There's No Telling With Hotels.Com

(See reader's comments on this article - here.)



There's no telling if you book a room with Hotels.com whether or not the room you booked and paid for through Hotels.com will actually be available when you arrive.

There's no telling if the room rate you were quoted is actually the best rate for that room when you actually check in.

There's no telling how many rooms Hotels.com may have overbooked at the hotel where you reserved a room. Actually there's no telling what's going to happen when you book with Hotels.com.

What we know for sure is this:

1. Your credit card or debit card will be charged at the time you book your room, no matter how far in advance you book it.

2. Your room is not guaranteed to actually be there for you when you arrive. No where on Hotels.com site or in their 3100+ word User Agreement, does Hotels.com actually guarantee that your room will be available when you arrive - even though you paid Hotels.com for your room in full.

3. The room-rate you were charged at the time you booked your room may not be the lowest rate on the day you actually arrive at the hotel - in fact, there's a good chance that it won't be. In order to take a advantage of Hotels.com lowest-price match guarantee you would have to discover a lower "advertised" price within 24 hours of booking your reservation. After that, there's no guarantee at all that the room rate you've paid will be the lowest room rate. In fact, the room rate you pay may be substantially higher than the lowest available rate for the room you've booked by the time you arrived. There's nothing like finding out, when it's too late, that the room you're paying $325.00 a night for could have been booked directly with the hotel a few days before you arrived for $115.00 a night. There's no getting your money back for the difference from Hotels.com

But the cost of the room and how you pay for it, isn't nearly as important as the room being available when you arrive. There's nothing worse than being stranded far away from home, in an unfamiliar place, and suddenly finding out you've got nowhere to stay.

We became aware of the truth about Hotels.com when a friend of one of our family members arrived at his hotel only to find out that he had no room, even though he had paid for the rooms IN FULL through Hotels.com days before his arrival. The room was booked so he could attend a convention and as you might expect during this convention it was difficult to find any other rooms available in the area.

Here's the story written by the people who were involved.

My friend, Denis, booked and paid for (and received a confirmation number) two hotel rooms for four adults through Hotels.com. The rooms were booked prior to purchasing event tickets for the Arnold Schwarzenegger Bodybuilding Competition Finals in Columbus, Ohio.

After searching for a hotel that was within their budget, they found one on the Hotels.com web site. They booked the rooms and paid for them, in full, at the time of booking using my friend Denis’ credit card.

After the rooms were booked through Hotels.com Denis' credit card was immediately charged the full amount of the rooms. Feeling secure in the knowledge that their hotel rooms were secure, they went on to purchase their event tickets, and booked a rental car.

It was only after they had secured the hotels rooms that he and his friends felt safe in buying the event tickets. The event was a very large and popular one, and was expected to bring nearly a quarter-million people from all over the world to Columbus - most all of them, of course, would need hotel rooms too.

On Saturday March 1, 2008, they traveled to Columbus Ohio. Arrived at their hotel - The Country Inn Suites - Columbus North and were told that they did not have a reservation.

Denis showed them the reservation confirmation and booking number he had received from Hotels.com.

The desk clerk said they were sorry, but there were no reservations for Denis and his party. Denis called Hotels.com while standing at the front desk and spoke with someone from Hotels.com who identified himself as “Joe”. Joe was an operator somewhere overseas who was representing Hotels.com as a "customer service agent".

During the phone conversation, while Denis was still on the phone with “Joe”, Joe actually contacted Country Inn Suites and spoke with the same front desk clerk that Denis had been talking to and in fact, was still standing right in front of.

Denis could hear the whole conversation between Joe and the front desk clerk - Denis was still "on hold" with "Joe".

Denis heard the hotel clerk tell "Joe" that Hotels.com had overbooked this particular Country Inn by nineteen rooms and that Hotels.com had been notified prior to March 1 - approximately a week before - that the rooms they had sold to Hotels.com customers were in fact, not available.

Hotels.com failed to notify their customers that rooms they had booked were in fact not available, in spite of the fact that Country Inn Suites had notified Hotels.com that they were booking rooms that were not available.

"Hotels.com Joe" then told Denis: “Country Inn has made a mistake and your room is not available”. Denis, of course knew this wasn’t true since he had heard the whole conversation.

Denis told "Joe" that he knew this wasn't true. When Denis confronted him with the truth "Joe" became defensive and rude.

"Joe" then  quickly found Denis a couple of hotel rooms in the area via the Hotels.com search engine. However, the price of a single room that "Joe" found was well above the $300 per room budget that Denis and his friends had set for their two rooms.

The price of the room that Hotels.com found was nearly double the price of what they had already paid to Hotels.com for two rooms. The rooms that "Joe" found were well beyond what Denis and his friends could afford to pay.

Denis asked Hotels.com to make up the difference since this problem was Hotels.com error and no one else's. But Joe said that was not possible.

"Joe" could not credit the amount Hotels.com had already charged Denis' credit card so that he could use his credit card to secure the much more expensive rooms. Denis would have to wait for the normal refund process which could take up to 30 days.

Denis then asked to speak to "Joe’s" manager and was told that wasn’t possible. Denis didn't back down and insisted on speaking to a manager who might be able to resolve this issue more equitably than "Joe's" offer.

"Joe" then hung up on Denis. So, after spending over an hour on the phone with "Joe", and with nothing at all resolved, "Joe" simply hung up the phone.

Denis called me to see if I could help. I called Hotels.com from my home in Michigan. The first time I called, I was transferred overseas to a customer service representative. So, I immediately asked to speak to someone in the United States. When I asked them to please allow me to speak with someone in the U.S.A., they simply hung up. This happened twice.

The third time I called, I was again transferred to an overseas operator acting as a Hotels.com customer service representative. This time, the representative's name was "Kalvin". "Kalvin" assured me that he could help me even though he was overseas. I agreed.

“Kalvin” apologized, and searched hotel rooms in the Columbus, Ohio area, and after a few minutes of searching finally found one that was available. The price of the rooms "Kalvin" quoted were, once again, well over $300. I requested that Hotels.com make up the difference since Denis couldn't afford this much for the rooms and it was Hotels.com errors that caused this problem in the first place. Hotels.com booked rooms they knew or should have known were not available. 

I made it clear that Hotels.com charged Denis in full for rooms that were not available. He purchased these rooms in good faith from Hotels.com and the Hotels.com did not produce the rooms for which Denis was charged. Now it appears that Hotels.com were trying to upsell Denis and make it look as if they were doing him a favor - not to mention taking advantage of someone being in a strange city without a place to spend the night. I told him I thought this was a very poor business practice. He found this rather humorous and began laughing—he actually broke out in fits of laughter three or four times during our conversation as I continued to express my personal concerns for the situation that Hotels.com had put my friend Denis in.

After "Kalvin" stopped laughing, he told me he would have to talk to a manager. But, the manager was not available at this time - and "Kalvin" didn't know where he was. I waited on hold for more than twenty minutes. Finally, "Kalvin" said the manager was "busy" and could not help. Kalvin told me to call back later.

I again expressed my concerns and didn't want to have to "call back later" and go through the entire story all over again with yet another Hotels.com customer service representative.

Kalvin hung up.

After I had spent over an hour on the phone with "Kalvin" nothing was accomplished - my friend still had no rooms and Hotels.com representative "Kalvin" had simply hung up the phone.  In the meantime, my friend Denis and his friends were waiting in Columbus Ohio, without hotel rooms - waiting for me to call them back.

Denis and his friends had to drive around wasting their gas and their time for another three hours searching for a hotel room they could afford in a city they were unfamiliar with - and ended up missing a large part of the convention and several hours of the events for which they had so carefully (or so they thought) planned.

After hours of searching, they finally found a hotel they could afford, but it was quite a distance away from the original hotel they had booked. It cost them over twice as much as their original rooms they had booked with Hotels.com.

It's been almost two weeks now, and Hotels.com has still not refunded the money for the rooms that they had charged to Denis' credit card - rooms that Denis had paid Hotels.com in full for but which were not available.

The next day I tried once again to see if I could talk to a manager about this incident. I was on the phone for over an hour. I asked to speak to a manager right away but was told one was not available. I insisted. I finally got Hotels.com to promise that a manager would call me back within 24 hours. No one ever called back.

At this point EB got involved.  "My daughter asked me the next day to try to see if I could get somewhere with Hotels.com." I called Hotels.com "Customer Care" and they "Customer Care" with no answer after several rings.  So, after several tries, I called "reservations". As you might expect, this line was answered immediately. I asked the operator "If I make a reservation, is the money immediately charged to my credit card?". She said: "Yes".

I asked if my room would be guaranteed if I booked with Hotels.com and she said, "yes". I told her that I looked all over the Hotels.com site and was not able to find where it said I would be guaranteed a room if I booked and paid for it. She continued to assure me that I would indeed have a room, it was guaranteed and not to worry. She insisted that this was Hotels.com policy.

She was very nice and was trying to be helpful - after all she was a "reservationist" - a sales agent not a "customer service representative". I persisted and asked her exactly where this was noted in writing on their site and that I wanted more then a verbal guarantee.

She directed me to the the main Hotels.com website at http://hotels.com  and told me to click the link near the  bottom of the page called "Terms of Use" at http://www.hotels.com/userAgreement.do . Both the reservationist and I clicked the link and began reading the legal "User agreement".

(It's interesting to note that the user agreement at first glance appears to be a legal-speak version of the terms of use governing the customers' use of the Hotels.com Web site itself.)

She said to scroll down to "Prepaid Hotel Reservations". I did, and the reservationist tells me: "Right here, you will see the room is guaranteed".

I started reading, and she appears to be reading the same section right along with me.  After a couple of minutes I tell her: "I don't see anyplace that says a paid room is guaranteed - it pretty much tells me that if I book a room and cancel, that Hotels.com gets to keep some of my money."

She seems genuinely surprised that the User Agreement does not mention any kind of a guarantee and she expresses her genuine surprise by saying "Hmmm, you are right! There is nothing here that mentions a guarantee". I then asked if she could please find a guarantee in writing. Then she admitted that she really did not know where the guarantee would be. Then, I asked her to connect me with someone who could help me and she gave me a phone number to call.

The phone number she gave me was the same number my daughter called two days prior - the one that connected her to "Kalvin" the overseas operator/customer service again.

I explained to her that the reason I wanted this information about the guarantee was because of the situation with my daughter's friend, Denis. I proceeded to brief her on his problem. Then I asked her if I could speak to a a manager; she said there was no one there I could talk to. I explained I was doing a news article about this, and I would be sending it to 1/4 million subscribers. I also said I would be sharing my daughter's and her friend's experience with News Channel 8 Wood TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan - which is a station recognized nationwide for its excellent investigative reporting.

After I had told all of the above she asked me to hold. Then she connected me with someone else. Once again, this person said they could not help me but would have someone call me within 24 hours. At this point I had been on the phone for nearly an hour.

Now, several days have passed and no one from Hotels.com has called me either.

Hotels.com spends millions of dollars on convincing you that they provide a valuable service by giving you the best hotel rooms for the lowest prices. But when it comes to the things that really matter, like making sure the hotel room is actually there for you when you arrive, they don't do so well. They take your money when you book the room - your credit or debit card is charged immediately whether you book your room one week in advance, one month in advance or one year in advance. They take your money but they do not guarantee you will have a room when you arrive at the hotel.

You need to know that if you book a room using Hotels.com you could end up like Denis, hours away from home, without a room - even though you paid for the room in full.

Think twice before using Hotels.com to book your hotel reservations.

A Hotels.com booking and confirmation number doesn't guarantee that you'll have a room when you arrive at your destination. But it does guarantee you one thing - Hotels.com has your money.

Think twice before using Hotels.com to book your hotel reservations because there's no telling with Hotels.com what you're going to find when you arrive at your hotel.

Tell us what you think - Please

Read comments we have received on this article - click here.

Note:

Please share this with anyone you think would be interested and spread the word. Lets all band together to make a loud voice that will be heard.

Remember the point isn't that Hotels.com won't refund Denis and his friends, it's that Denis and his friends booked and paid Hotels.com two weeks in advanced for rooms which were not reserved for them when they arrived. Refunds can take up to 30 days and we understand that - but when a big company takes people's money and does not provide them the product for which they paid, that is not right.

Imagine yourself in a strange place, unfamiliar with your surroundings, expecting that you had a place to stay - and finding out when you arrive that you don't - even though you've paid for the rooms in full through Hotels.com.

Corporate greed and incompetency abound and Hotels.com is a perfect example of a poorly-run corporation, located in the United States, who outsources American jobs to other countries to save themselves money while taking yours - and not providing the goods and services for which you paid.

Your voice can make a big difference. Please share this with your friends, your family, your local newspaper, TV station, or other media outlet. If we don't all stand up against corporate greed and incompetency it will only continue to get worse - and you or one of your friends or family members might be next.

READER'S COMMENTS

The following comments were sent in response to our rant about Hotels.com. They have not been edited except to format them for use on this page.

Morning!

Just read this weeks Rant. Thanks so much for the information. We were thinking of using Hotels.Com for our next trip. Now we have second thoughts on using them.

Has for Denis's problem, did he contact his credit card company? If he does and tells them that the goods were not delivered as stated. The credit card company will credit his card and fight with Hotels.Com to get the money from them. I have had to due this myself on other purchases and it does work.

Love the ezine and keep up the wonderful work of keeping us informed!

Thanks Robin

Another possible solution to keep from making a lot of "spin your wheels" phone conversations would have been for them to call the Credit Card company requesting non-payment of the item. By doing that, even though the Credit Card company has already paid the service, it will instigate an investigation by the Credit Card company, who will usually reimburse you the charges a lot sooner than waiting for Hotels.com to pay up. The Credit Card company has a lot more clout and experience dealing with these type of people ALL the time.

Also, I think Denis needs to write a letter to his State's Attorney General's office about Hotels.com, and also write the Better Business Bureau and notify them of the unethical business practice going on with Hotels.com.

Thanks for the opportunity to give my viewpoint, such as it is.

Barbara

My only question is about the credit card was it a debit or credit card? If a credit card why hasn't the party who was damaged put the charge in dispute even if he/she has already paid the charge? Credit card companies do have a little advantage in that they can remove the payment from future charges and credit they credit card holder (if they find that the company defrauded the card holder and that seems to be very much the point you have made in the rand).

SG

Thank you for this article. I am so glad someone finally let the public know about Hotels.com. I won't waste your time with the whole story because I know you don't have time to read about almost the same thing that happened last summer to my son and his wife. They had reserved and paid for a room at Myrtle Beach, SC, through Hotels.com. Their story is almost identical to Denis'. They finally did get a room after many hours of frustration and anger. They learned the hard way to never book a Hotel on line.

I really enjoy the rants every week. Thank you so much for delightful stories. Pearl

Thank you for the information on Hotel. com. I have traveled extensively through the years, all over the world, and I have never dealt with anything like Denis' experienced. I am appalled. In my opinion he should be refunded in complete for the room he had booked, his event tickets, second room, and the gas used to find the second room, and any other expenses he may have incurred because of their mistake. This organization should be out of business!! My personal experience has always been to book a reservation directly with a hotel. I don't even use their 800 service to book it. I talk directly to the hotel and have a confirmation send via email from the person that made the reservation. Travel is not always perfect, and I definitely have had a few things go wrong, but never anything that compares to this story. I am assuming that Hotels.Com represents national chains and I think they all should be aware of the way this was handled. I have shared your story with all my email buddies so hopefully the word will get around and Hotels.Com might suffer in bookings. Good luck Denis'. I hope this gets solved to your satisfaction.

Teri

P.S. Thanks TC & EB for the great newsletter and getting out the information on Hotels.Com

Below is a note from a good friend of mine. My daughter and I are going to Mount Rushmore this June, had thought about using Hotels.Com, but after these stories I would never consider it. Thanks for the information. Lou Ann

""My sister and I had a very bad encounter with Hotels.com as well. She booked a room for me - her and my niece. The room she booked was "lake front with a balcony". When we got there not only was our room not available the only thing they had avail was a single...they had to bring in a cot. She was livid ! She told the desk she booked well in advance...their reply??....You should have called us directly. She didn't even care, she said it happens all the time. We could take the room or leave it. Fearing that we wouldn't get a room last minute at the height of the summer season, we took it. Had a good time anyway. We went to Mackinaw Island but didn't stay over night ON the island.

Lesson learned !!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this information. I have never used Hotels.Com but came very close a few times. What held me back from using them was the penalty charge for changing or canceling. I hope you really did report this to the news station. Again, thank you for sharing.

Carol D.

Good article. Before computers and the internet, I used a travel agent. I have stopped using a travel agent and never use a internet travel service. I do however, use the internet to find local hotels in the locality where I'm visiting. The intelligent thing to do is to make your own arrangements directly with the hotel, airline, rental car, etc., and never use a third party. Natalie

What an incredible, but believable story. Some years ago, I ordered merchandise close to $300.00 from a dietary supply company, which I had seen their commercial on TV. I paid the entire amount with my credit card. I received my order in a weeks time, as they promised.

I liked the product very much, so the next month, I order another supply. I waited well passed the date that I was promised the order. Nothing. I called the company to inquire about my order. What I heard from the other end really had me disturbed. "We are sorry but all lines are tied up, please place your call another time". The next day I tried again, only to get the same message. At this time I knew I had been had and will never receive my second order.

At this point, I called my credit card and told them the situation. They said I would have to write what had happen from the beginning to the end and mailed my complaint to them, which I did. Within several days, the problem was taken care of. I did not have to pay any money for something I didn't receive. I don't know if my credit card company was taking the hit or if the credit card company was able to stop the money transaction and the dietary supply company lost at collecting my money.

Either way, I learned a very valuable lesson. Has your friend called the credit card company to see if there was any recourse to stop the payment to Hotels.com?

I feel, thieves like Hotels.com should be put out of business. They are stealing and getting away with it.
My sympathy to your friends that really took a "hit on the nose".

Sincerely,
Lois D.
Tiffin, Ohio

THANK YOU, I am sending this link to everyone in my address book. It looks like an issue of fraud to me. Jerry H.

what a crock

this has to be on the google rip off reports page. not sure if it's called that, but when you google something as a scam or rip off, the report page comes up.

thanx to your both, i'm sure gi-normous amounts of people now know and will pass this on. prolly wouldn't hurt to let the media know either.
thanx to you both for this info.

janice
ps btw....i have not actually used them, but i have been to their site to see what they can offer. i did better on my own. (just my good luck)

Thank you so much for this. I hope they go out of business. Marlene

Thank you for such an informative article. And what perfect timing. It's getting close to Summer and a lot of people will be traveling. What a way to ruin a vacation--no rooms. I've sent this article on to everyone in my address book. Let's hope Hotels.Com goes out of business! Gayle S.

thank you for a most interesting and informative article.. i just sent it to everyone i knew would be interested also. esp. those people who travel alot. this company should be put out of business. can they be turned in to their local atty. generals office ? please do so. with money and patience running thin these days, we do not need anymore aggravation or deceit of this type! thank you again.. good job! .(*as USUAL!!) Ingrid G.

Hi, I'm so glad that you took the time to warn everyone about this site. I have just passed it on to my two daughters that travel every year. I'm hoping they didn't come across this site as my one daughter just finished booking two big trips for the end of the year. I love getting my coffee and sitting down every Friday to read my newsletter, you sure have helped me with your computer tips for the last 5 years. I am a senior as well as a lot of your viewers and just can't afford the cost of having someone come in to work on my computer every time something goes wrong . With your help I have been able to fix a lot of problems myself and have kept my computer running fairly well. Thanks again to everyone there for all the help. Janet P. - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Thank you for such an enlightening report on Hotels.com. Before reading your article, I had not heard of any of this. Rest assured that I did indeed send them a scathing email that I will not under any circumstances be using their service. Their business practices are very shabby to say the least, and I hope enough complaints are filed by dissatisfied customers so that they will be investigated thoroughly. These kinds of practices are disgraceful, but alas, are so very typical nowadays. Consumers are at the mercy of so many large, (and small), corporations, with so few resources and/or agencies to help stop this kind of treatment. We can only hope that at some point consumers' voices will be heard. Linda B.

love you guys! I read every issue, and buy your yearly e-books. Keep up the good work.

Regarding Hotels.com - I would like to put you in touch with another favorite of mine, which I read his newsletter as much as yours..

http://www.elliott.org/about/travel-troubleshooter-outlets

I am a travel agent and know the frustration you are having with 'out-sourced' customer service. This is not the only company- there are numerous airlines and others who are  doing it- In working with these reps- I have found they are not experienced
and many have problems with the English language. The only way we are going to get these jobs back to the US is to complain- a lot and all the time. Nancy C.

Please note: This is not a representation of my companies position-it is my personal one.

Hello:

After reading your Rant I had to reply - I to have had a similar incidence- unfortunately concerning Denis's dilemma no one thought to read the User Agreement on Hotels.com website there you will find the info needed concerning his dilemma - there is a 1-800 number to call for cancellations or to do so on line had someone done this - Denis would have been reimbursed ! That's Hotel.Com's Policy and it is in writing! The No Hotels Cancellation etc. is listed in the User Agreement!

I was more persistent than Denis and his friend and I ended up with a luxury suite instead of a room! It is their mistake and you have to be more persistent - as they do not want to loose customers - you do have customer rights! Swinging the weight in the proper direction normally works! The Hotel were Denis was booked should by all rights be reported concerning what is stated on Hotels.Com Agreement listed on their Website! Such a shame I would still write or contact the head honcho of the Hotel where Denis booked and also the head honcho of Hotels.Com --after all - customers are their business are they not!

My dilemma was an out of town funeral - and - reservations were made the same as Denis - arrival was a scene and they did know it - for other folks were standing by *all ears* a few did cancel and was refunded their funds as well - it held up the reservations desk and phone lines to say the least - but all in all --I WON!!! My Suite was gorgeous and the Staff was most courteous and kind! Even had chocolates tucked under my pillow upon late night arrival! Ta-Dahl!!!!! My Suite was priced at the same price as the room that had previously been booked -- Wonderful!

Sincerely
Joan B

 
By mistake, I made a reservation through Hotels.com for two rooms at a hotel in South Beach, Miami in Nov. 2006 for the first week in January, 2007. When I realized within a day or two that I had not actually booked on the hotel's site, I called the hotel directly and they said they had no reservation for us. I booked the two rooms directly, then called our credit card company and the 800 number I had been given for the original reservation. We got our money back, less $50, but it took a full billing cycle to get it done. It looks to me as if that "retainer" makes a lot of money for them. Lessons learned - make reservations directly through the hotel and reconfirm before leaving home. Janet G.

The same thing happened to my wife and I when we used hotels-com for booking a hotel room in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a high school reunion.

We looked on the hotels-com location site and found one a short drive from the reunion site. I confirmed the address of the hotel, looked at a map of the area to confirm the location, directions and travel to the reunion. I printed all the information on my computer before calling the reservation number.

The hotels-com reservationist confirmed our location, room request, cost and dates. I paid with my credit card and got my confirmation number. I received an email confirmation from hotels-com as I requested.

I was told that I could cancel up to 72 hours before the reserved date, and after that I would be charged a cancelation fee.

On the day of our reservations, we arrived at the hotel listed on our printout, and map, only to be told that there was no reservation at this location for us. The desk clerk called another hotel, and told us our reservations were at the other location.

After driving MANY miles the opposite direction from the reunion, we arrived at our reserved hotel. A dump of a place, with a person that used his language problems as reason he could not help us.

I called hotels-com to complain about the mistake. After 40 minutes on my cell phone, and a few other "customer service" people, that were from hotels-com, telling me I had made the mistake in booking this hotel, and not canceling 72 hours before our arrival date, I got hung-up on.

We went back to Tulsa and found a brand hotel we regularly stay at, and got a room that was over half of what hotels-com charged us for the dump.

It took me 3 days of calling hotels-com before resolving this issue, and threatening them with calling our state attorney general office and the BBB.

Never again will I use hotels-com. If we see a commercial, and anyone is around, we relate our problem we had.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Ed G.

Good article - I sure will not book a room with that crowd after reading your review I do not understand how firms can be so stupid to laugh at you when they are at fault this would be a good one for the bbc watchdog programme to take up if this is happening in the uk as well I have never used them so had no idea they could rip you off like that. Anyway thanks for a very good article this is one customer who will never be ripped off by them I use the web a lot for booking but have never come across anything like this but forewarned is forearmed not to make the same mistake I do not like these sites Better to deal direct with the firm you know they have a room for you then. Neil M.

I think that is absolutely horrible. I can’t believe their customer service is that bad. I mean I can believe but it’s unbelievable that people would actually sink so low and not even care. I have checked their site before looking for a hotel room for my boss, but I’ve never actually booked anything. The overseas operators don’t care, they are just their for their number of hours and to save the companies money at any cost. I hate dealing with companies who don’t answer their lines here in the States. Anyhow, I’m glad to see that you don’t have a link advertising their site on your site. I see various hotel ads or links for hotel booking services. Thanks for the information. I will NEVER use their site and I will advise everyone I know not to use them. Lynn S.

This is what I wrote to Hotels.com - Just wanted to let you know your site is not guaranteeing rooms booked so as it is useless to search for them.....thanks to Cloudeight information and your desire NOT to help a friend who DID book. :-( not good. Earl S.

Thank you for exposing this site!!! I was lucky I didn't use them in my recent quest for rooms. I will be sure NOT to use them for any future trips. Thanks, Wendy B

What else could the poor guy write, I mean my goodness he was in a deep pickle to say the least . what ever got him into that mess to begin with would be a good question and the words are very deep but would take some time to really get the true meaning out of them , it was a last ditch effort to maintain sanity in an insane situation. What thoughts would go through ones head being in a place of knowing it was futile to even try , but to try was the only thing he had, so try he did . I will read those words over and over and try to begin to understand what it was he was saying , I am sure that there is room for speculation , especially in our world today when all is analyzed to the inth degree.
The man was in a nefarious situation for sure. Ken R.

WOWOWOW!!

This rant really had me in an uproar. To think that decent people who thought that they had their trip all planned out and then to get there to have no hotel room. That is very poor business practice. I just wonder if something can be done at Better Business Bureau about this. I know how furious I would be if I was in that situation. It even made me madder to think that the guy broke out in laughter. There wasn't anything funny about the situation at all. I hope that A LOT of people hear about this and will never use this site again. I even clicked on site to see if they had viewer feedback. They did, but of course you couldn't see what others had to say. This would be a good investigation for a news magazine show that catches people at their dirty tricks. Thanks for a heads up on a site I will never use.

Also, thanks for an awesome newsletter. I look forward to it every week!

Thanks, Tammy

Thank you for the information. I have used Hotels.Com once but since I only go to one particular place and I have a hotel there that I like to use. I go directly to the hotel site. I have always not trusted most of the places that do business on the internet since like Hotels.Com, it is possible for them to take your money and not produce.

I was just thinking and would suggest that Denis contact his credit card and get his money back that way. I had a somewhat similar situation happen and the credit card worked well with me. It was not with Hotels.Com but an internet company. I tried to resolve the problem and got a customer agent outside the US. I got the person's name and was able to work with the credit card company. They reimbursed my money and notified the company they were doing so. I hope this helps. Valerie A

I just sent this to our local NBC affiliate in Winston-Salem NC. The weather is warming here & people will be traveling. And to my sister who travels quite extensively. Lou & Diane G.

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Published 3/14/2008 (Revised 3/21/2008 ) All content is copyright ©2008 by Cloudeight Internet.