New secret hotel site launches in UK

andyzdeman

I am pretty lazy when it comes to booking stuff, so my girlfriend and I ended up booking our flights and hotel the very night before leaving for a trip to Amsterdam. We checked flights and there were places for the 10:20am the next day - sorted. Then we had a look at lastminute.com and used the sneaky way of finding out all the "secret hotels" on there. We'd kind of chosen one before I remembered your piece on one of the early shows of the new tv programme. I think it was actually about getting extra bids for secret hotel rooms which i'd never tried before.

Anyway I went on to MSE.com to find the details again, but got distracted by the Hotwire.com info and their secret hotels we hadn't seen before. This included what we were pretty sure should be the rather nice Grand Hotel Amrath Amsterdam. This was a perfectly situated, 5 star, well reviewed hotel at a mega bargain rate. We checked and checked again to make sure we minimised the risk of booking incorrectly only to find it was a different secret hotel. We were convinced since the stars, tripadvisor rating and number of reviews matched it could only be the Amrath. We double checked the rate of the room via the hotel's website and the saving was genuine. When I noticed an "only one room left" warning on Hotwire I rushed to book.

My first two debit cards and my girlfriend's debit and credit cards didn't work on the online booking so my girlfriend hurriedly called the number on the website instead while I took a call from my bank fraud prevention team who had flagged the multiple reattempted transactions as suspicious. The guy on the call took the card details and the same problem occured with all three debit cards again. Thankfully this time my girlfriend had luck with her credit card. The man confirmed that the secret hotel was indeed the Grand Hotel Amrath! Whoohoo! Shortly afterwards I received a confirmation email from Hotwire confirming a 4 night stay.

So far so good, right!?

I figured everything was fine, but sent an email to the hotel to confirm our booking just in case. Really this was also to drop a hint that we were there over my girlfriend's birthday. I received a confirmation email which sounded promisingly like they got the hint.

We flew to Amsterdam Schipol, got a train to to the central station and walked a short distance to the hotel. It was lovely, as were the reception staff and the room. We went for a stroll to investigate the city centre. When we arrived back that afternoon there was a note "please contact reception as soon as possible". When I went to reception the man explained they had received an email from Hotwire cancelling the booking after the first night. The email he had printed was in block capital warning of the cancellation and requested they ask me to contact the Hotwire customer services team. Notably I had received no correspondence from Hotwire directly regarding any problems.

When I called they customer services woman explained that my whole account had been cancelled by their "Risk Management Department". This was a separate entity contactable only by voicemail (4153438808). The customer services woman told me to call the number, leave a message and await a response within 24-48 hours. I explained that by then I would have either been charged full rate or had to move hotels. She said she had no other information and couldn't help me in any other way (literally). I asked to speak to her manager who confirmed the exact same limited advice. She even went as far as stating that it was the Risk Management Departments discretion whether they even got back to me at all! I was flabbergasted - I requested a formal complaint be noted and asked for her name (Kari) and staff ID (1268).

The receptionist at the hotel confirmed the booking was still valid for that night however I would be charged full rate per night if I stayed on as we had planned. I returned to my room and calmly explained the situation to my girlfriend. Unsurprisingly she got angry and I was powerless to calm her down. So while she made an identical phonecall (she didn't get any further with them than me) I searched for "hotwire risk management department" on google. Around five almost identical stories (2007, 2009, 2010...) with a number of conspiracy theory responses returned. A number even mentioned the same card error when trying to book. None however had a follow-up on how they had got on in the end. I also took the time to check my accounts to ensure that they hadn't been charged accidentally regardless of the error. At least that was fine.

Realising the ridiculous situation that I had still yet to receive any direct communication from Hotwire explaining or even warning me of the cancellation I sent an email to have this documented. The reply at least confirmed that they were going to refund the full amount of the booking.

We had two real options: 1) Find another hotel 2) Pay the full price for the remaining nights.

I couldn't afford the full price and the idea of downgrading was not appealing. This led me to make the rather irrational decision to create a new third option and 3) Rebook via Hotwire hoping the same wouldn't happen again. I had some idea from the other stories i'd read that it was likely the card errors had been the problem. Hotwire seems to use an odd system of charging and returning £1 before the main booking transaction. I say odd, as, as i'm sure you are aware, this is a very similar technique to that used by fraudsters. My girlfriend was unable to check her credit card out of hours so waited till the next morning. She spoke to them the next day and they noted her dispute with the transaction.

Anyway we booked just a single night (incurring a further £15 booking fee) via Hotwire to make sure they weren't holding another chunk of money if the same happened. No card error this time - straight online booking. We went to reception, reconfirmed the booking and were able to stay in the same room too. No further notes from reception and it seemed to have worked. We booked the final two nights online via Hotwire (another £15 fee) and had no further problems. The hotel left a birthday card and chocolate cake on my girlfriend's birthday and we had a lovely remainder of our trip.

So, needless to say I have heard nothing from the Risk Management Team whatsoever. My girlfriend didn't get in contact with the bank today so we can't yet be completely sure of the promised full refund being genuine. To be honest this would be surprising as that would technically have given us a free first night. Obviously I would not be complaining in that case.

I would be surprised if you have managed to read this far and even more surprised if you've managed to do so without assuming i'm a difficult, picky complaining type of guy. I really am not. I love a bargain and am even willing to accept a risk of slight second-rate citizen treatment when gaining one, but this was just customer services malfunction gone mad.


It's hard to explain the mindboggling disbelief of the incompetency of the customer services set up regarding this situation.

markeymark

Are there any of the Universal Studios partner hotels in these deals?

gs1963

Booked a hotel in central London and found I could have paid less through booking.com.
When I tried to claim the difference I was only offered half that amount as they keep back tax, recovery charges (SIC) and fees

I have asked for the UK office details to pursue this but was told they could not do that and I should use my own initiative to take it further
Apparently Colette Hughes is their European Marketing Director and they are part of Expedia so I will try and contact her and see what happens

anu123

I booked a hotel in Birmingham through Hotwire for £43.68/night. To cut the long story short, the hotel turned out to be Quality Hotel Dudley. I personally give the hotel one star. However, I found out the price of the room for same itinerary was £42. Not because of £6 loss, but feeling I being conned by hot wire I rung them and it turned out to be you have to talk to someone in US and explained to them. Hot wire tried all tricks of the book to not to refund the difference. I was on the phone for more than half an hour arguing about, cos I was pretty angry being conned into poor hotel at inflated price. Finally they agreed to refund the difference, However to this date no money has refunded into my account.

NaskoZmeq

Oh, I needed a vacantion, definitely will check it out.

thewormy

As mentioned above, please be aware that Hotwire is based in Paris and when booking it pings a £1.00 charge to your credit card - which the credit card fraud security system doesn't seem to like....:(

I ended up with 2 phone calls from the fraud departments of different cards I tried, the first cancelled my card as I couldn't account for the £1.00 charge - the second bank was a little more savvy and understood what had happened - they approved the transaction and I continued with my booking.

So just be alert when booking that if your card is not accepted initially contact your bank.....it's hassle but worth it for a bargain....;)