Woman Cancels Dying Mother’s Stay At Hotel Riviera, Still Billed $1,850

Rebecca Wagstafee canceled her dying mother’s hotel stay at England’s Hotel Riviera and was shocked to find out that she was still billed $1,850.

MSN Now reported that when Wagstaffe’s mother, Anthea Shaw, was diagnosed with cancer, Shaw planned a “final holiday” for the family at England‘s upscale Hotel Riviera.

When Shaw’s health took a sharp decline, Wagstaffe canceled the reservation six weeks before their planned getaway; Shaw died three weeks later.

According to BBC News, about a month after the holiday was due to start, Wagstaffe got a letter from the hotel’s solicitors saying the room could not be re-let and customers had been advised to take out travel insurance.

The report continued on to say:

The solicitors said: “The cancellation in this matter was entirely beyond the hotel’s control and yet you expect the hotel to bear the loss of $1,946.75 arising from the customer’s decision not to follow the very sensible advice provided at the outset.”

The report stated that they would cancel the demand and refund the $230.53 deposit dependent on her “withdrawing entries and complaints such as to (travel website) Trip Advidor.”

BBC News continued on to say that the letter stated that the hotel could “proceed with recovery action” if the money was not paid within 14 days.”

AOL reported that Wagstaffe is now seeking an apology and compensation after she had to take time off work to deal with the issue.

“They are threatening me. They are obviously embarrassed and ashamed about their business practices and they don’t want it communicated any further.

“In the memory of my mother I will continue to fight them until I get an apology because this is unacceptable.”

The Hotel Riviera said in a statement:

“It is standard practice across the industry to invoice and recover cancellation charges.

“A polite and sympathetic request was sent to Mrs Wagstaffe by the hotel and subsequently by the hotel’s solicitors without success.

“Whilst the hotel is entirely sympathetic to the very sad circumstances surrounding this matter, the hotel can do nothing more than to offer a full refund and is very disappointed this has not been accepted.”

What do you think of the Hotel Riviera billing Rebecca Wagstafee for canceling her late mother’s room? Do you think they were justified?

[Image via MSN Now]