Question: What can you do if a hotel is charging you for something you didn’t use? I stayed at the Liaison Capitol Hill in Washington recently. When I received a bill under my door the morning of departure, I noticed there was a balance of $24 for two in-room movies, both ordered on the same day, one right after the other.
The problem is, I never ordered any movies during my stay. And what’s more, my traveling companion and I were out to dinner at the time that these movies were allegedly ordered.
When we went to the front desk to ask that they review the security tapes for the entryway to prove we had left the hotel, we were told that the security person was not available. The front desk manager then said that her manager offered to take one of the movies off our bill, to which we said, “no.” Finally, she offered to conduct an investigation once their security person came on duty.
We never heard from any of them. When I looked at my credit card statement, I saw that they posted the movie charge to my account the day after we disputed the bill. After numerous calls to the hotel, this issue still hasn’t been resolved. Can you help? — Keeley Hozjan, Seattle
Answer: If you didn’t order the movies, your hotel should have removed the charges from your bill right away. Not offered to investigate. Not offered a 50 percent discount on something you didn’t order. A refund — now.
I think the fact that you were willing to review the security tapes, and that you had an alibi, was a tip-off that the in-room entertainment system might have billed you erroneously.
In-room entertainment systems are big moneymakers for hotels. Properties typically split the profits from in-room movies with a third company, which supplies the programming and technology. They’re reluctant to remove any charges because it’ll cost them.
The “we’ll-split-the-difference” solution isn’t a solution at all. It’s a cop-out. It means either one party, or both, can’t conclusively prove that they’re right. So in an effort to recover some money, one side offers to cut the bill.
The problem with that resolution is that one side — either the hotel or the guest — ends up paying for something they shouldn’t. And that’s unfair.
I can’t believe they gave you the “we’ll-look-into-it” line. That’s another popular hotel tactic that’s meant to make the customers go away and quietly pay their bills. There’s no way of knowing if the Liaison Capitol Hill intended to investigate your claim. But the fact that the hotel charged your card the following day would lead me to believe that it just told you what you wanted to hear.
You could have handled this differently. When you saw the charges, you should have contacted the front desk immediately, preferably in person. Give yourself plenty of time. Explain you situation calmly and rationally, and if the hotel employee isn’t being helpful, ask to speak with a manager.
The Liaison Capitol Hill is an upscale property where a room can’t be had for less than $200 a night. A competent supervisor would remove the charges immediately. Why endanger someone’s repeat business over a relatively minor amount?
If you were in a hurry to check out, I would have committed your grievance to writing instead of calling the hotel. Writing works far better when you have a formal complaint of this nature. I recommend an email. The naming convention for the Liaison is first initial, last name (all one word) @affinia.com.
I contacted the Liaison’s parent company, Affinia, and it refunded the charges for both movies immediately.
✓ Get the latest travel news, tips and commentary from Elliott’s E-Mail, the subversive newsletter from industry gadfly Christopher Elliott. You’ll travel like a pro. Sign up here. It’s free.
Sign up for my 
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve had this happen once as well. We were on our honeymoon in TX, and once when we checked our in-room bill channel, it had someone else’s name on it. We didn’t think much about it until we went to check out and the bill was littered with movie & video game rentals. They removed two of the movies right away since they were only watched for less than 5 minutes, but they didn’t want to remove the others. Finally we got loud and they took them off to keep from having the other guests here about the problems. I assume that they literally had some wires crossed upstairs. Seriously, who plays Mario Kart for 10 hours while on their honeymoon. :-p
This happened to me once. I went to the front desk showed them my receipt from the dinner I had ate, which meant I was not in my room watching a movie. They apologized for the inconvience to me, then took the movie off my bill.
Curiously
I’ve never had a problem with a hotel removing erroneous charges whether mini-bar or movies.
Great that Elliott was able to get a refund. If not, you can also do a charge back with the credit card company. Call up your cc company and tell them that you did not authorise the charge and push them to do a charge back. Is then on the hotel to prove that you authorised the charge.
The housekeeping staff could have done it.
I’ve never had an issue getting something like this removed from my bill. I suggest that asking to speak to security probably wasn’t a great idea, and perhaps they were rather confrontational when they approached the hotel, which may have made things worse? Best always to be nice and happy when dealing with service people (actually with anyone!)
A particular hotel in which I was a regular, the hotel manager described to us during their “happy hour” that there are a variety of factors that can determine whether or not he would issue a refund.
Being a member of the hotel’s reward program helps in your favor. Also, the “type” of movie rented also plays into the equation. Even though the name of the movie is not on the bill, the price of an adult movie is typically higher than standard Hollywood fare and people don’t want that line item to be on a bill — especially if the receipt is needed for reimbursement.
Not saying this is the case here, but if it was an adult movie, that is why you may see the resistance. Because “no one” ever watches those types of movies, yet it seems to be a profitable money-maker for all involved.