Hotels.com do not honour their price match guarantee

Sasq

Hotels.com advertise when booking a hotel that if after booking you find it cheaper either at another site or hotels.com up until you visit the hotel you will be refunded the price difference, even if it's non-refundable where you will get a discount coupon.

After spending £390 on a hotel, I found it had gone down to £320. On looking up how to claim the price difference I was prompted to take a screenshot and fill in a web form. I did this and didn't get a reply so I contacted them by email several days later and was told:-

"We are unable to match the price because we are unable to validate the lower price for the same room type, cancelation policy and dates of travel as your original booking"

This would be fine, except the room type, cancellation policy and dates of travel were identical. I sent back the screenshot of the listing as well as my existing booking under my login with these details clearly highlighted allowing them to see that I do indeed qualify for a refund. However I have not received any replies from Hotels.com. I've tried calling their number and either left on hold or hung up on.

I can only come to the conclusion that Hotels.com like to lure you into booking with them because their price match promotion makes you think you're getting the best deal, and if you didn't you can always get a credit for the difference. In practice, when you try to claim they will try and tell you you don't qualify and if you quote their own policy back at them, they will ignore you. Perhaps they can't manage to provide their free nights rewards and the best price but still want to advertise that they do this.

I've tried to contact people at Hotels.com and Expedia head office through their listed email addresses which bounced back as rejected.

boo_star

It sounds like the price went down AFTER you booked it.

Their "guarantee" doesn't cover that eventuality.

It's like moaning that Amazon wouldn't price match Currys the day after you bought a TV from them.

ARandomMiser

boo_star wrote: »

It sounds like the price went down AFTER you booked it.

Their "guarantee" doesn't cover that eventuality.

It's like moaning that Amazon wouldn't price match Currys the day after you bought a TV from them.

To be fair their price guarantee suggests otherwise
https://uk.hotels.com/customer_care/pillar/price_guarantee.html

George_Michael

boo_star wrote: »

It sounds like the price went down AFTER you booked it.

Their "guarantee" doesn't cover that eventuality.

Did you read the terms of the price guarantee?

With our Price Guarantee, you can:
Price match right up until the day before check in

As for Amazon. I don't think they offer a price match guarantee so mentioning them was a bit pointless.
John Lewis on the other hand do have such a guarantee and yes, they allow you to claim for up to 28 days after making your purchase so if a competitors price drops within this 28 day period, they should still refund the difference if the reduced item is sold with the same terms as the John Lewis purchase.

seatbeltnoob

George_Michael wrote: »

As for Amazon. I don't think they offer a price match guarantee so mentioning them was a bit pointless.
John Lewis on the other hand do have such a guarantee and yes, they allow you to claim for up to 28 days after making your purchase so if a competitors price drops within this 28 day period, they should still refund the difference if the reduced item is sold with the same terms as the John Lewis purchase.

This is the internet, expect a lot of people to make irrelevant and nonsensical points like this.

Most "price match" services are like this. They will make the statement expecting that they get everything at the cheapest wholesale rate so can beat any rival prices. But then some rival manages to get it cheaper than them and then they reneg on their promise because they realise their margins would dominish completely if they honour the promise.

glider3560

I book all my hotel stays through Hotels.com, because the Quidco/TCB cashback (usually between 8 and 12%), plus Rewards (stay 10 nights get 1 free) and price guarantee make it the absolute cheapest way of booking hotels.

I find that different staff deal with price matches differently. Starting a new claim often breaks the current chain and assigns your request to someone differnet, in a different contact centre. If all else fails, I get on the phone. The Silver helpline (some special number for people who book a lot) is always answered very quickly and they are generally helpful. They even once refunded a non-refundable booking as I was "a loyal customer".

Sasq

I'm pleased to say that after following glider3560's advice, I called Hotels.com (I'm also a silver member) and was immediately given a credit in the form of a coupon code and the issue is now resolved.

Valli

Thanks for the update, and for acknowledging the forum member who offered advice.