6 ms·

I disagree with both you and the columnist that somehow the poor quality of the hotel is in any way relevant to this story. She had, in the practical if not pr

I disagree with both you and the columnist that somehow the poor quality of the hotel is in any way relevant to this story. She had, in the practical if not precise legal sense, a contract with Booking.com that she would pay them $150, and they would ensure she had a room at a specific hotel for that night. Regardless of whether she'd booked the Ritz Carlton or a crummy Quality Inn, she had paid Booking.com for a night in a hotel. They were responsible to deliver that to her. Halfway decent customer service would have, at the very least, entailed a room at the closest available equivalent or better hotel (not difficult in this case since it sounds like just about any property would qualify) and the cost of transportation there and back. On another note to travelers: don't book hotels through an OTA (Online Travel Agency like Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor and the like) unless you have to. Nearly every property in America now has a "best price guarantee" that lets you get the best possible price direct from them. And you'll often additionally be eligible to earn status and points on the hotel's own program. DO book direct with the hotel/chain, or a traditional travel agent for higher-end properties who might have access to increased perks (aka Signature Travel, FHR etc.), and DO pay with a credit card that offers trip insurance so that if you find yourself in a situation like the above, you have some coverage.

nl 4y ago
It's good advice to book directly with hotels, but way too many don't make it easy to get this "best price guarantee" online as easily as via booking.com.
lmm 4y ago
> On another note to travelers: don't book hotels through an OTA (Online Travel Agency like Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor and the like) unless you have to. Nearly every property in America now has a "best price guarantee" that lets you get the best possible price direct from them. And you'll often additionally be eligible to earn status and points on the hotel's own program. None of that's worth the hassle of booking directly. Go to the hotel site. Skip the intro video. Find the booking button under two levels of menus. Try to figure out what their cancellation terms are... nope, haha, good luck. Enter your name, address (your browser has autofill but if you use it their javascript highlights all the fields as having errors), credit card information and three security questions. Bzzt, your 8-character password didn't have a numeral and a special character, re-enter all your information again. Bzzt, ' is not an allowed password character, re-enter all your information again. There you are, you're booked, now just unsubscribe from their mailing list and delete the 3 spam mails they've already sent you and you're good. Oh, you booked with the wrong card? No problem, just click the link in your confirmation email, enter all your information and... haha, no, psych, the form just gives you an error page. Find their contact information under three levels of menus, email them, wait a week, and you'll get 2 more spam mails from the mailing list you already unsubscribed from, but no actual reply, nope. Wouldn't want you to miss out on having to make an international call. Screw that crap. Booking.com all the way.
- imgabe 4y ago
  It's not that hard. And you get the benefit that they actually book the hotel room. I'm kind of mystified how Booking.com was able to say they booked a room at this hotel, when they apparently never even contacted the hotel to reserve the room. Clearly if they had contacted them, they would have learned that it was turned into a homeless shelter and not available.
  - lmm 4y ago
    > It's not that hard. And you get the benefit that they actually book the hotel room. Haha no you don't. Hotels "forgetting" bookings that you made directly on their website absolutely happens. I'd be willing to bet that it happens (proportionately) more often than losing a booking that you made via a big aggregator. > I'm kind of mystified how Booking.com was able to say they booked a room at this hotel, when they apparently never even contacted the hotel to reserve the room. Clearly if they had contacted them, they would have learned that it was turned into a homeless shelter and not available. They might have had a standing allocation of rooms from the hotel, or they might have contacted the owners and had them straight-up lie about the hotel still operating. Certainly the article is describing a monumental fuck-up; as with any large system failure I suspect multiple things went wrong for this to happen.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      > Haha no you don't. Hotels "forgetting" bookings that you made directly on their website absolutely happens. If this happens at any major brand (Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/IHG/Choice/etc), you will get sent a check for the expenses you incurred that night if you call the 800 number. If those hotels are unable to accommodate your reservation for whatever reason, they are supposed to “walk” you to an equivalent hotel at their expense, including travel to and from the other and pay for your stay at the other hotel for 1 night and not charge you at all of course.
      - lmm 4y ago
        Not how it actually works out in my experience. Maybe if I'd been more persistent I'd've got some more money back, but it sounds like the person in the article was also offered more money once they were more persistent, so that doesn't seem like a clear win for direct booking.
Bakary 4y ago
I'm sympathetic to the client as I want large companies to be held accountable, however it's frustrating to read that she pretty much didn't even do 5 minutes of homework. It's the is/ought distinction
- themitigating 4y ago
  Should small companies be held to the same accountability
  - Bakary 4y ago
    They usually are held to a higher standard by default because they have fewer or no resources to defend themselves. Or rather the larger companies are held to a lower standard than could be expected
fortran77 4y ago
It was not operating as a hotel, according to the article.

nl 4y ago

It's good advice to book directly with hotels, but way too many don't make it easy to get this "best price guarantee" online as easily as via booking.com.

lmm 4y ago

> On another note to travelers: don't book hotels through an OTA (Online Travel Agency like Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor and the like) unless you have to. Nearly every property in America now has a "best price guarantee" that lets you get the best possible price direct from them. And you'll often additionally be eligible to earn status and points on the hotel's own program. None of that's worth the hassle of booking directly. Go to the hotel site. Skip the intro video. Find the booking button under two levels of menus. Try to figure out what their cancellation terms are... nope, haha, good luck. Enter your name, address (your browser has autofill but if you use it their javascript highlights all the fields as having errors), credit card information and three security questions. Bzzt, your 8-character password didn't have a numeral and a special character, re-enter all your information again. Bzzt, ' is not an allowed password character, re-enter all your information again. There you are, you're booked, now just unsubscribe from their mailing list and delete the 3 spam mails they've already sent you and you're good. Oh, you booked with the wrong card? No problem, just click the link in your confirmation email, enter all your information and... haha, no, psych, the form just gives you an error page. Find their contact information under three levels of menus, email them, wait a week, and you'll get 2 more spam mails from the mailing list you already unsubscribed from, but no actual reply, nope. Wouldn't want you to miss out on having to make an international call. Screw that crap. Booking.com all the way.

imgabe 4y ago
It's not that hard. And you get the benefit that they actually book the hotel room. I'm kind of mystified how Booking.com was able to say they booked a room at this hotel, when they apparently never even contacted the hotel to reserve the room. Clearly if they had contacted them, they would have learned that it was turned into a homeless shelter and not available.
- lmm 4y ago
  > It's not that hard. And you get the benefit that they actually book the hotel room. Haha no you don't. Hotels "forgetting" bookings that you made directly on their website absolutely happens. I'd be willing to bet that it happens (proportionately) more often than losing a booking that you made via a big aggregator. > I'm kind of mystified how Booking.com was able to say they booked a room at this hotel, when they apparently never even contacted the hotel to reserve the room. Clearly if they had contacted them, they would have learned that it was turned into a homeless shelter and not available. They might have had a standing allocation of rooms from the hotel, or they might have contacted the owners and had them straight-up lie about the hotel still operating. Certainly the article is describing a monumental fuck-up; as with any large system failure I suspect multiple things went wrong for this to happen.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    > Haha no you don't. Hotels "forgetting" bookings that you made directly on their website absolutely happens. If this happens at any major brand (Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/IHG/Choice/etc), you will get sent a check for the expenses you incurred that night if you call the 800 number. If those hotels are unable to accommodate your reservation for whatever reason, they are supposed to “walk” you to an equivalent hotel at their expense, including travel to and from the other and pay for your stay at the other hotel for 1 night and not charge you at all of course.
    - lmm 4y ago
      Not how it actually works out in my experience. Maybe if I'd been more persistent I'd've got some more money back, but it sounds like the person in the article was also offered more money once they were more persistent, so that doesn't seem like a clear win for direct booking.

Bakary 4y ago

I'm sympathetic to the client as I want large companies to be held accountable, however it's frustrating to read that she pretty much didn't even do 5 minutes of homework. It's the is/ought distinction

themitigating 4y ago
Should small companies be held to the same accountability
- Bakary 4y ago
  They usually are held to a higher standard by default because they have fewer or no resources to defend themselves. Or rather the larger companies are held to a lower standard than could be expected

fortran77 4y ago

It was not operating as a hotel, according to the article.