Hotels.com booking - hotel made me pay again!

anotherday1974

I booked and paid for a hotel room via hotels dot com. I arrived at the hotel exhausted and unfortunately they said they had not been paid by hotels dot com. I showed them proof of paying and they insisted I pay them directly for the second time. I was so exhausted, so I had no choice but pay again on my credit card.

I have put in a refund request to hotels dot com and they asked for a copy of my receipt, but it has just gone quiet.

It is impossible to talk to a human on the phone at hotels dot com despite being a gold member. They force customers to contact via "chat" and this is a total waste of time.

If they don't respond quickly, then I guess I am forced to make a chargeback request?

(Q) Do I do the chargeback request on the first hotels dot com amount, or the second one direct at the hotel?

I reckon it should be the first with hotels dot com, but not sure!

I have read reviews suggesting the hotel is regularly claiming the booking agent has not paid them and forcing customers to pay again! 

Westin

It is quite possible the issue you experienced is actually at the hotel end.

In the vast number of cases when you make a booking via Hotels.com (if not a pay on arrival rate) the reservation is sent with what is called a virtual credit card (VCC). This is loaded with the amount of your transaction and sent automatically with your reservation.  Depending on the rate agreement the loaded amount can be drawn down at time booking received (of a non-refundable rate) or at a predetermined time prior to stay, or at checkin time.  It is quite possible the hotel front desk agent did not look properly at the folio attached to your booking, or behind the scenes at the hotel the VCC had not been actioned correctly.  This can often happen.  New staff, night staff etc.

Settling in and sorting the problem out later was the right think to do but it probably would have been worth asking to speak to someone more senior at front desk the following morning. 

Not the issue has happened Hotels.com will need to investigate and find the issue.  You may need to allow them time to do so.

I would also be tempted to call the hotel and ask to speak to their accounting team or hotel management. See what they have to say.

"I have read reviews suggesting the hotel is regularly claiming the booking agent has not paid them and forcing customers to pay again!" - if the case (and please name the hotel) then it would suggest perhaps a poor process or lack of staff training might be the issue and one to be corrected.

anotherday1974

The hotel was in a rural location of Spain and I suspect I was the first guest in a very long time. They only had a few rooms and it appears I was the only guest. They had only setup the breakfast for me for example. The doors on the other hotel rooms were wide open. There was a language barrier and it was effectively a small family business. There was no senior manager to speak to or anything like that.

I suspect the hotel simply didn't know how to use the booking agent software from hotels dot com. This was either innocent or deliberate. Other reviews suggest they had been forced to pay a second time at check-in. 

The hotel started saying they don't have a hotels dot com account. I explained it was probably processed by Expedia. The lady started going on about booking dot com. I showed her my credit card statement and my hotels dot com account.

So with what you are saying, then it will be very easy for hotels dot com to find out if the hotel actually claimed the amount? If they haven't claimed it, then the amount is still sat at hotels dot com.

I couldn't simply cancel my booking and then pay, since I was over the time and I would have been hit with a 100% penalty.

[Deleted User]

If you don't hear back from Hotels dot com after two weeks, raise it with your bank.

anotherday1974

I am still waiting for a response from Hotels dot com, so I have been forced to raise a dispute via my credit card company. Hopefully they will reverse the transaction given I was forced to pay a second time on check-in. The processing time at the Nationwide is two to four weeks, so it isn't quick.

Really worried about booking via hotels dot com in the future given this incident!

Fingers crossed!