Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/12/10) */
I believe this is a simple case of being unfamiliar with how these prepaid hotel reservations work. The cancel policy is set by the amount of time away from the arrival date. So, regardless of when the reservation is booked, the cut off is still...
going to be related to the set number of hours prior to the arrival date check in time. Because this reservation was booked within that window - it was nonrefundable at the moment it was booked. There is no trickery involved, it is simple math.
In addition to not understanding how the cancel policies work, he seems to also not understand how rate changes work. The rate he was booked was for a total rate of $247.16. This included one night at $99.00, and one night at $109.00. At no point after the reservation was booked did the price change. He simply misunderstood that the rate was different for each night. It doesn't change the total.
I have personally reviewed his wife's call into our call center. Our agent told her the total rate - $247.16 exactly as was charged. Our agent also read her the cancel policy which was included in this complaint exactly as it is listed.
In addition to our agent explaining the rate correctly and explaining the cancel policy correctly, we received a call into our customer service center from the guest about 20 minutes after the booking. During that call, only a late check in time was discussed. If the guest had an issue with the rate or cancel policy, that would have been the time to discuss it to see if anything could be done at that time.
They chose to simply not use the room without any notice. The hotel held their room (for late arrival as they requested) giving them no chance to sell the room that night. For this reason no refund is available for them or due to them.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/12/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This agency is blaming the customers for their practices instead of owning up to the facts as put before them!
My wife tried to cancel and their response was as stated!!
Their reply was an unfair practice and should be changed.
As stated in my original complaint, after reading their cancellation policy, we tried to cancel and was told that their cancellation policy was as written and now they say we only mentioned late check in!
If this is how they handle their business affairs they should not be allowed to run a business!!
I'm not the only person that finds their policies unjust!!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/12/19) */
I believe this is a simple case of being unfamiliar with how these prepaid hotel reservations work. The cancel policy is set by the amount of time away from the arrival date. So, regardless of when the reservation is booked, the cut off is still going to be related to the set number of hours prior to the arrival date check in time. Because this reservation was booked within that window - it was nonrefundable at the moment it was booked. There is no trickery involved, it is simple math.
In addition to not understanding how the cancel policies work, he seems to also not understand how rate changes work. The rate he was booked was for a total rate of $247.16. This included one night at $99.00, and one night at $109.00. At no point after the reservation was booked did the price change. He simply misunderstood that the rate was different for each night. It doesn't change the total.
I have personally reviewed his wife's call into our call center. Our agent told her the total rate - $247.16 exactly as was charged. Our agent also read her the cancel policy which was included in this complaint exactly as it is listed.
In addition to our agent explaining the rate correctly and explaining the cancel policy correctly, we received a call into our customer service center from the guest about 20 minutes after the booking. During that call, only a late check in time was discussed. If the guest had an issue with the rate or cancel policy, that would have been the time to discuss it to see if anything could be done at that time.
They chose to simply not use the room without any notice. The hotel held their room (for late arrival as they requested) giving them no chance to sell the room that night. For this reason no refund is available for them or due to them.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2017/06/19) */
I have reviewed this reservation and I can't find anywhere that Mr. [redacted] ever contacted us regarding the service fee. We do post our phone number directly below the fee in the confirmation email.
We do clearly display the service fee...
prior to processing the reservation. As it seems that he did not see it, or did not understand the nature of the fee, I have refunded it in full. Any agent could have assisted him with this had he called and requested help.
I have also reviewed the cancel policy and while he maintains that the policy is confusing, I can't say that I agree. He is indeed entitled to a full refund of the charges for the room. He booked on June 18th and cancelled on June 19th. Both of these dates are well before Noon on Thursday, July 6th.
The remainder of the policy only deals with cancellations after that time. There is a window in which a one night penally will be applied and there is a point at which the reservation becomes non-refundable. I actually feel that this policy - out of many hotel cancellation policies, is one of the more clear policies.
I also maintain that we did not mislead Mr. [redacted] regarding who he was booking through. We are Hotels-Rates.com. He booked through our website. We are a travel agency and we use multiple suppliers to be able to offer competitive rates throughout the United States. Our agents are available to assist him with any issues either with the hotel or with [redacted]
According to the policy, he should expect a full refund for his room, and as of a few minutes ago I have processed a full refund of our service fee.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2017/02/03) */
I spoke with Mr. [redacted] yesterday and believe we have cleared up all of the confusion regarding his reservation. The rate of $165 was never quoted to him as determined by reviewing the recording of his reservation call. We are still not sure where...
this number came from. The only theory I can come up with was that it was possibly a typo when he entered the rate as $165 would be an easy thing to type instead of $176 (which was the average rate booked before taxes).
In most cases our discounted rate is very comparable to a governement rate. In his case it was not. Because of this we have resolved the situation with him.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2017/02/03) */
I spoke to the Hote-Rates.com Director of Customer Service, [redacted], on [redacted]. Hotel-Rates.com offered a refund of $[redacted] on my U.S. Government credit card and provided a receipt for the refund.
I ask that this case remains in an open status until I confirm that the refund is actually credited back to the VISA credit card. Ms. [redacted] said it would take 3-5 days. I checked on 3 FEB 2017 and the refund had not yet been processed but I was able to submit my travel voucher to the U.S. Gov't for credit card payment on the amended total.
Once the refund is credited to VISA, I am satisfied and appreciate Ms. [redacted]'s time and assistance.
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2017/02/15) */
The refund was processed. I believe that was the only remaining issue causing him to request that this issue remained open. It should be able to closed now with verification from him.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 15, 2017/02/16) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2017/02/14) */
This was actually a case of the hotel incorrectly charging the guest. We charged the guest correctly. He was able to find our contact information and we spoke with him yesterday regarding this issue. We were able to confirm with the hotel and...
Mr. [redacted] that the situation was resolved between them.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/10/13) */
I do not quite understand this complaint. Not only do we display the fee clearly before the reservation is processed, but we also have the fee displayed in all caps text, under the heading "Terms and Policies" and listed along with all of the...
other reservation details such as nights of stay, tax information, cancellation policy, etc. I would request that this guest go back to the site, re-create the booking they made (without submitting the form - just navigate to the booking form) and see the fee clearly disclosed before the reservation is submitted.
The actual text displayed is:
A $[redacted] NON-REFUNDABLE SERVICE FEE CHARGED AT TIME OF BOOKING. NOT INCLUDED IN TOTAL RATE.
It is actually even referenced directly above the "Complete Booking" button with the text:
By Clicking Complete Booking I Agree To The Terms And Policies Stated Above
In addition, as proof of our desire to be completely clear with our fee, any time a guest fails to notice our all caps fee disclosure directly in the terms and policies section, our agents are authorized to issue a courtesy credit. We were never contacted by Mr. [redacted] regarding his reservation or this fee.
It is very common in this industry to charge a service fee. Most of our competitors charge a similar booking fee. Many of them actually do not make their fee as obvious as we do. Many of them hide their fee in other areas. We feel that we give the guest the clearest picture of what they are being charged so that they can make the decision for themselves.
Our agents would have been happy to explain this to Mr. [redacted] had he contacted us before filing this complaint. I have issued a refund for the service fee as a courtesy on this reservation.
One last note, Mr. [redacted] seems to believe that we have control of redirecting users who go to hotels.com's website over to ours instead. This is simply something that is not possible. We have no control over users who navigate to a website that is not our own. We only have control of users who navigate directly to our website. In addition to this being absolutely impossible for us to do, our website clearly states our company name in the heading of the page, in the url in the address bar and in the confirmation email.
As I mentioned before, we did refund the fee based on his assertion that he did not see it on the page when he reserved.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/10/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
The hotel room was purchased through an iphone. In response, I redid exactly what you said to do taking screenshots along the way. Nowhere does it show the $[redacted] fee and if this site had the ability to upload, I would show the exhibits. I do appreciate the refund.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2016/06/08) */
I have refunded $24, but only as a courtesy. We did not offer price matching on our website, we did not mislead as to what the rate was and we should not be expected to honor contracted rates that a company the size of Expedia is able to...
negotiate.
The rate we charged the guest is the rate that we were contracted with the hotel to charge for the room on the day that she booked with us. We did not mislead her to believe we were Super 8. The hotel has every right to adjust their rates according to availability. It makes sense that if they had a cancellation they would try to sell that room any way they could in order to have maximum capacity.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 11, 2016/06/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I am getting somewhat of a refund and will continue to express concerns with Super 8. I appreciate the refund they are giving.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/07/28) */
I have reviewed your reservation and am very sorry for your frustration at the situation. Had you contacted one of our agents instead of the hotel's desk clerk we would have been happy to explain what you were seeing. The clerk was correct that...
we do receive the extra amount as our commission - but the part she left out is that the rate you saw was not a rate available to everyone.
We purchase hotel rooms at a wholesale "travel agency only" rate and then the hotels set the amount that we are to resell them for. The front desk clerk gave you our wholesale receipt by mistake. We don't have control over the markup. It is the same type of situation as when you purchase anything at retail with a minimum retail price. The supplier controls what their product can be sold for. They sell their products to dealers for less so that they can be marked up. What happened at the hotel would be like a clerk at any retail store giving you the receipt showing the wholesale cost for what you purchased. You wouldn't be eligible to purchase the items at wholesale, but knowing the price that the store pays for something would cause discomfort.
Because I do understand how unpleasant that must have been for you, I have issued a refund for $40.85. You should see this credit within 3-5 business days.
As I stated above, I am sorry that the front desk clerk misunderstood the situation and caused you to feel deceived and overcharged. However, they were simply mistaken and didn't understand the process.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/05/21) */
I'm very sorry that she has had difficulty in getting her membership cancelled. However, I'm not exactly sure how this is the case. She could have done any of these things to obtain contact information and cancel her membership:
1. Reply to...
the confirmation email with cancellation request.
2. Call the same number she called to book the hotel reservation and they could provide the phone number for Club Home & Away.
3. Go to https://www.clubhomeandaway.com and call any of the 3 toll free numbers listed on the home page
4. Call the phone number listed on her credit card/bank statement next to each charge.
Either way, Hotels-Rates.com is not Club Home and Away, we simply promote their discount program to our guests because we feel it is beneficial to them. We have not had any other complaints of guests not being able to cancel their memberships. It doesn't sound like she tried any of the above methods and we feel that they do provide ample opportunity to cancel. We have forwarded her information onto our contact and they will be working with her.
This complaint does not belong on our account however as her complaint is not with her hotel reservation. Please remove this from our listing.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 11, 2015/05/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Although they make it seem incredibly simple I never received an initial email, and I tried to Google Club Home and Away multiple times and was never able to find a website. I 'signed up' over a year ago and the details forgotten. They have cancelled my membership so I'm satisfied but was contacted by them and got an earful about how incredibly easy it is to cancel and basically blamed me and were upset that I filed a claim. I'm glad I did. Thank you for the help. I am not expecting compensation as they stated more than once that I'm obviously incompetent and can't figure out how to cancel a membership I do not want.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/08/11) */
I have personally listened to the recording of this call as I was very concerned about your claims. However, after listening to the call recording I'm concerned that possibly you may have contacted someone else rather than us in addition to this...
call.
On your call into our call center to book this reservation, I didn't find that the agent represented herself as being with [redacted] directly at all during the call. She answered the call "Hi, thank you for calling the reservation desk, this is [redacted] what city and state are you booking in today." From that point forward in the call the only information exchanged was regarding your stay and the type of room you wanted. At no point in this call was any information requested or given about who you called. She never claimed to be [redacted] and you never asked if she was.
Also, at the point you asked about the total, the reservation had not been submitted and it could have easily been stopped at that point. In your complaint you requested that we be required to allow people to cancel if they are unhappy with the rates. We certainly allow you to abandon the reservation (with no charge at all) at any point prior to it actually being booked. Once it is booked, we are required to hold to the hotel's cancel policy. In your case the reservation was already past the cancellation cut off time when you placed the reservation. It required a cancellation 2 days prior to check in and you booked the day of arrival.
You also requested in your complaint that we are required to disclose that we are a travel agency. However, our website clearly displays multiple hotels and hotel chains, our name as displayed on the page and in all confirmation emails doesn't indicate any one chain or hotel. I believe that you possibly assumed that you were calling the hotel and were therefore disposed to believe we were a specific property. Our agent did nothing during the call to indicate this to you.
That being said, we did find several issues with your call regarding the way our agent received your information. The agent did not follow the correct procedures to verify your dates, room type, or ask you if there was any additional information you wanted to provide her. She did indicate that the [redacted] included taxes and fees - but she did not correctly explain the booking fee to you. We take these details very seriously and the agent who took your call is no longer with our company.
Because of the failure of our agent to follow our very strict guidelines during your call, even though her mistakes were not what you filed the dispute about, we have issued you a refund in the amount of [redacted] was refunded on 7/14/2015 and an additional [redacted] was refunded on 7/17/2015). This brings your total paid for the reservation to [redacted] which is lower than the [redacted] you believe you should have paid.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/08/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I find that this businesses response does not accurately reflect what occurred during the booking process. At this time I realize that it is a matter of the consumer's word against the word of the company.
My complaint against this company stands as I had originally stated. While I did receive the refund as they stated, it took a great deal of time and effort to acquire the [redacted] which was overcharged to me.
The company did misrepresent themselves and overcharged me. They did represent themselves as the Microtel reservations office and they did state that the reservation could not be cancelled because it had already been submitted.
In short, the business continues to deny the reality of the events and take responsibility for the majority of the original complaint that I filed.
My complaint against this company stands as I originally filed.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/08/14) */
I understand that this guest believes their recollection of the call to be accurate. I do not believe they are being intentionally dishonest.
However, this is not a case of our word against his. We listened to the actual recordings of the calls and the recordings do not support what he claims. Our agent never represented herself as the Microtel. Not one time. Her exact words were:
"Hi, thank you for calling the reservation desk, this is [redacted]. What city and state are you booking in today."
Our agent did give him the rate information before booking it. They discussed the total rate, that it included taxes and fees, and he said it seemed high. She indicated to him that the rate he saw online wouldn't have included taxes and fees and if he continued with the process online the total would end up about the same. He then said "Wow, ok well, let's book it anyway". There wasn't much discussion. She could have explained it better, but he moved on with that statement and so she proceeded with booking his reservation as he requested.
The exact exchange was:
Agent: Yep, there is a 1 Queen Bed, Smoking Room, Free hot breakfast, Free Wi-fi and that would be [redacted]
Mr. [redacted]: On the website it said [redacted]
Agent: Yes, we have the same price except mine includes all the taxes and fees. So if you put in all the dates and everything and tried to book it, it would end up being the same price.
Mr. [redacted]: OK, Taxes are high then.
Said at the same time:
Agent: Yeah, it includes all the taxes and state taxes too.
Mr. [redacted]: That's like 50%.
Mr. [redacted]: Wow, ok well, let's book it anyway.
Agent: Ok, what is your first name?
The agent proceeded with getting his information for making the reservation. She gave him the confirmation number and he indicated that he had it and then asked for the customer service number. She gave it to him and that was the end of their call.
At no time during this call did he try to stop the reservation. At no time during this call was he told he couldn't cancel because she had already submitted it. He didn't even ask.
I have reviewed all of his calls into our customer service department. At no time did he request to cancel. And therefore at no time was he told that he couldn't because it had already been submitted.
In his first call into our customer service department on 7/14 he indicated to our agent that he had forgotten to mention to the agent that he had an [redacted] and [redacted] membership and was hoping for an additional discount. He wasn't happy with the rate we booked. Our agent almost immediately offered him a [redacted] discount as a courtesy because he wasn't happy with the rate he booked. It required next to no effort on his part. He is claiming that he had to work very hard for the discounts we gave him. This is simply not supported by the recordings.
The next time we spoke with him was 7/16 - two days after his stay. He spoke with [redacted] who spoke with him about his concerns. He told [redacted] that he believed the agent had answered the phone as [redacted] Reservations". She set the call up for a call review and did an excellent job of explaining our relationship as a 3rd party affiliate. He seemed to understand. He voiced a concern about not receiving a smoking room and she added that to the call review request. At no time during that call did he request nor seem to expect any additional refund.
We spoke with him next when he called back after we left a message with his call review results. Our review had found that the agent never represented herself as the [redacted] but that she had booked him a non-smoking room when it should have been a smoking room. During this call he explained again that he felt strongly that she had said Microtel. He also said he felt strongly that our agent never said "fees".
However, in the recording, she did not answer the phone that way. Also, she does clearly say "taxes and fees". She could have done a better job at explaining the fees, but she definitely stated "taxes and fees". The entire fee was refunded because she didn't follow our very strict policy for how to disclose the fee. The remaining [redacted] was refunded to him without any request from him. Again, this does not go along with his claim that he had to work very hard for the refunds that we gave him.
As I stated in my original response, based on his claims and certainty that he heard [redacted] Reservations" and that he was told he couldn't cancel, I can only assume that at some point he called Microtel directly or a different phone number entirely and must be remembering that call.
I have personally listened to all calls that he made into our company and not one time did he ask any of our agents to cancel his reservation. Not one time did any of our agents answer the call [redacted] Reservations".
Every request that he has made in order to be satisfied is already part of our policy. We do require that our agents disclose the service fee, we do require that our agents never represent themselves as being from a specific hotel or chain, and we do already allow anyone to abandon a reservation at any point before the reservation is submitted with no charge whatsoever.
I am sorry that his recollection of these phone calls is so disturbing. However, it simply isn't accurate.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 15, 2015/08/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I found the last response to be very comprehensive and mostly accurate. I stand by my initial recollections that the call was answered [redacted] reservations. I continue to believe that the call should have been answered "Hotel Rates reservations" so that it would have been clear to me that I was dealing with a third party booking agency. Had it been made clear to me that I was not communicating with [redacted] own reservation office I would have immediately terminated any further discussion.
The response finally acknowledged that the agent could have done a better job of explaining the fees. At least that gives me some indication that they are willing to accept partial responsibility for what transpired.
I am not seeking any additional financial compensation from this company. My goal in filing this complaint is to have the company accurately represent themselves up front and accurately disclose the fees they charge at the beginning of any transaction. I am seeking to protect other consumers from, what I consider to be, deceptive practices of this company.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/08) */
I have personally reviewed this issue and determined that something was missed during the initial call review that our Quality Assurance department performed.
When reviewing the call, our Quality Assurance department found that the...
booking agent stated that this reservation would be charged at the time of booking twice before asking you to agree to the terms and policies. Additionally, your cancellation policy was stated verbatim, "You May Cancel Your Reservation For A Full Refund Minus A [redacted] Cancellation Fee If Cancelled Prior To 06/08/XXXX XX:XX Pm (Central Time). Any Cancellation Made After This Time Is Nonrefundable." Because these policies were disclosed verbatim, and you agreed to the terms and policies before the reservation was confirmed, the Quality Assurance department determined that it was not agent error that caused you to no realize that your reservation was a pre-paid (paid at the time of reservation - not check in) type of reservation.
However, when I reviewed the call, I caught that after the reservation had been booked (also after you had agreed to the terms), it seems like you had moment where you realized you weren't sure about when the reservation would be charged. The agent asked if you had a pencil for your confirmation number and after you stated you didn't, you said "And you guys charge the card when we get down there right?" It was at that point that our agent made a confusing statement regarding the reservation being prepaid. She replied "Yes"- which wasn't correct. After reviewing the call with her we have determined that she answered you without hearing you clearly. We are addressing this with her. Of course, it is expected that our agent would not only properly disclose these policies, but also remain consistent in explaining them to you. Due to this miscommunication after the reservation was booked - but still at a point when the charge could have been voided had she answered you correctly - we have agreed to refund your overdraft fees in full.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/05/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
As long as the overdraft fees are refunded in full in a timely fashion, I am accept their response.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 17, 2016/01/07) */
I'm sorry for the delay on responding to this complaint. We have reviewed the call into our callcenter and determined that while our agent did properly disclose that the reservation was going to be charged immediately, they did not properly...
read the cancel policy to the guest.
For this reason we are willing to reimburse the guest for the charges they received from Travelweb for this stay. Our only delay is confirming if they have already secured a refund through the chargeback process. If a chargeback has not been processed for them we will issue a credit from our end.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 19, 2016/01/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am not sure if they mean only the 21.99 fee or the total amount they charged that adds $193.76. The total paid to them $215.75. No motel will not deal with us because they collected no money from us. The Only charges we received were from Hotel-Rates.com I expect the full $215.75 back from them.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2016/01/12) */
Yes, we did mean a full refund. We only needed to clarify if a refund had been secured through a chargeback as was discussed on the call into our service center. We processed a refund for $21.99 which was the only amount actually charged by us back on 12/6/2015.
The remaining amount was charged by Priceline as the rate booked was a rate that we are able to book through them, but because the error was our agent's error and not theirs, we are compensating you for the amount they charged you. We simply needed to verify that a refund had not already been processed for you by them.
A credit in the amount of $193.76 has been processed today and you should see it in your account within 3-5 business days.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/07/14) */
I have reviewed your reservation and am very sorry for your frustration at the situation. The front desk clerk was incorrect in telling you that they don't sell their rooms for the room rate we charged you. The real issue here is that we...
purchase hotel rooms at a wholesale "travel agency only" rate and then the hotels set the amount that we are to resell them for. The front desk clerk saw our wholesale rate in the system and misunderstood. It sounds like they stated that it was one you could book yourself. This is simply not the case. We don't have control over the price that we sell the rooms for - the hotel chains control it. However, I can completely understand your frustration when someone who is working at the hotel tells you something like this that is completely incorrect. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of turnover at hotel front desks and often inexperienced clerks assume they understand what they are seeing when they really don't know how the process works.
It is the same type of situation as when you purchase anything at retail with a minimum retail price. The supplier controls what their product can be sold for. They sell their products to dealers for less so that they can be marked up. What happened at the hotel would be like a clerk at any retail store giving you the receipt showing the wholesale cost for what you purchased. You wouldn't be eligible to purchase the items at wholesale, but knowing the price that the store pays for something would naturally cause discomfort.
Because I do understand how unpleasant that must have been for you, I have issued a refund for [redacted] You should see this credit within 3-5 business days.
I would also like to address your concerns that we mislead you to believe you were booking directly through [redacted] We are a travel agency, and our product is hotel rooms. It is reasonable to expect that we would have pictures of hotels as well as information regarding them when we offer the service of making a reservation. Our website is hotels-rates.com. It is purposefully not branded as any one hotel or hotel chain. This is displayed in the url, in the header on every page of our site, and in our confirmation email. We do not claim to be the hotel or indicate that we are on our site.
When you call into our call center, unless you ask for a very specific property, our agents will offer you rooms at many different hotel chains. If a guest has a specific property in mind, it wouldn't make sense for us to try to sell them a room at a different hotel. So, in many cases when a guest knows where they want to stay the process is very straightforward. This is not meant to deceive; it is simply the nature of the process.
As I stated above, I am sorry that the front desk clerk misunderstood the situation and caused you to feel deceived and overcharged. However, they were simply mistaken and didn't understand the process.
I have also checked on your Club Home and Away membership. There doesn't seem to be record of any calls from you prior to 7/2/2015. Had you called in to cancel your membership in February all charges would have ceased at that point. We think it could be possibly that you may have called a wrong number. There is a no fuss cancel policy for Club Home and Away.
You stated in your complaint that they should have a website, phone number and email. We agree, and there is, it is http://clubhomeandaway.com and if you go there you will see that there is also a very prominently placed phone number on the page.
In addition, you should have received a welcome email when you joined that would have given you your login, password, and additional contact information for any questions regarding your membership.
We do promote the discount club to our customers because we feel that it adds a lot of benefits and discounts to our travelers. If you had reviewed the discounts available to you I believe you would see that it is very easy to save much more than the [redacted] membership charge. Since you were not aware of the website and that is where you would have found the discounts available to you it sounds as though you simply didn't understand what you could have saved over those months.
We are sorry that this happened and because it doesn't seem like you were able to benefit from the membership we have requested a full refund of [redacted] which reflects all charges to your account including the months prior to February. This will be processed today and should show in your account within 3-5 business days as well.
We hope that the steps we have taken and the explanations we've given have helped you see that we certainly do value your business. We work very hard to make sure our processes are up front and honest in all ways. We are very sorry that you didn't feel this way initially.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/05/13) */
I have personally reviewed this call into our callcenter. While I can understand how she could feel mislead, I do not believe that our agent did so intentionally.
At the beginning of the call the agent asked her for the date she would be...
checking in. She stated "I need May 6th", paused and then said "and May 7th". When the agent repeated her information he stated exactly "Checking in May 6th, 2016, checking out May 7th, 2016 with 2 adults, no children, needing 1 room, right?" At the point in that sentence when he said "checking out May 7th, 2016 with 2" she said "no", but he was still speaking. When he finished the sentence with "needing 1 room, right?" she said "yes". So, he didn't hear her say no, and only heard her say "yes" to his sentence. He was not trying to trick her by booking the wrong dates.
Two more times during the call he stated "Checking in May 6th 2016, checking out May 7th, 2016" and she never corrected him and agreed both times. I don't believe that she was being deceptive either when she agreed to the dates. I believe she must have just not been listening to what he was saying.
That being said, we have already refunded her down to the amount that she believed she should pay for one night based on the walk in rate of the hotel when she arrived. The nightly rate when she called in was $102. Rates do fluctuate based on availability. It is understandable that if the property had many empty rooms that night they could have a lower rate available.
This also is not deception on our part. We are contracted with the chains to charge set amounts. The agents have no control whatsover over these rates. They can only book what is shown to them.
It is unfortunate that the misunderstanding happened, but we believe we have already remedied the situation and actually have lost money on her reservation as we had to pay the hotel more than we charged her.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/05/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/09/27) */
I have reviewed this reservation and have found that this guest has already been refunded in full on 9/21/2016 at 10:17 am. The refund was processed and they were notified of the refund on the same day.
We agree with the guest that to list a...
pet fee at [redacted] and not mention a [redacted] deposit is ridiculous. At our urging the hotel has since updated their pet policy and it now reflects the correct charges.
We still maintain that the error was the hotel's error in how they entered their pet fee. All hotels are required to keep their information updated.
Because this was not able to be cancelled with the hotel we are still being required to pay for the room. However, we have issued Ms. [redacted] a full refund of [redacted]
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 16, 2015/08/11) */
We have reviewed the recording of Ms. [redacted]'s call. While it is distressing that she feels we were dishonest - our review of the call has determined that her claims are not supported.
We have found that two times - before her reservation...
was processed - the service fee was discussed. She was unhappy about the fee but stated that she'd "just have to go with it" because she wanted to book it right then. She wasn't locked in by us at that point. The only requirement at that point was that the fee was required if she wanted us to book the reservation for her. She did want the reservation, so the fee was charged.
Her other claim that we booked her at the standard rate rather than the [redacted] rate is also not true. I have spoken with the hotel and the standard rate for her room was [redacted] We booked her at our discounted rate of [redacted] which he said was the same as their [redacted] discounted rate for that room type. Our agent told her during the call that our discount was comparable with the [redacted] discount and it is.
We also don't show that she has ever contacted us regarding either of these issues prior to filing her complaint. Our customer service department would have been happy to help her with either of these issues. I have processed a refund of our fee in the amount of [redacted] which should show in her account within 3-5 business days. Any of our agents would have been happy to assist her with this.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 18, 2015/08/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Unfortunately, this has been made into a case of "he said -she said". We didn't tape record the phone conversation, but now, a month after our conversation, what I recall is that the reservation was made, and then I asked if there were any other fees (other than the hotel rate and taxes) and the person I spoke with then mentioned that I had incurred a non-refundable [redacted] charge. I said something like "Oh, that's [redacted]", but resigned myself because we needed the room at that point. He didn't offer to remove the fee, but switched me over to "customer service, where I was offered some kind of a monthly "deal" that I declined. Regarding the motel rate, I may have been mistaken, and confused with the state and room taxes, in comparing the advertised rate against the amount that we were charged. So I don't dispute the room rate.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 20, 2015/08/18) */
I'm afraid I don't understand why she is still unsatisfied. The fee that she requested be refunded has been refunded in full.
She also seems to be worried that this is a he said/she said situation. However, it is not. We did record the phone call and reviewed the actual recording to determine that what she is remembering isn't exactly correct. When she discussed the service fee with our agent it was before the reservation was completed and she was under no obligation to complete the reservation.
Regardless of when it was discussed, it has been refunded in full.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 22, 2015/08/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/12/10) */
I believe this is a simple case of being unfamiliar with how these prepaid hotel reservations work. The cancel policy is set by the amount of time away from the arrival date. So, regardless of when the reservation is booked, the cut off is still...
going to be related to the set number of hours prior to the arrival date check in time. Because this reservation was booked within that window - it was nonrefundable at the moment it was booked. There is no trickery involved, it is simple math.
In addition to not understanding how the cancel policies work, he seems to also not understand how rate changes work. The rate he was booked was for a total rate of $247.16. This included one night at $99.00, and one night at $109.00. At no point after the reservation was booked did the price change. He simply misunderstood that the rate was different for each night. It doesn't change the total.
I have personally reviewed his wife's call into our call center. Our agent told her the total rate - $247.16 exactly as was charged. Our agent also read her the cancel policy which was included in this complaint exactly as it is listed.
In addition to our agent explaining the rate correctly and explaining the cancel policy correctly, we received a call into our customer service center from the guest about 20 minutes after the booking. During that call, only a late check in time was discussed. If the guest had an issue with the rate or cancel policy, that would have been the time to discuss it to see if anything could be done at that time.
They chose to simply not use the room without any notice. The hotel held their room (for late arrival as they requested) giving them no chance to sell the room that night. For this reason no refund is available for them or due to them.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/12/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This agency is blaming the customers for their practices instead of owning up to the facts as put before them!
My wife tried to cancel and their response was as stated!!
Their reply was an unfair practice and should be changed.
As stated in my original complaint, after reading their cancellation policy, we tried to cancel and was told that their cancellation policy was as written and now they say we only mentioned late check in!
If this is how they handle their business affairs they should not be allowed to run a business!!
I'm not the only person that finds their policies unjust!!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/12/19) */
I believe this is a simple case of being unfamiliar with how these prepaid hotel reservations work. The cancel policy is set by the amount of time away from the arrival date. So, regardless of when the reservation is booked, the cut off is still going to be related to the set number of hours prior to the arrival date check in time. Because this reservation was booked within that window - it was nonrefundable at the moment it was booked. There is no trickery involved, it is simple math.
In addition to not understanding how the cancel policies work, he seems to also not understand how rate changes work. The rate he was booked was for a total rate of $247.16. This included one night at $99.00, and one night at $109.00. At no point after the reservation was booked did the price change. He simply misunderstood that the rate was different for each night. It doesn't change the total.
I have personally reviewed his wife's call into our call center. Our agent told her the total rate - $247.16 exactly as was charged. Our agent also read her the cancel policy which was included in this complaint exactly as it is listed.
In addition to our agent explaining the rate correctly and explaining the cancel policy correctly, we received a call into our customer service center from the guest about 20 minutes after the booking. During that call, only a late check in time was discussed. If the guest had an issue with the rate or cancel policy, that would have been the time to discuss it to see if anything could be done at that time.
They chose to simply not use the room without any notice. The hotel held their room (for late arrival as they requested) giving them no chance to sell the room that night. For this reason no refund is available for them or due to them.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2017/06/19) */
I have reviewed this reservation and I can't find anywhere that Mr. [redacted] ever contacted us regarding the service fee. We do post our phone number directly below the fee in the confirmation email.
We do clearly display the service fee...
prior to processing the reservation. As it seems that he did not see it, or did not understand the nature of the fee, I have refunded it in full. Any agent could have assisted him with this had he called and requested help.
I have also reviewed the cancel policy and while he maintains that the policy is confusing, I can't say that I agree. He is indeed entitled to a full refund of the charges for the room. He booked on June 18th and cancelled on June 19th. Both of these dates are well before Noon on Thursday, July 6th.
The remainder of the policy only deals with cancellations after that time. There is a window in which a one night penally will be applied and there is a point at which the reservation becomes non-refundable. I actually feel that this policy - out of many hotel cancellation policies, is one of the more clear policies.
I also maintain that we did not mislead Mr. [redacted] regarding who he was booking through. We are Hotels-Rates.com. He booked through our website. We are a travel agency and we use multiple suppliers to be able to offer competitive rates throughout the United States. Our agents are available to assist him with any issues either with the hotel or with [redacted]
According to the policy, he should expect a full refund for his room, and as of a few minutes ago I have processed a full refund of our service fee.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2017/02/03) */
I spoke with Mr. [redacted] yesterday and believe we have cleared up all of the confusion regarding his reservation. The rate of $165 was never quoted to him as determined by reviewing the recording of his reservation call. We are still not sure where...
this number came from. The only theory I can come up with was that it was possibly a typo when he entered the rate as $165 would be an easy thing to type instead of $176 (which was the average rate booked before taxes).
In most cases our discounted rate is very comparable to a governement rate. In his case it was not. Because of this we have resolved the situation with him.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2017/02/03) */
I spoke to the Hote-Rates.com Director of Customer Service, [redacted], on [redacted]. Hotel-Rates.com offered a refund of $[redacted] on my U.S. Government credit card and provided a receipt for the refund.
I ask that this case remains in an open status until I confirm that the refund is actually credited back to the VISA credit card. Ms. [redacted] said it would take 3-5 days. I checked on 3 FEB 2017 and the refund had not yet been processed but I was able to submit my travel voucher to the U.S. Gov't for credit card payment on the amended total.
Once the refund is credited to VISA, I am satisfied and appreciate Ms. [redacted]'s time and assistance.
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2017/02/15) */
The refund was processed. I believe that was the only remaining issue causing him to request that this issue remained open. It should be able to closed now with verification from him.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 15, 2017/02/16) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2017/02/14) */
This was actually a case of the hotel incorrectly charging the guest. We charged the guest correctly. He was able to find our contact information and we spoke with him yesterday regarding this issue. We were able to confirm with the hotel and...
Mr. [redacted] that the situation was resolved between them.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/10/13) */
I do not quite understand this complaint. Not only do we display the fee clearly before the reservation is processed, but we also have the fee displayed in all caps text, under the heading "Terms and Policies" and listed along with all of the...
other reservation details such as nights of stay, tax information, cancellation policy, etc. I would request that this guest go back to the site, re-create the booking they made (without submitting the form - just navigate to the booking form) and see the fee clearly disclosed before the reservation is submitted.
The actual text displayed is:
A $[redacted] NON-REFUNDABLE SERVICE FEE CHARGED AT TIME OF BOOKING. NOT INCLUDED IN TOTAL RATE.
It is actually even referenced directly above the "Complete Booking" button with the text:
By Clicking Complete Booking I Agree To The Terms And Policies Stated Above
In addition, as proof of our desire to be completely clear with our fee, any time a guest fails to notice our all caps fee disclosure directly in the terms and policies section, our agents are authorized to issue a courtesy credit. We were never contacted by Mr. [redacted] regarding his reservation or this fee.
It is very common in this industry to charge a service fee. Most of our competitors charge a similar booking fee. Many of them actually do not make their fee as obvious as we do. Many of them hide their fee in other areas. We feel that we give the guest the clearest picture of what they are being charged so that they can make the decision for themselves.
Our agents would have been happy to explain this to Mr. [redacted] had he contacted us before filing this complaint. I have issued a refund for the service fee as a courtesy on this reservation.
One last note, Mr. [redacted] seems to believe that we have control of redirecting users who go to hotels.com's website over to ours instead. This is simply something that is not possible. We have no control over users who navigate to a website that is not our own. We only have control of users who navigate directly to our website. In addition to this being absolutely impossible for us to do, our website clearly states our company name in the heading of the page, in the url in the address bar and in the confirmation email.
As I mentioned before, we did refund the fee based on his assertion that he did not see it on the page when he reserved.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/10/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
The hotel room was purchased through an iphone. In response, I redid exactly what you said to do taking screenshots along the way. Nowhere does it show the $[redacted] fee and if this site had the ability to upload, I would show the exhibits. I do appreciate the refund.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2016/06/08) */
I have refunded $24, but only as a courtesy. We did not offer price matching on our website, we did not mislead as to what the rate was and we should not be expected to honor contracted rates that a company the size of Expedia is able to...
negotiate.
The rate we charged the guest is the rate that we were contracted with the hotel to charge for the room on the day that she booked with us. We did not mislead her to believe we were Super 8. The hotel has every right to adjust their rates according to availability. It makes sense that if they had a cancellation they would try to sell that room any way they could in order to have maximum capacity.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 11, 2016/06/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I am getting somewhat of a refund and will continue to express concerns with Super 8. I appreciate the refund they are giving.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/07/28) */
I have reviewed your reservation and am very sorry for your frustration at the situation. Had you contacted one of our agents instead of the hotel's desk clerk we would have been happy to explain what you were seeing. The clerk was correct that...
we do receive the extra amount as our commission - but the part she left out is that the rate you saw was not a rate available to everyone.
We purchase hotel rooms at a wholesale "travel agency only" rate and then the hotels set the amount that we are to resell them for. The front desk clerk gave you our wholesale receipt by mistake. We don't have control over the markup. It is the same type of situation as when you purchase anything at retail with a minimum retail price. The supplier controls what their product can be sold for. They sell their products to dealers for less so that they can be marked up. What happened at the hotel would be like a clerk at any retail store giving you the receipt showing the wholesale cost for what you purchased. You wouldn't be eligible to purchase the items at wholesale, but knowing the price that the store pays for something would cause discomfort.
Because I do understand how unpleasant that must have been for you, I have issued a refund for $40.85. You should see this credit within 3-5 business days.
As I stated above, I am sorry that the front desk clerk misunderstood the situation and caused you to feel deceived and overcharged. However, they were simply mistaken and didn't understand the process.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/05/21) */
I'm very sorry that she has had difficulty in getting her membership cancelled. However, I'm not exactly sure how this is the case. She could have done any of these things to obtain contact information and cancel her membership:
1. Reply to...
the confirmation email with cancellation request.
2. Call the same number she called to book the hotel reservation and they could provide the phone number for Club Home & Away.
3. Go to https://www.clubhomeandaway.com and call any of the 3 toll free numbers listed on the home page
4. Call the phone number listed on her credit card/bank statement next to each charge.
Either way, Hotels-Rates.com is not Club Home and Away, we simply promote their discount program to our guests because we feel it is beneficial to them. We have not had any other complaints of guests not being able to cancel their memberships. It doesn't sound like she tried any of the above methods and we feel that they do provide ample opportunity to cancel. We have forwarded her information onto our contact and they will be working with her.
This complaint does not belong on our account however as her complaint is not with her hotel reservation. Please remove this from our listing.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 11, 2015/05/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Although they make it seem incredibly simple I never received an initial email, and I tried to Google Club Home and Away multiple times and was never able to find a website. I 'signed up' over a year ago and the details forgotten. They have cancelled my membership so I'm satisfied but was contacted by them and got an earful about how incredibly easy it is to cancel and basically blamed me and were upset that I filed a claim. I'm glad I did. Thank you for the help. I am not expecting compensation as they stated more than once that I'm obviously incompetent and can't figure out how to cancel a membership I do not want.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/08/11) */
I have personally listened to the recording of this call as I was very concerned about your claims. However, after listening to the call recording I'm concerned that possibly you may have contacted someone else rather than us in addition to this...
call.
On your call into our call center to book this reservation, I didn't find that the agent represented herself as being with [redacted] directly at all during the call. She answered the call "Hi, thank you for calling the reservation desk, this is [redacted] what city and state are you booking in today." From that point forward in the call the only information exchanged was regarding your stay and the type of room you wanted. At no point in this call was any information requested or given about who you called. She never claimed to be [redacted] and you never asked if she was.
Also, at the point you asked about the total, the reservation had not been submitted and it could have easily been stopped at that point. In your complaint you requested that we be required to allow people to cancel if they are unhappy with the rates. We certainly allow you to abandon the reservation (with no charge at all) at any point prior to it actually being booked. Once it is booked, we are required to hold to the hotel's cancel policy. In your case the reservation was already past the cancellation cut off time when you placed the reservation. It required a cancellation 2 days prior to check in and you booked the day of arrival.
You also requested in your complaint that we are required to disclose that we are a travel agency. However, our website clearly displays multiple hotels and hotel chains, our name as displayed on the page and in all confirmation emails doesn't indicate any one chain or hotel. I believe that you possibly assumed that you were calling the hotel and were therefore disposed to believe we were a specific property. Our agent did nothing during the call to indicate this to you.
That being said, we did find several issues with your call regarding the way our agent received your information. The agent did not follow the correct procedures to verify your dates, room type, or ask you if there was any additional information you wanted to provide her. She did indicate that the [redacted] included taxes and fees - but she did not correctly explain the booking fee to you. We take these details very seriously and the agent who took your call is no longer with our company.
Because of the failure of our agent to follow our very strict guidelines during your call, even though her mistakes were not what you filed the dispute about, we have issued you a refund in the amount of [redacted] was refunded on 7/14/2015 and an additional [redacted] was refunded on 7/17/2015). This brings your total paid for the reservation to [redacted] which is lower than the [redacted] you believe you should have paid.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/08/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I find that this businesses response does not accurately reflect what occurred during the booking process. At this time I realize that it is a matter of the consumer's word against the word of the company.
My complaint against this company stands as I had originally stated. While I did receive the refund as they stated, it took a great deal of time and effort to acquire the [redacted] which was overcharged to me.
The company did misrepresent themselves and overcharged me. They did represent themselves as the Microtel reservations office and they did state that the reservation could not be cancelled because it had already been submitted.
In short, the business continues to deny the reality of the events and take responsibility for the majority of the original complaint that I filed.
My complaint against this company stands as I originally filed.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/08/14) */
I understand that this guest believes their recollection of the call to be accurate. I do not believe they are being intentionally dishonest.
However, this is not a case of our word against his. We listened to the actual recordings of the calls and the recordings do not support what he claims. Our agent never represented herself as the Microtel. Not one time. Her exact words were:
"Hi, thank you for calling the reservation desk, this is [redacted]. What city and state are you booking in today."
Our agent did give him the rate information before booking it. They discussed the total rate, that it included taxes and fees, and he said it seemed high. She indicated to him that the rate he saw online wouldn't have included taxes and fees and if he continued with the process online the total would end up about the same. He then said "Wow, ok well, let's book it anyway". There wasn't much discussion. She could have explained it better, but he moved on with that statement and so she proceeded with booking his reservation as he requested.
The exact exchange was:
Agent: Yep, there is a 1 Queen Bed, Smoking Room, Free hot breakfast, Free Wi-fi and that would be [redacted]
Mr. [redacted]: On the website it said [redacted]
Agent: Yes, we have the same price except mine includes all the taxes and fees. So if you put in all the dates and everything and tried to book it, it would end up being the same price.
Mr. [redacted]: OK, Taxes are high then.
Said at the same time:
Agent: Yeah, it includes all the taxes and state taxes too.
Mr. [redacted]: That's like 50%.
Mr. [redacted]: Wow, ok well, let's book it anyway.
Agent: Ok, what is your first name?
The agent proceeded with getting his information for making the reservation. She gave him the confirmation number and he indicated that he had it and then asked for the customer service number. She gave it to him and that was the end of their call.
At no time during this call did he try to stop the reservation. At no time during this call was he told he couldn't cancel because she had already submitted it. He didn't even ask.
I have reviewed all of his calls into our customer service department. At no time did he request to cancel. And therefore at no time was he told that he couldn't because it had already been submitted.
In his first call into our customer service department on 7/14 he indicated to our agent that he had forgotten to mention to the agent that he had an [redacted] and [redacted] membership and was hoping for an additional discount. He wasn't happy with the rate we booked. Our agent almost immediately offered him a [redacted] discount as a courtesy because he wasn't happy with the rate he booked. It required next to no effort on his part. He is claiming that he had to work very hard for the discounts we gave him. This is simply not supported by the recordings.
The next time we spoke with him was 7/16 - two days after his stay. He spoke with [redacted] who spoke with him about his concerns. He told [redacted] that he believed the agent had answered the phone as [redacted] Reservations". She set the call up for a call review and did an excellent job of explaining our relationship as a 3rd party affiliate. He seemed to understand. He voiced a concern about not receiving a smoking room and she added that to the call review request. At no time during that call did he request nor seem to expect any additional refund.
We spoke with him next when he called back after we left a message with his call review results. Our review had found that the agent never represented herself as the [redacted] but that she had booked him a non-smoking room when it should have been a smoking room. During this call he explained again that he felt strongly that she had said Microtel. He also said he felt strongly that our agent never said "fees".
However, in the recording, she did not answer the phone that way. Also, she does clearly say "taxes and fees". She could have done a better job at explaining the fees, but she definitely stated "taxes and fees". The entire fee was refunded because she didn't follow our very strict policy for how to disclose the fee. The remaining [redacted] was refunded to him without any request from him. Again, this does not go along with his claim that he had to work very hard for the refunds that we gave him.
As I stated in my original response, based on his claims and certainty that he heard [redacted] Reservations" and that he was told he couldn't cancel, I can only assume that at some point he called Microtel directly or a different phone number entirely and must be remembering that call.
I have personally listened to all calls that he made into our company and not one time did he ask any of our agents to cancel his reservation. Not one time did any of our agents answer the call [redacted] Reservations".
Every request that he has made in order to be satisfied is already part of our policy. We do require that our agents disclose the service fee, we do require that our agents never represent themselves as being from a specific hotel or chain, and we do already allow anyone to abandon a reservation at any point before the reservation is submitted with no charge whatsoever.
I am sorry that his recollection of these phone calls is so disturbing. However, it simply isn't accurate.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 15, 2015/08/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I found the last response to be very comprehensive and mostly accurate. I stand by my initial recollections that the call was answered [redacted] reservations. I continue to believe that the call should have been answered "Hotel Rates reservations" so that it would have been clear to me that I was dealing with a third party booking agency. Had it been made clear to me that I was not communicating with [redacted] own reservation office I would have immediately terminated any further discussion.
The response finally acknowledged that the agent could have done a better job of explaining the fees. At least that gives me some indication that they are willing to accept partial responsibility for what transpired.
I am not seeking any additional financial compensation from this company. My goal in filing this complaint is to have the company accurately represent themselves up front and accurately disclose the fees they charge at the beginning of any transaction. I am seeking to protect other consumers from, what I consider to be, deceptive practices of this company.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/08) */
I have personally reviewed this issue and determined that something was missed during the initial call review that our Quality Assurance department performed.
When reviewing the call, our Quality Assurance department found that the...
booking agent stated that this reservation would be charged at the time of booking twice before asking you to agree to the terms and policies. Additionally, your cancellation policy was stated verbatim, "You May Cancel Your Reservation For A Full Refund Minus A [redacted] Cancellation Fee If Cancelled Prior To 06/08/XXXX XX:XX Pm (Central Time). Any Cancellation Made After This Time Is Nonrefundable." Because these policies were disclosed verbatim, and you agreed to the terms and policies before the reservation was confirmed, the Quality Assurance department determined that it was not agent error that caused you to no realize that your reservation was a pre-paid (paid at the time of reservation - not check in) type of reservation.
However, when I reviewed the call, I caught that after the reservation had been booked (also after you had agreed to the terms), it seems like you had moment where you realized you weren't sure about when the reservation would be charged. The agent asked if you had a pencil for your confirmation number and after you stated you didn't, you said "And you guys charge the card when we get down there right?" It was at that point that our agent made a confusing statement regarding the reservation being prepaid. She replied "Yes"- which wasn't correct. After reviewing the call with her we have determined that she answered you without hearing you clearly. We are addressing this with her. Of course, it is expected that our agent would not only properly disclose these policies, but also remain consistent in explaining them to you. Due to this miscommunication after the reservation was booked - but still at a point when the charge could have been voided had she answered you correctly - we have agreed to refund your overdraft fees in full.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/05/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
As long as the overdraft fees are refunded in full in a timely fashion, I am accept their response.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 17, 2016/01/07) */
I'm sorry for the delay on responding to this complaint. We have reviewed the call into our callcenter and determined that while our agent did properly disclose that the reservation was going to be charged immediately, they did not properly...
read the cancel policy to the guest.
For this reason we are willing to reimburse the guest for the charges they received from Travelweb for this stay. Our only delay is confirming if they have already secured a refund through the chargeback process. If a chargeback has not been processed for them we will issue a credit from our end.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 19, 2016/01/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am not sure if they mean only the 21.99 fee or the total amount they charged that adds $193.76. The total paid to them $215.75. No motel will not deal with us because they collected no money from us. The Only charges we received were from Hotel-Rates.com I expect the full $215.75 back from them.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2016/01/12) */
Yes, we did mean a full refund. We only needed to clarify if a refund had been secured through a chargeback as was discussed on the call into our service center. We processed a refund for $21.99 which was the only amount actually charged by us back on 12/6/2015.
The remaining amount was charged by Priceline as the rate booked was a rate that we are able to book through them, but because the error was our agent's error and not theirs, we are compensating you for the amount they charged you. We simply needed to verify that a refund had not already been processed for you by them.
A credit in the amount of $193.76 has been processed today and you should see it in your account within 3-5 business days.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/07/14) */
I have reviewed your reservation and am very sorry for your frustration at the situation. The front desk clerk was incorrect in telling you that they don't sell their rooms for the room rate we charged you. The real issue here is that we...
purchase hotel rooms at a wholesale "travel agency only" rate and then the hotels set the amount that we are to resell them for. The front desk clerk saw our wholesale rate in the system and misunderstood. It sounds like they stated that it was one you could book yourself. This is simply not the case. We don't have control over the price that we sell the rooms for - the hotel chains control it. However, I can completely understand your frustration when someone who is working at the hotel tells you something like this that is completely incorrect. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of turnover at hotel front desks and often inexperienced clerks assume they understand what they are seeing when they really don't know how the process works.
It is the same type of situation as when you purchase anything at retail with a minimum retail price. The supplier controls what their product can be sold for. They sell their products to dealers for less so that they can be marked up. What happened at the hotel would be like a clerk at any retail store giving you the receipt showing the wholesale cost for what you purchased. You wouldn't be eligible to purchase the items at wholesale, but knowing the price that the store pays for something would naturally cause discomfort.
Because I do understand how unpleasant that must have been for you, I have issued a refund for [redacted] You should see this credit within 3-5 business days.
I would also like to address your concerns that we mislead you to believe you were booking directly through [redacted] We are a travel agency, and our product is hotel rooms. It is reasonable to expect that we would have pictures of hotels as well as information regarding them when we offer the service of making a reservation. Our website is hotels-rates.com. It is purposefully not branded as any one hotel or hotel chain. This is displayed in the url, in the header on every page of our site, and in our confirmation email. We do not claim to be the hotel or indicate that we are on our site.
When you call into our call center, unless you ask for a very specific property, our agents will offer you rooms at many different hotel chains. If a guest has a specific property in mind, it wouldn't make sense for us to try to sell them a room at a different hotel. So, in many cases when a guest knows where they want to stay the process is very straightforward. This is not meant to deceive; it is simply the nature of the process.
As I stated above, I am sorry that the front desk clerk misunderstood the situation and caused you to feel deceived and overcharged. However, they were simply mistaken and didn't understand the process.
I have also checked on your Club Home and Away membership. There doesn't seem to be record of any calls from you prior to 7/2/2015. Had you called in to cancel your membership in February all charges would have ceased at that point. We think it could be possibly that you may have called a wrong number. There is a no fuss cancel policy for Club Home and Away.
You stated in your complaint that they should have a website, phone number and email. We agree, and there is, it is http://clubhomeandaway.com and if you go there you will see that there is also a very prominently placed phone number on the page.
In addition, you should have received a welcome email when you joined that would have given you your login, password, and additional contact information for any questions regarding your membership.
We do promote the discount club to our customers because we feel that it adds a lot of benefits and discounts to our travelers. If you had reviewed the discounts available to you I believe you would see that it is very easy to save much more than the [redacted] membership charge. Since you were not aware of the website and that is where you would have found the discounts available to you it sounds as though you simply didn't understand what you could have saved over those months.
We are sorry that this happened and because it doesn't seem like you were able to benefit from the membership we have requested a full refund of [redacted] which reflects all charges to your account including the months prior to February. This will be processed today and should show in your account within 3-5 business days as well.
We hope that the steps we have taken and the explanations we've given have helped you see that we certainly do value your business. We work very hard to make sure our processes are up front and honest in all ways. We are very sorry that you didn't feel this way initially.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/05/13) */
I have personally reviewed this call into our callcenter. While I can understand how she could feel mislead, I do not believe that our agent did so intentionally.
At the beginning of the call the agent asked her for the date she would be...
checking in. She stated "I need May 6th", paused and then said "and May 7th". When the agent repeated her information he stated exactly "Checking in May 6th, 2016, checking out May 7th, 2016 with 2 adults, no children, needing 1 room, right?" At the point in that sentence when he said "checking out May 7th, 2016 with 2" she said "no", but he was still speaking. When he finished the sentence with "needing 1 room, right?" she said "yes". So, he didn't hear her say no, and only heard her say "yes" to his sentence. He was not trying to trick her by booking the wrong dates.
Two more times during the call he stated "Checking in May 6th 2016, checking out May 7th, 2016" and she never corrected him and agreed both times. I don't believe that she was being deceptive either when she agreed to the dates. I believe she must have just not been listening to what he was saying.
That being said, we have already refunded her down to the amount that she believed she should pay for one night based on the walk in rate of the hotel when she arrived. The nightly rate when she called in was $102. Rates do fluctuate based on availability. It is understandable that if the property had many empty rooms that night they could have a lower rate available.
This also is not deception on our part. We are contracted with the chains to charge set amounts. The agents have no control whatsover over these rates. They can only book what is shown to them.
It is unfortunate that the misunderstanding happened, but we believe we have already remedied the situation and actually have lost money on her reservation as we had to pay the hotel more than we charged her.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/05/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/09/27) */
I have reviewed this reservation and have found that this guest has already been refunded in full on 9/21/2016 at 10:17 am. The refund was processed and they were notified of the refund on the same day.
We agree with the guest that to list a...
pet fee at [redacted] and not mention a [redacted] deposit is ridiculous. At our urging the hotel has since updated their pet policy and it now reflects the correct charges.
We still maintain that the error was the hotel's error in how they entered their pet fee. All hotels are required to keep their information updated.
Because this was not able to be cancelled with the hotel we are still being required to pay for the room. However, we have issued Ms. [redacted] a full refund of [redacted]
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 16, 2015/08/11) */
We have reviewed the recording of Ms. [redacted]'s call. While it is distressing that she feels we were dishonest - our review of the call has determined that her claims are not supported.
We have found that two times - before her reservation...
was processed - the service fee was discussed. She was unhappy about the fee but stated that she'd "just have to go with it" because she wanted to book it right then. She wasn't locked in by us at that point. The only requirement at that point was that the fee was required if she wanted us to book the reservation for her. She did want the reservation, so the fee was charged.
Her other claim that we booked her at the standard rate rather than the [redacted] rate is also not true. I have spoken with the hotel and the standard rate for her room was [redacted] We booked her at our discounted rate of [redacted] which he said was the same as their [redacted] discounted rate for that room type. Our agent told her during the call that our discount was comparable with the [redacted] discount and it is.
We also don't show that she has ever contacted us regarding either of these issues prior to filing her complaint. Our customer service department would have been happy to help her with either of these issues. I have processed a refund of our fee in the amount of [redacted] which should show in her account within 3-5 business days. Any of our agents would have been happy to assist her with this.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 18, 2015/08/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Unfortunately, this has been made into a case of "he said -she said". We didn't tape record the phone conversation, but now, a month after our conversation, what I recall is that the reservation was made, and then I asked if there were any other fees (other than the hotel rate and taxes) and the person I spoke with then mentioned that I had incurred a non-refundable [redacted] charge. I said something like "Oh, that's [redacted]", but resigned myself because we needed the room at that point. He didn't offer to remove the fee, but switched me over to "customer service, where I was offered some kind of a monthly "deal" that I declined. Regarding the motel rate, I may have been mistaken, and confused with the state and room taxes, in comparing the advertised rate against the amount that we were charged. So I don't dispute the room rate.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 20, 2015/08/18) */
I'm afraid I don't understand why she is still unsatisfied. The fee that she requested be refunded has been refunded in full.
She also seems to be worried that this is a he said/she said situation. However, it is not. We did record the phone call and reviewed the actual recording to determine that what she is remembering isn't exactly correct. When she discussed the service fee with our agent it was before the reservation was completed and she was under no obligation to complete the reservation.
Regardless of when it was discussed, it has been refunded in full.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 22, 2015/08/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)