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Problems with your hotel or accommodation booking

You arrive and there is no room, it isn’t what you booked or the price changes when you pay. What you can demand, what you can’t, and where to complain.

General information, not legal advice. What you’re entitled to depends on your trip, the country, the carrier and the rules in force. If your case is complicated, check with the relevant authority or a professional. More in the terms of use.

If there is no room when you arrive, or it isn’t what you booked

A booking is a contract: it binds them to what was agreed and to what good faith requires.

If they don’t honour it, you can demand that they do or treat the contract as ended, and in both cases claim compensation for the loss and damage.

  • Keep the booking confirmation, what you paid and what they tell you, ideally in writing: that is your evidence.
  • None of the official sources we have read sets a fixed compensation for accommodation that doesn’t have your room, as there is for flights. What applies is your contract.

If the accommodation was part of a package, for example with the flight, the organiser must fix at no cost anything not provided as agreed. Your rights on a package holiday

When you pay

  • They cannot charge you a surcharge for paying by debit or credit card. Only with American Express, Diners Club or business cards, and never more than it costs them.
  • If the accommodation offers to charge you in your own currency, it must tell you how much extra it will cost compared with the European Central Bank rate. Paying in the local currency is usually cheaper.
  • Extras, such as insurance, can only be charged if you choose them yourself: a pre-ticked box doesn’t count, and you can ask for a refund of anything paid that way.

If you want to cancel

Booking online doesn’t give you fourteen days to change your mind: hotel bookings for specific dates don’t have that period, in Spanish law either.

What you can cancel, and at what cost, is set by your booking conditions. Read them before you pay.

If they don’t sort it out

  1. Complain first to the accommodation or to whoever sold you the booking, with your evidence: the confirmation, the invoice and what you were told. It is the step you must take before going to anyone else.
  2. If they don’t agree, go to an alternative dispute resolution body: the one in your country if the company is there, or the one in the company’s country. It costs little and reaches an outcome within 90 days.
  3. If the company is in another EU country, or in Iceland or Norway, the European Consumer Centre in your country will help you in your language and can help you reach an agreement with it.
  4. Throughout the EU, an unfair term in the contract doesn’t bind you, and an ambiguous term is read in your favour.

In Spain, each autonomous community can regulate tourism in its territory, so some rules for accommodation may change depending on where you are.

Before you book

  • The price you are shown must include all taxes and any charges that aren’t optional, such as fees or booking charges. Anything that can’t be worked out in advance must be pointed out to you straight away.
  • They cannot charge you more because of your nationality or your country of residence: for a hotel booking you are entitled to the same prices as local people.
  • They cannot advertise a very low price if there are hardly any places at that price: they must say how many there are and how long the offer lasts.
  • Booking sites must flag paid advertising and explain how they rank results: the first thing you see may be an ad.
  • Whoever publishes reviews must explain how they check they come from real customers, and paying for fake reviews or changing them is banned.

Haven’t booked yet?

On Logitravel you can search for the hotel on its own or with the flight. Before you pay, check that the price includes everything and what the cancellation terms say. If it’s a package, you must be given the EU form saying it is a package holiday.

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Official sources

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026