Accor Hotels Charged Me for a Cancelled Stay and Blamed a 'Glitch.' I Got My $450 Back.

Accor Hotels charged my card for a stay that I had cancelled within their free cancellation window. The cancellation confirmation email clearly showed $0 charge. Then a week after I cancelled, the charge appeared.

I contacted Accor customer support. They said the charge was a "pre-authorization that was not released." I explained that a pre-authorization should drop off automatically within a week, not stay for a month. They said they could not do anything on their end.

I called my bank. The bank said the charge had been captured, meaning it was a real charge, not a hold. I went back to Accor with this information. They finally admitted it was an error and processed the refund.

The refund took another three weeks to show up. In total, I was out $450 for over a month.

Accor's billing system is slow and their customer service is not well trained on billing issues. If you are in a similar situation, contact your bank. A 3-way call with the bank and Accor can resolve things faster than dealing with Accor alone.