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> If the hotel screws you around in any way it's now the OTA's problem We're just in the process of trying to sort out a dispute with a hotel we booked via boo

> If the hotel screws you around in any way it's now the OTA's problem We're just in the process of trying to sort out a dispute with a hotel we booked via booking.com. It doesn't feel like it's booking.com's problem, but rather ours. We were essentially forced to pay for full 7 nights even though we stayed only one, after it wasn't possible to stay any longer with a non-functioning toilet. Not to mention false information published on booking.com. > or make sure you have somewhere else to stay because you're now their customer That's interesting. In our case booking.com has never offered any such help. We went by ourselves to try to find alternative accommodation. Not that it makes a huge difference, but it is our honeymoon so I'm sure yo'd agree there are many better ways to spend it... So far you guys are trying to help, but I can't say that the problem is resolved or that it feels like you're treating it as your problem. To quote a part of the latest email from booking.com on this: > ... the hotels themselves are responsible for all the information provided to you. Booking.com acts as an intermediary between the guest and the hotel and is therefore responsible for delivering the reservation correctly to the hotel. Once the hotel has confirmed the reservation it then becomes their responsibility to accommodate the guests.

krenoten 14y ago
It sounds like you dealt with a rotten hotel, sorry for your experience. Unfortunately, the OTA is only as accurate as the hotelier filling in information about their property.
- lazyjones 14y ago
  Hmm... I'd like to see the ratings for that hotel on booking.com, because I wonder whether such experiences are actually avoidable using the mechanisms (user to user ratings) provided.
  - gingerlime 14y ago
    In our case the reviews were really great. One of the reasons we chose this place. We can't prove anything, but to put it mildly, I have a feeling not all reviews were genuine.
    - lazyjones 14y ago
      I'm not using any of these services (expedia or booking.com), but have heard similar things several times ... "Genuine" reviews are a difficult problem to solve though, even if you have the identity of actual "customers" at your disposal. The price of one stellar review is then basically the cut of the referring website, when e.g. a hotel employee "books" a stay at that hotel just to be able to give it a positive review.
      - calbear81 14y ago
        Actually, the one thing that separates the OTAs is that their reviews are "verified" and are submitted by guests who have completed reservations at that property so they are supposed to be a lot better. If you compare this to Tripadvisor, anyone can submit a review so they have to deal with more fraud.
        krenoten 14y ago
        There are also several OTA's that decide to carry fewer hotels, and actually send an employee there undercover to check it out first before doing business with them. At the one I work at, we also look for hotels that cause lots of people to need to call customer service and remove them. We don't have as many hotels in as many places, but our target customers are the travelers who refuse to stay in subpar hotels.
- chris_wot 14y ago
  So in other words, use hotel.com at your peril, because the sole reason to use the website is probably broken. And hotel.com won't do anything about it. I won't be using them!
avar 14y ago
I work in IT which is pretty removed from customer service, but if you send me some details at the E-Mail listed in my profile I could see if I could find someone to poke about this if needed. I'll be back at work on Thursday.
- gingerlime 14y ago
  Thanks avar. Just sent you an email. It's rather encouraging to see someone from IT stepping in to defend their company. It shows a lot about the company. Still hoping for a positive resolution on this one.
- mistermann 14y ago
  This will only be addressed because this case has publicity. Have you considered that you may have been drinking some kool-aid?
  - bryanh 14y ago
    On Christmas the gentleman offered to pass along customer information for a warm intro to a customer service representative. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't. It's not his job to troll forums and solve customer problems but yet he still offered. Have you considered you may be a rude and cynical person?
    - mistermann 14y ago
      I know I'm rude and cynical. My point was that he believes his company truly cares in a very big way about these things, when it doesn't. If this particular item gets resolved, it would only be because of the publicity. If he truly believes his company genuinely values customer service, it would be more interesting for him to stick around and explain why the problem doesn't get solved as the complainer tries to work his way through it with no outside assistance. Getting someone to solve a problem from the inside is useful only to the single person with a problem.
  - gingerlime 14y ago
    I understand the sentiment, albeit cynical. I would also feel guilty if it means that I got what I want, but most customers will get screwed over, only because this got publicized. That being said, OTAs have to operate in an online world, when complaints such as mine can easily get publicity and it ends up hurting the OTAs business. So the OTA can play whack-a-mole and deal only with the cases that get public attention, or it can realise it's much better off always keeping its customers happy (on both side of the fence). I am hoping that these cases and others help sway OTAs to do The Right Thing (TM), rather than constantly do fire-fighting.

krenoten 14y ago

It sounds like you dealt with a rotten hotel, sorry for your experience. Unfortunately, the OTA is only as accurate as the hotelier filling in information about their property.

lazyjones 14y ago
Hmm... I'd like to see the ratings for that hotel on booking.com, because I wonder whether such experiences are actually avoidable using the mechanisms (user to user ratings) provided.
- gingerlime 14y ago
  In our case the reviews were really great. One of the reasons we chose this place. We can't prove anything, but to put it mildly, I have a feeling not all reviews were genuine.
  - lazyjones 14y ago
    I'm not using any of these services (expedia or booking.com), but have heard similar things several times ... "Genuine" reviews are a difficult problem to solve though, even if you have the identity of actual "customers" at your disposal. The price of one stellar review is then basically the cut of the referring website, when e.g. a hotel employee "books" a stay at that hotel just to be able to give it a positive review.
    - calbear81 14y ago
      Actually, the one thing that separates the OTAs is that their reviews are "verified" and are submitted by guests who have completed reservations at that property so they are supposed to be a lot better. If you compare this to Tripadvisor, anyone can submit a review so they have to deal with more fraud.
      - krenoten 14y ago
        There are also several OTA's that decide to carry fewer hotels, and actually send an employee there undercover to check it out first before doing business with them. At the one I work at, we also look for hotels that cause lots of people to need to call customer service and remove them. We don't have as many hotels in as many places, but our target customers are the travelers who refuse to stay in subpar hotels.
chris_wot 14y ago
So in other words, use hotel.com at your peril, because the sole reason to use the website is probably broken. And hotel.com won't do anything about it. I won't be using them!

avar 14y ago

I work in IT which is pretty removed from customer service, but if you send me some details at the E-Mail listed in my profile I could see if I could find someone to poke about this if needed. I'll be back at work on Thursday.

gingerlime 14y ago
Thanks avar. Just sent you an email. It's rather encouraging to see someone from IT stepping in to defend their company. It shows a lot about the company. Still hoping for a positive resolution on this one.
mistermann 14y ago
This will only be addressed because this case has publicity. Have you considered that you may have been drinking some kool-aid?
- bryanh 14y ago
  On Christmas the gentleman offered to pass along customer information for a warm intro to a customer service representative. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't. It's not his job to troll forums and solve customer problems but yet he still offered. Have you considered you may be a rude and cynical person?
  - mistermann 14y ago
    I know I'm rude and cynical. My point was that he believes his company truly cares in a very big way about these things, when it doesn't. If this particular item gets resolved, it would only be because of the publicity. If he truly believes his company genuinely values customer service, it would be more interesting for him to stick around and explain why the problem doesn't get solved as the complainer tries to work his way through it with no outside assistance. Getting someone to solve a problem from the inside is useful only to the single person with a problem.
- gingerlime 14y ago
  I understand the sentiment, albeit cynical. I would also feel guilty if it means that I got what I want, but most customers will get screwed over, only because this got publicized. That being said, OTAs have to operate in an online world, when complaints such as mine can easily get publicity and it ends up hurting the OTAs business. So the OTA can play whack-a-mole and deal only with the cases that get public attention, or it can realise it's much better off always keeping its customers happy (on both side of the fence). I am hoping that these cases and others help sway OTAs to do The Right Thing (TM), rather than constantly do fire-fighting.