I am an Australian Citizen living in Perth Western Australia.

I have a problem regarding a refund for a cancelled booking that I had with the Impiana Resort in Phuket.
I had a reservation at The Impiana Resort Patong Phuket on the 16th of September2010 for a three night stay.

On my arrival, at my request, our tour guide cancelled my reservation for the three nights, as I was staying the three nights at the Hospital where my friend was having a procedure performed. She quoted my reservation number and gave the Resort my details and was told that I would receive a refund to my credit card if I could arrange to go to the Resort before leaving Phuket.

I went to the Impiana Resort on the 19th of September, 2010 as my transfer to the airport was leaving from that location. I went to see the on Duty Manager and he said he could put through the refund for my cancellation on my credit card while I waited. Unfortunately, the taxi arrived for my transfer and I did not have time for him to do the refund. He suggested that I contact my travel agent on my return for them to speak with the Resort and arrange the refund. I spoke with my Travel Agent on my return and they contacted the Resort on my behalf, but was told by e-mail that no refund will be given.

I have since been emailing the Resort myself to try and sort out the problem so that I may get the refund that the Hotel Manager said I was entitled to but they are refusing to refund my money.

I have looked into their cancellation policy which states “in case of cancellation less than three days prior to arrival or no show, one night stay will be charged.”.

As I only gave notification on the day of arrival, the 16th of September, 2010, I accepted that I would have to pay for the first night, but according to their refund policy, the following two nights should have been credited back to me.

The Impiana Resort have emailed me back with several excuses as to why they will not give me a refund.
The first excuse was that they did not receive the cancellation, so I assume someone at the Resort made a mistake and did not cancel the booking for me because it was definitely cancelled.
The second excuse was that they could not find the person who was going to give me the refund on the 19th of September, so therefore it couldn’t be confirmed.
The third excuse was that my Travel Agent should have cancelled the booking with paperwork. That would have been very difficult to have arranged if that was the case. I have travelled the world extensively, so I am not naive in these matters. If I needed to cancel my Hotel reservation, then I am well within my rights to cancel and not involve the Travel Agent. There is nothing in the Resort’s Terms and Conditions to state otherwise.

I shall appreciate any advice.