Hotels.com

I booked a hotel on this site in August, the price was great and I received the confirmation immediately. When I arrived at the SpringHill Suites in October, the hotel found my name in the system and it showed that I paid through Hotelclub.com, but the hotelclub credit card was declined. We spent over an hour on the phone with these people trying to get them to pay for something that I had already paid for 2 months in advance. To add insult to injury, I learned that if I had called the hotel, I could have gotten a better rate. This site is not worth the the few bucks you think you will save. STAY AWAY FROM HOTElCLUB.

Recently my elderly father-in-law who lives in Spain was rushed to hospital. My wife immediately booked a flight out from London to go and see him the next day and she booked a hotel in Torrevieja for 4 nights using Venere.com. They sent an email saying that the reservation was confirmed. After a difficult journey, she arrived at the hotel in the evening only to be told that they had no knowledge of any reservation and that the hotel was completely full!

Fortunately the hotel was very helpful and managed to find another hotel not very far away that did have a room available and after a time the problem was solved (although it did entail a long walk with a suitcase). However it was a very stressful time for my wife.

When I found out what had happened I wrote to Venere for their comments but they ignored my email completely.

My recommendation is that if you want to be sure that there is a room waiting for you when you believe that you have a confirmed booking - do not use Venere as a booking agency.

On August 7th 2012 I booked a room by Venere.com as below:
"Your reservation has been confirmed.

We suggest printing a copy of this email and bringing it with you to the hotel.

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Reservation Summary
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NAME: F... de S... T...
EMAIL: [protected]@xxxx

RESERVATION NUMBER: IHR15331185
RESERVATION STATUS: confirmed

CHECK-IN DATE: 15 September 2012
CHECK-OUT DATE: 17 September 2012
NUMBER OF NIGHTS: 2

Inn: Gästehaus Alba
City: Rust

ROOMS BOOKED:
1 Double Room - Free Breakfast Daily total

15/09/2012 80.00 EUR 80.00 EUR
16/09/2012 70.00 EUR 70.00 EUR

Total price : 150.00 EUR
...
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Price, Deposit and Payment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL PRICE: 150.00 EUR
...

Your credit card will not be charged by Venere.com.
Payment is to be made directly to the hotel.
If the property requires a deposit or advanced payment, this information will be indicated in the following section.
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Cancellation Policy - Penalty
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! You may cancel the reservation without being charged the penalty indicated by the property by:
>>>>>>> WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 at 11:59 pm (GMT +2h)
You cannot cancel your reservation if you selected and booked a room indicated as "PREPAID/NON REFUNDABLE".
Venere.com never charges a penalty for cancellations.
! The Inn Gästehaus Alba has the right to charge a penalty for cancellation requests made after the deadline indicated above and/or if you do not follow the instructions specified in the section "How to Cancel Your Booking".
! Free cancellation can be made up until 30 days before the check-in day.
For cancellations made after this time a cancellation fee of 80% of the entire stay will be charged. All times refer to the local time at the property. For no-show, 90% of the entire stay will be charged.
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How to Cancel Your Booking
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Please access your reservations at the following address:

Insert your registered email address and the password sent to you and follow the cancellation procedure.
Venere.com does not accept cancellation requests sent via email to our Customer Service Department, even if the request is sent before the cancellation policy expires. All cancellations need to be made following the above instructions."

On August 8th I cancelled the reservation as described in the "How to cancel your booking" and Venera.com sent me the following confirmation:

"2012/8/8

this is a copy of the message that has been sent to the property.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotel Gästehaus Alba (Rust)
Attn: Reservation desk
The IHR reservation number [protected] has been cancelled.
Reservation request code: IHR [protected]
Name: Francinne de Souza Torres
Reservation was made on: Tuesday, 7 August 2012 17:37 (GMT +1h)
Check in: Saturday, 15 September 2012
Check out: Monday, 17 September 2012
Rooms requested:
1 Double Room - Free Breakfast 150.00 EUR
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks and best regards."

And that's my credit card bill:

"Movimentações Internacionais em Dólares (US$)Data Descritivo Crédito Débito
FRANCINNE S TORRES N° 4007 70** **** 4155
08/08 GAESTEHAUS ALBA (93, 02) "

Please note the sentences marked with "!" and ">>>" on the texts above. According to the first email sent by Venera.com, I would be able to cancel my reservation without paying any fee until "WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 at 11:59 pm (GMT +2h)". I cancelled it on August 8th, 7 days before the deadline, and.. surprise! A cancellation fee was charged on my credit card on the same day I did it!

I want my money back! I was foolish by this website and no one answer my emails.

First and last time I used their services, ever!

Refused to honor booking for agreed room. Sent me a confirmation email that stated I would get a room with two king beds and a sleeper sofa. When I arrived with two elderly women and two kids under ten the hotel informed me they didn't have a room that would accommodate us. After I drove 10 hours I had no choice but to pay for extra room. When I called them, in India, they told me to email the complaint dept. the next morning I had to pack up and move all our stuff to another hotel. Without a kitchenette without free wifi without free parking. With two beds and a rollaway. This is unacceptable, it is not what I paid for back in march and I will not stop until I get this resolved to my satisfaction.

I have experience the price guarantee offered by hotels.com. For my feeling, hotels.com just like "cheating" its customers. I deal with them in accordance with the T&C of the price guarantee. But, they say that my booking is non-refundable booking so it is not under the scope of the price guarantee.

However, I have read through the T&C of the price guarantee. There is no wording about "non-refundable" booking. I make a complaint to them and they were not willing to handle and not reply at email promptly ( 30 days no response from them even with repetitive reminder to them). Eventually, I request them to call back me. However, I just received an email telling me that they are not suppose to make outgoing call.!

So, their service is very bad and the guarantee is just like rubbish.

I experienced horrible scam from Hotels.com before, so tried to avoid this place. However, I did not know some other places are also belonging to Hotels.com. Bad experience again, what a waste of my life!

I booked a hotel one month before via another hotel site. Confirmation email came to me from another name's hotel reservation site. It made me uncomfortable. I realized some other places had been keeping my itinerary information.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I was told my reservation was NOT there.
We asked who is in charge of the reservation in the first place, but never were informed details. ( for their security, they said)
Our experience with Hotels.com ( other subsidiaries, too) was always terrible. I learned I should only book any hotel directly from now on for my security.

I would not recommend to use them unless you want to

I had booked reservations throught hotels.com for a three night stay at Regency Inn, Fort Walton Beach, FL, March 15-17, 2012. Generally, I am a frugal traveler and will spend less money on a hotel so that I can use the extra cash on nonessentials. In no way is there a beach nearby like hotels.com summarizes. When I arrived, I called and informed them that they were very misleading and that I was unhappy with the condition of the room. The hotels.com agent I spoke with the evening of the 15th advised me to stay the night and that they would cancel the next two nights. All that was requested of me was to check out on the morning of the 16th before the check-out time and than to call hotels.com. The next morning, I did as instructed-Checked-out before 11am. I than called hotels.com to let them know that I had checked out and had to repeat my reasoning for checking out. The agent was very considerated and advised that my refund would be issued within 3-5 days but after the 5th day if I havent received it to contact my bank because it would be on them to issue the credit. Two months, numerous false promises, and 30+ calls later, no refund. They continue to point the blame on the hotel chain and like I explained to them, that was an issue that management will have to take up with the hotel chain because they acted on my behalf as my agent and I paid hotels.com for the room not Regency Inn.

I am writing to complain about an experience that I had with booking a hotel online with hotels.com.
In September 2011 I tried to book a hotel in Paris. Using hotels.com I got to the final stage of a booking (name, address, email address, credit card numbered entered and check for terms and conditions) but when I clicked confirm nothing happened, my browser just kept waiting for the site to respond (I tested the Internet connection for another site, which was OK). I left my booking waiting for around 15 minutes but nothing happened. I did not receive any confirmation email.
I was concerned about this because I had got to the final stage of the booking and had provided my credit card details. The next day I telephoned hotels.com to find out the status of my booking and I was told by the agent that it had not gone through. She apologised to me and she even persisted to try and find me another hotel, which I declined.
I found and booked directly with another hotel and enjoyed a wonderful autumn weekend in Paris.
At the end of the month I received my credit card bill and noticed that I had been charged by the hotel that I had originally tried to book through hotels.com (not only for one room as I had originally requested but for two rooms!). I contacted the hotel and was told that they had received a booking from venera.com, which I requested a copy of. Sure enough, there were clearly two bookings made for two nights each in my name from venere.com and the hotel had charged me the full price because I did not show up and did not cancel the reservation.
I was a bit confused at first because I had made the booking through hotels.com, but I discovered that venere.com is owned by hotels.com (which in turn is owned by expedia group).
Because I was dealing with one of the biggest online booking sites, I thought that this would not be too difficult to fix, but that has not been the case. First of all they could not find my booking, then the booking mysteriously appeared and they tried to get me to take this up with the hotel (who have not done anything wrong), then they admitted a faulty system and directed me to head office in America (via a fax number) where I have been practically ignored (I did receive one message four weeks ago telling me they were dealing with this and it would be completed in 72 hours – at least this confirmed I had the correct fax number!). Each of these steps involved dozens of phone calls and emails and has taken almost six months with considerable persistence and patience. I continue to email, call and fax but keep going around in circles.
The reason why I am writing to you is to share my story with you and ask if you have any advice for me to get this resolved? Hotels.com have displayed incompetence with their booking system and their customer service. Although this is not a huge amount of money (320 Euros) I am angry at how poor their booking system and customer service is. I feel I should fight this not just for my sake but for other potential victims of their booking system problems.

Reserved room at Golden Nugget (Las Vegas) for two nights through hotels.com on Dec 6, 2011. Found I could not make the trip; called to cancel reservation Dec. 8. Printed form shows reservation canceled that day and promises refund ($199.82) within a maximum of 14 days. Credit card statement shows charge billed by hotels.com Dec. 6. No further activity (no refund). Jan. 19, 2012, I contacted hotels.com to ask about refund. After being placed on "hold" several times (to "check resources" and "call the hotel") the refund was promised to be processed within 72 hours. At one point, the agent asked me the reason I had canceled. I told her that was none of her business and had no bearing on the promised refund. When I asked "why?" the refund was not processed as promised, she continually skirted the question by blaming a "system problem." I would think long and hard about using hotels.com again. First, I do not feel it is appropriate to charge a complete reservation fee to one's credit card immediately (Orbitz does this, as well). If you have made a reservation for a lengthy stay, you may be billed hundreds of dollars far ahead of your visit. Second, it is obvious hotels.com does not follow through on its promises of a refund. While the statement provided states, "All refunds will be made to your credit card within 14 days" that, in this instance, was a lie. The fact I had to spend over a half-hour on the telephone to receive yet another promise of my refund demonstrates that quite well.

Hotels.com does not honor their price match guarantee when a coupon is applied. On Nov 17th, 2011, we booked a hotel in San Antonio for Saturday through Tuesday. The rates were $189.99, $144.99 and $144.99 respectively. We also had a ten percent off coupon that we applied to the total. On Nov. 25th we found the same hotel room for $159.99, $144.99 and $144.99. I called Hotels.com to get the price difference of $30 on the first night. They said because we used a coupon the price match didn’t apply. I asked to speak with a supervisor and he gave me the same excuse. This is just another gimmick they use to avoid paying a price match guarantee. The Saturday night room was $159.99 on both their site and Expedia irrespective of the subsequent 10% discount. Be aware of these tricks. I will never book with hotels.com again!

I made two separate room reservations on the phone with hotels.com for two rooms in the Days Inn Newburgh Stewart Intl hotel. The rooms were for emergency shelter due to a blizzard and power outage. Hotels.com guaranteed that there would be rooms available but the fee would be non refundable. I arrived at the hotel and they stated there were no vacancies. I provided the Hotels.com confirmation numbers to the clerk. She stated that there was a problem with Hotels.com satellite and none of their reservations had reached the hotel, and they were unable to accommodate any of hotels.com reservations. I called Hotels.com and explained the situation to them. They put me on hold for one hour. After SIX attempts of calling to get a refund, I am told by every agent answering the phone that the rooms were booked on a no refund policy. After explaining each time to each agent that no rooms were available or provided, I am put on hold while they contact the hotel. They return to tell me that I am right about no rooms available, and they say that they will cancel the reservations, but it will take up to 30 days to get a refund. They then say I will receive a confirmation email that the process has started within 15 minutes. I never receive the email, and when I call back the process is started all over again with the same results. Two times they never returned from hold. It took me 5 minutes on the phone to make the reservation, have my money withdrawn, and receive an email with confirmation numbers. I have spent nearly 5 hours on the phone trying to get my money back for services promised and never received. To top this off, I specifically asked Hotels.com when making the reservations if they were sure I would have rooms available due to the current crisis. I was assured that Hotels.com has a block of rooms reserved at the hotel and not to worry because they have to have the rooms available.

I prepaid for a hotel reservation with Hotles.com by phone. Upon arrival to the hotel I was told the company made invalid reservation for me and it will not be honored. I could not get my room. I was asked to pay for a different room at higher rate and to cancel my reservation. When I called Hotels.com customer services at they said they could not cancel and after spending an hour on the phone will me said the line is breaking up and they could not hear me any longer. I called them again several days later from home. They said they could not give me a refund even though they admitted my reservation was not accepted by the hotel. When I asked for a manager, they said the same thing, the phone line was bad now and they hung up.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Please, Think twice before you do booking with hotelclub.com
scams, cheaters, no clear agreements ...
they charge your credit directly, they charge you for cancellation  booking with one nigh even if you cancel it before 2 days or so...
I respect the business with ( booking.com) ...they are loyal to their customers.p
so delete  this name from your memory ...xxx( hotelclub.com )xxx...
if you care about your money and health...

I booked a hotel in Paris a couple of months in advance with Hotels.com. They confirmed the booking at the time and then emailed to confirm again a few days before the departure date. The email said you do not need to contact anyone, your booking is confirmed. When we arrived at our hotel in Paris they did not have a booking for us and had no rooms available. When we showed them our confirmation from Hotels.com they said they cancelled that at the time of booking due to a problem with the credit card details. The hotel had informed Hotels.com of this at the time.

When I contacted Hotels.com they were completely useless, just telling me all the things I already knew. Namely that they still had it down as a confirmed booking, but the hotel had cancelled it. No offer of any form of compensation for the fact that we lost a day of our short break due to having to find a different hotel. The one thing you want to be sure of when using an agency is that the hotel are expecting you and have a room ready. I would probably have contacted the hotel direct before I went if it hadn't been for the second email from hotels.com telling me I didn't need to. I would never use hotels.com again because you just can't be sure that they are communicating with the hotels they are booking for. Not worth the risk of messing up your break - steer well clear.

In June my husband was going to a function in MD. He would be drinking and wanted me to drive him so we booked a room in Fredrick so I would not have miles and hours to drive back and forth. I wanted to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn or another similar level hotel. I thought i had called the hotel directly to ask about government rates. When I spoke to the reservation person he asked me how much I wanted to pay and what kind of room I wanted. He said well I can get you that rate at the Sleep Inn and it gets the highest customer rating. I was taken back considering that I thought I was talking to the Hilton. I said what are there no rooms at the Hilton and he said no that he could get me a room at a top rated Sleep Inn. I used to be a road warrior and I would not normally have EVER stayed at a Sleep Inn. I said I want to stay at the Hilton and he kept insisting that the Sleep Inn had higher customer ratings. When we went to book the room then and only then did I find out I was actually talking to Hotels.com. I said I thought I was talking to the Hilton. He said well they are booked and I can get you a better rate here.

I was not thrilled at staying at the Sleep Inn - it was at least clean and quiet but certainly not to my level of standards - by a very long shot. But as we were only there one night and I would be driving back and forth I took the room.

We just got our charge card bill and there was an odd charge on the bill from Hotels.com. We were being charged a Canadian exchange rate for the date in question. Hmm - Frederick, MD is not in Canada as far as I know. It turns out that the reservation agent for Hotels.com was based in Canada and NOT ONCE did he say one word about being in Canada - just as he was not clear about not working for Hilton. They charged us a $2.78 charge. Granted it was not big but think if they do this all the time - it adds up. They are running a scam charging extra and not letting people know.

This is not the first time we have been overcharged via Hotels.com. We were charged once for a trip to NYC 8 months after our trip and AFTER we had paid for the trip many months earlier. I don't trust them and for those of you who use them - watch your bill - don't be surprised if they charge you bogus amounts.

I have done a booking at the Quinze Guesthouse in Nelspruit on the 22nd of June 2011 for the 1st of July until the 3rd of July 2011 through hotels.com. A confirmation e-mail was send to me stating that my booking was confirmed and I don't have to worry about anything. On the 28th of June another e-mail was send to me just to inform me that everything was still ok and I don't have to phone for confimation. Arriving there at 5:30 on the evening of the 1st of July there was no booking for me, the owner did not even know about me. She confirmed that she got a room available for that dates for me but the price is now more than double than the price I got from hotels.com. I did not accept this as I feel my quote was for R920 for the weekend and not R1870 like she wanted. I had to drive around the whole of Nelspruit looking for accomodation for the weekend, lucky I did find a place to stay for the weekend. This is unacceptable and needs to be sorted out, this is a big company and doing that is not right.

I had one of the worst Customer Service dealing with a Hotels.com employee today. Hotels.com should seriously consider putting their employees through KINDNESS training. My hotel was over booked and I was given the wrong number to call, so I called them to try and straighten it out. I was disconnected twice and finally the lady who took my call was extremely rude and I could barely understand her! She acted as if it was my fault that my hotel was overbooked. When they left me a voicemail with the wrong number they also stated that they would find me another hotel with NO extra cost to me, that DIDN'T happen. They told me since I used a coupon I could only get a refund or I would have to pay the difference. All because of a coupon you aren't going to carry your end of the deal? That makes no sense. They also charged me $138.90 but only refunded me $138.57. I told this to the lady and she acted like it was my problem not hers. I don't care if it's only a .33 cent difference, that's my money! I always booked my hotels through them but that WILL NOT be happening again. Thank you Priceline for better service and prices!

On 24 April 2011 my wife and I reserved a room in hotel Cantagrel in Paris for 20-26 June using the site www.venere.com and received a confirmation from Venere.com. Then on 15 June I sent an email to the hotel to verify our reservation is OK. The same day I got a response from the hotel that everything is OK.

Can you imagine my surprise when on 17 June in the evening received an email from Venere.com that my reservation is canceled? I called Venere.com’s customer service and they told me that my reservation was canceled and they don’t know by whom. They didn't bother to offer us any alternative. Actually they ignore my emails.

It was a high season and I was incapable of ordering another room. As result we cancelled our vacation and lost the cost of our plane tickets and tickets to the Paris Air Show at La Bourget.

I hope that my example will help others to be more cautious making their hotels reservations with Venere.com.

On 24 April 2011 my wife and I reserved a room in hotel Cantagrel in Paris for 20-26 June using the site www.venere.com and received a confirmation from Venere.com. Then on 15 June I sent an email to the hotel to verify our reservation is OK. The same day I got a response from the hotel that everything is OK.
Can you imagine my surprise when on 17 June in the evening received an email from Venere.com that my reservation is canceled? I called Venere.com’s customer service and they told me that my reservation was canceled and they don’t know by whom. They didn't bother to offer us any alternative. Actually they ignore my emails.
It was a high season and I was incapable of ordering another room. As result we cancelled our vacation and lost the cost of our plane tickets and tickets to the Paris Air Show at La Bourget.
I hope that my example will help others to be more cautious making their hotels reservations with Venere.com.

Booked 2 managers into Clarion Hotel through Hotels.com. Their flight was delayed and they didn't arrive at the hotel until 2:00 am anxious for 4 hours of sleep prior to a scheduled meeting. There was no one at the front desk and no one in any of the common areas. They searched and called out. When no one was found, they had to leave to find another hotel. After contacting Hotels.com which was a combination of 3 hours of phone calls listening to horrible music and messages, I was told I could have a voucher for my next booking at hotels.com. LIKE I WOULD USE THEM AGAIN! I then called the Clarion Hotel and was told by the manager, Michelle, that her employees have worked there for 7 years and that the only time they leave the desk is to go to the bathroom. Will not use hotels.com or Clarion hotels again. I will attempt to contact Choice Hotels which owns Clarion only to advise them of the incompetancy of this particular hotel. I don't expect much to come of the complaint, but feel they need to know that if an employee needs to go to bathroom, then thiefs will have open reign on their hotels.