Ask the expert

I recently had a couple of people stay at my B&B, they booked in advance, arrived, settled in, had tea and coffee and biscuits in the room, lay on the bed and creased the sheets etc, used the bathroom and then decided they would leave as their bathroom didn't have a bath, just a shower. They offered me £5 instead of the full price of £65 and left refusing to pay anymore and saying they didn't have to by law. Where do I stand legally?

Answered by our Expert: Andy Smith - Kitsons LLP

You have the right to insist on payment for the room in full because a contract was created, provided that the guest cannot prove:

1. breach or misrepresentation (e.g. you promised there would be a bath);

2. conditionality (e.g. the booking was subject to satisfactory inspection); or

3. breach of an implied term (e.g. the room fails a "reasonableness" standard under Section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982).

As with all contracts, for a hotel booking to be an enforceable contract there must be (a) offer (b) acceptance and (c) consideration.  The booking in advance constitutes offer and acceptance whilst reservation of the room and the guest's promise to pay the tariff constitutes consideration. 

Even if the guest demonstrates that no contract exists because it was to be created after a satisfactory viewing of the room it is very likely that, by using the bed and tea/coffee facilities, the guests have by their own conduct accepted the offer of the room and thus created a contract. 

Regarding the guests' £5 offer, guests are not entitled to a pro-rata reduction in the tariff if they do not use the room for the full time period.  A guest is entitled to exclusive use of the room for the agreed period regardless of the amount of time the guest chooses to occupy the room.  Even if this is not an express term of the contract it should be possible in most circumstances to imply this term.   

Your remedy is damages for breach of contract sufficient to put you in the position you would have been in but for the breach (usually an amount equal to the tariff).  You can recover nominal fixed costs being the cost of issuing proceedings and costs awarded by the Court on entering judgment but, importantly, you cannot recover your own legal costs.

Generally it is easy to show that a contract came into existence when the booking was made in writing or over the internet.  The advertisement is the offer and the reservation is the acceptance or, alternatively, the advertisement is an "invitation to treat", the guest's reservation is the offer and your confirmation is the acceptance.  The contractual terms are usually clear because they are expressed on the website.  The consideration is the reservation of the room for the guest and the guest's promise to pay.

More difficult are oral contracts: these can be created (even over the telephone) but it is harder to prove (a) offer/acceptance/consideration and (b) the agreed terms. In the absence of written terms the parties must imply terms or argue that their expectations constituted reasonable contractual terms and were implicit or expressly agreed with the hotelier and formed part of the contract.

It is always advisable to use written terms rather than hoping to rely on an oral contract.

If tourism businesses would like to discuss this particular issue in more detail please contact:

Kitsons LLP
Tel: 01392 455555
Website: www.kitsons-solicitors.co.uk