Hotel overcharges guest by US$2,500

Q. I booked a weekend trip in early September last year to Miraval Berkshires, an all-inclusive resort in Lenox. It was my best friend’s birthday and my sister was initially going to join us. She was unable to attend, so I notified the hotel within the allowed time frame to modify my reservation without penalty. Instead of three nights and three people, it would be two nights with two people. As Miraval is all-inclusive, the property charges per person, per night.

The hotel charged me for three people. I noticed the extra charges when I checked out and a representative first told me I would be refunded. A few days later, another hotel representative told me that I would not be refunded.

After trying to resolve the issue for over a month and requesting a breakdown of the nightly costs so I could understand where the discrepancy was, the billing department offered to refund $290, which is about 1/10 of the additional charges.

The Miraval team offered such a poor resolution and yet the mere $290 was not refunded or processed. Now they have stopped responding to my emails. The whole process was exhausting and I felt paralyzed, like there was nothing more I could do. Can you help me get the $2,500 in additional expenses reimbursed?

DÁLIA HAMZEH, Braintree

ONE. Miraval should have charged two nights for two people, as you requested. If he overcharged you should have quickly refunded the charges instead of tying him up and giving him the silent treatment.

You did the right thing by calling the resort to cancel your sister’s stay and sending a follow-up email. This creates a necessary documentary record allowing you to prove that you requested the cancellation. You also made the request within the cancellation window.

It appears that Miraval never confirmed the cancellation in writing. This should have set off all kinds of alarm bells for you because it means the hotel is still expecting three guests and plans to charge accordingly.

How can you extract a response from a hotel like the Miraval Berkshires? You could have looked up the name of the hotel’s general manager and sent him an email. The manager would have forwarded the message to someone in reservations, who would then have made sure you had a written confirmation.

Another opportunity to correct this would be at check-in. In a follow-up conversation, you mentioned that you asked about the rate when you checked in because it reflected three people. A representative assured us this would be fixed. But I probably wouldn’t have left the lobby without written confirmation reflecting the correct price.

Finally, after several failures to correct this, you could have appealed to someone at Miraval’s corporate owner, Hyatt. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of its customer service executives on my consumer advocacy website, Elliott.org.

I contacted Miraval on your behalf. A representative responded, saying the hotel would not “in any way” comment on guest billing questions or personal experiences.

“What I can share with you is that they take guest and consumer feedback seriously and investigate any stated matters like this with detailed support, following up directly with the party themselves,” the representative said.

And they did. Miraval’s general manager called you and explained what happened. It says that the original fee was “miscommunicated” to you and that you, in fact, paid the correct fee. To make up for the misunderstanding, he offered a refund or the opportunity to return to the property for two nights at no charge. You decided to go back.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a non-profit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.