Hotels.com
Reviews and Complaints

I made two separate room reservations on the phone with hotels.com for two rooms in the Days Inn Newburgh Stewart Intl hotel. The rooms were for emergency shelter due to a blizzard and power outage. Hotels.com guaranteed that there would be rooms available but the fee would be non refundable. I arrived at the hotel and they stated there were no vacancies. I provided the Hotels.com confirmation numbers to the clerk. She stated that there was a problem with Hotels.com satellite and none of their reservations had reached the hotel, and they were unable to accommodate any of hotels.com reservations. I called Hotels.com and explained the situation to them. They put me on hold for one hour. After SIX attempts of calling to get a refund, I am told by every agent answering the phone that the rooms were booked on a no refund policy. After explaining each time to each agent that no rooms were available or provided, I am put on hold while they contact the hotel. They return to tell me that I am right about no rooms available, and they say that they will cancel the reservations, but it will take up to 30 days to get a refund. They then say I will receive a confirmation email that the process has started within 15 minutes. I never receive the email, and when I call back the process is started all over again with the same results. Two times they never returned from hold. It took me 5 minutes on the phone to make the reservation, have my money withdrawn, and receive an email with confirmation numbers. I have spent nearly 5 hours on the phone trying to get my money back for services promised and never received. To top this off, I specifically asked Hotels.com when making the reservations if they were sure I would have rooms available due to the current crisis. I was assured that Hotels.com has a block of rooms reserved at the hotel and not to worry because they have to have the rooms available.

I prepaid for a hotel reservation with Hotles.com by phone. Upon arrival to the hotel I was told the company made invalid reservation for me and it will not be honored. I could not get my room. I was asked to pay for a different room at higher rate and to cancel my reservation. When I called Hotels.com customer services at they said they could not cancel and after spending an hour on the phone will me said the line is breaking up and they could not hear me any longer. I called them again several days later from home. They said they could not give me a refund even though they admitted my reservation was not accepted by the hotel. When I asked for a manager, they said the same thing, the phone line was bad now and they hung up.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Please, Think twice before you do booking with hotelclub.com
scams, cheaters, no clear agreements ...
they charge your credit directly, they charge you for cancellation  booking with one nigh even if you cancel it before 2 days or so...
I respect the business with ( booking.com) ...they are loyal to their customers.p
so delete  this name from your memory ...xxx( hotelclub.com )xxx...
if you care about your money and health...

I booked a hotel in Paris a couple of months in advance with Hotels.com. They confirmed the booking at the time and then emailed to confirm again a few days before the departure date. The email said you do not need to contact anyone, your booking is confirmed. When we arrived at our hotel in Paris they did not have a booking for us and had no rooms available. When we showed them our confirmation from Hotels.com they said they cancelled that at the time of booking due to a problem with the credit card details. The hotel had informed Hotels.com of this at the time.

When I contacted Hotels.com they were completely useless, just telling me all the things I already knew. Namely that they still had it down as a confirmed booking, but the hotel had cancelled it. No offer of any form of compensation for the fact that we lost a day of our short break due to having to find a different hotel. The one thing you want to be sure of when using an agency is that the hotel are expecting you and have a room ready. I would probably have contacted the hotel direct before I went if it hadn't been for the second email from hotels.com telling me I didn't need to. I would never use hotels.com again because you just can't be sure that they are communicating with the hotels they are booking for. Not worth the risk of messing up your break - steer well clear.

In June my husband was going to a function in MD. He would be drinking and wanted me to drive him so we booked a room in Fredrick so I would not have miles and hours to drive back and forth. I wanted to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn or another similar level hotel. I thought i had called the hotel directly to ask about government rates. When I spoke to the reservation person he asked me how much I wanted to pay and what kind of room I wanted. He said well I can get you that rate at the Sleep Inn and it gets the highest customer rating. I was taken back considering that I thought I was talking to the Hilton. I said what are there no rooms at the Hilton and he said no that he could get me a room at a top rated Sleep Inn. I used to be a road warrior and I would not normally have EVER stayed at a Sleep Inn. I said I want to stay at the Hilton and he kept insisting that the Sleep Inn had higher customer ratings. When we went to book the room then and only then did I find out I was actually talking to Hotels.com. I said I thought I was talking to the Hilton. He said well they are booked and I can get you a better rate here.

I was not thrilled at staying at the Sleep Inn - it was at least clean and quiet but certainly not to my level of standards - by a very long shot. But as we were only there one night and I would be driving back and forth I took the room.

We just got our charge card bill and there was an odd charge on the bill from Hotels.com. We were being charged a Canadian exchange rate for the date in question. Hmm - Frederick, MD is not in Canada as far as I know. It turns out that the reservation agent for Hotels.com was based in Canada and NOT ONCE did he say one word about being in Canada - just as he was not clear about not working for Hilton. They charged us a $2.78 charge. Granted it was not big but think if they do this all the time - it adds up. They are running a scam charging extra and not letting people know.

This is not the first time we have been overcharged via Hotels.com. We were charged once for a trip to NYC 8 months after our trip and AFTER we had paid for the trip many months earlier. I don't trust them and for those of you who use them - watch your bill - don't be surprised if they charge you bogus amounts.

I have done a booking at the Quinze Guesthouse in Nelspruit on the 22nd of June 2011 for the 1st of July until the 3rd of July 2011 through hotels.com. A confirmation e-mail was send to me stating that my booking was confirmed and I don't have to worry about anything. On the 28th of June another e-mail was send to me just to inform me that everything was still ok and I don't have to phone for confimation. Arriving there at 5:30 on the evening of the 1st of July there was no booking for me, the owner did not even know about me. She confirmed that she got a room available for that dates for me but the price is now more than double than the price I got from hotels.com. I did not accept this as I feel my quote was for R920 for the weekend and not R1870 like she wanted. I had to drive around the whole of Nelspruit looking for accomodation for the weekend, lucky I did find a place to stay for the weekend. This is unacceptable and needs to be sorted out, this is a big company and doing that is not right.

I had one of the worst Customer Service dealing with a Hotels.com employee today. Hotels.com should seriously consider putting their employees through KINDNESS training. My hotel was over booked and I was given the wrong number to call, so I called them to try and straighten it out. I was disconnected twice and finally the lady who took my call was extremely rude and I could barely understand her! She acted as if it was my fault that my hotel was overbooked. When they left me a voicemail with the wrong number they also stated that they would find me another hotel with NO extra cost to me, that DIDN'T happen. They told me since I used a coupon I could only get a refund or I would have to pay the difference. All because of a coupon you aren't going to carry your end of the deal? That makes no sense. They also charged me $138.90 but only refunded me $138.57. I told this to the lady and she acted like it was my problem not hers. I don't care if it's only a .33 cent difference, that's my money! I always booked my hotels through them but that WILL NOT be happening again. Thank you Priceline for better service and prices!

On 24 April 2011 my wife and I reserved a room in hotel Cantagrel in Paris for 20-26 June using the site www.venere.com and received a confirmation from Venere.com. Then on 15 June I sent an email to the hotel to verify our reservation is OK. The same day I got a response from the hotel that everything is OK.

Can you imagine my surprise when on 17 June in the evening received an email from Venere.com that my reservation is canceled? I called Venere.com’s customer service and they told me that my reservation was canceled and they don’t know by whom. They didn't bother to offer us any alternative. Actually they ignore my emails.

It was a high season and I was incapable of ordering another room. As result we cancelled our vacation and lost the cost of our plane tickets and tickets to the Paris Air Show at La Bourget.

I hope that my example will help others to be more cautious making their hotels reservations with Venere.com.

On 24 April 2011 my wife and I reserved a room in hotel Cantagrel in Paris for 20-26 June using the site www.venere.com and received a confirmation from Venere.com. Then on 15 June I sent an email to the hotel to verify our reservation is OK. The same day I got a response from the hotel that everything is OK.
Can you imagine my surprise when on 17 June in the evening received an email from Venere.com that my reservation is canceled? I called Venere.com’s customer service and they told me that my reservation was canceled and they don’t know by whom. They didn't bother to offer us any alternative. Actually they ignore my emails.
It was a high season and I was incapable of ordering another room. As result we cancelled our vacation and lost the cost of our plane tickets and tickets to the Paris Air Show at La Bourget.
I hope that my example will help others to be more cautious making their hotels reservations with Venere.com.

Booked 2 managers into Clarion Hotel through Hotels.com. Their flight was delayed and they didn't arrive at the hotel until 2:00 am anxious for 4 hours of sleep prior to a scheduled meeting. There was no one at the front desk and no one in any of the common areas. They searched and called out. When no one was found, they had to leave to find another hotel. After contacting Hotels.com which was a combination of 3 hours of phone calls listening to horrible music and messages, I was told I could have a voucher for my next booking at hotels.com. LIKE I WOULD USE THEM AGAIN! I then called the Clarion Hotel and was told by the manager, Michelle, that her employees have worked there for 7 years and that the only time they leave the desk is to go to the bathroom. Will not use hotels.com or Clarion hotels again. I will attempt to contact Choice Hotels which owns Clarion only to advise them of the incompetancy of this particular hotel. I don't expect much to come of the complaint, but feel they need to know that if an employee needs to go to bathroom, then thiefs will have open reign on their hotels.

In March I gave my debit card number to Hotels.com to make a reservation for a spring break trip for my kids & youth pastors fm our church. In the course of a conversation that lasted approximately 30 minutes I ended up telling the Hotels.com rep to cancel the transaction as they did not have sufficient rooms to accommodate the three families traveling together as their website had indicated. At the beginning of the conversation they had three rooms available, I gave my information, I was put on an extended hold only to have a rep inform me when she returned that only 1 room was available with absolutely no other explanation. I told the rep that was unacceptable, cancelled the entire transaction and hung up. Hotels.com forwarded this illegitimate transaction to the hotel anyway and I was charged for a no show. There is no confirmation on my part that this "reservation" was ever authorized.

We had made a booking in a hotel Villa Campana in Siofok, Hungary through venere.com and recd confirmation. But when we reached the hotel therewas no such booking. The owner said that there was no room available and she had communicated us this through venere but I did not recieve any such mail. To add to this venere is not replying to my emails and is not even apologising for this mistake. It was a really bad experience and I am never going to deal with venere.com again

I had stayed at the Quality Inn on Bay St on two separate times, gave the receptionist my choice club card at the time of arrival and made the assumption that I would qualify for the free night. When I checked out on the second stay I asked the receptionist to clarify the signage at the front desk. There was a huge sign saying "We want Free" stay two separate time and earn one free night. I asked her to ensure that my card was swiped as I wanted to use it the next time I came to the Sault. As she looked over my account she noticed that the clerk had added my choice club card in the correct area so it did not show up adding any points she added that the new clerks do not know how to add the old cards to our new system. She recommended that I call choice club to get an updated card. As I am not in your business I am not sure what that means . I got the card in 1996 I have not moved since that time my card number is 221050. She told me that who ever took the information from my card had done it incorrectly but she would fix it. I told her that I have stayed with an affiliate hotels for the last 9 months at least once a month does that mean that none of those stays have been recognized? She could not answer that question for me. She did rectify the issue at their hotel where I stay the two separate times to quality. I certainly hope that you will provide me with at least the one free night. I will call to fix the problem with the out dated card.

Thank you for your time.

In March 2011 I made and paid (using my credit card) for a hotel reservation for my daughter and her husband through this site. Upon presentation of the printed voucher to the hotel, my daughter was informed that there was no reservation. In fact, the hotel had never heard of HotelClub. Fortunately, there was a room available, and the hotel agreed to wait until my daughter's checkout three days later, before demanding payment. The reservation never arrived, so my daughter had to pay for the room with her own credit card. My card was charged $211, and I am in the process of disputing the charge. Thus far, HotelClub has only submitted to my credit card company a copy of the reservation Confirmation/Receipt which of course is no help at all. Do not utilize this site!

I called the toll free number and booked a hotel room with taxes for $115 for 1 night. I did not receive an email confirming the reservation. Upon arriving at the hotel the front desk staff were unable to tell me the price reserved for my room as it is not displayed on their system. When I left the hotel, I did not get a receipt as they stated the number where I booked the reservation will provided me with an email receipt. I checked my credit card to find out I paid $142.37 for the room! I called hotels.ca to dispute the charges and urge the representative to pull up the call recording to verify the conversation that took place. Suprise suprise, hotels.ca does not keep call recordings. I am disputing the charge via my credit card company and I will NEVER book with hotels.ca in the future.

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