Booked Hotel Room with Hotels.com - Got there, No Room.

[john_pifer]

We‘re in Warsaw, Indiana, visiting the wife’s family for 3 nights.

She booked a room at Best Western through Hotels.com on our drive up, around 3:00. We get to the hotel around 9:15 that night, I go in, and the attendant has no record of our reservation and they have no vacancy.

It was especially nice because the wife’s pregnant and in the midst of morning sickness, had a migraine, and generally felt horrible, and our 6-month-old was screaming after 7+ hrs in his car seat.

Luckily the TRU (by Hilton) had a vacancy (at $110 more than than the $254 we thought we’d secured @ Best Western).

My card still hasn’t been refunded the $254.

I think I read a thread that this happened to someone else here recently, but couldn’t find it. I believe it was discussed in that thread that several of these 3rd party booking sites are owned by the same entity, and the consensus was to just call the hotel directly for reservations.

Anyway, be careful going through 3rd parties for hotel reservations. We’ve booked through Hotels.com many times successfully. But I doubt we will again. Will probably just call the hotel directly.

Anyone else had this happen?

 

[PWMDMD]

I have gotten away from using any 3rd party reservation services. I've had similar things happen. I've never had an issue booking directly with a hotel, airline or car service.

 

[Hall]

I don't doubt that hotels, airlines, etc all overbook to a certain value knowing many people don't show up. If everyone does show up, they can easily blame the 3rd-party.

Problem with dealing directly with the hotel is they typically stand firm on their prices, which are often higher than you pay through 3rd-parties. I have found that you can walk into a hotel at 9:30pm and ask for a room and if it's available, when they tell you the price, start negotiating. They can negotiate the price and if they have empty rooms (the more empty the better for 'us'), paying $89 for a room they originally told you was $129 is better than $0 to the hotel and an empty room. I've done that more than a few times. Also, if you call them for a room, ask them to charge your CC for the room now. If not and you are late, they can (and will) give your room to a person standing in front of them ready to pay right now. They can pretend they have a policy that says if you don't check-in by X o'clock they can cancel your request.

 

[john_pifer]

Like I said, I’d seen the thread here (I think it was here), where someone had this happen, but the wife didn’t tell me that she was using a 3rd party, otherwise I would have remembered the thread and we would have just called the hotel.

Like @Hall said, I’ve tried to negotiate over the phone, in the past, using 3rd Party pricing as a lever. Occasionally, calling the hotel directly actually yielded a lower price. But, most of the time, youre right, they don’t negotiate.

Have you actually had success negotiating at the counter like that? I haven’t, reason being that it seems that I always get the $13/hr clerk who couldn’t care less whether I stay there that night, and has no incentive to offer me a lower rate.

I suppose if the general manager or owner were manning the desk, it might be another story.

 

[PandaBear]

Happened once on a close call, they have a room but they had plumbing problems. They were fully booked and they end up moving us to another hotel for one day (we still have to pay walk in price, they just refund that night of the stay we didn't use).

 

[oggb]

The exact same has happened to me twice. Once through Hotels.com in Pittsburgh and once through Hotwire in Key West. Both times I ended up needing to find another hotel and both times the refund took almost a week.

 

[tshephard]

I've had the staff tell me they could beat the site (makes sense).
Use 'em for vacancy, call the on site staff.

 

[Astro14]

I’m sorry for your trouble, John. I’ve long since given up on third party bookings for the reasons you’ve experienced. Further, you don’t get the loyalty points or rewards in many cases when using a third party booking.

I have the app for each major chain, Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, in that order. I frequently have to book a room last minute (e.g. yesterday, when my flight home to ORF canceled due to severe weather) and surfing the various apps gets me better results than hotels.com, kayak, Travelocity, etc.

When dealing directly with the hotel chain, via the app, bookings are quick, secure, and assured. I’ve got 86 nights at Marriott already this year, more at IHG and Hilton, booked for me, not by the airline, so, I’ve experienced all the availability challenges, price variability, and other issues, but the actual hotel app is the quickest, best information to help navigate those challenges.

 

[AZjeff]

Late in the day , unhappy wife, unhappy baby, no room. Man. Are you a gambler, waiting until afternoon to secure that night's lodgings? The room you booked online was probably given to a walk-in as you were booking or shortly after.

In the past 2 months we've done an Az to Baltimore run and a Baltimore to Az re-run on I-40 and had all rooms booked well in advance, directly. We've had issues with 3rd party before. There were instances on both trips we were checking in between 4-6 pm and heard people trying to get a room told were none. People are travelling after being isolated.

Hope your family is rested now and happy and having a good trip. And get that bridge fixed at Memphis will ya?

 

[bdcardinal]

Conversely my mom has used them and multiple times ended up not being charged.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Happened to us recently, when using booking.com. We do try to book directly with the hotel as much as we can.

 

[john_pifer]

I’m sorry for your trouble, John. I’ve long since given up on third party bookings for the reasons you’ve experienced. Further, you don’t get the loyalty points or rewards in many cases when using a third party booking.

I have the app for each major chain, Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, in that order. I frequently have to book a room last minute (e.g. yesterday, when my flight home to ORF canceled due to severe weather) and surfing the various apps gets me better results than hotels.com, kayak, Travelocity, etc.

When dealing directly with the hotel chain, via the app, bookings are quick, secure, and assured. I’ve got 86 nights at Marriott already this year, more at IHG and Hilton, booked for me, not by the airline, so, I’ve experienced all the availability challenges, price variability, and other issues, but the actual hotel app is the quickest, best information to help navigate those challenges.

Thanks, Astro.

I’m sorry for your trouble, John. I’ve long since given up on third party bookings for the reasons you’ve experienced. Further, you don’t get the loyalty points or rewards in many cases when using a third party booking.

I have the app for each major chain, Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, in that order. I frequently have to book a room last minute (e.g. yesterday, when my flight home to ORF canceled due to severe weather) and surfing the various apps gets me better results than hotels.com, kayak, Travelocity, etc.

When dealing directly with the hotel chain, via the app, bookings are quick, secure, and assured. I’ve got 86 nights at Marriott already this year, more at IHG and Hilton, booked for me, not by the airline, so, I’ve experienced all the availability challenges, price variability, and other issues, but the actual hotel app is the quickest, best information to help navigate those challenges.

Thanks, Astro. That’s good information.

 

[mightymousetech]

Wow, that sucks. Have used hotels.com at least 100 times all over the world and never had an issue.

 

[john_pifer]

Late in the day , unhappy wife, unhappy baby, no room. Man. Are you a gambler, waiting until afternoon to secure that night's lodgings? The room you booked online was probably given to a walk-in as you were booking or shortly after.

In the past 2 months we've done an Az to Baltimore run and a Baltimore to Az re-run on I-40 and had all rooms booked well in advance, directly. We've had issues with 3rd party before. There were instances on both trips we were checking in between 4-6 pm and heard people trying to get a room told were none. People are travelling after being isolated.

Hope your family is rested now and happy and having a good trip. And get that bridge fixed at Memphis will ya?

Ha! I guess I am.

Neither my wife nor I are extremely experienced travelers, and neither of us has ever had any problem finding or booking a room on the day of.

Lesson learned!

Everything worked out fine - we were able to immediately find another room (albeit at a much higher rate), the wife & kid got a good night’s sleep, and all is well today!

I was really just wanting to know if this is something that has started happening a lot, and if I should stop using 3rd parties. And it sounds like that is the case.

BTW I hear they now have the bridge fixed and are doing load testing.

 

[Propflux01]

I have gotten away from using any 3rd party reservation services. I've had similar things happen. I've never had an issue booking directly with a hotel, airline or car service.

Exactly. I will use them to get a price list and availability, then just go to the hotels' website and see the same price and book directly.

 

[Toy4x4]

I work at a resort in a dept that works hand in hand with the front desk. Third party business sometime do not book the room...for whatever reason. It get bad when people started getting angry when the hotel has nothing to do with their botched reservation since it doesn't exist in their system. Waving smartphones showing the reservation, demanding compensation, ect. Our dept has eaten a lot of invisible popcorn, watching the shows that sometimes happen at the front desk.

 

[Nick1994]

Late in the day , unhappy wife, unhappy baby, no room. Man. Are you a gambler, waiting until afternoon to secure that night's lodgings? The room you booked online was probably given to a walk-in as you were booking or shortly after.

In the past 2 months we've done an Az to Baltimore run and a Baltimore to Az re-run on I-40 and had all rooms booked well in advance, directly. We've had issues with 3rd party before. There were instances on both trips we were checking in between 4-6 pm and heard people trying to get a room told were none. People are travelling after being isolated.

Hope your family is rested now and happy and having a good trip. And get that bridge fixed at Memphis will ya?

I thought your trip was going to be pulling your travel trailer?

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

I booked a flight or two through Travelocity long ago with no problems. The final time I used them, a notice arrived that my itinerary had been changed. My return flight would be landing at an airport 100 miles from where I started--and where my vehicle would be parked.

Travelocity's representatives had no interest in making it right; American Airlines said they couldn't do anything because I had booked through Travelocity. Since then, I always book through the airline. I book hotels directly, too. Their loyalty clubs offer a slight discount and sometimes other specials. I also have a code from my university alumni association that's good for a small discount on some brands.

 

[PimTac]

I always book directly with the hotel online or in the case of Marriott through their app. Marriott also let’s me check in while I am enroute and my card key or device key is ready as soon as I arrive. Does it cost me more? Perhaps but in many cases I am getting my room access right away while 10-15 people are standing in line waiting for check in.

 

[Creekside]

I usually stay at Super 8 and always book through the Wyndham site and have never had any issues.