HOTELS.COM

[Heather Lowes]

Hi

I booked accommodation with Hotels.com for April 2020.

My trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 and I received a voucher from Hotels.com which has got to be used at the same accommodation. On Hotels.com site they do not offer this accommodation therefore my voucher is useless. The accommodation has been taken over by Liverpool City Council for the homeless.

I have tried on numberous times speaking/emailing Hotels.com this situation but they are not listening to me and are avoiding the fact that I should be refunded my £380.00

Can someone help point me in the right direction for answers. Hotels.com are most definately trying to get out of refunding me.

Many thanks,
Kind regards
Heather

 

[Neil Maley]

We have company contacts for Hotels.com. They are owned by Expedia:

Expedia Customer Service Contacts - Elliott Advocacy

These are the customer service and executive contacts for Expedia brought to you by the Elliott Advocacy research team.

www.elliott.org

Here is how to write-

Resolving Consumer Complaints and Developing a Paper Trail

If you are reading this posting, then there is a good chance you are looking for suggestions or advice on how to address a consumer complaint or issue. The very first thing you should do is read the below-linked stories by our very own Christopher Elliot, founder, and publisher of...

forum.elliott.org

 

[jsn55]

Heather, I understand your situation and I'm sorry it is happening. Thousands of travellers are experiencing this kind of issue. I'm wondering what Hotels.com's cancellation policy is. Often the front-line customer service agents will not, or do not, tell customers the "truth" in a case like this. They are instructed to not give the caller any reason to be upset and argue with them. Everyone and their brother is "asking for a supervisor" these days, so it's difficult to escalate a telephone call to someone who could help you. Look up the cancellation policy before you compose your letter. Unless Hotels.com has already paid the hotel and the hotel's cancellation policy states non-refundable, it should be a fairly simple problem to solve. The key is to reach someone who can help, and that can take time. Travel providers are overwhelmed with issues like yours and have drastically cut their staff numbers. Please let us know what transpires.

 

[Comicman]

I have to wonder if the accommodation has the money and not Hotels.com . Which might be why the voucher is only good for that specific hotel. Maybe it is based on the hotels cancellation policy.

 

[Comicman]

The accommodation has been taken over by Liverpool City Council for the homeless.

Maybe contacting them might get somewhere.

 

[Mr. JTB]

I have to wonder if the accommodation has the money and not Hotels.com . Which might be why the voucher is only good for that specific hotel. Maybe it is based on the hotels cancellation policy.

This could be the case. In most of our hotels we bill the sites credit card number within 72 hours of the booking. This assures that we receive the payment for the rooms that the site provided. If we decide not to credit the sites credit card then all Hotels.com can do is issue a voucher for our hotel as we have the money.

 

[Neil Maley]

This could be the case. In most of our hotels we bill the sites credit card number within 72 hours of the booking. This assures that we receive the payment for the rooms that the site provided. If we decide not to credit the sites credit card then all Hotels.com can do is issue a voucher for our hotel as we have the money.

Thank you for giving the the behind scenes information consumers need to know to understand the other side of the equation.

 

[Heather Lowes]

Hi

Thank you to everyone for their help and advice, I appreciate information from a business point of view too. Sadly Hotels.com have offered no explaination why this hotel is not offered on their site no longer. Hotels.com provided me with a contact number back in January 2021 for the company that offered the OYO Vincent Apartments Accommodation on Hotels.com website but they stated they have nothing to do with this accommodation anymore. I put this to Hotels.com but they have totally ignored this fact and still persist on producing a voucher which is worthless. I cannot believe huge companies can treat the general public in this way and choose not to deal with this matter head on and give me some straight answers.

 

[Neil Maley]

Did you use our follow the information in post 2 to start contacting the executives at Hotels.com?

 

[jsn55]

Hi

Thank you to everyone for their help and advice, I appreciate information from a business point of view too. Sadly Hotels.com have offered no explaination why this hotel is not offered on their site no longer. Hotels.com provided me with a contact number back in January 2021 for the company that offered the OYO Vincent Apartments Accommodation on Hotels.com website but they stated they have nothing to do with this accommodation anymore. I put this to Hotels.com but they have totally ignored this fact and still persist on producing a voucher which is worthless. I cannot believe huge companies can treat the general public in this way and choose not to deal with this matter head on and give me some straight answers.

I'm confused. Are you not going to pursue this using the method we describe? An issue like yours will probably never get solved any other way, as you are experiencing. Read through our initial responses to your post ... our procedure does work a great deal of the time. Hotels dot com is not a huge company, it's a bunch of computers making bookings for travellers.

 

[FrankL183]

Hi

Thank you to everyone for their help and advice, I appreciate information from a business point of view too. Sadly Hotels.com have offered no explaination why this hotel is not offered on their site no longer. Hotels.com provided me with a contact number back in January 2021 for the company that offered the OYO Vincent Apartments Accommodation on Hotels.com website but they stated they have nothing to do with this accommodation anymore. I put this to Hotels.com but they have totally ignored this fact and still persist on producing a voucher which is worthless. I cannot believe huge companies can treat the general public in this way and choose not to deal with this matter head on and give me some straight answers.

As one consumer to another, I would encourage you to write a short bullet point note to send to executives at Hotels.com. For an hour of your time to write it, you might get lucky in that they may give you a voucher to use. You can post it here (with personal info redacted), because some of the people on this site are brilliant at refining it. Their track record is impressive.

 

[Heather Lowes]

Did you use our follow the information in post 2 to start contacting the executives at Hotels.com?

Hi,

Yes I emailed [email protected] back in March, but unfortunately I haven't had a reply back.

 

[Heather Lowes]

As one consumer to another, I would encourage you to write a short bullet point note to send to executives at Hotels.com. For an hour of your time to write it, you might get lucky in that they may give you a voucher to use. You can post it here (with personal info redacted), because some of the people on this site are brilliant at refining it. Their track record is impressive.

Great, I will get some bullet points down, thanks

 

[Heather Lowes]

I'm confused. Are you not going to pursue this using the method we describe? An issue like yours will probably never get solved any other way, as you are experiencing. Read through our initial responses to your post ... our procedure does work a great deal of the time. Hotels dot com is not a huge company, it's a bunch of computers making bookings for travellers.

Hi, yes I am persuing the method you have describe of which I am very grateful, thanks. I am busy putting together a bullet point letter.

 

[Neil Maley]

If you didn’t receive response, it’s time to move to the second contact. If you want to post your email here before you send it we can help you edit it.

 

[Dwayne Coward]

Hi, yes I am persuing the method you have describe of which I am very grateful, thanks. I am busy putting together a bullet point letter.

Unfortunately, if the booking was non-refundable, and you canceled the booking for any reason, you are unlikely to get a refund. Many travel companies, hotels, and such offered future vouchers as an exception to non-refundable terms of the booking due to the Pandemic. If the hotel is no longer in business, then your best avenue to pursue this is to ask Hotels.com for a goodwill gesture and allowed to be able to use the voucher towards another accommodation. They are likely to only provide this if the hotel wasn't already paid for your booking, if they were, it is possible they may only offer a smaller amount in the form of a voucher.

Your case would be stronger if you have documentation showing the property canceled the booking in advance or it was not provided when you show up to check-in. In this case, the company should provide a refund (especially if your credit card was charged by Hotels.com rather than directly by the Hotel).

 

[Heather Lowes]

Hi

Great News! After contacting the Executives of Expedia I have now received a full refund I would like to say a huge 'THANK YOU' to everyone on this forum that has guided me through the process of recovering my refund. I would certainly be recomending Elliot Advocacy to any of my friends and family if they are experiencing anything similar. Thanks again guys!

Kind Regards
Heather Lowes