Travel Troubleshooter: All-Inclusive Hotel Accidentally Overcharges Guest By $2,500

The Miraval Berkshires, an all-inclusive resort in Lenox, Massachusetts, overcharges Dalia Hamzeh by $2,500. Now it is refusing to answer her emails. How can she get her money back?

Q: I booked a weekend trip for early September last year to the Miraval Berkshires, an all-inclusive resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. It was my best friend's birthday, and my sister was initially going to join us. She could not make it, so I notified the hotel well within the time allowed to modify my reservation without penalty. Rather than three nights and three people, it would be two nights with two people. Since 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 I would not be refunded.

After trying to have this resolved for over a month and requesting a detailed breakdown of costs per night so that I could understand where the discrepancy was, their billing department offered to refund $290, which is about 1/10 of the overcharges.

The Miraval team had offered such a poor resolution, and even then, the mere $290 wasn't refunded or processed. Now they have stopped responding to my emails. The whole process has been exhausting, and I am feeling stuck, like there is nothing else I can do. Can you help me get the $2,500 in overcharges refunded? -- Dalia Hamzeh, Braintree, Massachusetts

A: Miraval should have charged you for two nights for two people, as you requested. If it overcharged you, then it should have quickly refunded the charges instead of stringing you along and giving you 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 paper trail, allowing you to prove that you requested a cancellation. You also made the request within the cancellation window.

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

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

Another opportunity to fix 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 you it would be fixed. But I probably wouldn't have left the lobby without a written confirmation that reflected the correct price.

Finally, after multiple failures to get this corrected, you could have appealed this to someone at Miraval's corporate owner, Hyatt. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of their customer service executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

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

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

And they did. The general manager of the Miraval called you and explained what happened. He says the original rate had been "miscommunicated" to you and that you did, in fact, pay the correct rate. To make up for the misunderstanding, he offered you either a refund or an opportunity to return to the property for two nights at no charge. You've decided to return.

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

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