Sofitel LHR trying to charge for BA Holidays booking!

[fastboysam]

Really annoyed that Sofitel Heathrow are trying to charge my card for our stay on 17th December even though it was a prepaid booking via BA Holidays!

We presented the hotel voucher upon check in and were told there was a problem that somebody in the back office at Sofitel had incorrectly cancelled our booking but that they had called BA and resolved the issue. Luckily we still have a copy of the prepaid hotel voucher as we are having to prove to Sofitel that we paid BA.

The booking was rescheduled as BA cancelled our original flights so I presume there was some mix-up between Sofitel and BA as Sofitel was a quarantine hotel at one stage so maybe they cancelled the original date?

However, we paid in full and can prove this and have a copy of the voucher but I'm annoyed at having to deal with this again as it took us 40 mins to check into the hotel whilst they resolved it in person so for them to send an email a month later saying they will charge my card as BA have told them the booking was cancelled is upsetting and annoying!

So, just a heads-up for anybody with a rescheduled trip that includes Sofitel Heathrow the night before the flight to double check your booking.

[snowbelle]

Yes it is annoying and seems like a breakdown in communication, not the best news but luckily you have the hotel voucher as proof.
We had similar years ago with a BA hotel only booking in Orlando and a Travel Republic hotel only booking in Fuerteventura.
Copies of the vouchers either hotel or car are always the best way to prove these bookings when human error or lack of communication maybe a factor.

[fastboysam]

I agree human error is a factor here and luckily we have proof that we pre-paid but it's a bit annoying when it took a considerable amount of time to rectify in the first place to then go back to square one! Also, the poor communication from Sofitel simply telling me they are charging the card they have on file is unprofessional. I wouldn't have minded if they asked for my help to clarify the situation rather than simply tell me they are going to charge my card a month down the line!

The intention of this post was to highlight to others in a similar situation who may have rescheduled trips that include Sofitel in particular as it was a quarantine hotel so may have been cancelled 'by the back office' to double check their new booking rather than be faced by an awkward delay checking in and a subsequent demand for a duplicate payment.

I prefer to check things before rather than after and infact I had emailed the hotel two days before staying to confirm the reservation and request a room near an elevator and I received a reply so I'm not sure where the communication went wrong?

I've have had duplicate charges by other agents and even struggled to get Amex to agree despite showing pre-paid vouchers so prefer to book direct and often we do book Sofitel direct but this time we thought it was safer to book a package as we only needed to pay a deposit initially but it's come back to bite us!

Anyway, one way or another it will be resolved but it's time consuming and not nice when Sofitel assumed that it's us at fault rather than their back office as we were informed at the desk upon check-in or BA Holidays who are to blame.

[Disney_time]

That's not good OP. How did you find out they were trying to charge your card? Did the Sofitel let you know?

We had a stay on 13th Dec which had been changed from 12th Dec and BA changed our flights at the same time, all done on phone back in Oct. I'm now off to check all our Credit Cards as can't remember which one we used to check in. The girl at check in didn't notice we had booked and paid for a superior room and handed us the keys saying it was a standard room. If she hadn't said that, we might not have noticed our room was standard. She was a bit miffed at having this pointed out and made us feel she was doing us a big favour letting us check in around noon.

Unfortunately, I didn't print the voucher out.

[fastboysam]

Originally Posted by Disney_time

That's not good OP. How did you find out they were trying to charge your card? Did the Sofitel let you know?

We had a stay on 13th Dec which had been changed from 12th Dec and BA changed our flights at the same time, all done on phone back in Oct. I'm now off to check all our Credit Cards as can't remember which one we used to check in. The girl at check in didn't notice we had booked and paid for a superior room and handed us the keys saying it was a standard room. If she hadn't said that, we might not have noticed our room was standard. She was a bit miffed at having this pointed out and made us feel she was doing us a big favour letting us check in around noon.

Unfortunately, I didn't print the voucher out.

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I received an email from a bookings manager at the Sofitel telling me they were going to charge my card (not asking me but telling me) as they said BA had cancelled the booking and they needed to be paid for it! The booking reference was the same as the original reference number which also appears on my flight stubs and baggage tags and on the pre-paid voucher which I presented upon check-in. Normally they don't request the voucher which I thought was odd but we were served by a trainee so I thought nothing of it until she called a colleague to assist. Her colleague went into the back office and came out firstly saying that BA had cancelled it but I presented the pre-paid voucher and email confirmation plus another number that appears on the voucher and the assistant then checked again and said that it was not BA to blame but that one of their back room staff who had cancelled the booking in error and that the member of staff no longer worked there. I double checked that they were happy and that they would not charge my card and they 100% confirmed that the issue was resolved.

I sometimes book Sofitel via lastminute if it appears as a secret hotel or via topcashback for % off especially if booking a suite but this time I chose to add it to the BA Holidays package at the time of booking to secure the holiday with just a deposit until nearer the time. Our flights to MCO were cancelled in the summer so we chose Christmas instead and the booking was just moved over with the same names, flight numbers, same hotel and same booking reference number.

We have another booking moved to the summer again with Sofitel booked for the night before as a package so I'll make sure that I get it in writing from the hotel that they know full well that the booking is pre-paid via BA Holidays.

I forgave the rudeness of the trainee as we received no apology for the 40 minute delay checking in just comments that 'oh you got a great rate from BA' when her colleague confirmed the booking was approved. I said we didn't know the breakdown of the cost as it was a bundled package (infact whenever I work back the hotel rate there's not a lot in it but the benefit of just paying a deposit to BA). We were just glad to be flying long haul again. It sounded like the manager who emailed me had experienced similar situations maybe due to break downs in communications between them and BA for re-bookings post quarantine hotel when I spoke to him on the phone but that's their problem to sort rather than taking the easy route and charging me directly for it when I've already paid. Like I said it would have been far nicer for him to ask for my help and clarification rather than automatically believe BA saying the booking was cancelled and that we had not paid BA for it!

To add extra details we didn't have a great experience in September either when we travelled to Italy we booked a 2 bed suite as a treat that should have included spa access and lounge access. The spa was closed and that was not mentioned on their website or upon checking-in. The lounge was closed and again this was not listed on their website but I had read about that elsewhere so knew that we would get drinks and canapes in the bar lounge instead. Like you say we were made to feel like they were doing us a favour when I asked for a g&t they said no just wine or beer then my wife asked for prosecco whereupon they tutted, huffed and puffed and said they would ask (this was the lounge suited a booted manager too) so my wife said don't bother and had fizzy water instead and we were given one plate of canapes between 4 of us and felt too uncomfortable asking for another so we paid a fortune in room service instead! Again we forgave the poor service as the hotel had only just opened back up to the general public but I'm dreading our summer stay hoping it won't be strike number 3 but rather third time lucky!

BTW I think you'll be fine as we had drama at the check-in desk which we thought had been sorted out at the time.

We checked in around 3.15 p.m. got to the room around 4 p.m. and were glad to get the room as we had dropped our car to the valet already so when the tv didn't work we just thought bad luck but reported it and went off to do twilight check-in. They finally came to fix the tv at 9.30 p.m. which was pretty pointless as we just wanted to shower and go to bed ready for our flight the next day.

You win some you lose some but it's the catalogue of errors and lack of apology and rudeness of some of the staff that astounds me. We haven't experienced that prior to Covid/quarantine hotel so hope things revert to the way they used to be ahead of our next trip.