萬國法律事務所

Before the spring festival, Taiwan's Consumer Protection Committee of the Executive Yuan, the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and each county and city conducted a special inspection of the accommodation vouchers of 100 tourist hotels and general hotels, and found that 37 hotels were not in compliance with the regulations, at a violation rate of nearly 40%.  Many well-known hotels such as Silk Place Yilan Hotel, Hotel Rotal Chihpen, and Imperial Hotel Taipei were among the violators.  These hotels violated the regulations that prohibiting any restrictions on the use of accommodation vouchers during the Spring Festival.  The Consumer Protection Committee stated that the businesses can request consumers to make up the price difference, but cannot restrict the use of the accommodation vouchers.
 
The Consumer Protection Committee stated that consumers who buy gift certificates with cash should be able to use the gift certificates at any time.  If there is a price difference between weekdays and holidays, the difference can be made up, but such price difference cannot be the reason for restricting consumers’ use of the gift certificates.  Among the 37 violating hotels, 34 have completed corrective measures, but there are still 3 Hotels that have not yet done so.  The Tourism Bureau stated that it will impose a fine of NTD 30,000 to NTD 500,000 on the businesses in accordance with the "Consumer Protection Act" until they correct the violations.
 
No refunds based on inspection results
 
If you purchase accommodation vouchers from an illegal business, can you claim a refund?  Both the Tourism Bureau and the Consumer Protection Committee emphasized that the enterprises’ violations of the regulations were discovered after an administrative inspection.  Consumers cannot request a refund based on the inspection results.  Consumers who want a refund of the fees should apply for the same in accordance with the provisions of the standard form contract, and the hotels cannot charge more than a 3% handling fee.
 
The accommodation voucher inspection checked on other items with more serious violations, including 28 businesses that violated the regulations for the "Consumer Dispute Handling Complaint Hotline" by not recording the complaint telephone number or using the telephone number of the government agency as the complaint hotline.  Many businesses regarded the 1950 National Consumer Service Hotline as a dedicated complaint line, and some hotels used the switchboard as a complaint hotline.
 
In addition, 15 businesses were found to have violated the performance guarantee liability regulations, including violations such as the period of the performance guarantee being less than one year, the performance guarantee on the coupons being different from the actual situation, and the relevant provisions of the performance guarantee being not recorded.
 
There were also 9 businesses that were found to have violated the "cannot be recorded" rule, such as by limiting the period during which accommodation vouchers could be used, or requiring consumers to use other gift vouchers at the same time.  For example, the Consumer Protection Committee advised that hotel statements such as, "this accommodation voucher cannot be used alone, it must be used in conjunction with the Rainbow Holiday Voucher" is an improper use restriction on the use of such vouchers.