My wife died and Crowne Plaza hotel rowed back on a £847 refund: CRANE ON THE CASE

I live in the US, but have family in the UK. In September 2024, my niece was getting married at a Crowne Plaza hotel in south east England so I booked a stay for myself and my wife for six nights, costing £847.

Just before the wedding, my wife became seriously ill. Two days before we were due to arrive, I called the hotel to ask if the reservation could be cancelled. I was told to expect a call back, but didn’t receive one. 

Very sadly, my wife passed away two weeks later with heart failure.

Later, I asked the hotel again about a refund. A staff member replied and said they would only charge me for the first night (£224) rather than the full six (£847).

The former amount was taken from my card – but later, I was charged another £623, taking it to the full £847.

I got an email from a lawyer which said the offer to write off the bill for five nights was an error because the member of staff’s first language was not English.

I’m upset that the hotel has continued to pursue this at such a difficult time. A.O, California

Tragedy: A.O was due to attend his niece’s wedding until his wife fell gravely ill

Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: My condolences to you and your family. 

It was your brother, the father of the bride, who first alerted me to this. He said that while the sum involved was relatively small, he questioned the ‘fairness and morality of the hotel’s cruel gesture’.

I am inclined to agree. 

You did your best to cancel the booking, even though your wife was in the middle of a medical emergency. 

When you didn’t get a response to your initial call, you called again and even emailed the hotel a doctor’s note proving your wife’s condition.

The first member of staff you managed to contact after your wife’s death had her heart in the right place. 

In an email, she offered to write off the majority of your bill, and instead just charge you the ‘no-show’ fee of the first night’s rate. 

This, you believed, was an exception made due to the sad circumstances, and despite you having made a non-refundable booking. 

You have sent me a copy of the email, which frankly couldn’t be clearer: ‘As a gesture of goodwill, we have only charged you for one night’.  

But it appears she was quickly overruled by her bosses at the management company, which runs the hotel under contract with Crowne Plaza, though is a separate entity. 

When you first discovered you had been charged the full £847, you pointed out that you had the offer of a five-night refund in writing, and thought that would be the end of it. 

But the company’s lawyer was then rude enough to claim that the staff member’s kind act was a mistake which happened because ‘English is not her first language’. 

It is absurd to me that the management firm continued to pursue you so aggressively, just a few short weeks after your wife’s death. 

Even if they were completely devoid of compassion, the £623 difference in your bill was surely a drop in the ocean compared to the amount the hotel must have pocketed from hosting your niece’s wedding.

Your brother-in-law had even been to the hotel to thank the staff the day before you received notice that the full amount would need to be paid. 

I contacted Crowne Plaza as you booked the hotel directly with that firm. 

I thought it may be interested to hear how its branded hotels were treating customers on the ground. 

I am pleased to say that its parent company, International Hotels Group, got back to me to confirm an arrangement had been made with the management company of the hotel to provide you with a full refund. 

It declined to comment any further on why this happened.