Holiday Problems

olliepack2016

Hi,
I'm after some advice!
I left the UK on the 1st July for a month long trip of the States and Canada. I prebooked hotels, airbnbs, buses, trains and car hires to make sure that every step of my trip was smooth and relaxing.
I arrived in Toronto on Wednesday for the last stage of my trip before I fly home. I had four nights booked in a hotel in the city centre which I booked through an online agent. I arrived around 8pm on Wednesday after a 5 hour bus ride and there was a thunderstorm in the city so all I wanted to do was check in to my hotel and order some food and relax. On arrival at the hotel I was informed by the manager that he did not have a booking for me and did not have any rooms spare. So I frantically called around a few local hotels and found an Econolodge, the cheapest at CAD$200 a night! Its a civic holiday this weekend and also a big tennis tournament in Tornoto, so I presume thats why prices are high for walk-ins. I was able to book another hotel for the following 3 nights at a slightly cheaper cost but I am now staying about 30 miles outside of Toronto in a hotel on the side of the highway.
I contacted the online agent that I booked the hotel with and they said that the hotel attempted to take a payment for the room but it was denied and so they cancelled the booking. I was not informed of this, the confirmation email clearly stated that I need to pay the full amount for the room in the local currency, so I took cash to pay for the room.
I was wondering if anyone else had any experiences like this? Should I go after the travel agent, the hotel or try to claim on insurance? Its put a downer on the rest of my holiday, I am also about CAD$300 out of pocket (the extra cost of the first hotel and the next hotel and cabs), which is all I had as spending money for this stage of the trip, so I can't even afford to get a cab into the city I was meant to be visiting to enjoy it, I am stuck in a hotel for the last 3 days of my holiday.

littlereddevil

Your problem is with the person you booked the room through

leylandsunaddict

If you booked though an agent it's the agent that would take payment, not the hotel. Who did you book through?

Westin

Actually I am looking at it another way Leylandsunaddict.

OP mentions using an on-line travel agent but does not mention which one.

In some cases the OTA is purely an intermediary and the hotel collect payment (as the OP suggests).

If for example it was an OTA like Booking.com and the OP selected a rate plan that permitted payment direct to the hotel during their stay the hotel will still often attempt to take a pre-authorisation of the credit card shortly before the guest arrives to ensure payment is in order. Hotels are expecting the payment to be made on the credit card supplied rather than someone handing over a wad of cash when they arrive. When the credit card fails the hotel may or may not try to make contact with the guest or the online agency but may equally assume that as the pre authorisation failed then the guest won't arrive. If the hotel is busy or oversold, the reservation with the failed payment attached will often be the one that gets walked.

Whilst often covered in T&C's I don't think people using the OTA booking systems read or understand what may happen. The hotel can and often will attempt to preauthorise the credit card in advance and if it fails then the booking is at risk.

Using an expired or invalid credit card attached to the reservation, using a card where the credit limit will be exceeded, or just making up the cc number thinking 'I'll be paying cash, it won't matter' can lead to these issues.

It would be handy if the OP can give details of his 'travel agent' or the online website used so we can check terms but these below are the ones that I typically see listed on Pay on Arrival rates with Booking.com;

Authorisation
The hotel reserves the right to pre-authorise credit cards prior to arrival.

leylandsunaddict

I immediately thought of Booking.com but they aren't an OTA. They're just a platform for hotels/apartments/villas to advertise on. An agent processes the payment and then they pay their supplier as per their agreed contract. Granted I suppose some people could think they were an agent if they didn't read the terms and conditions.

olliepack2016

Thanks for the replies. The agent was Venere and I had a quick look through their T+Cs and it does seem that the hotel is able to charge a nominal amount to my credit card prior to booking. The card that I booked with is a pre-paid credit card, I'm a university student and I was given a bursary for my first year and it came in the form of a pre-paid credit card, that did have a sufficient amount on the card for a "nominal payment". This is why it seems odd to me. Also, if I cancelled the booking, the hotel would surely be informed, why is it not the same the other way round?

Westin

Also, if I cancelled the booking, the hotel would surely be informed, why is it not the same the other way round?

I wouldn't disagree, that route would certainly be preferable. I guess however that with people travelling and contacts perhaps not up to date or working, in a busy organisation such as Venere (hotels.com) when they must have thousands of live bookings at any one time - or if the hotel is oversold and just looking to walk someone, then the chances of a friendly call to warn of a problem just might not happen.

Hope that you are enjoying Toronto.

budgetflyer

As its a busy weekend ,the hotel has taken the first opportunity to resell your room at a higher rate.Overbooked and with not pre authorising the card they had the perfect get out clause

Westin

budgetflyer wrote: »

As its a busy weekend ,the hotel has taken the first opportunity to resell your room at a higher rate.Overbooked and with not pre authorising the card they had the perfect get out clause

To the point and putting it bluntly... that was also my thought.