Absolutely furious!!

I have twice had to cancel bookings. First time, "no problem, you were the only guests so we will have a weekend off'. Second time "can't re-let it now, I will be debiting your card". No prizes for guessing which one we have booked again.

I suppose it depends on how likely they are to be able to re-sell the dates at short notice. I'd have thought as it's the English school holidays it wouldn't be too hard.

Do you have travel insurance? You can claim on that, if you do.

Not much help now but I am sure it is last minute.com where they will take your booking but you get up to 24 hours before the date to cancel if you need to and they don't take anything from your card.

Yes, we have insurance sue but pia to claim when we just wanted to change dates. I'll be looking at using last minute.com in future alima!! Currently still

Yes, I thought most hotels etc would let you cancel up to 24 hours beforehand.

They could give you a credit voucher so that you can go another time, if not a cash refund

Out of order ! They are not loosing money by changing your dates. Worst case to me would be a small admin charge.
on your behalf

We always use Booking.com because they let you cancel right up to the day you're booked in - but I think there are some hotels which stipulate different terms, so you'd need to check when you book.

You have my sympathy katek but I have been there, done that too often to be surprised. The hotel reservations we have cancelled, the times when we have had to bale out after 2 or 3 days, the concerts, plays, family occasions even a funeral etc we have missed because of DH's health issues. Packing up in the N of England 2 days after we arrived at a lovely country house hotel so that I could drive him straight down to his hospital in London was sad but they very kindly only billed us for the nights we had had. Then there have been the times when he has sampled the hospitality of hospitals in other parts of the UK (stopped going abroad over 10 years ago.) He reckoned the food at the old Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh was among the best, Ayr, sadly not.
Claim on your insurance, bite the bullet and next time book into a hotel which will take a late cancellation.
Plan B could be my middle name.

I'm astonished. It definitely shows the benefit of booking via Booking.com or Lastminute. A lesson to all.
Your insurance co will want a doctor's letter so get DH to the GP while he's still poorly as they can't do it retrospectively.
There are still over 48 hours until the weekend so maybe he'll be up to it after all. If so, call before setting off because they might have re-let the room without telling you!

Maybe Trading Standards would be interested. Did you have any written booking conditions? Usually there is a sliding scale of refunds depending on how much notice you give of cancellation. There was something in The Telegraph last weekend about companies refusing refunds and then selling the accommodation again - sorry I can't find it as it was paper collection yesterday!

Even to claim on insurance you would need a dr's certificate and an assurance that it was not something he was suffering from at the time of the booking or suffers regularly. Incredibly hard to make a claim so I would either 1) persuade him to go, it's a change of bed even if all he wants to do is sleep 2) go with a daughter, sister, friend you don't mind sharing with or ON YOUR OWN or 3) write it off.
Perhaps the prospect of losing the money will persuade him he could struggle through a few days in luxurious surroundings in a beautiful place
(Whispers) I'd go on my own!!

Check the booking conditions. It's only Wednesday and your booking isn't until the weekend. I'm fairly sure most of the places we've stayed at allowed us to to cancel a booking up to, I think, either 36 or 24 hours before we were due to arrive.

KateK that is awful and I hope that your DH will recover quickly and you will be able to go after all.
Have you got written confirmation of your booking and the conditions pertaining at that time? Sometimes the prices vary depending on these conditions and so I would think it would depend on the booking conditions at the time of booking whether it would be possible to change the dates.
Whatever happened to good will and caring about the image of the business? Have you spoken to the manager and put it to him/her that it is an illness that you don't want to bring to their hotel to spread around? You could even mention that you have consulted an internet forum on the matter!
It sounds like a certain large and famous hotel which seems to think it is still in the era of it's heyday when the internet was not invented and therefore it couldn't affect the business in the way we all know that reviews can in this day and age!
In any case, most of us would think it quite reasonable to expect a refund if the hotel managed to relet the room and perhaps even dishonest if they were not to do so.