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A hotel chain has denied cancelling existing bookings during the newly announced Oasis tour in the hope of re-selling the rooms at a premium.
Angela Smith, 51, was booked at the Maldron Hotel in Manchester’s Cathedral Quarter for two nights from 19 Saturday July.
She had reserved four rooms for her family on Booking.com for a total of £1,820 for the two nights, and was told by the online agent: “You’ve guaranteed your booking by credit card.” Ms Smith did not pre-pay for the rooms.
After she had made the reservation, Oasis announced that they would be playing on both the Saturday and Sunday nights at Manchester’s Heaton Park.
She then received a message from “The Reservations Team” at the hotel headlined: “Cancellation requested due to system error.” It read: “We are writing to inform you of an issue with your booking at Maldron Hotel Manchester Cathedral Quarter.
“Due to a technical error, you have received a confirmation for a booking that was not successfully made. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your booking at this time.”
The hotel, which opened only this summer, is now showing as “Fully Booked” from 14 July to 10 August 2025.
Ms Smith, from Tyne and Wear, then contacted The Independent, saying: “I know for a fact that I got it relatively cheap for what some are offering now and no chance of getting anything booked again. Can the hotel do this?”
A spokesperson for Maldron Hotels said: “Due to a technical error with our booking system on 26 and 27 August 2024, substantially more rooms were booked than were available for the nights of the Oasis concerts on 11/12/19/20 July 2025 at Maldron Hotel Manchester City and Maldron Hotel Cathedral Quarter.
“As a result, we are unable to honour all bookings made on these dates, and we are actively engaging with customers regarding their bookings.
“The hotels are currently not taking any bookings while we investigate the issue. This is not an attempt to resell rooms at inflated prices, rather an overbooking issue due to a technical error with our booking systems.
“Additionally, due to the same technical error, a small number of customers were able to book the rooms at a higher price later that evening. We will also be unable to accommodate these bookings.
“We will be honouring all bookings made prior to 26 August. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
According to Booking.com rules for hoteliers: “All bookings are confirmed immediately and have to be honoured.”
The online intermediary says that in the case of overbooking “it’s your responsibility to relocate your guest in case of overbooking and find them accommodation of the same or higher standard”.
Ms Smith had been expecting to pay £227 per room per night. A hotel of similar standard, the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly, is now selling at £903 on the Saturday night.
Another disappointed guest, Lily Stroud, wrote on X: “Booked The Maldron Hotel Manchester yesterday for 11-13th & 18-20th before gigs were announced.
“Conveniently they have cancelled our bookings ‘due to a technical error’.”
While consumer rights for cancelled or overbooked flights are perfectly clear, when hoteliers cancel bookings made in good faith the rules are opaque.
A hotel booking constitutes a contract. But generally a hotel can cancel citing, as Maldron Hotels says, a rate “posted on the website incorrectly due to a technical or human error”.
Other properties include terms such as: “The hotel reserves the right to alter prices for any reason up to the date of booking or up to 12 weeks prior to arrival, whichever is the later.”
The leading lawyer Gary Rycroft, partner at Joseph A Jones of Lancaster, said: “If you are confident that you have formed a contract the way to enforce it is by applying to the court for ‘specific performance’.
“Here you would ask the hotel to honour contract for the room at the original price. They might offer evidence they simply can’t due to overbooking – as per their statement.
“But if evidence from the hotel is not compelling a court may grant specific performance. A key factor is the ‘uniqueness’ of the contract. Here you could argue the Oasis concert bestows that quality.
“The catch is the cost risk of going to court – which is why it would be great for consumers if a body like the Competition and Markets Authority could issue robust guidance or if Which? or the Citizens’ Advice Bureau supported a test case.”
During Eurovision in Liverpool in 2022, fans accused property owners of “gouging” with rooms surging to £5,500 per night.
Source: independent.co.uk
