Hotels.com: Friend or Fraud? You decide....

I was tempted to call this "The Machine Is Still Stacked Against You," but I wanted to make sure that hotels.com featured prominently in the title.

On April 2, 2010, Ruth went up to Berkeley to visit Natasha and see her in a concert that featured her there.  So that she would have a place to stay, I made a reservation that same day at the 4-points Sheraton in Emeryville, which is an easy 10-minute drive from the campus.  She has stayed there many times before, and I've even been there - it's kind of nice for the money.  I made sure that the breakfast was included (an extra $20 for the room, which is already an extra $20 because they don't offer the breakfast unless you get the "bayview" room).

Due to a screw-up with our credit union (I'll get into that at another time), Ruth's card had been canceled without our knowledge.  As a result, the Sheraton refused to let her check in.

The following is a transcript of what I went through in my efforts to get a refund for that refused room (which doesn't include a lengthy conversation I had from the credit union with the Sheraton's managers about how we could solve this and get her the room, but the hotel never gave us any reasonable options to keep the room, including the faxed credit card authorization option, which I could have done).  The entries are date-time stamped using 24-hour times.

--- transcript begins here ---

4pts Sheraton, Emeryville, 510-547-7888 2010/04/02:

Spoke to Amanda (front desk clerk I think), who says that the room is already paid for and she can't make a change to it because of that. She is getting me a manager.

Manager will call me back on cell – wait, now on hold again waiting for her.

Manager Selma says I have to go through Expedia (I corrected her to hotels.com) to get the refund because the room is already paid for.

Called hotels.com – 800-246-8357

18:02: Did not hear the fellow's name, explained the problem, then silence.

Disconnected at 18:07. Called back – existing, cancel.

18:11: Hector - I explained the situation (twice). He will contact the hotel to verify and I'm on hold till then.

He says Selma refused to refund the charge. I explained that this is not okay with me.

Called Selma back – 18:20.

She says that it is up to hotels.com whether or not to cancel the reservation, and it is their option to issue the refund, and they can work out the details directly with the hotel later on.

Called hotels.com again – existing, cancel.

Ronald -
He understands. He says he needs to call the hotel, and if they are willing to authorize the refund, hotels.com will refund the charge. I'm on hold again @ 18:25.

Ronald says since the general manager of the hotel is out, they can't issue the refund. Hotels.com can cancel the reservation, but it is up to the hotel as to whether or not to issue a refund.

I should call back (hotels.com) on Monday after 2:00pm and see what resolution we can reach depending on the general manager's decision.

I will call back, and hold off on answering hotels.com's email until then.

Called hotels.com Tue, 2010/04/06, 10:35

The lady (didn't catch her name) is checking. Gave me the usual canceled, penalty line; I told her about this being my fourth call and she said she'd call the hotel for me, then disconnected the line.

Called back @10:37.

Andrew – gave him the itinerary # [twice every call!].

Andrew says the refund was authorized – will be issued w/in 24 hours, check with bank over next 3-5 days.

[Whew!]

Called on Tue 2010/04/13, 10:27 [no refund yet]

Other options – gave my itinerary number. Transfer to operator.

Ella answered – asked for itinerary #. Checking; confirmed email addr. Still checking.

Asked if I was expecting $144.99 credit, I said yes; she was checking.

Same old cancellation story. I explained that the hotel refused to give us the room and that hotels.com had said they would call the hotel general manager and get a refund approval, and that Andrew told me it had been approved. I also explained that I was not going to pay for a room I was refused at the hotel's choice and where I had no option.

She says I called them on 4/8 and they told me the hotel refused to give us a refund.

[This is nonsense – I never called on the 8^th, or it would be in this log above this call. Why would I call them back when I was told I'd get the refund?]

I explained that I did not make any such call.

She says the call on 4/6 was disconnected before a refund could be authorized and their followup on 4/8 failed. [Interesting story, since the 4/6 call ended amicably, or so I thought, and there was no 4/8 call with me involved at all.]

I pointed out that the hotel refused to give us the room and I was not willing to pay for it.

Ella said she will call the hotel again and see if she can get a refund authorized. I asked her to point out that we are regular guests at the hotel and that they refused us the room at their option, which is not my responsibility.

Ella says the hotel front desk manager, Deborah, is on the other line. She says Deborah wanted to know why the credit card was refused at check-in. I explained that the card had been canceled by the CU without our knowledge, and they would not re-authorize it. Ella said that they would have allowed Ruth to check in with a $200 deposit in lieu of a credit card, and I pointed out that a) she didn't have that kind of money on her and b) the hotel did not offer me that option. Ella said she would check back with Deborah. On hold, again (10:47).

Ella says she passed along to Deborah what I said. She cannot speak on behalf of Selma.

I said that hotels.com told me they would have to talk to the general manager to get the refund and I asked why this was not happening. Ella says they have no notes regarding the general manager at all. I told her what I noted when I spoke to Hector and Selma (see above) and specifically asked that she talk to the hotel general manager.

On hold, then Ella told me that the general manger, Louisa [see below for this one!], is on a business trip this week and not available. I asked if anyone else could do this, and Ella says they (Deborah at the Sheraton) have to talk to Selma.

I explained that my situation was rather desperate and asked if there was anyone at the hotel who could handle this. She said Deborah is the one, but she has to talk to Selma first. Selma will be in around 2:30 and I need to call them (hotels.com) back at 2:45. I said I will.

Called back @ 14:47

Spoke to Jay. He verified email address and did not ask for itinerary number [that's a first].

Will check on previous documentation from agents who handled this call. He says last call in the documentation was on April 2 [way back up on page 1 here]. He went through the same song & dance on cancellations. I explained that I'd spoken to several people since them.

He says someone claims they offered to send me a credit card authorization form for the hotel [I have neither notes nor recollection of any such thing] and that was on 4/2 – the last notes they have. I asked if I could talk to Ella, and he said they can't do that.

I asked to speak to a supervisor and he is looking for one. On hold again.

15:13:

Jay says that the hotel (Selma) offered Ruth options: $100 cash or a fax credit card authorization as alternatives to the credit card. [Note that this conflicts with the previous assertion of $200 cash.] The fax authorization is news to me (I could have done that), & I told him this. He says that Selma also said that Ruth told the hotel she would be back, so they held the room, but she left.

His supervisor (Raquel – his word) has offered a $150 hotel voucher for future reservations. I said I was not satisfied with the offer as I have had voucher promises in the past that were never delivered. He repeated the offer, so I asked how long it would take to get them and he said 4-6 weeks. I wasn't satisfied with this and said so. He said he is going to find a supervisor (again – they were in a meeting before).

15:19 – on hold again.

15:25: Rachel (supervisor) – wants to know how she can help. She summarized the situation (again), then mentioned something about a "no-show."

I asked about that since Ruth was right there, then she retreated back to the standard cancellation policy, have to have a credit card to check in story.

I explained that since we did not get the use of the room or the accompanying breakfast, I wanted a refund. She said that was not possible.

I explained that I know that it is possible because it's all a matter of choices as to what they will or won't do, and this is basic contract law – you cannot take money for nothing in exchange. I pointed out that I know they can make this happen, they have clout with the hotel, they make reservations there all the time and they can do something to make the refund happen. Rachel said she will call the hotel again and see what she can do.

On hold 15:30.

15:36:

Rachel says she spoke to Selma, who claims they offered some options to Ruth, who said she had to go somewhere else and they were waiting for her to come back when I called and canceled the reservation. [Note that I spoke to Selma myself before I canceled the reservation, at her suggestion and with notice to hotels.com that I expected a refund – see above.]

She insisted that they could not provide a refund and offered the $150 voucher instead, and I told her I think she'll be hearing from my attorney and hung up.

Called the Sheraton 15:40

Selma answered and put me on hold.

The next person who answered said that Deborah has left for the day [I should have those hours!], so I asked for another manager. Now I'm on hold waiting for Selma.

Selma says that Expedia (hotels.com) has the option to issue the refund and they can do that, then deal with the hotel later, but they just want to put the blame on the hotel. She says that it's their option.

She says the general manager will be back next week, but she doesn't think the hotel should be involved right now. Michelle Richards is the general manager. I can call and talk to her directly next week. She apologized for not being able to help and I thanked her.

--- end of transcript ---

I am not finished with this yet - I need that money and hotels.com could refund it to me if they wanted to, so I'm not done with them yet.

I'll let you know how this all shakes out when it's over.