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I booked a doubletree resort for the summer and locked in a good price with some room for free cancellation. The booking is for the august.
Now I got an email from them with a link requesting payment. I don’t understand why and it never happened to me before.
I fear they’d cancel my booking if I don’t pay.The fact the room is booked on a free cancellation basis until x date, doesn’t mean some resorts won’t require full payment or a deposit, refundable on the terms of the original booking for their cash flow and to discourage speculative bookings in high season. If that’s the case, it should have been made clear during the reservation process and/or your confirmation but arguing the issue with them risks resulting in them cancelling.
In these situations, personally I always pay deposits on a credit card, ideally Amex, with s75 even if it means paying FX fees, in case anything goes wrong.
Yes but surely it was for the resort to state that requirement when the booking was made?
This smacks of dishonourability. The hotel is trying to switch terms after the deal has been made. Essentially they’re saying “pay up or we’ll cancel your booking”. And they may still cancel your booking even if you do pay up. They could be overbooked and trying to flush out booked rooms which people may cancel. Or they could just be wanting to find an excuse to resell reserved rooms at higher rates. If so they could still find other reasons later.
I think they’ll do whatever suits their potentially evil nature anyway, whatever you do. s75 as JDB says could be useful, as could insurance to cap the loss (but perhaps not replace the holiday at that time of year).
I’d call them back, and express that this attempt to change terms is rather worrying. I’d oblige with a deposit but only in exchange for something you didn’t have eg free breakfast or an upgrade that is clearly distinguished by a recognisable upgrade feature, eg beachside or private pool, from what you have booked. Not early checkin as good chance it’ll fail. If I didn’t have access to Club Lounge or if a really decent concession is made, then in exchange for this I’d be prepared to prepay a very much more substantial proportion of the booking if it’s a good one.
Please let us know how this turns out.
I think before getting overexcited, the OP needs to check the terms of the booking carefully. It is quite common for resort hotels to take deposits, even if they are refundable up to certain dates on a sliding scale.
Where did you make the original booking?
It was a typical Hilton confirmation email. No mention of early payment. And a typical mention of the hotel blocking the amount on my card.
And what they request is not a deposit but full payment.And the payment link is not under the Hilton.com domain which is odd. Normally I’d think it is phishing but it contains all my trip data and dates.
I checked the tripadvisor reviews for a mention of early payment with no success.I suggest you ring the hotel to check whether it is a valid email first. Don’t speak to reception about it but ask to be out through to the booking team.
It was a typical Hilton confirmation email. No mention of early payment. And a typical mention of the hotel blocking the amount on my card.
And what they request is not a deposit but full payment.And the payment link is not under the Hilton.com domain which is odd. Normally I’d think it is phishing but it contains all my trip data and dates.
I checked the tripadvisor reviews for a mention of early payment with no success.Call the hotel via Skype or something similar, ask for reservations and check with them. Payment links like this are a common scam. The scammers can easily obtain your trip details.
I seem to remember a reader reporting something like this during the pandemic, though I don’t think it was a Hilton property, possibly IHG? The request seemed to come from a specific member of staff rather than the actual hotel – I can’t recall if we ever found out what happened in the end.
IIRC it was a hotel in Turkey.That’s odd. Mine is like that — request coming from an individual staff email address. The payment link takes you to
https://hilton.gripays.com/
something I never heard of.
The oddest thing now I realise is that s/he asks me to email him for confirmation after I pay!I’ll call when I’m back to London. But honestly I don’t know what kind of leverage I might possibly have as I don’t want to pay 4months earlier — if the request is genuine.
I think they’ll do whatever suits their potentially evil nature anyway,
This is just such a silly comment it does you a disservice making it.
@can2 – bizarrely that link goes to something that looks like a rather dodgy site with some Turkish script! I would definitely not make any payment through it – contact the hotel directly and ask if they have sent the request.
Similar to our discussion of Nectar point fraud the other day, I guess it’s not impossible for an untrustworthy member of staff to access reservation details and send out fraudulent claims for payment – or pass these details on to someone else who is running a scam.
I agree @northernlass. But what if it is genuine? What if, during my call, they request an early full payment? What leverage would I have?
I’m truly uncomfortable paying it now. But I locked in a good price at the same time :))Which resort was this?
Bodrum
Bodrum
Even fully flex says it requires a full deposit in high season although it can be cancelled up to seven days in advance. Seems fairly normal for resorts.
My understanding of the deposit was that they’d block that amount from my card. But now I’d up paying it in full. That’s different.
They can’t block that amount on a card for that time period! It does state it’s a deposit.
What I’m struggling to understand is that you have to provide credit card details when you make a booking anyway, so if they wanted to take payment they could just use these? Otherwise how would they get the money from someone who tried to cancel a non-refundable booking, or just didn’t show up?
Also, why would you be directed to a website in Turkish, which looks nothing like the HH website, when you very probably don’t speak Turkish?!
I agree @northernlass. But what if it is genuine? What if, during my call, they request an early full payment? What leverage would I have?
I’m truly uncomfortable paying it now. But I locked in a good price at the same time :))Just say you are ringing to confirm if the email is legit. If they ask for payment there and then you can say you can’t at that moment (card not on you, not in a private place).
@JDB I tend to assume individuals are basically competent and honest until strong proof otherwise. Fortunately the UK CRA legislation agrees with me that by default if a consumer is surprised by something it wasn’t made clear enough by the seller.
The OP at the Hyatt Churchill was surprised by the extra charge on his bill therefore it wasn’t made clear enough. Fortunately the hotel knows it too aa it’s labelled discretionary. UK law says if a charge is mandatory it must be included in the stated price. The extra charge wasn’t included in the stated price upfront to the consumer (guest) therefore it cannot be enforced.
Therefore the guest is not obliged to pay it and as far as consumer protection in the UK is concerned the hotel has gone about it in a sneaky way.
With the Turkey hotel I’d still open charmingly as I suggested then see if some sweetener can be arranged if the deposit required is not crippling and I can increase it a little or make it any easier for the hotel. But the fact that the Turkey hotel wanting a deposit payment and not just a guarantee, and when they would require it, sounds like it would have been better for Hilton and the hotel to make it clearer when selling to UK consumers.
+ I am genuinely concerned that if I choose to cancel later on, it’ll be a serious problem to get that money back.
Still can’t understand why they don’t just charge the card on the booking? I have only ever heard of this happening twice, here, and both times the request came from Turkey.
If you make a booking where a deposit is due, then you authorise that when you complete the reservation process. They don’t need to request it again. I would personally be contacting Hilton CA to ask if this is standard procedure.
I seem to remember a reader reporting something like this during the pandemic, though I don’t think it was a Hilton property, possibly IHG? The request seemed to come from a specific member of staff rather than the actual hotel – I can’t recall if we ever found out what happened in the end.
IIRC it was a hotel in Turkey.That was me.
It was the Crowne Plaza in Antalya, Turkey.EDIT: they were requesting payment upfront through a portal linked in an email they sent. The email and the payment link did not seem to have any reference to IHG or Crowne Plaza.
I contacted IHG customer service who simply forwarded my query to the hotel admin team.
That team confirmed it was legit and they expected payment up front through a bank transfer of some kind.
I told them to do one and cancelled the booking.I knew it rang a bell! I wonder if the link is the same? AFAIK it’s fine to open it as long as you don’t provide any info or payment details?
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