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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 30, 2015 3:13:51 GMT
I'm looking at booking a room with them and wanted the Peas to chime in. Ever use them? Any problems? Ever had a problem with a hotel not honoring the reservation?
Thanks!
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Post by smalltowngirlie on Nov 30, 2015 3:19:35 GMT
I have used them a couple times and never had a problem.
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Post by lodgelady on Nov 30, 2015 3:27:55 GMT
My only experience with them has been as the "hotel" that someone booked, not receiving any notification from hotels.com that someone had made a reservation at the b&b, not having an available room for the guest when they showed up and then having hotels.com tell me I was responsible for a relocation fee. Fun times.
Is the room less expensive in hotels.com than on the hotel's actual website? If not, I would go directly through the hotel itself.
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GiantsFan
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Post by GiantsFan on Nov 30, 2015 3:28:10 GMT
We use them and have only had one problem. The hotel did not give us the room we booked. We checked in, got to our room and it wasn't a business suite with balcony and marina view. It was a smallish room with a view of the parking lot and trash collection area. So we went back down and after a little back and forth we ended up with a business suite with marina view (no balcony). We paid about 1/3 of the posted room price. Payment was made on Hotels.com and there were no hidden fees.
So the hotel may try to put you in a less expensive room. Either print out the confirmation email or have it handy on your phone to show what you've booked. Other than that one instance, we've had good luck and gotten great deals.
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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 30, 2015 3:30:11 GMT
My only experience with them has been as the "hotel" that someone booked, not receiving any notification from hotels.com that someone had made a reservation at the b&b, not having an available room for the guest when they showed up and then having hotels.com tell me I was responsible for a relocation fee. Fun times. Is the room less expensive in hotels.com than on the hotel's actual website? If not, I would go directly through the hotel itself. I always book through a hotel website ~ someone suggested I try hotels.com to see what the difference is. |
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Post by anonrefugee on Nov 30, 2015 3:37:19 GMT
The last two years I've started booking directly with the hotels and realized I get same as posted price.
I still use the sites like hotel.com to search for hotels and reviews.
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GiantsFan
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Post by GiantsFan on Nov 30, 2015 3:37:59 GMT
My only experience with them has been as the "hotel" that someone booked, not receiving any notification from hotels.com that someone had made a reservation at the b&b, not having an available room for the guest when they showed up and then having hotels.com tell me I was responsible for a relocation fee. Fun times. Is the room less expensive in hotels.com than on the hotel's actual website? If not, I would go directly through the hotel itself. Well that sucks! As a hotel or lodge or B&B, do you have to sign up to participate in hotels.com or can they just book your site? We always check Yelp reviews and prices on the hotel website first. Sometimes there are better deals booking direct. |
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Post by Scrapper100 on Nov 30, 2015 3:40:31 GMT
We used but haven't gone anywhere in a while. We liked them because you get every tenth night free.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Nov 30, 2015 3:43:29 GMT
I've always found the price on hotel.com is the same or even more then on the direct website for that hotel. I always use trip advisor to find a good hotel.
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Deleted
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May 8, 2024 4:43:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 3:53:30 GMT
For Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood properties, this won't help you if they don't give you the room you booked - they won't honor room assignments made from Hotels.com or any other third party booking site.
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Post by lodgelady on Nov 30, 2015 3:54:15 GMT
As a B&B (so most likely same for a hotel), we signed up for Expedia. Hotels.com is a partner website so we are automatically
Listed there as well. Expedia's new program took away the monthly listing fee so now we only pay a commission on each night booked.
The "sneaky" part is that if your location is not listed on Expedia, then TripAdvisor shows your location as No Availability. Many potential guests read this as "The location is fully booked" and look elsewhere. So, many of us smaller properties are essentially forced to participate.
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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 30, 2015 4:11:59 GMT
For Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood properties, this won't help you if they don't give you the room you booked - they won't honor room assignments made from Hotels.com or any other third party booking site. Then, how do those 3rd party websites get away with booking rooms at those properties? Or do they not book them?  |
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Post by supersoda on Nov 30, 2015 4:21:50 GMT
I have used it a few times without any problems. However, I do think we tend to get the less desirable rooms when we book through hotels.com. We seem to end up in the accessible rooms quite often, or rooms near the stairwell or elevator.
I also find that most of the time I can get as good or better pricing directly from the hotel's website. Last week they had a 4 star in NOLA for $60 less than the hotel website with no prepayment required.
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zookeeper
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Post by zookeeper on Nov 30, 2015 4:29:05 GMT
Used it for years...never had any problems. Also never had any issues with getting less desirable rooms. I use it because I like to check the location of the hotel in relation to other places that I am going on that particular trip but mainly because I love the tenth night for free.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 4:39:51 GMT
They book them, and usually (or sometimes) the hotels honor them. But if the rooms are sold out, or their status plan members want a room that was booked by a third party, it might get changed for the 3rd party booker to a lesser room.
Someone in a loyalty program who gets the run around about room type will probably get an apology and maybe a comped room. Someone who booked third party gets an admonishment to book directly with the hotel. I think because they honor the reservation in some form - with a room, even if not the right kind - they've fulfilled their obligation on the booking.
It must be in the small print on hotels.com somewhere. I've seen people with those bookings get disappointed at check in many times, especially when the property is full like with a wedding or convention.
ETA to make sure I'm clear - they'll honor the reservation, but not always the room type. They don't discount if they change the room type, and it appears they don't have to from the conversations I've overheard at the front desk.
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GiantsFan
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Post by GiantsFan on Nov 30, 2015 5:05:35 GMT
For Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood properties, this won't help you if they don't give you the room you booked - they won't honor room assignments made from Hotels.com or any other third party booking site. Our problem hotel was a Sheraton. We booked the room specifically based on the description given on the website. It was a Sunday night booking and the hotel was not even close to full, so maybe that's why they changed us. [Shrug] But still, after many bookings this was our only issue. |
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Post by nicole2112 on Nov 30, 2015 5:19:04 GMT
I've used them regularly over the past 5 years and have had no problems at all! Ive gotten many rooms free since I used it a lot for work travel.
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Post by jamielynn on Nov 30, 2015 5:22:42 GMT
My experience is the third party sites (not just this one) selling rooms that don't exist. For example selling a room with two king beds, and the hotel not even having such a room style.
When this occurs you are typically told since your reservation wasn't booked with the property/chain to circle back to your third party and have them sort it out.
You are better off booking directly and seeing if you can negotiate the price to match (if there is even a difference).
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tanya2
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Post by tanya2 on Nov 30, 2015 5:30:04 GMT
Used it for years...never had any problems. Also never had any issues with getting less desirable rooms. I use it because I like to check the location of the hotel in relation to other places that I am going on that particular trip but mainly because I love the tenth night for free. this has been my experience too |
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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 30, 2015 6:15:57 GMT
They book them, and usually (or sometimes) the hotels honor them. But if the rooms are sold out, or their status plan members want a room that was booked by a third party, it might get changed for the 3rd party booker to a lesser room. Someone in a loyalty program who gets the run around about room type will probably get an apology and maybe a comped room. Someone who booked third party gets an admonishment to book directly with the hotel. I think because they honor the reservation in some form - with a room, even if not the right kind - they've fulfilled their obligation on the booking. It must be in the small print on hotels.com somewhere. I've seen people with those bookings get disappointed at check in many times, especially when the property is full like with a wedding or convention. ETA to make sure I'm clear - they'll honor the reservation, but not always the room type. They don't discount if they change the room type, and it appears they don't have to from the conversations I've overheard at the front desk. Thanks for the clarification. I took your post to mean they don't honor the reservations at all while you meant you might not get a particular type of room that you requested. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 10:12:44 GMT
Read all the fine print.
I was using them quite a bit for a while. Enough that I earned a free night, which we used to book a night at the union station hotel in St Louis in our way to Oklahoma City. Paid $60 for a $200 room.
But then I encountered two problems. A week later we were on our way to Virginia, in the mountains, driving rain storm and bumper to bumper traffic. We decided to book a room as it was getting dark. I used the app, but when we got to the exit, I realized that I had accidently booked the wrong hotel and we had passed that one 8 miles back. We weren't about to get back on that highway! So I called hotels.com, who claimed that they couldn't do anything about it, but they would call the hotel and ask if it could be cancelled. Of course they said the hotel said no. I called the hotel directly and they said no too. So lesson learned, or so I thought.
The next month I had a room booked (had booked well in advance) for a horse show we were going to. It was the only hotel within 20 miles of the show grounds. We ended up camping and not needing the room, but our friends said they would take it. I didn't bother calling and changing the reservation, just told them to check in and change the credit card, as it was not a prepaid room. Long story short, the hotel refused to check them in, refused to change the cc and refused to cancel the room. Hotels,com refused to help as well, citing the "small print" - that when you book you agree to their terms - that you can not change the reservation in any way writhing a certain amount of time of check in. We ended up getting charged a no show fee, which we disputed with our credit card company.
I haven't used them since. The thing is, I should have known better because I used to work for hotels and it is always better to book directly. They do pay a fee when it is booked thru a 3rd party, therefore they will never have incentive to accommodate your changes. They will always give better service to people who book directly, always.
FYI- even when you do book thru the hotel, there is usually fine print there as well - that room types are "requests only" and may not be accommodated. It's not as big of a deal now, as inventory systems are greatly advanced from "my day", but it can happen. When I worked for hotels, the only 3rd party we had to worry about were travel agents.
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