Complain about a product or service

Hotels.com

William of Altadena, CA November 8, 2009

I was dealing with a death in the family and needed an emergency hotel reservation. I thought I was calling the hotel direct, but, instead got this company. I told the clerk that I would rather contact this hotel directly since I wanted to make sure I got the best rate and the right accommodations. I told him I was disabled and needed to make sure my reservation was right.

This clerk told me that booking through them would be just like booking with the hotel directly. He said "we do not up-charge" for our service and we have connections with the hotel to make sure that you get exactly what you want. He also told me that the only difference in booking with him rather than the hotel would be my cancellation policy. He said I would have to call them directly and cancel rather than the hotel. He also told me that they did not bill my credit card until after I checked in at the hotel.

I figured he was honest and did my business with him. When I got to the hotel the woman told me that these guys had only authorized a "minimum cheap" room, and that was all she could give me. I told her what I paid for and asked for when I booked with these guys and she showed me something entirely different.

They charged me for the highest priced room and send a bill to the hotel for the lowest price room. There were no disabled accommodations as I had requested, no king size bed, and no internet service. I had paid for all of these items up front. When I called my credit card company and asked them what they had charged me, they told me 120 and they had charged me the day I booked the room. These people lied completely about this entire transaction. As a result of this I got a room without internet access and no disabled accommodations.

When I got back home and contacted them about this issue they refused to refund me the difference and told me I was stupid to believe them! They not only lied to me but they are in violation of the ADA by promising me a disabled room and not requesting one from the hotel. By the way the people at the hotel said that they had many problems with this company and do not know why people do business with them. These people should not be allowed to stay in business. I will be filing a complaint with the ADA also. I had to climb two flights of stairs and did not get what I paid for.

Kevin of Dallas, TX November 7, 2009

Reserved a room through hotels.com and received a 99.00 a night rate that included free breakfast for two. The first email confirmation indicated "free..." with the word breakfast missing. When I went to confirm my reservation it now indicated it was non-refundable room and no free breakfast. Just a "WInter Rate" and nothing else. Avoid hotels.com when booking travel. It is clear they are deceptive and avoid making things right with the consumer. You're better off booking on your own. At least you have a fighting chance. I can't even cancel this room as it now indicates it is non-refundable and "non-cancellable." I would only use hotels.com as a reference tool in the future and book direct after researching information on hotels.com. Deceitful!

Ivar of 2700 Bronshoj Copenhagen , Denmark October 31, 2009

My 20 year old son with 3 friends phoned home to Denmark from Lyon in France a late night on July 18th 2009. Their Swiss Air Flight came in too late for them to catch the last TGV train heading south. So they had to find a hotel in Lyon. At Hotels.com I booked a room at 21:26 hours for Hotel Appart'City Lyon 3. When they showed up at the hotel at 22:05 hours the door was locked. The reception had closed 4 hours earlier. The phone service for Hotels.com closed down at 22:00 so there was nothing else to do than find another hotel on an other website.

Hotels.com changed 100 USD for the room and later complaints have after 6 weeks given no result. They claim that it is my fault, that I booked a hotel where the reception had closed 3½ hours before the purchase. In Denmark the famous poet and author Hans Christian Andersen wrote the fairytale "The Emperor's New Clothes" Hotels.com aka Ian Travel Services are guilty of fraud when they sell a hotel booking which can not be used, just like the tailors in the fairytale. Since the company is based in the US, I do not have the same legal rights as if the company was based in EU. How can we stop them?

Stephen of Anchorage, AK October 24, 2009

We booked a room through hotels.com at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Walla Walla WA for 10/24/09. The date of the reservation was 16 September, 2009, and the confirmation number was 075238342. When we arrived at the Hampton Inn at 1600 on 10/24 we were told that the hotel was booked, and that there was no confirmation of the reservation from hotels.com.

The operator at hotels.com confirmed our reservation, but could not explain why the Hampton did not have the reservation. She could not find a reservation in the local area for the evening, and did not have a suggestion abut what we could do. We were forced to seek another room outside of the area.

Susan of houston, TX October 15, 2009

Booked a hotel at alleged discount for Superior Room with a garden view for 382.50 in July. Upon check-out, the receptionist made the mistake of charging us for the room we actually had which was 231 Euros or about 340. We paid a premium for the room and hotels.com offered no explanation or offer to copmpensate us. What a scam. Hotel was Sofitel Champs Elysees in Paris on 10/12/09.

Elsie of Montello, WI October 13, 2009

While I was traveling, I made hotel reservations by phone and was quoted 80.00 per night. When I returned home, I had an email of the charges. There was over 80.00 in tax and service fees. There was no mention of these fees over the phone.

Yeun of Bellevue, WA October 10, 2009

I booked a flight via JetBlue.com for my Disney vacation from Seattle to California during the last Labor Day weekend and saw the advertisement for Hotels.com as their preferred Hotel vendor due to their "NO CANCELLATION FEE" and "LOWEST RATES GUARANTEED". I called Hotels.com and booked a hotel and requested the agent to find me a hotel "within walking distance" to Disneyland. At the urging of the sales rep., I did not hesitate to book it due to their "NO CANCELLATION FEE" and "LOWEST RATES GUARANTEED" advertised.

Later, I found out that the hotel they booked for me was actually 2 miles away and a 1/2 hour walk from Disneyland. I called back to cancel it and they refused to cancel my reservation, citing that the special pricing the hotel is offerring for that weekend was not cancellable.

This is FALSE ADVERTISING. Then I went to another website http://www.welcometosocal.com and found the same exact hotel and same date for less. I called back to request a difference of the price due to their "LOWEST RATE GUARANTEE" but I have yet to receive a credit or refund as of today.

I was stuck with 400 of hotel bill that was not cancellable even though Hotels.com advertised "NO CANCELLATION FEE" and "LOWEST RATES GUARANTEED". I ended up staying in the hotel because I could not cancel it and had to pay BUS FARE to get to DisneyLand because the sales person misrepresented the hotel, saying it was "within walking distance" which it was not.

We waited almost 2 hours for the bus on Labor Day because there was no bus schedule was infrequent that day. I ended up paying more for the hotel compare to another website and Hotels.com falsely advertised "LOWEST FARE GUARANTEE" RATES and they did not credit me for the difference with their PRICE PROTECTION GUARANTEE.

ceshi of Albany, NY October 9, 2009

I reserved a hotel (TownePlace Suites By Marriott Denver Downtown) for a scientific meeting through hotels.com in Dec 2008 and paid 1176.3 through my chase credit card. After I received the credit card statement, I found that a strange merchant name (Ian Travel) so that I filed a fraud report. After investigation by the Chase, I was told that Ian Travel Services is the Hotels.com. While I was disputing with the chase, Hotels.com called me and asked me if I still want the reservation since they received the report from Chase. I told them I still need the hotel reservation because it is difficult to find a hotel for the big meeting. They asked me to provide another credit card number and I did told me to charge it to my KeyBank credit card if they refund the charge to Chase. They agreed to do so.

However, hotels.com did not refund the charge to Chase as they promised so that Chase kept sending me bills and financial charges. To avoid more and more financial charges, I paid 1176.3 and all financial charges to Chase. However, hotels.com double billed the charge to my KeyBank Credit card on Feb 25 2009. Even the dispute department of KeyBank Credt Card Company collected all hard evidence of double billing, hotels.com insists on not refunding the charge after I called them more than 20 times. The custom service workers from hotels.com investigated this issue and knew the double billing problems but refused to refund my 1176.3 charge. In summary, hotels.com/ Ian Travel doubled billed 1176.3 to my different credit cards for the same reservation and refused to refund it even after they realized their mistakes. This is outrages! Please try to avoid doing business with this company if you can.

Elisa of Horn Lake, MS September 24, 2009

In August 2009, I took my family to Magic Springs, AR. I thought that I could save some money by booking the hotel room at Hotels.com. The rates seemed reasonable and I even agreed to the 5.00 booking fee that Hotels.com charged (although I had never heard of this fee from other services).

We had a wonderful time, but upon check-out I noticed that our rooms were 50.00 more than what I booked. I asked the clerk at the hotel about the charges and he pointed out that Hotels.com booked the rooms as 5 adults (not 3 children and 2 adults as I had on my reservation receipt). There was nothing that the hotel could do about this because I used an on-line service.

When I returned home from the trip, I tried to file a complaint with Hotels.com by completing their "How was your stay survey". My booking number or name was incorrect. I called them and they still could not find the booking number that I had on my receipt! They asked for my address and phone number to try and look it up that way with no results. After they asked for my credit card number again, I hung up! I will never use this service again!

Michelle of San Francisco, CA September 24, 2009

I was online booking my reservations for a pkg deal to Hawaii. I noticed the web stated one King bed; however, I have 4 travelers. I called the 800 number on the web page I was in and the person who answered the phone informed me that the issue I ran into is the disadvantage of booking online; however, he has to book the hotel first and then transfer me to flight services to book the air. I specifically informed him I want to make sure I get the pkg price I am looking at online and in the 3 occasion I brought it up; he informed me that hotels.com is one entity and that once he booked the hotel air services will book the flight and they will adjust the price for me. So he processed the hotel booking and when I was transferred to air services my price was over 300.00 higher and I was informed that it was not being booked as a pkg because I booekd the room first. I spent the next FOUR hours fixing the mess that this representative created. I was transfered back and forth between Hotels.com and Expedia.com (who own Hotels.com) and they finally at past 1am sent me an email confirmation of the cancellation; however, the charges are still on my account and I am unable to book my trip because they are now tieing up my funds.

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