LuluG

Just a friendly warning to all who are considering reservations at this Paris hotel: I cancelled our reservation for 2 rooms here over 6-1/2 MONTHS in advance of reserved dates. Hotel du Pantheon's reservation dept not only charged me a 2.50euro non-refundable booking fee, but ALSO charged me a 39.60euro cancellation fee, which they insist is also NOT refundable.
:-<

Gretchen

If that is their policy then I'm not sure what you can complain about. There is another post about a cancellation in Gordes. I see people ALL the TIME saying--"I have reservations at 4 hotels. Help me choose." It's not fair to the hotellier of these usually/often VERY small properties.

Robespierre

Many people seem to think that making and canceling reservations don't cost the proprietor anything.

Try running a business for a few months and find out for sure how much labor +benefits +overhead costs. €39.60 is cheap.

ira

Hi Lulu,

Is this a charge that does not appear in their cancellation policy?

The booking fee sounds as if you booked the hotel through a broker. Correct?

Jean

I guess my question would be whether the hotel clearly stated their cancellation policy prior to your accepting the accommodations offered. If so, what did you expect? If not, did you use a credit card to hold the reservation? The credit card company might (repeat: might) help you in the event of a dispute.

Johnmango

Since this is Saturaday and I'm at home and have nothing else better to do, I checked into the Hotel du Pantheon webiste and went throught ehir steps of booking a hotel. Their terms and conditions did say:

- booking fee is not refundable
- cancellation fee: As soon as booking is made : 3%on total sale.

elaine

I think it is helpful for LuluG to provide, as she says, this friendly warning, a warning perhaps to read the cancellation policy carefully.

I'd made the same mistake at the hotel Bonaparte several months ago, hadn't read that there would be a charge for cancelling the reservation any amount of time after I'd made it ( I was still 4-5 months away from the actual stay). I don't make reservations at four hotels, but I've learned that I prefer to have the flexibility to cancel within a reasonable time period without charge, so I have to read the policies more carefully and choose accordingly.

Christina

The Pantheon web site does clearly state the cancellation terms and fees, you cannot book on there without seeing them. If one chooses not to read them, I guess that could be a surprise. The 2.5 euro booking fee isn't too much, and I think is fair because of the work caused them. The other fee is high in comparison to many hotels who don't charge anything if cancelled way in advance.

However, I think this hotel, like others, uses a certain web reservation service that has those cancellation terms. I suspect the company that sells and maintains that software has that as part of their "fee" from the hotel using it. I know I have seen those identical cancellation terms with some other Parisian hotels who use that same software (like Relais Bosquet).

I have wondered if one could avoid that 3 pct cancellation fee if one made a reservation personally by calling or emailing them directly rather than using that online service, but have never tried to find out as I ended up not booking at the hotels I've seen that use that software. If I was interested in making a reservation at one, I would find that out unless I didn't think there was any chance of cancellation.

I really can't blame hotels for this, to be honest. Someone who makes a reservation personally through phone calls or some contact is probably more serious as it is so easy to just click on things on the internet to reserve rooms--if there were no cost or consequence, I think hotels could start having problems maintaining their inventory due to a lot of cancellations.

cigalechanta

I'd like to add, that we Americans are the worst to do cancellations. It annoys me to book and find a place is full and after learn there is an opening after another has cancelled.

Dave_in_Paris

If you book through the Hotel du Pantheon's own Web site and click on the "terms and conditions" during the booking process, on the English-language pages, the cancellation fee, 3 percent, applicable no matter how early you cancel, is stated.

francophile03

Christina mentioned that the fees could be avoided if you booked with the hotel by emailing them directly. I was interested in booking a room at Hotel de Varenne in Paris over their booking site. It mentioned a cancellation fee like the one with Hotel du Pantheon.

When I emailed the hotel about the fee, the receptionist said that I would avoid paying a fee if I booked directly with them via email.

janis

A better title for this thread would be "Warning - always read booking/cancelleation policy before booking"

As I see it, the hotel didn't do anything wrong.

cigalechanta

No, the hotel did nothing wrong but please be patient with the first time out of the USA posters, it is different and overwhelming to some.

rapunzll

I live and work in a popular tourist town in MI, and some now charge a cancel fee. Before making reservations, no matter where it is, we should all make sure we get the details of the cancellation policy.

Dave_in_Paris

Interesting Francophile. Perhaps the 3 percent minimum cancellation fee is what the hotel has paid the booking service, and that is nonrefundable to the hotel? Using the hotel's own web site, and clicking to book, one lands on the page with the 3 percent fee, but that may a link to the booking service. So Christina's strategy of e-mailing may be the only way to avoid this?

Christina

so Francophile has tested my theory. Actually, I didn't know if you could avoid that booking fee or not, I just thought it would be a possibility that I'd ask about if I were interested. I recognize the entire reservation form and service that Pantheon is using, Dave -- it is standard hotel booking software that other hotels use also, it isn't just that one hotel's personal webpage. They all carry those same cancellation terms and the same phrases. For small hotels, this actually makes sense, as they probably don't want to pay to hire web designers and webmasters for their own hotel. It's more efficient for them to outsource that online booking process to a specialist--it's really a service for those who want to book online, and the fee is modest unless you cancel. There are some other hotels who get that function by belonging to a small hotel group who then handles booking on their web site.

Esprit de France is one example of a good small hotel group in Paris. The Exclusive Hotel group is another, only they have a slight twist on this -- they have a very stiff cancellation fee even higher than the one quoted above on their web site, but will sell you "insurance" for 15 euro that lets you cancel anytime with no penalty up to about 24 hours before. Their web site makes it rather clear that this is a booking fee and conditions for booking online -- at least it says that, but probably some people don't read that, either.


Whether this is a nonrefundable fee to the booking service or not, I still think there is the point that a hotel cannot have people clicking and booking, then canceling all the time with no effect, and this makes them think a little more rather than making a bunch of bookings they aren't serious about just so they can decide later which one of many they really want to keep.

I think this is a good warning for people who don't read terms before making transactions online of all kinds, though.

Intrepid1

Another "lesson" might be to avoid hotels which charge ANY sort of "booking" fee..there are plenty of them around.

ira

Hi all,

The Hotel du Pantheon seems to be linked to 5 other hotels.

At the bottom of the page is
Tel. : + 33 1 43 54 32 95
Fax : + 33 1 43 26 64 65

This might be a better way to find rates and cancellation information.

suze

So these fees are coming because reservations are made thru a booking agency?

Since I always reserve with the hotel directly and have yet to cancel reservations, I am curious, that it is the agency and not the hotel itself imposing the two fees?

elaine

suze, when I dealt with a hotel that had the cancellation penalty, I was dealing directly with the hotel.