Hotels + COVID-19; hotel charges for non delivery of (their) service

  • aphrodita's Avatar
    last year (July 2019) we booked 2-night stay in an Erlangen hotel (Bavaria) for beginning of Jun2020 via booking.com. Due to current situation there are two options to get a refund:
    • Contact the hotel, which we did and they refused cancellation (payment due is due on arrival);
    • Contacted booking.com whose Force Majeure policy currently only extends till end of April.
    Neither are helpful, and my question is in regard to only situation which covers current pandemic. Under the German law and current government and Federal Ministry of Health, German hotels are not allowed to accommodate any tourists (“only for necessary, but not for tourist purposes”), thus hotels are closed for business where tourists are concerned. Booking.com ignored this fact, whilst hotel is ignoring it accepting reservation from tourists even so they can't deliver services (without breaking German law). There is plenty of evidence on internet I can provide to support the above (including official German government websites), so if current law for hotels extends beyond our arrival times (which by default it now is already and the German government advises tourists to contact hotels), but the hotel remains closed but decides to charge for services they can't deliver, will one be able to action chargeback (under Section 75) for such a situation? Is it even legal for them to do so? I believe doing so would be fraud/scam on their part.
  • 2 Replies

  • Verified Answer

    Tesco-Bank's Avatar
    Your Community Expert
    Verified Answer
    Hi , sorry to hear about this. You can find information about the steps to take here: https://community.tescobank.com/t5/D...edtransactions



    Once you follow the link you'll be able to submit an online form and one of my colleagues in the Disputes team will review your claim. Please be aware that the team are very busy at the moment so it may take longer than usual for them to get back in touch. We appreciate your patience at this busy time. Hope this helps – Caroline
  • kareena2b's Avatar
    Window shopper
    can I ask, as we are not in June yet,1-was the booking non refundable? ie-there is no free cancellation option. This would usually require payment upfront.2-on what basis are you cancelling? who says the hotel wont be open in June3-do you have travel insurance-purchased before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic4-if no money has been paid yet or taken from your credit card, then there is no claim-yet.5-I have on occasion, not attended/got to a hotel where payment was due at the hotel. Booking.com did not take any payment from my credit card, nor did the hotel-whilst this is no guarantee, it may happen that no money will be taken.