Hotel Tales: "DIE EXPEDIA! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Edition (Long, somewhat ranty)

[BroSCFischer]

As some of you may know 3rd Party Retailers (3PR) (Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc.) are not very well liked by those of us who work in hotels. Here is a perfect example of why.

After I run the Night Audit, I pre-charge any 3PR reservations. When the guest reserves a room with a 3PR, part of that agreement is that they must cancel the room 24 hours or more prior to check in time, which in the hotel industry is generally considered to be 4PM (so by 4PM day before arrival).

So, this morning I have an Expedia reservation to pre-charge. As is typical for some 3PR reservations, there is NO phone number, the address is "Any Street1", and the City is "Any Province". NO State, NO ZIP. I go through the motions, and the card doesn't go through. I try again, and it still doesn't go through. So I call Expedia to find out what the problem is.

I get through to a representative immediately, but things are never easy. I provide the guest last name, and guest first name, and the CRS number, and they can't find the reservation in their system.

Now, fairly recently, Expedia has been putting through reservations that use the guests CC number. This was one of those reservations. And according to the rep, sometimes they don't show up in their system. So the rep told me to call Opera Support to see if they could get some info on the reservation (like phone number or e-mail addy).

I call Opera, and they transfer me to <Corporation> Tech Support. They initially have trouble finding the reservation, but eventually do find something. They find an address, but since the reservation is due in today, that really isn't going to help a lot.

They also find the Travel agent's phone number. One problem: NO AREA CODE. The address is for a major metropolitan city, which has 4 area codes, and I am just assuming that this TA is IN that city. Last bit they have is the IATA number, which I take, but have no idea what to do with it.

That's all Tech Support can do for me, (he even commented "Gotta love Expedia.")

So, that's the situation, and this is why I pray daily for the demise of Expedia, and all 3PRs.

SC

[TheSHAD0W]

If you don't have valid card info, you can't make a reservation. You've honestly tried to rectify the situation. You can honestly tell the guest, when they show up at your door, that Expedia fucked up. (Assuming they do show up.)

[Raveni]

When booked third party with no payment, do you still need to hold the room for them? Who pays the cancellation fee, since presumably you could have reserved it if it wasn't booked with bogus info?

[Sonoma]

I'm currently searching hotels in Fort Lauderdale for a cruise next year. While I check those sites, I usually find similar pricing by booking with the hotel directly. Years ago, my sisters & I went to Vegas. One sister booked through a 3PR for flights & hotel. Their flight was changed 3x before we actually left. I paid the same prices, booked directly w/ the hotel & airline, and got to select my flight times.

[Tama]

And that is why if I ever fly + stay somewhere, I will not be using third party sites. Too much extra trouble.

[Fudgethatkay]

Dear god, Expedia...I'm a month old in the hotel industry and I'm really getting tired of them in particular...

[mjr]

The Mrs. and I had a similar experience before our wedding.

She'd made reservations at a hotel for the day before our wedding with a 3PS. Well, thankfully, a couple of days ahead of time she called them to confirm. They had no record at all of our reservation.

She tore them a new one, wrote a nasty letter, and got a refund. Fortunately, a hotel (different company/chain) in a nearby town had a few rooms available, and when they found out that it was before our wedding, they put us in a suite.

As mad as she was about the initial reservation not being there, I can only imagine how she would have been had we actually gotten to the hotel and then found out...

And a lot of times, she tells the person on the phone, "I'm not mad at you". Though she did tear a Sprint representative a new one when I was trying to get a new cell phone. We had been married almost a year, and she was about 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time. My screen had broken on my cell, and they were giving us a runaround about getting a different phone, telling us two different things. She tore into the sales guy on the phone pretty good...may have been SC, but at that point she felt he deserved it.

[scruff]

As mad as she was about the initial reservation not being there, I can only imagine how she would have been had we actually gotten to the hotel and then found out....

*raises hand*
Try doing a full days work, travelling to a neighbouring country for a meeting there the following morning, getting to the hotel exhausted at 11pm, and finding out they can't find your reservation and the third party 'help' line just gives hold music. Happened to me a few years back.

I had a printout of the third party booking, that flatout stated I would not need to pay anything at the hotel, that the room was paid for. Desk clerk asked me to pay (as they couldn't find the reservation), but I didn't have the cash that close to payday. Nor the company credit card used to book the room as that was held by the office.
I'm afraid I was polite but stubbon SC, and insisted on a room, and insisted I didn't have to pay, as the printout said I didn't. (And I wasn't going to wander around Glasgow past 11pm looking for a budget hotel). I dread to think what would have happened if they had been sold out.
I've not been daft enough to get caught out like that again, always got the spare cash to cover the room (or the mobile phone number of a friend with a sofa.).

[Halo_miles]

I find that there's too much risk involved with these types of companies (bad info, no rooms but still booked, bad rooms etc). My husband insists that we should use one of these things for a trip that we want to take, and I flat out refused.

[lachesis]

I was once conferenced into a call with a travelocity rep and one of our bank's customers. The customer booked a flight and hotel with travelocity and the flight got screwed up. The charge for the flight ended up going through anyway so travelocity called to have us (the bank) release the hold on his debit card so they can refund and recharge for the correct flight. The rep was the rudest person ever and even talked over me when I told her we needed the request in writing. I was trying to help her and she said me to just do what she told me to do. The customer actually stepped in and said not to talk to me like that! Long story short, I feel your pain. I cringe when I get a call regarding a third party booking site. Don't even get me started when I worked for a florist! We got the same grief with 1800-flowers, etc.

[VComps]

I find that there's too much risk involved with these types of companies (bad info, no rooms but still booked, bad rooms etc). My husband insists that we should use one of these things for a trip that we want to take, and I flat out refused.

Never had a problem with Priceline... but then again, I work in retail, and am possessed of (un)common sense. I know that they're not going to give me the room with the best view if I'm only paying 60 cents on the dollar for it.

(And I make sure they have all the info they need to process it - it always seems to arrive at the hotel before I do, so bonus.)

[MoonCat]

The OP sounds a bit fishy to me. No name, no address, card declined? Makes me wonder if someone was trying out a stolen card, or trying to scam you.

[Arcus]

My last job required me to use one of the 3PR companies. Like VComps, I knew full well that I wouldn't get the best room that way. As long as it was clean, I was happy. I was staying at the same set of hotels so often that they would greet me by name before I even got to the desk. I did what I could to make up for the problems the 3PR groups give to hotels. I was always patient and friendly no matter how long the line to check in was. I always had my ID and CC out and ready before I walked up. Sometimes I think I set records with how fast I could get checked in because of that. In a town like Las Vegas, that is so rare that they would remember me for it. People couldn't figure out why I was being treated like a high roller even though I didn't gamble.

[Gravekeeper]

While your frustration is understandable, I don't think publicly slagging off companies by name on here like this is particularly wise or professional. Especially this vehemently. You don't know whose reading this or what other members of CS might even work for one of those companies. Those are some pretty big names you listed after all. I wouldn't be surprised if someone on here worked for one of them.

Its happened when people have slagged off on other companies here before. Like Walmart, for example.

[smileyeagle1021]

I'm afraid I was polite but stubbon SC, and insisted on a room, and insisted I didn't have to pay, as the printout said I didn't. (And I wasn't going to wander around Glasgow past 11pm looking for a budget hotel). I dread to think what would have happened if they had been sold out.

Not to call you out in particular, since I doubt you did this, but I really don't blame the hotel for refusing to accept the print out. It is incredibly easy to fake one of those print outs from Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity, whoever, and I have seen places get burned because they accepted the print out and figured they would straighten it out with the 3PR later when they actually have someone answering phones, only to find out that the reservation really never did exist.