Grand Amrath Amsterdam Stole our money!!

A question about : Grand Amrath Amsterdam Stole our money!!

Hi, I'm posting what happened to me and my girlfriend to see if anyone can advise me on what if any action you would advise me and my partner of taking with regards to the below noted circumstance or as we are assuming now that its a hit we are just going to have to take. If nothing else then at least its letting people know of the shoddy service we got from the Grand Amrath hotel.

Me and my partner had booked a weekend trip to Amsterdam staying at the 5* Grand Amrath Hotel arriving 17/04/10 and leaving 19/04/10.

I would like to voice my disgust at the inconsiderate and heartless treatment we have received from the Grand Amrath Hotel. As the volcanic issue in Iceland caused mayhem throughout Europe for Air travel we emailed the hotel on the 16/04/10 before we were due to leave as to our options as it looked more likely our flight would be cancelled giving us no hope of getting to Amsterdam.

We received a 2 line email informing us the hotel would not entertain any notion of re-imbursing us, even for the 2nd day of our intended stay despite us contacting them more than 24 hours in advance. We hoped they might also offer us a 2 week window etc to make alternative travel options to get to amsterdam so we could still honour our booking. We sent another email which was not responded too and led to my partner phoning them only to be dealt with by a rude male member of staff who told her they would not bend on their policies despite this unusual situation with the flights being cancelled all over Europe.

The customer service was nothing short of shocking, 3 emails have been sent since the phone call and as of this morning we have not even had the courtesy of an automatic email confirming our emails will be responded too.

As a young couple who had worked and saved hard to afford the Ј400 fee it cost us to book at this so called 5* hotel the customer service has been of 0* standard. We do hope to get to Amsterdam one day and hopefully wherever we stay we will find out that the hospitality is as good as we expected it to be and not what we received from the Amrath.

Regards

Best answers:

• I'm disapointed to hear this. I have stayed at the Grand Amrath a couple of times before (theres always very cheap deals on hotels.nl) and I've found their customer service to be nothing but 5*.
  Did you book a non-refundable room? What did it say in your terms and conditions about refunds before the date of stay?
  I normally book the non-refundable rooms as you get a massive discount on them, are you sure this wasn't what you have booked?
• I admit it would have been nice of them to have refunded you out of good will, but if she booked a non refundable room then it's not the hotels fault I'm afraid.
  I think it is quite bad form given the circumstances, but they are fully in their rights to not refund you. It's not their fault the flights were cancelled, and the room was still available for you had you found another way of geting there. Whether that be another flight or driving.
  I'm sorry yoru holiday was ruined because of it, but I don't think they quite 'stole your money'.
• Depending on the terms and conditions of cancellations depends whether they stole the money or not. I would say that your girlfriend most probably booked the non refundable room which would mean they did not steal your money.
  However, if that's not the case, then you should kick up a fuss and get your money back. As long as you can prove you sent the email to them you should have a case. Check to make sure it's in your sent items, and check to make sure you still have their first reply.
  I do agree with you though, that considering the circumstances you would have thought they'd change the dates for you.
  On a slightly cheerier note, if you do ever get to Amsterdam, it's a lovely city. You'll love it. You'll get sick of the British stag do's, but other than that it's amazing. We go a good few times a year and each time we fall more and more in love with the place.
  As a rule we stay at Park Hotel Amsterdam which is just next to the entrace of Vondelpark. I highly recommend the hotel. Whilst it's only a 4* and not a 5*, I think this is just because of the ammenities it has/hasn't got. The quality of the rooms is second to none, and they have amazing food and customer service. I've stayed in the Landmark London quite a few times which is a top 5* London hotel, and Park hotel knocks Landmark for 6!