Contact Hotels.com Corporate

> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> I would like to begin this correspondence by apologizing for the length of
> text that follows. While, in a perfect world, my complaint could be
> presented in cold, matter-of-fact bullet points alone, the sheer gravity of
> the disgusting treatment I have received – both literally and figuratively
> – warrants a more personal, detailed account.
>
> I would therefore implore you to take sufficient time to digest each
> detail and consider how truly awful this whole debacle has been, from the
> moment I checked-in to my room, right up to this moment.
>
> In a nutshell, my complaint primarily concerns the deplorable condition of
> my room at Hotel Metropolitan, and the hotel’s unwillingness (both during
> and after my stay) to address the numerous issues I raised to their
> attention. However, following the indifferent responses I have since
> received from both them and you, regarding the treatment I received, I now
> have no option but to also include Hotels.com as a source of this complaint.
>
> In truth, what is perhaps worse than the disgusting state of the room I
> had to endure (details of which will be included later) is the contemptible
> responses received and a complete lack of empathy or responsibility shown
> by any party in this matter. As a customer, a traveller, a paying guest –
> as a human being – I have been completely let down, devalued and
> disregarded. This is wholly unacceptable and, from your perspective, at
> least, should be a matter of concern.
>
>
>
> Having lived in four countries and traveller to over fifteen others, I
> would like to think that I’ve experienced an extensive range of
> accommodations, hotels, motels, hostels and the like. Some quirky, some
> rustic, some even unnecessarily excessive or lavish, but never, NEVER, have
> I experienced a room so filthy, battered and unhygienic. Honestly, you
> don’t expect a room to be perfect – that would be ridiculous – but you do
> expect, AT THE VERY LEAST, that your room is clean, and not a bio health
> hazard. It’s really that simple.
>
> Moreover, if one or two things are a little off or below expectation, you
> let it go. And why? Because you generally give others the benefit of the
> doubt or square the issue away in the knowledge that everyone is just doing
> the best they can, right? Right. Well, the problems with my room weren’t
> just down to one or two minor inconveniences. Upon arrival it was one thing
> after another, and another, and another…
>
> The room was filthy and evidently had not cleaned in months – running a
> vacuum over the visible portion of the floor and changing the trash simply
> does not cut it. The majority of surfaces in the room were covered in a
> thick layer of dust (see attachments) which had a noticeable effect on the
> air quality (I struggle with allergies) and undeniably contributed to the
> musty ‘flavor’ of the room. Numerous pieces of furniture and appliances,
> left, right, and center, were either broken and/or unclean and/or
> inoperable. The cherry on the pie though was that the head end of the
> mattress and 2 of the 4 pillows provided had an EXTREMELY STRONG SMELL OF
> URINE to them, Yes, urine!
>
> Given the revolting state of my room, I called the 'welcome email' number
> twice on the evening of my arrival to request a room change, yet my calls
> went unanswered. The phone just rang and rang, no voicemail, no nothing.
> “Why not visit the front desk?” I hear you say… Well, the hotel does not
> have a front desk, or lobby, or any onsite staff. Wonderful! And that was
> it, for the next two days and nights I was forced to put up with it.
>
> You could argue that I should have tried calling the following day or got
> in touch with you at Hotels.com, but why the hell should I spend my time
> chasing a hotel that CLEARLY does not care about their guests (for all the
> reasons touched upon above) or, for that matter, a third-party middleman
> who has since shown themselves to be cut from the same cloth? I was in in
> Long Beach for a limited time to make important dental appointment. Having
> had knee surgery just 2 weeks before my trip, I was hoping to be able to
> relax and spend some time outside lightly exercising and essentially
> relearning to walk, not spending every waking hour trying to solve a glut
> of issues with my hotel room. More fool me for opting to support a local
> business and forgoing a stay at the Best Western a block or two away in
> order to avoid lining corporate pockets. Ironically, if I had chosen to
> stay at the Best Western, I’m pretty sure any similar issues to the ones I
> endured would have been taken care of without hesitation.
>
>
>
> Here is a list of the issues:
>
>
>
> 1. Strong urine smell on mattress and 2 pillows
>
> 2. Thick dust on majority surfaces (inc. bed surround, painting frame,
> fan, kickboards, television)
>
> 3. Broken bed surround
>
> 4. Bed surround drawer interiors covered in grease, hair and detritus
>
> 5. Broken lamp
>
> 6. Structurally unsound table
>
> 7. Broken toilet seat
>
> 8. Thick grease and dust on bathroom extractor vent
>
> 9. No handles on kitchenette cupboards or drawers (inoperable)
>
> 10. Dirty silverware and plate
>
> 11. 3 sheets of kitchen roll
>
> 12. Marked walls
>
> 13. Broken AC remote. Batteries held in by tape that failed, meaning AC
> would not respond to remote and/or cut out/shut off
>
> I have previously sent pictures and videos of the listed items above to
> your staff, and will be more than happy to do so again if you do not have
> access to them. It says an awful lot that neither yourself or Hotel
> Metropolitan has made any comment on this evidence to date though.
>
> After my stay, I emailed Hotel Metropolitan in the hope that they might be
> interested in the issues with the room they fleeced me for. I suggested
> that they could act responsibly and offer to remedy the situation, their
> only response was that I was reporting issues “no one else has reported and
> could have been corrected by calling us upon arrival”, that I “will need to
> file a complaint with them [Hotels.com] as you did not book with us
> directly” and that “we won’t be responding direct anymore”.
>
> You would have thought that any hotel worth its reputation would actually
> seek to resolve any and all issues under the understanding that solving
> problems is good for future business and ensures positive feedback and good
> standards. Wrong! Hotel Metropolitan would rather sweep their issues under
> the rug, bury their head in the sand, and spit bile at any customer who has
> the audacity to complain. You would also think that huge corporations like
> Hotels.com would prefer to be regarded favorably by their customers and
> that, furthermore, they might actually fight their customers’ corner if and
> when a customer was exploited by one of their clients. Wrong again!
>
> After Hotel Metropolitan’s inaction and unwillingness to resolve the
> situation, I went on a deep dive into their practices and ended up reading
> a small novel’s worth of reviews for Hotel Metropolitan and other
> properties owned by the same LLC. Their silence in this whole sorry episode
> actually speaks volumes as to the hotel owner’s character. I have since
> discovered they have a track record of customers complaining about similar
> issues to my own (including another urine complaint) and have compiled a
> selection of reviews that I am also happy to share with you regarding the
> owner’s shameful conduct and exceptionally poor, spiteful interpersonal
> skills, if you even care?
>
> On which note, I would like to include some unanswered questions from our
> previous correspondences:
>
> · Why are you refusing to comment on the evidence I have sent?
>
> · Why have you not taken any action against Hotel Metropolitan in
> light of
> their fraudulent advertisement?
>
> · Why do you insist on referring to my complaint as a
> 'cancellation' or
> 'change fee' when it is neither.
>
> · Do your terms and conditions of *customers agreeing to not make
> any false*
> * or fraudulent bookings *not also apply to the conduct of the hotels you
> promote?
>
> I had hoped that you would have taken the opportunity to elevate yourself
> above the shameful conduct of Hotel Metropolitan and offered to refund my
> money in full. Alas, it seems you are unwilling to be the better person, as
> it were, and prefer to keep toeing this line of being unable to refund
> customers without the hotel’s approval. You cannot sit there and tell me
> that a multi-billion-dollar company such as yours is unable to extend some
> basic human decency, act with some integrity and a moral compass, and
> refund one individual’s paltry booking fee. What a sham. What an awful,
> disgusting, shameful way to conduct yourself. If you wanted to, you could.
> Please do not insult me more than you already have by hiding behind some
> meaningless ‘terms and conditions’ as justification for not doing the right
> thing.
>
> I have been passed back and forth between you and Hotel Metropolitan like
> some harem whore, while each of you claims the other is the only able to
> approve refunds. Shame on you both. The bottom line is that both you and
> Hotel Metropolitan have failed in your responsibilities to provide me, as a
> paying customer, the services I paid for. Hotel Metropolitan should have
> provided a clean, sanitary room with maintained furniture and appliances –
> they did not. I therefore consider the transaction fraudulent on account
> of the hotel not providing the services they advertised -- a clear breach
> of contract. Furthermore, I would go so far as to say that the state of the
> room represents an environmental health hazard. You should have
> intervened and taken action to rectify the awful treatment and product I
> received – you did not.
>
> On account of these failings, all I am continuing to ask for is my money
> back. That’s it. While it may not seem significant to you, that $518.97 is
> a week’s earning for me. Hard earned money that I trustingly gave over on
> the promise for a service I never received. Out of principle, I will not
> stop pursuing this issue until someone holds their hands up, acts with some
> decency and issues a full refund. I have as much time as it takes.
>
> I’m also hoping that you remove Hotel Metropolitan from your platform,
> given how truly awful, incompetent and knowingly fraudulent they are, but I
> will eat my hat if that happens.
> As stated in my previous correspondences, I would appreciate it if you
> could directly respond to the bullet-pointed questions so that I may
> include them – if necessary – in my BBB complaint regarding your hand in
> this matter.
>
> Regards,
> Mark Szegedi-Duffield

I booked through hotels.com platform and received the confirmation voucher which is refundable but after that I received a message from the property that there is an additional terms and conditions (not mentioned in my booking voucher) will apply upon check-in and when I asked to cancel my reservation without penalty they refused and when I contacted hotels.com they informed me that they can’t help and the new and additional charges are coming from the property (while I booked through their platform) and any changes on the terms must be managed by them as they are the service provider

My reservation was canceled the day of my arrival ,that I had made one month before. Will never use them again. Had 4 families effected by the lack of hotel room and thousands of dollars in air fare wasted. Just to bad can not afford a lawyer to get my air fair money from hotels.com . Also not able to give them a minus zero on star scale

I stayed at super 8 in Harrisonburg va on 10-16-2018 and the room was beyond dirty, the front desk clerk was a young man who just had an altercation with a guest and was clearly upset,I chose to wait until the following morning to call customer service 800 # also the hotel itself, I was assured by customer service I would be getting a full refund which i still have not received..I then received a unprofesional letter from the front desk manager which I called customer service again...I still have not heard back from this hotel about my refund and I believe that is the least i deserve

Went to check in at the JOGLO TAMAN SARI VILLA UBUD BALI on Saturday 23 June. The receptionist had no account of our reservation on their computer system so we found alternative accommodation. We payed in advance I think we should be reimbursed.

I had booked a hotel room for this weekend at Canad inns in Grand forks. Your reservation department accidentally cancelled my reservation but still sent me a confirmation 3 days ago saying my stay was coming up with my confirmation number. If it wasn't for family phoning ahead to request our rooms close together, I would of showed up there with no room. After talking on the phone with the hotel, which took a hour, then I had to contact hotels.com, again on the phone on hold for another hour. I was at work today and this was very inconvenient! If you check my history, I book with your sites all the time and never with a problem such as a cancelled reservation. I even received confirmation from hotels.com that my booking was confirmed so how this happened I have no idea. Although your phone representatives were polite and very helpful, I will probably choose to book direct with the hotel next time.

Sincerely,
M. Pammer

On July 8, 2016, while on a trip to Germany, I called Hotels.com to book a hotel we would need in Munich for the night. I have used Hotels.com for many bookings over the years, and felt it was a company I could continue to trust for my hotel rental needs. I spoke directly to a customer service representative and told him we were looking for a hotel in the immediate vicinity of English Garden in the center of Munich. After some amount of discussion, he suggested the Holiday Inn, which was a few blocks away. I was happy with this choice.

I made the mistake of not examining the confirmation email immediately, as our discussion seemed completely straightforward, and I didn't have reliable data access. Our day's activities kept us out so we arrived at the Holiday Inn Munich - City Centre at about 9:30 pm to find that our reservation had actually been made at Holiday Inn South, almost 10 km south. This was completely counter to the instructions I had clearly given the agent.

When I realized the error, I traipsed my whole family back to the parking garage and called back in to Hotels.com. They looked up the reservation, and acknowledged that the booking had been made in error. They cancelled the reservation and said that they would process a refund, and began searching for alternate accommodations. I was on the phone with them for an extended time, but ultimately they were unable to find anything available in the central area. We finally gave up and left Munich at almost 10 at night to drive to Legoland.

After arriving home in Canada after my vacation, I checked my account and found that no refund had been processed. On July 22, 2016 I called in at 16:32 PST to find out what was going on, as it was several days past the expected time a refund should be processed. The message when I called in indicated that I would be on hold for an estimated 6 minutes to reach a customer service representative. In fact, I ended up being on hold for 91 minutes before Rosa finally answered. She took my phone number and confirmed that this was regarding the Munich cancellation. She said that she is contacting the hotel. This immediately set off red flags for me.

I had already been told that a refund would be processed for me. Clearly this wasn't in progress, and required a call from me for any action. The hotel has no responsibility for the erroneous booking. I pointed this out to her, but I was willing to accept that they may try this as part of their processes in trying to minimize cost to them, but I had zero confidence the hotel would be willing to accept the cancellation.

The hotel told Rosa that someone would need to call back Monday, July 25, and she indicated the billing department would pursue the matter and notify me by Wed July 27. I expressed my concern to her that Holiday Inn was not going to refund the charge, as it was not their error. She didn't state it outright, but seemed to infer that Hotels.com would cover the refund if the hotel did not, as a means to assauge me. In retrospect, I think this was just to get me back outside the 90 minute "on hold" barrier.

On July 26 I received:

Thank you for contacting customer care. I have been assigned your case and will help provide a resolution for your billing issue. I have attempted to contact the hotel regarding your request for a refund due to cancelled booking. Please allow the hotel a couple of days to respond before calling customer service back regarding this matter. We would appreciate your understanding regarding this matter.

Jeanelle, Customer Care Specialist at Hotels.com

On July 27, as expected, I received:

Thank you for your patience regarding your billing issue. Unfortunately, the hotel is still charging for this reservation. For that reason, we will not be able to issue a refund as requested. I apologize for the inconvenience. Once again, thank you for choosing to do business with us. If you need further assistance, please respond to this email or call customer care.

Ruden, Customer Care Specialist at Hotels.com

I responded to them with a lengthy message, indicating the history of the situation, along with the assurances I had been given about a refund. I reiterated that the error made here was not on the part of the hotel, nor myself as I clearly indicated my needs. The hotels.com agent was the one who made the erroneous booking. Why should Holiday Inn or I absorb the cost because they booked the wrong hotel? I requested that they refund my credit card for the full amount.

On July 29, I received:

Thank you for responding regarding your billing concern. We have verified that the hotel is still charging for this reservation. Although every effort exhausted, we will not be able to issue a refund as requested as the property is very firm with their decision. This policy is imposed by them which we are only required to pass on.

Art, Customer Support Specialist at Hotels.com

I sent them one final lengthy note back, reiterating that their continued shirking of responsibility for the problem was inappropriate, and that nobody wants to do business with a company that can't accurately process a request or compensate them for its errors. I asked them to do the right thing and refund my credit card, and that this was my final request on the matter. I made it clear my next step was to publicize my experience on social media. My primary goal is to use the pressure of social media to get them to do the right thing and issue my refund. If they are still unwilling to do so, my secondary goal will be to discourage as many people as possible from using Hotels.com, both as protection to consumers and as a means of providing repercussions to Hotels.com.

I'm disappointed this has happened. As I stated at opening, I've used Hotels.com for many years, and it's unfortunate that they have failed to accept responsibility for their error.

I am staying at different hotels and I make the reservations through related agents accordingly (Wyndham, Booking.com, Hotels.com, etc.). Recently I have been using Hotels.com because the hotels that I am staying are covered by them. After every 10 stays you are entitled of 1 free night stay based on lowest hotel rate excluding tax. Now I am entitled of $77.59 rewards money to use towards my stay. Based on my booking file on Hotels.com website. Now they are using all the excuses and lies to delay my rewards although, I proved them that they are bunch of cheap liars with poor customer service.