Old Woman Breaks Wrist, Hotel Refuses to Refund Her Stay
Jennifer Billock October 05, 2015
An elderly couple is speaking out against a Blackpool hotel after they were forced to cancel their anniversary trip.
Hannah and Allan Boardman, both 88, saved for two years for a trip to Blackpool in the U.K. They planned to stay at The Boston Hotel for their 65th anniversary and paid for the room in full beforehand, but then disaster struck.
The day before the couple’s vacation, Hannah fell and broke her wrist. She spent the entire day in the emergency room getting x-rays and a cast. As a result, they needed to cancel their trip — but because they were stuck in the ER, they couldn’t inform the hotel.
When Allan was finally able to call the hotel, they informed him that they would not be refunding the money because they didn’t cancel in time, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the cancellation.
“I can’t believe they are keeping £400 from us,” Hannah told Manchester Evening News. “It took us two years to save this money. They said we couldn’t have our money back because we gave them less than 24 hours’ notice. All of this is really upsetting — to think it took us two years to save this up. It is a lot of money to us. It has broken my heart — we only get a pension.”
The couple had previously decided that this would be their last trip because they were aging. Both would like to reschedule and find a different place to visit, but without that money, they don’t believe it’s possible anymore.
[Photo: Manchester Evening News]
En route to our river cruise on the Amazon, our boat burned. By the time we found out about it, we had gone over the 72 hours cancellation notification required by our hotel in Lima, where we had booked an award stay of four nights. Lots of points lost - but my contact with the General Manager resulted in her crediting back every single point. Two years later, we went. We paid for our Lima hotel stay that July, and you bet we stayed at the Hilton in Miraflores. And I'm sure they've had a few people stay there because we recommend the property and its management so highly. (The GM has moved on, but the staff are top notch.)
I am sure they don't travel much. The hotel could at least wave all fees and change the dates for them.
Starflyer has a point. If they were illegals, Trump would have thrown them out of the country, Ben Carson would have attacked a gun throwing his body in front of it, Fiorina would have driven them into bankruptcy and all of the other guys-Rubio/Christie/Cruz/McCain/Graham et al would have boots on the ground in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, etc. I hope some of those boots would have been Starflyer's!
I agree, the hotel missed an opportunity for some good karma as well as happy (future) customers that will provide good word of mouth. I recently had a situation where I had to cancel a stay at a small resort (was still a week out, but my trip had to be canceled and I found out 12 hours past the cancellation deadline). The owner of the small resort (J&R Residence in Bohol) was very understanding and made an exception, and just asking me to stay with them next time I go to Bohol. Because of this, I will definitely go back and will tell anyone I know going there to stay there as well.
If they can present documentation that the wife was in the hospital, for God's sake refund their money. One word: Karma.