turn up, then they simply bump one or two to a bigger suite or next airplane.

There is nothing wrong with sticking to the contract, in terms of postponing or cancellation but you attempting to guilt trip someone into paying £74 when they don't have to is simply absurd behaviour.

No I am not loaded, quite the opposite actually. If I was loaded I wouldn't have written that at all, because I wouldn't care so much. I don't get when as soon as you say that your family has a hotel people immediately think its some massive 5 star thing in some exclusive spot. I'm saying that that £74 or whatever could mean the difference between some bills getting paid and not. I'm not saying that applied to every hotel in the world, certainly not the big, expensive, fancy ones, or the national chains, but its a pretty **** time for those that don't fit either of those categories and things like this don't help.
Also, you said that the hotel has let you change the date, and you intend to repay this kindness by cancelling it tomorrow or the day after? That is disrespectful in my opinion, and I'm sure that most would agree with that.

I don't believe many hotels have a 'postponement' facility e.g. rescheduling once the cancellation period has passed

You can probably instruct your bank to refuse certain charges but if you are contractually bound by terms that necessitate payment then you are on thin ice (hence, I'd take my advice if I were you)

P.S. Where is the hotel?

I'm not saying that she has no right at all to cancel, I'm saying that she has no immediate right to cancel after a certain point. Cancelling the night before is for most well beyond that certain point. As for your suggestion that all hotels double book rooms is ridiculous, not every hotel has the luxury of "bumping up" customers or moving them along, most hotels are run by honest people simply trying to get by and do what they want to do.

In future, when going to hotel with bae, book on the day. Better yet, abstain.

As long as she sticks to the obligations placed upon her when booking the room, then she is entirely within her rights to also ask for her rights under such a contract.

It might be annoying, yes, but so is forking out £74 for a cancellation. That is extortion. It's not like hotels book out every room. No, like airlines, they overbook passengers and in the unlikely event that all the guests/passengers turn up, then they simply bump one or two to a bigger suite or next airplane.

There is nothing wrong with sticking to the contract, in terms of postponing or cancellation but you attempting to guilt trip someone into paying £74 when they don't have to is simply absurd behaviour.