wmm

We visited London and stayed at St. James Court (A Taj) Hotel for six night and were just back to America yesterday. We booked online and prepaid for six nights before we went there. When we are back home yesterday, we noticed they charged our credit card another $72 when we checked out the hotel. They never mentioned the charge when we checked out. Unlike all other hotels we had stayed before, St James Court never gave us any paperwork, no invoice. When we checked out, they simply asked if we ate any food from the refrigerator. When we said no. They said that's it and offered to call a cab for us. Do anyone have any idea what they charge? We plan to contact them online. If not satisfied, we'd like the report. Anyone knows the British equivalent to Better Business Bureau?

Dukey1

Moral of your story: get everything in writing and rectified before you EVER walk out of any establishment.

It is irrelevant a to what they "offer" you in terms of billing. if necessary you need to DEMAND it and believe me, it will very instantly appear, too.

NewbE

I wouldn't over react--it could be a simple mistake. Contact them and ask what the charge is for. Don't worry about filing complaints with anybody until the hotel has had a chance to respond.

I do not think it's unusual these days to check out without paperwork--we often do. I had an incorrect charge once that was taken off after I called the hotel to ask about it.

janisj

>>Do anyone have any idea what they charge?<<

Ok -- here's a weird idea . . . why not phone them and ask?

Odin

In the time it took you to register and post this complaint, you could have emailed the hotel and ask for an explanation of the charges. It could be anything from a mistake to something you had which you had to pay extra for eg meals/drinks etc that you might have forgot about.

NewbE

I also wonder what percentage of the total bill for the 6 night stay the $72 represents... at a Taj hotel, I'm guessing not much.

No, you shouldn't pay if it's in error, but as I said, no need to overreact.

wmm

Thank you, guys, for your advice. I did try to locate St. James Court (a Taj) Hotel website. Unfortunately, so far I am not successful. Strange. Can anybody help?

WMM

elberko

http://www.stjamescourthotel.co.uk

HappyTrvlr

Perhaps a city tax?

RonZ

Give them a call if the email fails to get results:

44 20 7834 6655

greg

The $72 at this type of hotel for six nights is about 2-3% of the charge.
What does the charge description on your credit card say? Is the merchant the St James Court Hotel? Or is the $72 charge just happened to be next to the St James Court Hotel big charge for six nights? If the hotel did not give you a receipt, it is possible that the charge was associated with the hotel stay, but not charged by the hotel itself unless the merchant name says so.

Tulips

I'm sure they will clear this up if you email them.
If not, and you have a genuine complaint, there's always tripadvisor.

I tried to get a refund of an unjustified charge for mother once - that particular hotel never replied to my emails, but very swiftly settled the matter after a complaint on Tripadvisor.

wmm

Thank you, elberko.

bilboburgler

yep, give them a call or email them.

Best to settle the bill when you have the bill in front of you and them, I guess it is called "checking out" but maybe in a Taj they have yet to implement the concept ;-)

In terms of complaints you can elevate within the hotel itself, the holding company, use twitter tripadvisor etc to get to someone who can do something, and they will be in some sort of hotel grouping.

There is Trading Standards, operated by the local council. They are technically supported by the institute https://www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office
but they will ask the same basic questions

1) show us your receipt
2) have you complained already

If you have no receipt and you have not complained they will do nothing. After all it is your money.

Have a crack and it may well resolve itself.

Odin

>>Best to settle the bill when you have the bill in front of you and them, I guess it is called "checking out" but maybe in a Taj they have yet to implement the concept.<<

The OP prepaid the full amount and there were no extras so no bill to settle and the OP did check out. The charge is a surprise, either the OP forgot that they had had an extra and it got charged after the OP left (as hotels and car rental companies often do) or the hotel made a mistake charge and the hotel will reverse the charge if that's the case. Simples.

Lois2

City tax or mini bar. I have had mini bar put on after departure..fact was it was from previous quests and they never checked it prior to my arrival. Rather than some elaborate complaint to a foreign entity..if they cannot explain or credit you file a dispute with Your credit card co.

bilboburgler

Odin, you get it in writing, you get a receipt even with 0 at the bottom. Why would you not?

jubilada

When I was checking out of a hotel this weekend there was a mistaken mini bar charge. I said so, they took it off.
I had also prepaid but I certainly was given a statement at checkout. OP was mistaken in not asking for an accounting.

wmm

I E-mailed the hotel and got the following response:

"We had taken an authorisation of £50.00 from your card, which I have today cancelled. The money should appear within the next few days."

Anyone could tell me what "authorisation"is? In my traveling and hotel-booking experience, I have never heard anything like that! Taking money for "authorisation" after you are leaving the hotel?

Why do I have a bad feeling that it is a dirty commercial trick? When you are so tired from your traveling and trying to resume your normal life, you really don't have the energy to scrutinize every item of your credit card...

WMM

annhig

well, given that they reversed it pretty quickly and without question, I would give them the benefit of the doubt. It looks as if they had taken some pre-authourisation for "extras" like the mini -bar [a common practice, IME] which as you didn't have any extras, you weren't liable for, but forgot to remove it when you left.

next time I would ask to see a final bill, whether or not you have prepaid. We have certainly always done that, just to make sure that there weren't any little "mistakes" and there has never been any reluctance to comply. Sometimes we have found mistakes in our favour, which of course we have always pointed out.

if they had failed to act promptly, you could have take it up with your c/c company. We had to do that when we came home from Aus and found that the promised refund from an excursion cancelled by the tour company had not materialised, despite endless text and e-mail messages. Strangely enough, once I contacted the C/c co, it was refunded immediately.