Hotel Charged More Than You Booked For? How to Dispute It and Get a Refund

You booked at $189 a night. Your card statement says $312. There’s a “resort fee”, a “facility charge”, a “cleaning fee”, and a room upgrade you didn’t ask for. Or you paid the booking site in full and the hotel says they have no record of you and charged you again. Or you were promised free cancellation and got charged the lot anyway.

Hotels and booking platforms rely on you being tired, in another city, and not wanting to argue at check-in. But a booking is a contract at the price displayed, and the law on hidden fees in Australia is unusually clear.

Your rights

• Single total price (s 48 ACL). Businesses must display the total minimum price of a service, including all mandatory fees and charges, as a single figure at least as prominently as any component price. A “resort fee” or “compulsory service charge” not included in the displayed price is a breach. The ACCC has pursued booking sites and accommodation providers on this.
• Misleading conduct and false representations (ss 18, 29 ACL). Advertising “free cancellation” and then charging, or showing a room type you didn’t get, is misleading.
• Consumer guarantees (ss 60–61 ACL). The room must match the description and be fit for purpose. A room that’s not what was booked, or not habitable, is a failed guarantee, entitling you to a refund or price reduction.
• Unfair contract terms (ss 23–28 ACL). Terms allowing the hotel or platform to change the price after booking, or to keep 100% of the payment for a cancellation months out, can be void.
• Your card rights. Charges you didn’t authorise (double charges, phantom fees, post-checkout “damage” claims without evidence) can be reversed through your bank via chargeback, typically within 120 days.
• Booking platform liability. If you paid Booking.com, Expedia, Wotif, etc., your contract is with them as well as the hotel. Their terms don’t let them disclaim ACL responsibility for what they sold you.

What to do right now

1. Screenshot the booking. Confirmation email, the price shown at the time of booking, the cancellation terms, and the room description. If it’s on the platform, download the booking details before they change.
2. Get the hotel’s itemised folio. Ask reception or email the hotel for a full itemised statement of every charge. Compare it line by line with the booking.
3. Dispute in writing with the hotel and the platform. Both. State the booked price, the charged price, the difference, and cite s 48 ACL for any undisclosed mandatory fee. Ask for a refund of the difference within 7 days.
4. Chargeback for unauthorised amounts. If they charged more than you agreed to, or charged twice, call your bank. Provide the booking confirmation and the statement. Don’t wait for the hotel; the chargeback clock is ticking.
5. Send a Letter of Demand. For larger overcharges, group bookings, or a platform that keeps bouncing you to the hotel and back, a formal letter to the hotel’s operating company and the platform’s Australian entity, citing the ACL and demanding the refund by a deadline, ends the runaround.
6. Escalate. Report to the ACCC (they track drip pricing), complain to state fair trading, and file at the tribunal if necessary.

Specific scenarios and what to do

• “Resort fee” or “facility fee” added at check-in. If it wasn’t in the total price shown when you booked, it breaches s 48 ACL. Pay under protest if they insist, note it on the folio, then demand the refund in writing citing the section.
• Charged in a different currency, or a “dynamic currency conversion” you didn’t choose. Ask for the transaction to be re-processed in AUD or the local currency. DCC without clear consent is a card scheme breach and can be disputed.
• Hotel says no reservation but the platform took your money. The platform sold you something it didn’t deliver. Demand an immediate refund from the platform and, if you had to book elsewhere at higher cost, the difference. Don’t accept “credit”.
• Room not as described. Photograph it immediately, report to reception, ask for a comparable room. If none, you’re entitled to a price reduction or to leave and get a refund for the unused nights.
• “Damage” charge after checkout. They must provide evidence and a chance to respond. Pre-existing damage, normal wear, and inflated “cleaning” for a spilled drink are all disputable. Chargeback if they won’t engage.
• Cancellation charged despite “free cancellation”. Screenshot of the booking terms plus the cancellation confirmation is all you need for a chargeback and an ACL claim.
• Pre-authorisation holds that never release. Holds should release within days of checkout. If a hold is still there after 10 business days, ask the hotel to release it and, failing that, your bank.

The booking platform’s role. Platforms love to say “we’re just an intermediary”. But under the ACL, a business that arranges and takes payment for a service is a supplier. The ACCC has enforced this against booking sites. Naming both the platform and the hotel in your letter means one of them will want to resolve it before the other blames them.

Who to complain to

ACCC (drip pricing, misleading fees), state fair trading / consumer affairs, and for an unresolved chargeback, AFCA (against your bank). If the property is a member of the Accommodation Association of Australia, they have a complaints process. For platform disputes, the platform’s Australian entity is the party to name at the tribunal.

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