Hotels.com
reviews and complaints

My family and I booked a FOUR-PERSON hotel room at the Hilton Hotel in Times Square, NYC for April 21-23. I made this reservation on March 22 with Hotels.com (AKA Expedia) for $899. Hotels.com twice confirmed my reservations, as recently as two days before I arrived at the Hilton.
Upon arrival, we were told that the hotel did not have our reservation. In fact, they showed me an email saying that the reservation had been canceled on March 31.
The manager there was able to find us a room to accommodate us with a THREE-PERSON hotel room for $1, 060. He was very accommodating as was the Hilton in general.
Upon calling Hotels.com, I was informed via email that 'the hotel should never have charged your credit card' for the higher amount and should have accepted the $899.
After Hotels.com credited my credit card with the $899, I called them to ask why they had not refunded the higher amount that I paid Hilton, thereby leaving me with the price I had agreed to. I guess they were admitting that it was Hotels.com FAULT and they would only refund the amount I paid THEM.
I was very happy with Hilton, as I mentioned, but felt that Hotels.com should have eaten the difference, since I booked with them in good faith - BUT NEVER AGAIN! I don't do business with companies that don't stand behind the customer!
Bob Hanlon
[protected]@yahoo.com

Booked a room through Hotels.com, received a confirmation/email, arrived to hotel and hotel had no record of reservations, referred to call customer service at hotels.com, was put on hold for an excess of 20 mins each time, then disconnected, after 5 reps, finally got a rep who told me there was a problem with my payment even though they debited total amount from my accnt the same day I booked, missed an engagement I was in Vegas for and matter wasn't resolved until the next day. I have never had an experience this horrible dealing with travel sites. Will never use these folks again! Sent an email detailing my experience and still no reponse from company.

Made a reservation through hotels.com (aka Expedia). They double-booked the room which I discovered only after I arrived. I've spent the last month, probably 4 hours on the phone, trying to get them to credit my account for their mistake. I've contacted the hotel manager. They've contacted the hotel manager who's said that the reservation was an error, and hotels.com said they have a record of this. The last excuse they gave me was that they could only credit me when I was on the line and they had the manager on the line, too. AVOID hotels.com and Expedia!

Sorry I didn't read the complaints before I booked a room in South Carolina. The reservationist spoke 'conversational" english at best. She constantly said "yes", even when she didn't understand. She clearly spoke the price of $54 then $51 then $71 for the same room during our booking. At the end, the room she told me I was booking at a 25% discounted rate of $54, turned out being billed to me at $78. When I called customer service, I got the run around. I was ultimately told that reservations is located in the middle of South America, and Raul was the only manager I could talk to. He told me, after 200 "I sorry that Happened", that I should expect a $30 voucher, ( to be used on my next booking with them) in about 6 weeks. I would never give them my card number again!

Can anyone tell me what government consumer protection agencies we should be addressing our complaints to? Thanks

On the 1st of February we confirmed a booking with Hotels.com for accommodation in April. On the 11 April 2011 Hotels.com called to say they could not honour our booking. During this first call they made no attempt to rectify the situation. We asked them to sort it out, and they did not call us back. We have spent over 2 hours on the phone trying to have the problem resolved. So far all they have offered us is $70 US voucher. This is pointless as we need accommodation for the nights we had it booked. Their service is incredibly poor, most times the person you talk to says they cannot open your booking and transfers you. I have even been hung up on. I have registered two complaints with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) one regarding misrepresentation of service and another regarding poor customer service. I strongly advise anyone considering booking through Hotels.com not to do it. Even if you have to pay more elsewhere, it is worth it as this company does not deliver as promised, and has the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

I paid for 2 rooms in Tahoe in July, 2010. Hotels.com did not represent the hotel correctly on their website at the time and I ended up paying more than anticipated. I disputed the charge with my credit card. They investigated but found in favor of Hotels.com so they posted the charge to my statement in September, 2010. I paid it in full that month. However, in February, 2011, I received a collection notice from a collection agency saying I owed that money to Hotels.com. I attempted to explain that i had paid it and they sent HOtels.com the information, however they still harrassed me. After talking to someone at Hotels.com who said they had no information regarding my booking, I called the collection agency again who gave me a fax number to send my credit card statement to. After that I haven't heard from anyone as of yet. Horrible experience with Hotels.com. Would definitely recommend to stay away from this company.

Here's a real overpriced dump in Rockley, Barbados Island,

Wife and I, went to Bridgetown Barbados, West Indies and was practically treated like we were invisible by the Blue Horizon Hotel on Rockley Beach. This place is a true dump! Here's a list of serious issues with the hotel:
No working Air Conditioning unit inside the room upon arrival to the hotel. Had to threaten to cancel rest of the reservation to get another room.
No elevator anywhere in the hotel, even if your staying on the 4th floor.
Open electrical fire hazards in the room and on the hotel grounds around sidewalks.
Electronic safe inside the room did not work inside the room.
No concierge desk or no one to assist with guest services, island events, or recreational activities. No staff member ever smiled or greeted us the entire stay.
Continental breakfast is a basket of toast. No selection, No menus, and you have to sign for it even though it's supposed to be free.
Beds were very uncomfortable as sleeping on a rock slab. No hot water in the mornings. Only cold showers half the time.
Hotel is located next to a very busy road, no view of the beach as advertised, and most of the rooms have only a view of a really noisy fast food pizza & chicken restaurant drive-thru, that used to be McDonalds. Really poor taste for a 3-4 star rated hotel booked through www.hotels.com
Front Desk is very rude, irresponsible, and was un-accommodating in every aspect of the way. Example: Hotel was practically empty and wouldn't let us pay to stay an extra night when we accidentally missed our flight. We had to scramble to get out of the Hotel and off the Barbados Island.
I am really surprised that the Blue Horizon Hotel was even open for business as borderline inhabitable as it appeared. My wife and I, have traveled to remote regions of the world and have had much better accommodations than this flea-bag hotel could ever compare. So, traveler's be aware of the hotel your staying in, before traveling to Barbados Island, West Indies. Please forward this complaint to as many travelers as possible who are deciding on a honeymooner's paradise to Barbados Island. The Blue Horizon Hotel south of Bridgetown (Rockley Beach) is not the place for you!

Signed,

Concerned guest

Looks like a nice site at first glance, but I went ended up booking a hotel through this site and then upon arrival at the hotel had a very bad experience with their service, so much so that I didn't want to stay there anymore. I paid for one night's stay, and left disappointed. I later went back to Venere to write a review of my experience, but Venere wouldn't let me, no matter how much I asked. It seemed they wanted to protect the hotel instead of the helping the mistreated customer! I would be very cautious about the quality of hotels on this site.

I was looking for a hotel in Keystone, CO for my husband and I for Presidents' Day weekend (18-21 Feb, 2011) and found a hotel we thought we'd like on several sites. Priceline had it cheaper (without bidding), but as we had had success with Hotels.com before, I decided to call them to see if they would match the price (per their website guarantee). The representative verified the price I had found on Priceline (over $131.00 less) and said they would match it. My clue that this was not going to go well, came next, and I should have run... she said they were going to charge the original amount and then a credit would be run, within 2 hours, to get to the adjusted amount (as she could not do it). Well, 8 days later, still no credit. This is after 3 phone calls and as many emails. I've now gotten my credit card company involved, particularly after the last call to Hotels.com 24-hour customer service line. I got a frontline representative, so was very quick to say that as I had been at this for a week, I needed to talk with a supervisor. She left the phone for several minutes and then came back and said none were available. I asked if that meant none were there, her comment, "No, helping other customers." She did not/would not give me the option to hold. DO NOT USE hotels.com (and as they are affiliated with EXPEDIA, I'd say not use them either).

I booked a reservation through hotels.com that says it has a price match guarentee. When I found a lower price at another website I called to tell them about it and have them match this price. They rudely refused to do so and kept saying "We''ll just cancel your reservation for you." Some price match guarentee. There is NO guarentee here! I was kept on the phone for a long time while the agent talked to her immediate boss. She was rude, argumentative and flat-out lied to me several times during our conversation. She even refused to furnish her direct bosses name, saying I don't have a boss here when in fact I heard her talking in Spanish to him in the background. They hung up on me several times and kept trying to get rid of me rather than matching the price I found. This operation is a joke! DO NOT use hotels.com for any of your travel needs. You will be very frustrated and ripped off by their lies and inability (or unwillingness) to follow through on their promises!

I started using this Website recently to book hotels for business travel. So far of my two experiences, both were bad. 1st experience - With a search for hotels, such as by zip code, a list of hotels with available rooms is provided. But after I booked a room at one of the hotels, I was given a booking ID which was followed by a message that my room reservation wasn't confirmed. It would take 1 to 2 business days to confirm. By then I needed to be in the room. In the end, I wasn't charged for the room. I ended up finding a room without the Website. So the Website is useless and a waste of time. 2nd experience - Started the same with search by zip code. I found a hotel with a good room rate listed. But after I clicked on the hotel for booking a room, a higher price was shown. So the Website uses the bait a switch scam.

In August 2010 I made hotel reservations through hotels.com. Today I called to cancel them only to learn they were non-refundable. I was told this was on my e-mail confirmation. I went back and looked and sure enough it was there. However, I was NEVER told these were non-refundable while booking the reservations or I never would have done it. Being told something is non-refundable after you already paid for it is wrong and unethical. I spent over an hour on the phone tonight trying to speak to a supervisor with no success. I was once put on hold for 20 minutes before I hung up to call back and was disconnected twice due to no answer from a supervisor. I would not reccomend anyone using hotels.com.

I made on line reservations for $90.00 per night based on Hotels.com photos and descriptions of the hotel. When I got there I was very disappointed. The room was filthy & it smelled + I did not feel secure leaving my car in the parking lot none the less staying there with my family due to the people loitering in the parking lot. I explained the situation with the desk clerk and he informed me that there is nothing that he can do about a refund and I'd have to call Hotels.com.(During all this a woman was checking in with a newspaper coupon for $15.00 less for the same type of room). After 15 minutes of phone calls. Hotels.com would not give me a refund. I explained that I was not staying the night and I want a refund. They would not budge. I refused to give up and called back...Hotels.com said, "We will give you a 50% discount and vouchers worth $45.00 for future bookings". I agreed, and drove to a different hotel that I found in a discount travel guide. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS... When I received my credit card statement they inflated the room charge to $135.00 then gave the 50% discount. I immediately called American Express & disputed the overcharge & I was redeemed. Oh...by the way...I never received any vouchers in the mail. STAY AWAY FROM THESE CROOKS. They should look up the meaning of the word "Guaranteed" like they state in their ads.

Watch out for hotels.com they say on the website no penalty for cancellation but they don't mean it because they take it away from you with the small print. You are much better off finding a hotel and getting the room directly from them. Remember hotels.com is a rip off!

Be sure what you are getting. I booked a king-size no-smoking room with hotels.com at the Days Inn in New Braunsfel, Texas. I arrived and was given a smoking room. My wife and I are both allergic to cigarette smoke but I was told there was nothing anyone could do. All of the no-smoking rooms were booked. Hotel.com said they would refund one night but I would have to eat the other night. Hotel clerk says this happens all the time with Hotel.com. I plan on writing every consumer reporting agency possible about Hotels.com. I will never use them again. I have had good luck with Orbits.com.

This fraudulent company needs to brought to justice. Report all disputes to the better business bureau and get this company dismembered. Hotels.com is not an honest operation. The business is deceptive from its advertisments, to issuing unauthorized charges, and fraudulent refund practices. The posts/reviews are all over and it is the same complaint from travelers near and far. Do not spend one moment comtemplating on whether you should book through these people. Go to where there is honest business, there are better places out there. Although there are shady business operations everywhere, be assured that this is definitely a company you do not want to deal with. You will same yourself the time, money, and peace of mind own the road.

We booked a hotel room at Days Inn in Melbourne, Florida for four nights through the website hotels.com. The hotel Days Inn was showing very high rated on the website hotels.com. After arriving, we were given the first room. Room was dirty, used bedding and a big 2.5 inch spider was on the mirrow. The girl on the reception gave us a second room with no reaction on the spider. Same thing. Bedding was used, room was dirty and everything very old and moldy. We woke up every 10 minutes because of a few towing trucks who were waiting on not allowed parking cars to tow them. We decided at 2:00 am to call this company hotels.com to rebook the hotel, trying to get a other hotel. After 15 Minutes discussion and transferring three times they came to the conclusion, that they will not rebook it, they do not move us to a other hotel. We have to pay the four nights for this hotel, but can book a other hotel too, but have to pay it also. They can not rebook a hotel. We are very
disappointed about this what they call customer service. All we wanted was a nice, clean and quiet hotel for our money, what they were showing on their website, but this company decided to collect money without given a service. We would agreed if this company hotels.com would charged us for this one terrible night we already staid and book us then in a other hotel for the last three nights even if the hotel would be cost more. We were checking out at the same night and stayed at a other hotel paid by our own. We would like to get the money for the three nights of not using this dirty hotel back. It can not be that a company can charge money for not using a service.

Damage Resulting = We paid $210.64 and were asking for getting the money back for the three nights we did not used the dirty hotel.

My advice: If you want to book a hotel online, try to find the hotel own website. You get most time better rate then with hotels.com anyway. What I found out.

I made a reservation with bookin hotels.com at a cost of £142.61 for a stay at the jurysinn hotel manchester. I cancelled the booking three days later and recived an email from them saying I would recieve a full refund into my account.

It has now been over 90 days and I have still not received a refund. The customer service I have recieved is appualling. The worst service ever. I have called and emailed them and get nowhere. They state the refund has been made however it has not and I can prove this. They will not let me speak to a manger and continually ask me to call back next week so they can look into it! I can not tell you how frustrating this is. Do not use this company. Do not use this company. Conmen!

On a positive I made contact with the jurys inn hotel, manchester who are doing everything they can to assist me in obtaining a refund from this company.. A proffessional company at last!

I was referred to Hotels.com by a major airline. I have two upcoming trips to Kansas, Salina and Wichita and require hotels. I specifically requested Hilton hotels for both locations and was informed that there was nothing available. They suggested two other hotels that I then booked. To be honest, they very quickly rambled through an explanation of their policy after the reservation was made. However, I subsequently was online booking another hotel for another trip through Hilton's website and thought I would check on the other two trip dates to see if anything had opened up. I found that there were rooms at their hotels in the locations. I called Hotels.com and asked about changing to the Hilton's as I had requested. I was then told they did not represent Hilton in those locations. I asked that they cancel the reservations they made for me and I was informed there will be a $25 per reservation cancellation fee. I pointed out that they miss-represented the service, not available and do not represent are two different things. Had I known they did not represent Hilton, I would never have booked the other hotels. In short, they told me it was my problem, I miss-understood. The cancellation fee will stand. I asked for a supervisor and was told there was not one available. They would have one call me as soon as possible that was two days ago and still no call. NEVER, NEVER use Hotels.com. There are a MIS-SERVICE to the suckers that use them.