Hotels.com

[BoredBloke]

What a crock!

On Saturday I booked a stay at this apart-hotel thing in Annemasse - paid and got the confirmation. Last night I arrived at the hotel. No 24 hour reception but they did have a 24 check in machine. Punched in my details and no record found. Called the hotel security who said I should find another hotel for the night. It's a good job I know the place a little. Called hotels.com and was on my mobile, from France for about an hour on hold. Each time they tried to transfer my call they lost the connection. In the end I booked into another hotel as it was now 12:15am - that is when they called me to say that I could stay at another hotel over on the other side of town.

I called their customer services and spoke to Kevin in India and he offered me a refund of the first nights stay and 30 quid to cover my costs and hassle. I said that the call charges alone were greater than this. He came back with an offer of 31 quid! I told him that I wanted to speak to his manager (he was already the manager of the first person I spoke to) and he said that there wasn't one available. I asked to be put through to the UK but he couldn't do that. He said the best option would be to email their customer services.

No the best option is to avoid the useless to55ers in the first place.

[Menelaus]

Sorry to hear that you had such a tulipty time.

Do you have any opinion on laterooms.com? Some people rave about how good they are, others have the precise opposite opinion.

[BoredBloke]

I've used laterooms a few times and they have been pretty good each time I have used them. Hotels.com are tulip though. Their customer service is non existant. It's a good job I didn't hyave kids with me or it was bad weather or was a single woman, stranded at that time of night

[Brussels Slumdog]

Aparthotels in General

What a crock!

On Saturday I booked a stay at this apart-hotel thing in Annemasse - paid and got the confirmation. Last night I arrived at the hotel. No 24 hour reception but they did have a 24 check in machine. Punched in my details and no record found. Called the hotel security who said I should find another hotel for the night. It's a good job I know the place a little. Called hotels.com and was on my mobile, from France for about an hour on hold. Each time they tried to transfer my call they lost the connection. In the end I booked into another hotel as it was now 12:15am - that is when they called me to say that I could stay at another hotel over on the other side of town.

I called their customer services and spoke to Kevin in India and he offered me a refund of the first nights stay and 30 quid to cover my costs and hassle. I said that the call charges alone were greater than this. He came back with an offer of 31 quid! I told him that I wanted to speak to his manager (he was already the manager of the first person I spoke to) and he said that there wasn't one available. I asked to be put through to the UK but he couldn't do that. He said the best option would be to email their customer services.

No the best option is to avoid the useless to55ers in the first place.

My Advice to contractors is to always book the first night in a normal hotel
for the first night and then book into an aparthotel the next day for the remainder of your stay when the reception opens.
The Aparthotel I used in Basel provided me with a code to retrieve my key which worked. Others were not so lucky.

[BoredBloke]

I had stayed there a couple of weeks before but it was a little too far away from where I'm working. But as I hadn't sorted any accomodation for this week and saw it on Hotels.com I figured it's better the devil you know. Last time I'd booked direct but this time through a 3rd party. Never again.

[Menelaus]

I had stayed there a couple of weeks before but it was a little too far away from where I'm working. But as I hadn't sorted any accomodation for this week and saw it on Hotels.com I figured it's better the devil you know. Last time I'd booked direct but this time through a 3rd party. Never again.

did you get it sorted eventually, viz getting money back beyond the derisory £31 offer?

[BoredBloke]

Just called again. Their bloke says 'Jordan' says that they will refund me the night I didn't stay there. I told him that is the least I'd expect. I have told him I want that refunded, the amount it cost me to stay at Hotel 2 and something to cover the hour on the phone @34p per min and my inconv.

He says he'll call in 2 hours

Why do they all have pretend English names. It doesn't fool anybody!

[BoredBloke]

'Jordan' has been back on and now they are giving me 69 to cover the hotel I couldn't stay at, 45 to cover the cost of the one I did and 15 to cover the cost of my calls! 129 in all and the knowledge that I won't ever use them again!