Hotels.com failed to notify actual hotel of booking, leaving me without a room. Refund required

Andr0n1cus

Booked a hotel in the Lake District for one night using Hotels.com. Paid by debit card. Turned up at the hotel a week later to find the hotel in question had no record of the booking and no rooms available. They confirmed that they had not been notified of the booking by Hotels.com, nor received any payment from them. Furthermore, they said they had been fully booked weeks in advance, so no available room ever existed.
Tried to contact Hotels.com, who only provide a telephone number. Phone eventually answered by an agent, who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager. The agent then said he would have to transfer me to the Hotels.com 'Relocations Team'. Predictably, no-one from the 'Relocations Team' answered the phone and after over an hour on hold the line cut off. 
I therefore had to source another hotel myself, leaving me £150 out of pocket. 
I have notified my bank, but the money has already left my account and Hotels.com still have it. I want to pursue a refund with them, but the only means of contacting them is via a phone number that doesn't get answered. I've tried to contact them again today, but the automated phone message quoted a 3 hour wait just to speak to an agent, and as 'refunds' were not on their list of pre-recorded options, doubtless the 'agent' will only seek to fob me off to another Hotels.com department again. How can I get my money back out of these chisellers if I can't even contact them?

tacpot12

Write to them. 

You say that the Hotels.com agent you did manage to speak to "pointlessly" forwarded the email they had sent to the  Hotel to book your room. This doesn't seem pointless to me. It seems that Hotels.com are saying that they booked your room via email, and it was the hotel that failed to act on the email. This is a valid point, but not fair to you as email is not a reliable form of communication as delivery (and action is not guaranteed). It is not sufficient to send an email. Also what happended to the £150 you paid Hotels.com. I would have expected that this should have be paid to the hotel more or less immediately to secure your booking.

Under the circumstances, I would be writing to ask someone to contact me within 48 hours or for the refund to be paid with five days. Failing that I would send a Letter before action giving them a further five days to pay, then take them to court. Your letter before action should offer to use a mediator if they wish. 

sheramber

Different ways to interpret the statement 

 " who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager."

 
Was the email sent to the hotel when you were there, the first email about the booking
or
was it a copy of an email from  Hotels.com had previously sent to the hotel?
or  
a copy of the an email from the hotel confirming the booking?

Jumblebumble

Andr0n1cus said:

Booked a hotel in the Lake District for one night using Hotels.com. Paid by debit card. Turned up at the hotel a week later to find the hotel in question had no record of the booking and no rooms available. They confirmed that they had not been notified of the booking by Hotels.com, nor received any payment from them. Furthermore, they said they had been fully booked weeks in advance, so no available room ever existed.
Tried to contact Hotels.com, who only provide a telephone number. Phone eventually answered by an agent, who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager. The agent then said he would have to transfer me to the Hotels.com 'Relocations Team'. Predictably, no-one from the 'Relocations Team' answered the phone and after over an hour on hold the line cut off. 
I therefore had to source another hotel myself, leaving me £150 out of pocket. 
I have notified my bank, but the money has already left my account and Hotels.com still have it. I want to pursue a refund with them, but the only means of contacting them is via a phone number that doesn't get answered. I've tried to contact them again today, but the automated phone message quoted a 3 hour wait just to speak to an agent, and as 'refunds' were not on their list of pre-recorded options, doubtless the 'agent' will only seek to fob me off to another Hotels.com department again. How can I get my money back out of these chisellers if I can't even contact them?

A bit late now but I  hope that we all learn to do what I do if  I make a third party booking
I check with the hotel that they have a reservation in my name the day after I have booked.

Andr0n1cus

sheramber said:

Different ways to interpret the statement 

 " who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager."

 
Was the email sent to the hotel when you were there, the first email about the booking
or
was it a copy of an email from  Hotels.com had previously sent to the hotel?
or  
a copy of the an email from the hotel confirming the booking?

I don’t know, but the hotel manager had already searched his inbox and found nothing in respect of our booking, and stated that he had received no payment from Hotels.com either, so I’m assuming they just sent over a copy of the booking rather than re-forwarding the original. 

By way of an update I managed to message Hotels.com on Twitter and they have stated they will look into it

[Deleted User]

tacpot12 said:

Write to them. 

You say that the Hotels.com agent you did manage to speak to "pointlessly" forwarded the email they had sent to the  Hotel to book your room. This doesn't seem pointless to me. It seems that Hotels.com are saying that they booked your room via email, and it was the hotel that failed to act on the email. This is a valid point, but not fair to you as email is not a reliable form of communication as delivery (and action is not guaranteed). It is not sufficient to send an email. Also what happended to the £150 you paid Hotels.com. I would have expected that this should have be paid to the hotel more or less immediately to secure your booking.

Under the circumstances, I would be writing to ask someone to contact me within 48 hours or for the refund to be paid with five days. Failing that I would send a Letter before action giving them a further five days to pay, then take them to court. Your letter before action should offer to use a mediator if they wish. 

Hotel booking services / third parties are notorious for booking things that don't exist as they don't have live data. If you re-read the OP post they said they booked a week before they turned up, but the hotel said they had been fully booked for weeks - thus there was no room to book and hotels.com should not have tried to place a booking they couldn't honour. This is why I now no longer bother with these services, suxpedia and the like simply aren't reliable enough and hotels frequently have better rates on their own sites going direct. I stayed in a hotel in Ireland where the rates were the same on the third party sites but the hotel gave you a free full cooked breakfast (that would cost around 20 Euro) if you booked direct.

lisyloo

[tacpot12 said:

Write to them. 

You say that the Hotels.com agent you did manage to speak to "pointlessly" forwarded the email they had sent to the  Hotel to book your room. This doesn't seem pointless to me. It seems that Hotels.com are saying that they booked your room via email, and it was the hotel that failed to act on the email. This is a valid point, but not fair to you as email is not a reliable form of communication as delivery (and action is not guaranteed). It is not sufficient to send an email. Also what happended to the £150 you paid Hotels.com. I would have expected that this should have be paid to the hotel more or less immediately to secure your booking.

Under the circumstances, I would be writing to ask someone to contact me within 48 hours or for the refund to be paid with five days. Failing that I would send a Letter before action giving them a further five days to pay, then take them to court. Your letter before action should offer to use a mediator if they wish. 

Hi, Do you have a legal reference for email not being a valid mechanism?
I have a case hinging on this (it's actually electricity).

Thanks

Jumblebumble

Deleted_User said:

tacpot12 said:

Write to them. 

You say that the Hotels.com agent you did manage to speak to "pointlessly" forwarded the email they had sent to the  Hotel to book your room. This doesn't seem pointless to me. It seems that Hotels.com are saying that they booked your room via email, and it was the hotel that failed to act on the email. This is a valid point, but not fair to you as email is not a reliable form of communication as delivery (and action is not guaranteed). It is not sufficient to send an email. Also what happended to the £150 you paid Hotels.com. I would have expected that this should have be paid to the hotel more or less immediately to secure your booking.

Under the circumstances, I would be writing to ask someone to contact me within 48 hours or for the refund to be paid with five days. Failing that I would send a Letter before action giving them a further five days to pay, then take them to court. Your letter before action should offer to use a mediator if they wish. 

Hotel booking services / third parties are notorious for booking things that don't exist as they don't have live data. If you re-read the OP post they said they booked a week before they turned up, but the hotel said they had been fully booked for weeks - thus there was no room to book and hotels.com should not have tried to place a booking they couldn't honour. This is why I now no longer bother with these services, suxpedia and the like simply aren't reliable enough and hotels frequently have better rates on their own sites going direct. I stayed in a hotel in Ireland where the rates were the same on the third party sites but the hotel gave you a free full cooked breakfast (that would cost around 20 Euro) if you booked direct.

To add to this booking direct has resulted in
Ibis charging the same for a 48hour cancellable booking  as booking.com for a non refundable for the same stay
A pub with rooms  in Bristol gave a voucher for 2 free drinks 
Another motel £10.00 cheaper

Upsidedownandaround

Andr0n1cus said:

Booked a hotel in the Lake District for one night using Hotels.com. Paid by debit card. Turned up at the hotel a week later to find the hotel in question had no record of the booking and no rooms available. They confirmed that they had not been notified of the booking by Hotels.com, nor received any payment from them. Furthermore, they said they had been fully booked weeks in advance, so no available room ever existed.
Tried to contact Hotels.com, who only provide a telephone number. Phone eventually answered by an agent, who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager. The agent then said he would have to transfer me to the Hotels.com 'Relocations Team'. Predictably, no-one from the 'Relocations Team' answered the phone and after over an hour on hold the line cut off. 
I therefore had to source another hotel myself, leaving me £150 out of pocket. 
I have notified my bank, but the money has already left my account and Hotels.com still have it. I want to pursue a refund with them, but the only means of contacting them is via a phone number that doesn't get answered. I've tried to contact them again today, but the automated phone message quoted a 3 hour wait just to speak to an agent, and as 'refunds' were not on their list of pre-recorded options, doubtless the 'agent' will only seek to fob me off to another Hotels.com department again. How can I get my money back out of these chisellers if I can't even contact them?

It sounds like the hotel is not being very truthful with you.

Hotels.com (like Booking.com also) are direct distribution platforms. The hotel is the one who sells the rooms through their platform. They put all the infromation on Hotels.com including prices and available inventory. The only way Hotels.com could have had a room available for the hotel for you to book is if the hotel put one there. Once sold they would be automatically notified of your booking at the same time you were and the money would in most cases be transferred via a virtual credit card with the booking.

Either the hotel has messed up by losing your booking or more likely they overbooked and decided to bump the customers who booked through a 3rd party firstly so they do not have to pay any commision and secondly so they can blame Hotels.com.

[Deleted User]

Upsidedownandaround said:

Andr0n1cus said:

Booked a hotel in the Lake District for one night using Hotels.com. Paid by debit card. Turned up at the hotel a week later to find the hotel in question had no record of the booking and no rooms available. They confirmed that they had not been notified of the booking by Hotels.com, nor received any payment from them. Furthermore, they said they had been fully booked weeks in advance, so no available room ever existed.
Tried to contact Hotels.com, who only provide a telephone number. Phone eventually answered by an agent, who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager. The agent then said he would have to transfer me to the Hotels.com 'Relocations Team'. Predictably, no-one from the 'Relocations Team' answered the phone and after over an hour on hold the line cut off. 
I therefore had to source another hotel myself, leaving me £150 out of pocket. 
I have notified my bank, but the money has already left my account and Hotels.com still have it. I want to pursue a refund with them, but the only means of contacting them is via a phone number that doesn't get answered. I've tried to contact them again today, but the automated phone message quoted a 3 hour wait just to speak to an agent, and as 'refunds' were not on their list of pre-recorded options, doubtless the 'agent' will only seek to fob me off to another Hotels.com department again. How can I get my money back out of these chisellers if I can't even contact them?

It sounds like the hotel is not being very truthful with you.

Hotels.com (like Booking.com also) are direct distribution platforms. The hotel is the one who sells the rooms through their platform. They put all the infromation on Hotels.com including prices and available inventory. The only way Hotels.com could have had a room available for the hotel for you to book is if the hotel put one there. Once sold they would be automatically notified of your booking at the same time you were and the money would in most cases be transferred via a virtual credit card with the booking.

Either the hotel has messed up by losing your booking or more likely they overbooked and decided to bump the customers who booked through a 3rd party firstly so they do not have to pay any commision and secondly so they can blame Hotels.com.

While it could be overbooking, there is a good chance this due to the third party site not updating their records properly or getting late data. I have seen multiple examples of this from front desk people in the US in particular on reddit where the hotel marks as no rooms and the guest then goes on the booking sites and secures themselves a room which doesn't exist, then go and complain at the desk staff that they can't check in. There is no reason for a fully booked hotel to report available rooms or sell more than their inventory. If the hotel overbooked then they should really be setup to provide a replacement room in another hotel as pretending they didn't get the booking would be pointless if hotels.com could prove they sent the booking as it would then come back to the hotel to pay up both a refund and commission.

With these sites what can happen is the hotel says they will reserve a room or rooms for Expedia or whoever, and Expedia assume that the rooms are for sale even if the hotel has subsequently sold them (a bit naughty certainly to breach their contract) as Expedia can be using data up to 3 days old. Similarly, if the hotel booking system doesn't properly integrate with the third party site, they may have to manually update the booking website who in turn, have to update their system - if they don't, someone can book a room that doesn't exist.

Upsidedownandaround

Deleted_User said:

Upsidedownandaround said:

Andr0n1cus said:

Booked a hotel in the Lake District for one night using Hotels.com. Paid by debit card. Turned up at the hotel a week later to find the hotel in question had no record of the booking and no rooms available. They confirmed that they had not been notified of the booking by Hotels.com, nor received any payment from them. Furthermore, they said they had been fully booked weeks in advance, so no available room ever existed.
Tried to contact Hotels.com, who only provide a telephone number. Phone eventually answered by an agent, who then pointlessly forwarded an email confirming the booking to the hotel, whilst I was still speaking to the hotel manager. The agent then said he would have to transfer me to the Hotels.com 'Relocations Team'. Predictably, no-one from the 'Relocations Team' answered the phone and after over an hour on hold the line cut off. 
I therefore had to source another hotel myself, leaving me £150 out of pocket. 
I have notified my bank, but the money has already left my account and Hotels.com still have it. I want to pursue a refund with them, but the only means of contacting them is via a phone number that doesn't get answered. I've tried to contact them again today, but the automated phone message quoted a 3 hour wait just to speak to an agent, and as 'refunds' were not on their list of pre-recorded options, doubtless the 'agent' will only seek to fob me off to another Hotels.com department again. How can I get my money back out of these chisellers if I can't even contact them?

It sounds like the hotel is not being very truthful with you.

Hotels.com (like Booking.com also) are direct distribution platforms. The hotel is the one who sells the rooms through their platform. They put all the infromation on Hotels.com including prices and available inventory. The only way Hotels.com could have had a room available for the hotel for you to book is if the hotel put one there. Once sold they would be automatically notified of your booking at the same time you were and the money would in most cases be transferred via a virtual credit card with the booking.

Either the hotel has messed up by losing your booking or more likely they overbooked and decided to bump the customers who booked through a 3rd party firstly so they do not have to pay any commision and secondly so they can blame Hotels.com.

While it could be overbooking, there is a good chance this due to the third party site not updating their records properly or getting late data. I have seen multiple examples of this from front desk people in the US in particular on reddit where the hotel marks as no rooms and the guest then goes on the booking sites and secures themselves a room which doesn't exist, then go and complain at the desk staff that they can't check in. There is no reason for a fully booked hotel to report available rooms or sell more than their inventory. If the hotel overbooked then they should really be setup to provide a replacement room in another hotel as pretending they didn't get the booking would be pointless if hotels.com could prove they sent the booking as it would then come back to the hotel to pay up both a refund and commission.

With these sites what can happen is the hotel says they will reserve a room or rooms for Expedia or whoever, and Expedia assume that the rooms are for sale even if the hotel has subsequently sold them (a bit naughty certainly to breach their contract) as Expedia can be using data up to 3 days old. Similarly, if the hotel booking system doesn't properly integrate with the third party site, they may have to manually update the booking website who in turn, have to update their system - if they don't, someone can book a room that doesn't exist.

The person who updates the records or data on Hotels.com is the hotel. They are not like 4th party websites who buy hotel rooms through bed banks and wholesalers when a person tries to buy a hotel from them. They have a direct relationship with the hotel who places their hotel on Hotels.com. They log on to the extranet and place all their hotel details on there including price and inventory. If its not up to date it's because the hotel hasn't updated it. Usually it is because the inventory will be tied up to there own booking site. If it isn't they would receive a booking confirmation they cannot do and presumably would then contact the person or Hotels.com advising of the error.

A lot of hotels overbook. It's far easier to tell someone at reception that Hotels.com messed it up and contact them than explaining to someone we overbooked, you're the unlucky one and we will have to try and find a hotel for you elsewhere.