Excessive penalty charging for cancellation of accommodation booking

Question:

On July 25, 2016, I booked 4 nights at a guesthouse in Japan via online accommodation booking site. Due to personal issues, however, I canceled the subject booking on August 8, 2016. But on the scheduled check-in date (August 15, 2016), the guesthouse charged a cancellation penalty of KRW 142,403 which was equivalent to total accommodation expenses for 4 nights. I believe the guesthouse’s action is unjustifiable and unacceptable given the cancellation was made 7 days prior to the scheduled check-in date. What should I do?

Answer:

According to the guesthouse’s policy, you should have canceled the subject booking before August 8, 2016 for the free cancellation. Given the fact that the cancellation was made on August 8, 2016, the free cancellation clause may not be applied to your case. However, the same policy states that 1-night accommodation fares shall be charged as a penalty in case a guest cancels his/her booking, it is advisable that you should ask the guesthouse to issue a refund for the remaining 3-night accommodation fares.