elliott.org » The Travel Troubleshooter

Forget this volunteer vacation — let’s go to Vegas!

Christopher Elliott — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:55:20 +0000

Question: I am a teacher at a high school in San Francisco that has lost $5,000 to Southwest Airlines. Our 12th-grade class did fundraising all year to raise enough money for a trip to Bahia de Los Angeles in Baja, Mexico, to stay at a Marine Biology lab owned by Glendale Community College. This trip was to allow the students to perform community service at the elementary school there, and for the Sea Turtle rescue station.

We booked seats as a group and per our contract paid in full by cashier’s check for our 39 tickets. A few days later, a travel advisory was issued because of swine flu. Since these are minors on a service project, we felt we had to change our plans. Southwest would not refund our tickets, so we accepted our only alternative to fly somewhere else of equal value. This only option was Las Vegas — not really a suitable alternative.

As time passed, and the restrictions eased, we asked if we could go back to our plan of flying to San Diego where we would pick up a bus to Baja. Southwest says it would not accommodate this request. We are dumbfounded. Can you help us? — Ellie Capers, San Francisco

Answer: Since when is Las Vegas an acceptable substitute for a volunteer vacation to a marine lab in Baja? Southwest should have found a better way of accommodating your class group.

Your case raises several red flags. The first is the cashier’s check, which is pretty much the same thing as forking over cash. Wherever possible, you should be using a credit card, since it protects you in case something goes wrong (for example, the company files for bankruptcy or sells you defective merchandise).

When any travel company insists on payment in cash or as a cashier’s check, don’t walk — run.

Second, your experience isn’t consistent with Southwest Airlines’ way of doing business. At the time of your scheduled flight, Southwest didn’t fly to Mexico, but this year it plans to begin offering flights through a Mexican discount carrier called Volaris.

Southwest is usually one of the most lenient airlines when it comes to rescheduling policies. Even when there’s no imminent threat of swine flu, the airline allows passengers holding nonrefundable tickets to make changes without paying any fees, just a difference in fare, other carriers charge anywhere between $20 and $150 to change a ticket.

Given that Southwest is one of the more accommodating airlines, I have a difficult time understanding why the company would want to send a high school class of volunteers to Sin City. Maybe you were talking with the wrong person. Maybe you shouldn’t have been talking at all — a letter or an e-mail (yes, Southwest now accepts those) could have cleared this matter up. Or should have.

I contacted Southwest on your behalf. The same person who had told you there was nothing that could be done for your class phoned you back and promised to come up with what she called a “creative solution.” Southwest rebooked the class flights to San Diego, waived all fees, and even refunded the tickets for two students who decided to cancel.

(Photo: Amyn Kassam/Flickr Creative Commons)Similar Posts:

Is my hotel’s lost star a lost cause?

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:20:20 +0000

Question: My fiance and I are going to Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate his six-month, “all clear” from cancer. I booked a four-star hotel on Priceline.com for our first two nights and when they revealed the hotel, it was actually a three-star on the hotel’s own Web site.

I called Priceline’s customer service immediately after booking to protest, but Priceline’s agents passed the buck back and forth for more than 30 minutes before telling me they could do nothing, and I would get an email in three to five business days. Thanks for nothing.

Not only have I not received a response after a week, but when I called again yesterday, they promised a resolution by 8 p.m. yesterday, and still nothing. I am looking for a refund and will never use Priceline again. Thanks so much for any help you can provide. — Stephanie Farrow, Charleston, S.C.

Answer: If the hotel considers itself a three-star, I can’t think of any reason for Priceline to contradict it.

Except, maybe to upgrade its price category and charge you a little more.

But let’s take a closer look. As you know, you “name your price” when buying a Priceline hotel. Meaning you place a bid for a category of hotel (in your case, a four-star property) but don’t get to pick the place. If your bid is accepted, Priceline assigns your reservation to a hotel of its choosing and charges your credit card immediately.

It’s unlikely that Priceline was artificially inflating its hotel ratings. Having followed Priceline’s hotel rating system since the beginning, I think it’s far likelier that the rating was out-of-date.

Either way, the representative you spoke with shouldn’t have brushed you off. Priceline needed to fix this star slip-up right away, offering either a refund or a change of hotel.

As imperfect as it is, the integrity of the star system is important to customers like you. Without an objective standard, Priceline could send anyone to a dump — and get away with it. (I’m not suggesting Priceline has any inferior hotels in its system; only that such behavior would be possible.)

If you want to be absolutely certain about the hotel you’re getting, try booking through a conventional online agency, a hotel Web site, or a real travel agent.

I can understand why you would want to call Priceline to fix this, but an e-mail works a lot better. You can enclose documentation, links to the hotel Web site, and if you’re getting the runaround, you can escalate your case to someone higher up the corporate food chain. The best place to start is right here, on its site.

I contacted Priceline on your behalf. It took another look at your case and discovered that the hotel you were staying at had been reclassified as a three-star property. “The customer service agent was not aware that the change was in the works,” a spokesman told me. Priceline refunded your entire hotel charge.

(Photo: Adcuz: N00b/Flickr Creative Commons)Similar Posts:

Help! My baggage didn’t make the connection

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:47:42 +0000

Question: I am a Marine based in Nicosia, Cyprus. I have a situation, and I am looking for some guidance.

I recently bought tickets from Travelocity for my fiancee, Cara. Her return itinerary had her flying from Cyprus to Athens and then on to Munich on a Lufthansa flight operated by Aegean Airlines.

Her stopover in Athens was 50 minutes, which was not a problem. But when we checked in at Cyprus, she was only given a boarding pass to Athens and was told to pick up another boarding pass in Athens after retrieving her luggage. It didn’t make sense.

To make a long story short, I contacted Travelocity but Cara missed her connection in Athens and had to pay $250 to change her flight, and had to stay in a hotel for the night until the next day, which also wasn’t cheap.

I don’t know if this is just a mix up and we just got the short end of the stick, or if there is something we can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. – Joshua Smith, Nicosia, Cyprus

Answer: Cara should have been able to check her baggage all the way through to Munich, no questions asked. When you phoned Travelocity, they should have given you a straight answer about why that wasn’t possible and helped you and your fiancee figure out a solution.

Turns out Cara’s ticket was issued by Lufthansa but operated by Aegean — what’s called a “code share” flight. Aegean didn’t have a baggage agreement with Cara’s next carrier, United Airlines. That meant she would have to re-check her bags, according to Travelocity.

That should have been explained to Cara at the time she booked her ticket, or at the very least when you phoned the online travel agency. The issue also should have raised a red flag with the customer service agent to whom you spoke, since a 50-minute connect time is hardly enough to collect your checked baggage and re-check it.

None of that happened.

Several questions come to mind. First, how can airlines sell a ticket on one of its own flights and then outsource it to another carrier? Isn’t that like ordering a pizza but getting a plate of spaghetti?

Second, how can your online agency allow you to book a flight with less than an hour to connect and fail to tell you that you’ll have to pick up your luggage? And finally, why didn’t your agent do something when alerted to the close connection?

If this ever happens to you again, don’t take an agent’s answer as final. Appeal to a supervisor, either by phone or e-mail. Call the airline and find out if you have any options. Lufthansa or United could have helped Cara by rescheduling her flight or offering her a room for the night, in case she missed her connection.

You might have prevented this by booking your airfare through a conventional travel agency. A competent travel adviser would have seen the connection time, noticed the lack of baggage agreement, and found a better flight for Cara. When you’re dealing with an automated system like an online travel agency, that’s not always possible.

Travelocity did the right thing by rescheduling Cara on the next available flight. She shouldn’t have been charged for the change, and it could have prevented her from wasting a day at the Athens airport by fixing this problem when you phoned the first time.

I contacted Travelocity on your behalf. It apologized for the difficulties and sent you a $250 certificate that can be used for a future trip.

(Photo: puritani35/Flickr Creative Commons)Similar Posts:

A canceled room, but no refund

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:15:08 +0000

Question: I recently made a reservation on the Days Inn Web site for six nights at the Days Inn Barnwell, SC. My American Express card was charged $415.

Because of a death in my family that required me to travel to Oklahoma to attend the funeral, I called Days Inn and requested that my reservation be canceled. I was informed that online reservations could not be canceled and that my credit card would be charged — the reason for the cancellation request notwithstanding.

I sent an email to the corporate office using the Web site’s “Contact Us” feature, requesting a review. My Amex card was charged a few days later, and I received a call from a Days Inn customer service agent shortly after that, who informed me that nothing could be done to reverse the charge. Can you help me get a refund? — Art Wallace, Miami Beach, Fla.

Answer: Days Inn should have given you a refund, or at least allowed you to apply your $415 credit toward a future stay. But its “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude just doesn’t work for me.

Days Inn should have clearly disclosed that the online rate you were quoted was nonrefundable. I’m sure if you went back to the booking screen, you would see the terms. But were they adequately disclosed? If you learned about them for the first time when you called Days Inn to cancel, then the answer is “no.”

Even airlines, which have some of the most restrictive and customer-hostile policies in the travel industry, allow you to rebook another flight when you cancel. And air carriers frequently offer full refunds when there’s a death in the family. Why is Days Inn being so difficult?

I believe the answer is that Days Inn franchisees don’t want to give the money back. And why should they? From the hotel owners’ perspective, they offered a lower rate in exchange for a commitment from you to show up on the day of your reservation. If you don’t check in, they get to keep the money. You’re essentially stuck between Days Inn corporate and a group of independent owners. Not a very good place to be, if you ask me.

Maybe it’s time to clarify some of Days Inn’s refund rules. When a room is booked online, can it be canceled – and if so, under what circumstances? Can the hotel issue credit that can be reused later, like an airline?

You might have complained to someone higher up at Days Inn, which is owned by Wyndham Worldwide. But in this case, I think that applying steady pressure by way of the Better Business Bureau and South Carolina’s attorney general (who you should have copied on your correspondence) you might have shaken something loose.

Contacting me wasn’t a bad idea, either. I got in touch with the corporate Days Inn office and asked it to review your case. The company apologized for the difficulty you had in making a cancellation and agreed to a full refund. Days Inn is also working to modify some of its policies to make it easier for customers to deal with an unforeseen cancellation.Similar Posts:

An Australia tour that wasn’t meant to be

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:43:03 +0000

Question: My friend and I recently booked a tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji through Grand Circle Travel. The trip never happened, and now it looks as if it never will, even though I bought travel insurance.

Our flight from Boston to Los Angeles was delayed because of a mechanical problem. When it was fixed, we couldn’t fly because our crew had timed out. The flight was eventually canceled.

The soonest our airline could get to Los Angeles was five days later. I called Grand Circle Travel, and a representative instructed me to call her back when I knew our new flight plans so they could connect us with the rest of the tour in Australia.

We found another flight from Washington, and took a bus from Boston to Washington. We made it as far as Maryland before the bus stalled outside of Baltimore — another mechanical delay. We missed our flight.

At this point, we had no connection on Qantas from Los Angeles and had lost the majority of the Australia portion of the trip. One of the most important things we were looking forward to was swimming in the Great Barrier Reef and taking underwater photographs. We decided to cancel. My insurance company only refunded me $750 of $5,400 I spent. Is there anything you can do to help? — Rebecca Canter, Portland, Maine

Answer: Your trip really wasn’t meant to happen. Trust me on this. After two mechanical delays and a missed flight, can you imagine what would have awaited you in Australia? Think of that swim on the reef. Think great white sharks and box jellyfish.

Aren’t you glad you stayed home?

Grand Circle should have respected your choice — recognized that fate was preventing you from traveling — and helped you secure a refund. Instead, it passed you off to your travel insurance company, which returned only a fraction of your tour. Never mind the expenses you incurred trying to get from Boston to Washington.

Grand Circle’s terms and conditions — available on its Web site — are clear about its liability in a situation like yours. It has none.

“Grand Circle is not responsible if an airline cancels or delays a flight for any reason, including weather,” it says. “If you are unable to make your departure, it is your responsibility to work with the airline on which you are ticketed to reach your destination. Operator is not responsible for any additional expenses you may incur prior to joining your trip. Operator is not responsible for and will not provide any refund for portions of trips missed due to cancelled or delayed flights.”

What’s more, your travel insurance policy has exclusions that limit its liability, which explains why you only recovered a fraction of the cost of your tour.

An appeal to Grand Circle is your best option for a do-over. It sold you an insurance policy that covered a small part of your trip, but more importantly, the circumstances that led to your cancellation were truly extraordinary. The letter you drafted to your insurance company and sent to me was too lengthy. A tight, polite missive might have yielded a more desirable result.

I contacted Grand Circle on your behalf. A representative called you and suggested that if you had stayed in Boston, you might have been able to make your tour. Clearly, she wasn’t familiar with your case. After some more back-and-forth, Grand Circle sent you a voucher for $3,400 that can be redeemed for a future tour.

(Photo of Melbourne by Linh_rOm/Flickr Creative Commons)Similar Posts:

A canceled flight … so where’s my refund?

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:01:07 +0000

Question: I recently booked a flight through Expedia from Orlando to Hyderabad, India. The flights were on Continental Airlines and Jet Airways. After I made the reservation and received a confirmation, I got an e-mail from Expedia that one leg of my flight had been canceled.

I have been trying to get a refund for that canceled flight since then. I’ve spent hours on the phone with Expedia, but they have not credited me, saying it’s up to Continental.

We paid the money directly to Expedia, not Continental. Common sense suggests that this issue should be taken care of by Expedia. Don’t you agree? — Nallan Chari, Longwood, Fla.

Answer: Expedia should have credited you for the canceled flight immediately when you asked for a refund.

Why didn’t it? Because Continental had your money, and wresting it from the airline is easier said than done. Even though Continental issued your tickets, part of your itinerary — a flight from Mumbai to Hyderabad — was through Jet Airways. Technically, that shouldn’t make a difference (Continental has all your money) but in my experience, airlines use the multicarrier itinerary as an excuse to delay their refunds.

It could also have something to do with the fact that you no longer have the credit card you used to pay for the ticket. As a matter of policy, online travel agencies only refund purchases back to your credit card. Anything else confuses them.

It shouldn’t be that way. If a company can take your money immediately, it should return it just as quickly. Any way you want it.

From your point of view, what’s happening behind the scenes is irrelevant. As your online travel agent, Expedia took your money, and it should return it. But it’s not that simple.

There’s another wrinkle: A Transportation Department rule that tickets must be refunded within seven business days. (I wrote about that last week, but also discovered that the rule only applies to refundable tickets. Alas, few tickets used by leisure travelers are refundable.)

Should Expedia give you the money even if it doesn’t have it? In a word, yes. A company of its size should be able to negotiate a faster return of its customers’ money, and ultimately, I think the problem of ticketing and refunds between carriers is an issue for the online travel agency to work out.

You could have exerted a little pressure on Expedia in several ways — none of which involved a phone conversation. A polite e-mail is a good place to start. If that doesn’t work, try appealing to someone higher up. Sometimes, copying the Transportation Department is a good way to underscore the seriousness of your complaint to an airline when it is holding on to your money. A note to your state’s attorney general can also be useful if you think your online agency is stalling.

I contacted Expedia on your behalf. It promptly apologized and refunded the money for the unusable portion of your trip.

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One year later, still no refund

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:35:13 +0000

Question: I need your help getting a refund for tickets I bought from British Airways for my father and me to fly from Philadelphia to London last year. Before we left, my father became ill and I contacted the airline to cancel our reservation. Shortly thereafter, he died.

British Airways requested a copy of my father’s death certificate, which was sent to them. So far, despite several notes to the airline, I have received a refund only for the tax paid for the tickets.

British Airways has sent me a thank-you note for contacting them and advised me they would forward my mail to a handling agent. They indicated I would hear further from them once the case is completed or additional information is required. It’s been more than a year since I booked the tickets. This is certainly a situation that requires an ombudsman. What can be done? — Julianna Lipschutz, Philadelphia

Answer: I’m sorry about your father. British Airways should have refunded your tickets right away. But it didn’t have to.

If your tickets were nonrefundable, as most are, and you canceled your reservations, then British Airways only needs to return your taxes and fees. It could be worse: Many domestic airlines give you nothing when you cancel a nonrefundable ticket. After all, it’s a nonrefundable ticket. (Some domestic airlines refund taxes and fees, but most of them don’t.)

Practically speaking, airline passengers rarely take a hit for the full amount of the ticket when they cancel their flights. Airlines offer credit, minus a hefty change fee, so the tickets can be reused.

I have yet to come across an airline that doesn’t refund tickets for deceased passengers and their traveling companions, but there’s no rule that they have to. However, there is a rule that your airline should offer a quick refund.

The Transportation Department’s Fly Rights booklet details your airline’s obligation:

“When a refund is due, the airline must forward a credit to your card company within seven business days after receiving a complete refund application,” it says. “If you paid by credit card for a refundable fare and you have trouble getting a refund that you are due, report this in writing to your credit card company. If you write to them within 60 days from the time that they mailed your first monthly statement showing the charge for the airline ticket, the card company should credit your account even if the airline doesn’t.”

I asked the Transportation Department to clarify its rule, and was told it only applied to refundable tickets, but that British Airways was subject to the rule.

Maybe it’s time to broaden that regulation a little. I’ve dealt with numerous legitimate refund requests from passengers of European airlines, who say they had to wait months, and sometimes years, for their money back.

How could you have prevented a one-year wait? Applying gentle but firm pressure on British Airways would have helped. (Here’s a tip: write, but don’t call.) If you booked your ticket through a travel agent, then asking your agent for an assist might have moved the process along. Most air travelers simply wait in frustration.

I contacted British Airways on your behalf. It issued a refund of $1,194 — the price of both tickets, minus the taxes and fees you already received.Similar Posts:

You call that a two-star hotel?

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:07:52 +0000

Question: I bought a hotel through Hotwire that I’d really rather not stay at. A few weeks ago, I requested a two-star property in Flint, Mich. Hotwire gave me a nonrefundable, nonchangeable room at a Days Inn property.

A friend of mine in the area told me about how bad that hotel is. They had tried to stay there but had checked out within the hour because it was filthy and the staff was uncooperative. I did some research on reviews of this property and all the reviews I found, except one, rated it very poor for the same reasons.

I contacted Hotwire, but they were of no help and referred me to the Website to contact them by e-mail. I have not asked for a refund, but only to be allowed to upgrade to a higher-rated facility in the area.

Hotwire’s standard response to all my e-mail is that it meets the two-star requirements they have set. I have tried explaining to them that the star rating is not in question, but the fitness of the facilities. Can you help me? — Ed Boston, Woodland Hills, Calif.

Answer: Hotwire is right — and wrong. It had every right to assign a hotel of its choosing, but not to that particular property.

Hotwire’s terms, which you agreed to when you booked your hotel, are clear. You get to choose the city and a “star” rating based on certain amenities, but the site then reserves a nonrefundable room in a hotel of its choosing.

By the way, the Hotwire ratings system doesn’t get any lower than two stars, which is described as an “economy” establishment with basic features like an in-room coffeemaker, cable TV and an alarm clock. Hotwire does, however, promise its accommodations will be “reliable,” which your hotel arguably was not.

Although I usually recommend contacting a company by e-mail, there’s no reason a large, well-established company like Hotwire shouldn’t also be able to handle your grievance by phone. I find the fact that they insisted you contact them by e-mail to be problematic. What if you don’t have access to e-mail at that moment?

Your case and several recent ones like it, underscore the need for a universally recognized hotel ratings system. When an online travel agency rates the product it sells, there’s an inevitable conflict of interest. An independent grading mechanism would serve everyone better. But for now, these imperfect star-ratings are the only real option, since no nationally recognized ratings system exists in the United States.

Hotwire’s form responses suggest it didn’t take the time to review your written complaint. You weren’t griping about the nonrefundability of your room, but about the room itself. A quick look at some of the customer reviews of the property would have revealed that you weren’t just whining. You could have appealed the decision in writing (many companies give rebuttals to form responses a higher priority in the system) or, as a last resort, disputed this charge on your credit card.

It turns out neither of those were necessary. I contacted Hotwire on your behalf, and it allowed you to change hotels as an “exception.” It also stopped selling the hotel because of the volume of complaints, which, according to a company spokesman, “led us to believe that its overall quality was no longer up to Hotwire’s standards.”

(Photo: Odalaigh/Flickr Creative Commons)Similar Posts:

Poof! There go my SkyMiles

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:43:44 +0000

Question: I’ve been saving my Delta Air Lines frequent flier miles for many, many years to take my wife on a 20th anniversary trip this year. I received all of my statements by regular mail. A few months ago, I asked the airline for a PIN number so I could look at my account online, and when I logged in, I was shocked to see my balance at zero miles. I had — or at least I thought I had — 101,000 miles.

It turns out that even though I used to have points with no expiration date, Delta had made changes to its program and because of inactivity on my account my points were deleted late last year.

A representative also told me that since Delta had gone “green” I hadn’t received any account statements, which would have informed me of my expiration dates. We asked the airline to reinstate our miles, since we have stayed at Delta partner hotels in the last year, but it refused.

I feel like our dream anniversary has been shattered and I am devastated since I can’t afford to buy plane tickets. I would be very, very grateful if you would consider contacting Delta on my behalf. To quote an old movie, “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!” — Kenneth Miller, Albuquerque, NM

Answer: Delta should have told you about your expiring miles. It was wrong to deny your request. It was also wrong to underestimate the Force. (Sorry, I just had to throw in another “Star Wars” line. But who am I kidding?)

Like most other airline loyalty programs, Delta’s SkyMiles program allows the airline to change its terms any time for any reason. If that sounds overly broad, if not a little unfair, that’s because it probably is. You can review the terms online for yourself and decide.

You made some assumptions about your frequent flier program that were incorrect. You believed the terms under which you began collecting loyalty points wouldn’t change — that your miles would last forever — even though Delta’s terms gave the airline a license to rewrite the rules.

I can’t blame you for thinking Delta would keep its word. It’s like buying a knife set with a lifetime warranty, only to discover a few years later that the guarantee has been cut to two years. If you earned non-expiring miles, then common sense tells you the miles should never expire. But common sense doesn’t apply to this situation.

Here are a few steps you could have taken to improve your chances of keeping your miles. First, you phoned Delta, but I would have written instead. A quick e-mail to the airline is far more effective than a call, for a number of reasons that regular readers of this column already know.

In reviewing this case with Delta, you probably could have done a couple of things to keep your hard-earned miles, like giving the airline a current e-mail address and handing over your SkyMiles number to the hotels where you stayed. Had you done those two things, you probably would still have your 101,000 miles.

I contacted Delta on your behalf. I also forwarded receipts from your hotel stays to prove that technically, you had some activity on your account, even though you never received mileage credit for it. As a gesture of goodwill, and as an exception, Delta returned your miles.

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Charged too soon for my hotel stay

Christopher Elliott — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:13:07 +0000

Question: I recently had an unpleasant experience with a Holiday Inn that became a Wyndham property in Boca Raton, Fla. I was hoping you could help me sort things out.

I booked a refundable room for my son at the hotel. I had the choice between prepaying a lower nonrefundable rate or a higher, refundable rate. I chose the refundable rate because I wanted to be flexible.

I assumed the hotel would charge my credit card at the end of my son’s stay. But somewhere between the time I made the reservation and the time my son checked in, the Holiday Inn converted to a Wyndham, and my credit card was charged the full $753. From my perspective, the hotel had changed the terms of its reservation by charging the cost of the full visit in advance without informing me.

I disputed the charge with American Express and they sided with the innkeeper because my son had approved the rate we originally agreed to. I don’t think I was treated right. What do you think? — Harvey Kaplan, Boca Raton, Fla.

Answer: I think if you prepaid for your hotel stay, you should have been offered a prepaid rate, which is less expensive than the price you paid for your fully refundable room.

And I’m sure the Wyndham would have done this the right way, if it weren’t for the reflagging.

Reflagging is lodging industry-speak for changing the hotel name. The property converted from a Holiday Inn to a Wyndham. When that happened, the hotel needed to close out Holiday Inn’s records, so it charged your card. If it hadn’t, it would have lost all of its credit card information during the conversion, according to Wyndham.

So why didn’t anyone explain this to you? Part of the problem may have been the way you approached the resolution. Although you contacted the hotel in writing, you didn’t keep corporate Wyndham in the loop. When the property denied your request for a rate adjustment, you could have appealed your case to Wyndham instead of jumping straight to a charge card dispute. A dispute is your second-to-last option, just before small claims court.

I might have given Wyndham one more chance to make this right, or at least to explain what went wrong. Instead, American Express sided with the merchant, leaving you with only one other choice (besides contacting me): taking this to a judge.

I contacted Wyndham on your behalf. The hotel offered you a refund of $52, the difference between the rate you paid and the prepaid, nonrefundable rate.

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