What a bad experience..I will never use this website to book my hotel again.
I am in LA this week on training. Booked my hotel room via Hotels.com. The operator assisted call ( had a lot of questions on the Internet access etc.) was very sweet. I was asked about the floor I wanted to choose, smoking preference and a few other preferences before my room was confirmed. I was even told that I will get a room with a desk !!
I landed at the hotel yesterday evening and found out that all non-smoking rooms were gone. I showed my reservation to the hotel staff. They showed their confirmation..and it said 'SMOKING' while mine said 'NON SMOKING'. I was frustrated. I was too tired and decided to move to the room and then call Hotels.com.
I called them and to my shock and surprise they told me to 'Read the fine print' on the reservation. They added that only the room is guaranteed...not the preferences. I checked the fine print..didn't see anything about all this !
What a shame, HOTELS.COM. I will never again use your website. I am also going to write to BBB about this.
I am glad I don't have my kids/wife along, in a smoking room!!
8 comments:
hi sir,
what is BBB?
Karthik
yes.... i hv had horrible experiences with hotels.com and hotwire.com is even worse.... they do not let u choose the hotel.... u can only mention wat u need n they pick out hotels for u....
in my experience, i hv found that sometimes u end up paying the same even if u approach the hotel directly.... but it does not work in holiday weekends n stuff!!
How are you? It has been a long time. Thanks for sharing this info with us.
Hurray! you dont post(annoy) anymore!!!
Hotels.com really does suck. my family got into a car accident after we made a reservation at a hotel off hotels.com. My mom was in the hospital and as soon as she left she canceled the reservation. She is now being charged 2 nights in the hotel that we never stayed in. they told her it was her fault because "she could've gotten the hotels number in the hospital." She a a fuc*ing Concusion! I Hate you hotels.com
i want to add that Hotel.com had f'ed me over 2 times in the same trip. I booked a room with king size bed, but it turned out to be a room with 2 twin beds. Spent 2 hours on the phone but they couldn't change it bc everything is all booked. A day later i went to the other resort i booked.the resort refused to check me in because the confirmation number is not on their list. I spent 2 hours on the phone with hotel.com again. the result was that the resort is booked and they can only find me another hotel near by. they primosed me to give me an upgraded room. but when i arrived to the near by hotel, it was a lot worse than the previous one. I will never use hotel.com again
I used them for the first time, thought I was calling the hotel directly.
First mishap; I wanted Fully Refundable they charged the the higher refundable fee but became an issue when I tried to cancel one of my hotel stays 4 days prior to my stay.
Second mishap; Hotel did not accept my rewards membership card. They said it was because I used Hotels.com. Of course the rep from Hotels.com said to provide it to the front desk upon booking.
Third mishap; I found out that I could get a better price just dealing directly with the hotel.
I will not use hotels.com again. It was more of a problem then a convenience. Also you will notice that their confirmations does not show the fine print until you click on the link. That takes you to their website where they are able to change whatever they want so is importat you print a hard copy but for me it is just not worth it.
Hotels.com uses deceptive marketing practices. When you call or go to their Web site, they push URGENCY. You have to book this room today or you aren't going to get it. Most reps have no clue what is going on in the city you are looking to stay. They can do this because Hotels.com as well as other online hotel booking companies buy large blocks of hotel rooms at group rates. They then turn the rooms around on their site. They may have four rooms in the block, and if all four rooms are gone, they will tell you the hotel is sold out when in fact it is only their block of rooms that are sold out. The best bet is to contact the hotel directly as they may or may not be sold out, but the hotels.com inventory has nothing to do with the actual hotel's inventory. It's only a small percentage.
Sometimes you can save money, but the hotels themselves have become far more competitive and often post the same room prices that hotels.com and others post. There really isn't much of an advantage in going through hotels.com.
The process can be frustrating. The fine print always reads hotels.com can't guarantee you the exact room you thought you purchased. They always want their money upfront where most hotels will allow you to pay when you get to the hotel which is really a checks and balance that assures you know the quality of the hotel before you check in.
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