Hotels that bumped guests due to overbooking could face legal ramifications and, in some cases, be held on fraud charges, says Advocate Louis Nel.
Tourism Update recently reported that some hotels in Cape Town were overbooking rooms and tour groups were being bumped as a result.
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Nel said, according to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), hotels that overbook could face legal action. He said tour operators who had had pre-paying tour groups bumped from hotels, must examine the terms and conditions when they paid for the rooms. He said the terms and conditions might state that guests could be bumped from rooms even if payment had been made, if the hotel was overbooked. If it did not state this, Nel said the hotel could be held liable for fraud.
The CPA states that a supplier, in this case the hotel, must not accept payment or other consideration for any goods or services if the supplier has no reasonable basis to assert an intention to supply those goods or provide those services; or intends to supply goods or services that are materially different from the goods or services in respect of which the payment or consideration was accepted.
Tourism Update confirmed with the tour operator that the bumped tour group had, in fact, pre-paid for the rooms in January.
The CPA also states that if a supplier makes a commitment or accepts a reservation to supply goods or services on a specified date or at a specified time and, on the date and at the time contemplated in the commitment or reservation, fails because of insufficient stock or capacity to supply those goods or services, or similar or comparable goods or services of the same or better quality, class or nature, the supplier must —
(a) refund to the consumer the amount, if any, paid in respect of that commitment or reservation, together with interest at the prescribed rate from the date on which the amount was paid until the date of reimbursement; and
(b) in addition, compensate the consumer for costs directly incidental to the supplier’s breach of the contract, except to the extent that subsection (5) provides otherwise.
