Be extra vigilant if booking through "Trip Advisor"

Nikiya

Trip Advisor offer bookings under their name on behalf of different agencies. On Monday I reserved a hotel with them, and it turned out to be with "Tingo". After I paid I received a confirmation for a DIFFERENT hotel of the same chain.
This is a chain with seven hotels, all different categories and prices. Their names are pretty similar since they are all named after the chain, with only the last word identifying each of them. So someone unaware of this might believe they are booking a certain hotel when in reality they are booking another. Particularly since the picture on the reservation matches the advertised hotel NOT the one that is sold.
We have stayed there twice before, and know the chain, therefore I realised I had been sold something I did not want under false pretences. I cancelled immediately and fortunately the money has already been reimbursed. However, the hotel is still advertised at the same price with the same agency and anybody not familiar with this chain might be tricked into reserving one hotel and getting another one.
I have a screenshot of my reservation with the right name and a confirmation with another name, so it is not a matter of me being confused. I contacted TA and raised hell, since I believe this is a case of misrepresentation. This was on Monday and they promised to write to me --they did not.
Today the "deal" is still on, and I will not risk paying again to find out I have been sold a different hotel afterwards. I contacted them again asking them which hotel I would get after paying and they could not tell me. They said they "corrected the error" yesterday Tuesday but the amendment MIGHT not have appeared on their site yet. Again, they cannot tell. This is unacceptable and I thought I should make people aware so they are extra vigilant if they use them.

Jimmithecat

I agree - I am a huge trip advisor fan and rely on it for recommendations wherever we go in the world - and I always leave honest feedback (despite being offered cash to take a negative feedback down) that I hope will help other travellers.
When they started advertising accommodation I booked without reading the small print assuming there was no catch and tripadvisor had some quality control.
How wrong I was - tripadvisor outsource the customer care to India and really don't want to know - as in the previous post.
Once money has been taken there is no refunds or cooling off period.
I'm £400 down with a lost deposit.
Very disappointing - so I agree - don't assume they are going to be good and honest:(

duchy

Why would there be refunds or a cooling off period with TA hotels ?

Can you name any hotel booking site that refunds non refundable reservations or has a cooling off period ?

Regardless of who you book with, if you need flexibility then book a flexible room rate not a non refundable one.

leylandsunaddict

TA is only a middleman. They make that quite clear. They tell you which agent they are using, or if it's a direct booking.

Tingo (Smarter Travel) is only a middleman as well. No point going off on one at TA. They haven't caused the problem. Tingo may be at fault. It it could be their supplier, or even the hotel itself.

If you don't read terms and conditions of whatever you're booking, and whoever you're booking it through or with, then you can often experience things you weren't expecting

Once money has been taken there is no refunds or cooling off period.
I'm £400 down with a lost deposit.
Very disappointing - so I agree - don't assume they are going to be good and honest

Why would there be a cooling off period or refund? Good and honest doesn't come into it. That was down to going click, click, buy without reading anything about what you were booking. Wise words though. Never assume any company, no matter what role they have, to be good and honest. Always read the terms and conditons, and do your research first.

Nikiya

There's been a bit of a mix up here. Whenever I book I make sure I read all the conditions: sometimes they offer refund, sometimes they don't, and it should be written.
The issue I am describing is completely different: I booked a certain hotel and IN MY BOOKING everything was correct. I chose the days, amount of people, special requests, etc. Next step was to pay: once I paid I got exactly the same information (including the picture, which as explained above belonged to the hotel I wanted) but the name of the hotel was different. I was booked in a different hotel and the switch had taken place AFTER I paid. So nothing to do with anybody not reading small print or otherwise. And I do not think middlemen can wash their hands of this. If you advertise in your site you should be responsible for the contents.
In any case, I thought this should be made known to fellow travelers because it is quite unusual and in this particular case difficult to spot, since as I said before, only one detail had changed. The visuals were the same. Quite misleading.

duchy

You still dont understand you didn't book with TA ?