Anyone used hotels.com?

[mickeyboat]

We decided to take an overnight tirp to Rutland, VT this past weekend. Saturday morning I booked a hotel through hotels.com - and I will NEVER do it again.

I booked a standard room with two beds. When we got there we were told there were no rooms available with two beds. We checked other hotels newarby, and there were no rooms available. So we agreed to the one bed with two roll aways.

The room had mold growing on the ceiling, but the rest of the room and the sheets were clean, so we decided to stay. The pool water was disgusting, you couldn't even see the third step going into the water.

I understand that any hotel is hit or miss, you never know what you are going to get as far as condition, etc. until you get there (I will be writing an online review). But I do expect if you book a certain type of room, and pay for it online, that is the room you are going to get. So I contacted hotels.com this morning to complain. I was told that the room choices on line were merely requests, and that you are not guaranteed to get what you asked for.

I guess I didn't read the fine print well enough. Lesson learned.

Denae

 

[jajuan]

I work for hotels.com and it is always hard to send people to hotels and be sure what they are getting. I always freak when I book a 1 or 2 star for someone and I hope they know what they are getting into(I am not saying that is what you booked). As for requests on room types, that is standard with any hotel...even if you book directly. They are only requests. Hotels.com reserve the correct rooms, but circumstances happen where, for example, a person that has a double room decides to stay an extra night and they don't make them change rooms...or if the weather was bad and not everyone checked out of hotel. I am sorry you had a bad experience and I am not trying to change your mind...just trying to give a little insight.

Edited to add...If there was mold on the ceiling and the pool was disgusting, that would be plenty of reason to complain and if I were you, I would do so for that reason Good luck.

 

[mickeyboat]

Thanks for the insight jajuan. I have never run into this problem before either booking on line or directly through the hotel. When I got the the hotel, the front desk said they had notified hotels.com that the room we requested was not available, and that we should have been notified as such. I checked my email and answering machine and there was no message.

The hotel we I booked was a 3 star. I have been trying to write a review on-line, but can't seem to figure out how to do it.

Denae

 

[DVC-Don]

I've used them for pricing four stars but, always seem to get a better deal elsewhere.

 

[hugsquared]

I've used them for pricing four stars but, always seem to get a better deal elsewhere.

I agree. I've looked at them and also at Expedia/Travelocity. Honestly, we almost seem to get better deals by going to the hotel website (i.e.-Holiday Inn site) or calling the hotel directly. With all the hotel search engines out there, I think some hotels are trying to meet or beat those prices. Sorry you had a bad experience. When I come across a place like that, I always say "Thats twice I've stayed there....my first AND my last time"
Hope your week is better than your weekend.

 

[Lachesis00]

I have been going through Priceline lately but will check out hotwire.com. We've never gone wrong through either company. Excellent prices, decent rooms. I just got a room in Costa Mesa for $45 3.5 stars and one in Palm Desert for $55 a night.
I'm leary about 1 or 2 star hotels... not snob like but b/c we haven't traveled much I just prefer a 2.5+ star hotel. Weird I know, I worry about the area we'd be in or security.

Something to think about next time, when you book, call the hotel (once you know where you're going to be at) and request the 2 beds or roll aways ahead of time. We have and it makes it a lot easier.


In your case I'd have written a letter to the chain. Maybe board of health!!

 

[muffy0110]

many times esp. for Orlando Hotel Kingdom.com
for the last 5 yrs-they have really come through

 

[QT Pooh]

Hi, if you read the disclaimers on all the travel websites, it will state that your room preferences are a request and not a guarantee. That's true of expedia, travelocity, etc. The only way you can guarantee a room is by booking directly through the hotel itself. Oftentimes, the hotel will have a low price guarantee for its rooms too. I found that in the past year or so I have never found a hotel room cheaper than a hotel's own website (excluding priceline - which you never know which one you're getting).

Sorry you had a bad experience. I hope you enjoyed Rutland even if you didn't enjoy the hotel.

 

[mickeyboat]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I hope you enjoyed Rutland even if you didn't enjoy the hotel.

It's water under the bridge and a lesson learned.

We really enjoyed Rutland. We did a little shopping and had a nice dinner on Saturday night. Then on the way home (we live in Hartford, VT) up route 4 we stopped at Pico to do the Alpine slide and at Killington to do the K-1 gondola. I was really surprised at the hiking and mountain bike trails available at Killington. The foliage is just starting to change, but not enough to make it too crowded. We had a great time.

It's funny, you don't always appreciate the opportunities right under your nose!

Denae