Hotel room bill dispute resolved

Greg Shanley is hoping he has finally seen the back of a dispute over a confusing hotel bill.

In June, Greg, from Edinburgh, reserved a one-night stay at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Birmingham.

He made the booking via the international travel website Getaroom.com.

He thought he would pay £141.50 for his overnight stay in Birmingham in September.

However, when Greg arrived at reception to check in he was baffled when he was charged a further £72.94 in service fees and taxes.

“I thought the extra must be for a special luxury room,” he said.

“But the receptionist told me that the booking had me down as being a US citizen and that’s why I was being charged the extra £72.”

When Greg contacted Getaroom about the issue, he said the company was sympathetic but could not give him a satisfactory explanation about the charge and insisted it could only refund him £14.

“I felt that this was really unfair as I was still £58 out of pocket and I have never been a US citizen,” said Greg.

Greg contacted Raw Deal and we discovered that the mix-up came about because he had unknowingly booked the room via an American travel website which had assumed that he lived in the US and was travelling to the UK, and had charged him US service fees.

Getaroom was apologetic about the confusion and promised to give Greg his £58.94 back as a gesture of good will.

However, almost two months later, the money has still to appear back in Greg’s bank account.

“We apologise for the inconvenience,” the company said this week. “The refund has been processed but this could take up to 30 days.”