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Hotels.com review: Refuse to honor confirmation of booking 9

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11:33 am EDT
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I recently made two bookings for Hotel Seven Days in Prague through Venere.com. I used two different credit cards for each booking and received confirmation for both bookings. Then the next day, I received an email from the hotel, saying that my reservation is denied due to a 'technical error.' I wrote a complaint letter to Venere.com, asking them for an explanation and to resolve this issue. To my utter surprise, the next day, I got email from Venere.com, telling me that both of my bookings were cancelled due to "wrong credit card details." There is nothing wrong with either of my credit card. I find it absolutely unprofessional that Venere.com should use such a blatantly untrue excuse to try to wriggle their way out of honoring reservations which they have already confirmed. I doubt they would give the same latitude to their customers who want to back out of something that has been promised. I would like to advise anyone who may be reading my comment that this website should be avoided at all costs. There are plenty more other reputable and honest online booking agents to choose from. Steer clear away from Venere.com.

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9 comments
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Oliver Byrne
, US
Oct 01, 2018 10:12 am EDT

I made two bookings today on www.venerebookings.com and I was charged €70 Euro. I contacted both properties and they have no record of the bookings. I am disgusted and feel I am the victim of fraud. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks in advance,

Oliver.

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Talya
Uckfield, GB
Oct 31, 2011 10:27 pm EDT

After booking to spend a night in Hotel Giulietta Romeo, Venice through Venere.com we were told on arrival that our booking hadn't been faxed through and that the hotel was now full! Without any option they moved us to a lower standard bed and breakfast, we had little option as they already had all of my card details.

I booked through Venere in belief that they would be efficient enough to follow through with my booking and honour the service they offer. I complained directly to the company a week ago and have nothing in the form of reply or apology. My advise would be to avoid this website.

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MM1958
, US
Nov 30, 2015 11:01 am EST

I also book a reservation on online with venere.Com receive a confirmation number [protected]-on october 26, 2015-arrive at the hotel- on 11-20-15 after 4 pm - give the my paper with confirmation number to clerk at legacy vacation resort- was told this was reservation was cancelled (2 weeks before i arrive )no email or phone call to let me know there was problem with payment - i called my bank they someone tried but charge 2 times-before i got hotel--i look on my confirmation page it said visa was guaranteed booking with my ending card number..
That didn't mean anything-i called venere. Ask for supervisor spoke to carlos.M / he was no help at all- he was talking from que card-- all answers was same as clerk-very very disappointed - will never use them again! to book any hotels...!

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lillibug
Indian Trail, US
Jul 18, 2013 1:14 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I booked today & noticed the confirmation email did not have the right number of guests. We were only booked for 4 but it should have been 5. I called customer service hoping to correct the mistake and I was told that I could either upgrade to a larger room at TWICE the booked charge or cancel at a rate of $50 fee plus one night's stay. There's where my problem comes in, the confirmation email I received from them clearly states that the cancellation fee is $30 USD. When I told my non english speaking customer service rep this, his response was "prove it". He told me to send a copy of that email to an email address & his "team" would take a look at it and reply accordingly. Just as I figured the email was returned, not a working email...go figure! So looks like I'm going to let my kids call customer service so that one of these scammers can tell them that thanks to venere.com ripping us off 60% of our budget we can no longer afford to re-book! I only wish I had read the scathing consumer affairs reviews before I was taken for a ride by this company...BEWARE

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Fareplayer
100 Mile House, CA
Jun 11, 2012 1:50 pm EDT

I made a booking with Venere.com and they messed-up the dates I made the booking for, instead of my booking to be for the month of July my booking was made for the month of June. After calling Venere.com more than 9 times and getting in touch with customer services 3 times, I have not a yet to hear from them. This company is using cheap Indians as labour at their call centres who are not given a fare commission pay for their work who in-turn don't give a dam about helping us the customers nor does the customer centre at this company work as they're unable to respond to you either.

We must tell these companies to get their act together; if they want us to spend our hard earned money doing business with them, they better provide us fare and just service!

Since they have unsatisfied customers, I encourage people to do themselves a huge favour and save themselves the agony - DON'T support or do business with such companies - no matter how good the deals may look. They are a FRAUD!
Inform your friends be it verbally or online! Yeah!
By so doing we'll soon, get these companies to provide us a service we deserve or they can close their business, while we do business with companies who are fare to their customers.

Venere.com and Hotels.com are sister companies employing the very same useless staff who will annoy you and I the hard working customer, while their selfish and utterly greedy CEO declare huge bonuses at the price of our annoyance and dissatisfaction.

Don't support these companies and put a stop this fraud for once and all.

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marty 2
New York, US
Dec 21, 2011 10:36 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

It is interesting that people sometimes make the statement that one third party is better than the next. Venere, hotels.com, Hotwire, expedia, even Tripadvisor. They are all controlled by one man Barry Diller. Why on earth has this monopoly been investigated by the government is a joke. At some point people may wake up. What a scam!

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AngFel
New York, US
Dec 19, 2011 2:09 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have not had good experiences with Venere. I booked a hotel room, then discovered immediately that the last day to cancel the reservation without a penalty was two weeks prior to my booking - and the penalty was 60%. I did have to cancel very shortly after that after I read some seriously negative comments about the hotel, and did have to pay the 60% (180 euros)! Yes, technically, I could have read all the small print and realize what I was getting into BEFORE clicking "send, " but honestly - having to pay 180 euros less than an hour later? And it was not at all easy to cancel. I sent an email, never got a response, then tried to cancel online - but the directions to cancel were useless ("click the 'cancellation' button" - which did not exist). Finally, I had to call long distance and wait about 20 minutes before I was able to pay the 180 euros for the cancellation.
I much prefer Booking.com, with whom I have NEVER had any problems. However, if you absolutely MUST use Venere, then I would advise you to be aware of the pitfalls I experienced, as well as those others have described here. Honestly - I suspect there are more.

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marty 2
New York, US
Jun 29, 2011 7:14 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Venere.com is a scam. They often charge 400% more than you can book directly for.
Dont think so? look up a destination get the rate from venere.com then call the hotel directly or even go to hotel.com and see for youself.
Crazy people.

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Venere PR
, IT
Mar 16, 2011 5:19 pm EDT

Hi,
I reply officially for Venere.com. First of all we are very sorry for your bad booking experience, but let me explain you how our system works: You book via our website and then the reservation arrives to the hotel that has a section where he can check the credit card details, then he can accept the reservation (if the details are ok) or refuse if the credit card is not valid or there are no funds to cover the booking. When we receive the hotel cancellation stating for not valid credit card, we just have this information so that's why our Customer Service has replied you this way. For us the hotel cancelled it for that reason. Now, if you could send your reservation number to customer.service@venere.com and zanarini@venere.com we'll be very happy to investigate further of what exactly happened with this hotel and why they have effectively canceled the reservation. Many thanks in advance and hope that you can understand our position.