Using HotelMart website to book?

[mathgal]

OK...it has been 8 years since we last visited WDW and I'm just now gearing up for a trip in May. We (DH & I) plan to stay offsite and am wondering about booking lodging through the HotelMart website. Just looking for opinions from others who have booked through this site.

The rates quoted on this site are considerably lower and supposedly already include taxes. From whate I've read you can also cancel reservations without any penalties. I get worried when something sounds "too good to be true"!

I did a search, but the threads that came up were all pretty old. I would like to hear from someone who has used this site recently.

 

[dougsmom98]

If you are referring to hotelmartusa.com, then I have used them three times and have never had a problem. The last time I booked with them was two years ago. I booked Comfort Suites Main Gate East for my mom and sister and I also booked a 2 bedroom town house at Fantasy World Villas for us. A couple months before our trip, they called and let me know that they were doing remodeling at Fantasy World Villas and couldn't get us in there so they offered a free upgrade to a 3 bedroom condo in Windsor Palms. I asked around and found out Windsor Palms was superior to Fantasy World villas, so we decided to go for it. When we arrived, we had been further upgraded to a 4 bedroom pool home. We had only paid $68/night including taxes for an awesome house! Obviously this was a rare case, but I was pleased with their customer service. I wouldn't hesitate to book with them again. Be sure to read the fine print though. Some places like Fantasy World and other town homes might require a 7 night stay or you will be charged a cleaning fee. I called and double checked on the cancellation policy for Comfort Suites when I booked and the policy was just as it read on their web site. I wanted to double check in case we got snowed in and couldn't make it down to Florida.

 

[mathgal]

Thanks for the reassuring message. I will try and call them this week, but was concerned because the link to their cancellation policy doesn't work online.

Comfort Suites Maingate East was one of the properties that I was considering.

Still would be interested in hearing from someone who has used HotelMart more recently.

 

[Jules123]

I'm interested in this info too. We stayed at Comfort Suites for one night last year and were quite pleased with our stay. We need to book a room for one night this year too and that is the best price I've seen for that hotel.

 

[5boyz]

HELP!!!! I can't get hotelmartusa.com to work. I get the dates in and when I press start search...the page comes up Accomadations....and it is empty????

 

[mathgal]

HELP!!!! I can't get hotelmartusa.com to work. I get the dates in and when I press start search...the page comes up Accomadations....and it is empty????

That was happening to me on some of the properties as well. Instead of clicking on the property "first" and then putting in your dates, just click on the link to Orlando and put in your dates. A LONG list of properties will pop up with prices...then clicking on the individual property would work.

 

[5boyz]

thanks mathgal!!! I will try that.

 

[mathgal]

I'm posting this as a follow-up to my original post.

Still being nervous about booking direclty through the HotelmartUSA site, I tried booking directly through the Comfort Suites Main Gate East website and then using their Internet Price Guarantee.

Supposedly if you find a lower price than what they are offering, you can submit a form within 24 hours of booking your reservation and they will match it PLUS take off an additional 10%.

After submitting their form online, I received an email several hours later saying that the room description on HotelmartUSA didn't match their room descriptions so it was impossible for them to know what kind of room Hotelmart was offering. Therefore they refused to do a price match.

Hotelmart called the room a "Studio Suite" and Comfort Suites called it a "2 Queen Bed Suite". Since the 2 bed suite is the lowest priced suite offered at Comfort Suites I'm pretty sure the descriptions are referring to the same thing. I called customer service, but didn't have any luck getting them to change their mind.

SO....I next booked a one-bedroom suite at the Royale Parc Suites (formerly Quality Suites Maingate East) directly through the hotel website (not through the Choice Hotels website). I once again submitted the form for a price match and got an email saying they didn't recognize my confirmation number. I re-read the terms and it does say the original reservation must be booked through the Choice Hotels website OR one of their affiliates (ie Quality Suites.com).

The interesting thing is that booking a one-bedroom suite through the Quality Suites website was considerably higher than using the Royale Parc website (although it is a Quality Suites property.) I debated about trying again and starting with a reservation through the quality suites website and then asking for a price match, but figured I will get the same response as before...the room descriptions don't match. I think I will just cancel that reservation altogether.

Now I'm down to the decision...do I keep the higher priced reservation I made for Comfort Suites Maingate East...or book through the HotelmartUSA website and save about $100 for the week? I am more comfortable booking directly with the hotel...but an extra $100 would be nice!!

 

[mathgal]

OK...one more post.

Besides the link to the cancellation policy not working on the HotelmartUSA website, I clicked on some of the "hot properties" they were showing for Orlando and found out they had expired several months ago.

If the website is not up to date, then I'm a little nervous about doing business with this company.

Still looking for anyone who has used them recently...

 

[5boyz]

Even though $100. is extra spending money, I would keep with the reservation after reading what you have posted about hotelmartusa. Keep checking the comfort suites website for the prices to go lower and cancel your reservation and rebook or whatever you would do in that case..

 

[PanamaMike]

While I have no experience with HotelmartUSA, I can tell you I just looked up the hotel I'm looking at staying at later this month..they want $111/night.
The hotel's own website offers the room for $67.49 and Expedia has it at $49.70

 

[Jules123]

MATHGAL,
I was going to try this too, booking through Choice and then trying to get them to price match with Hotelmartusa. Sorry it didn't work!