Most hotels offer less expensive, nonrefundable rates that can’t be changed, no matter what your circumstances. Book them through a site like Hotwire, and they’re extra nonrefundable, because of the site’s strict no-cancel, no-refund, no-change policies. Or are they?
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Lisa Deason thought she’d booked a hotel room in New York for four guests through Hotwire. But her confirmation told her otherwise: the room could only accommodate two people, at most.
Before you dismiss this latest story about a hotel ratings dispute as irrelevant, consider this: Changing a hotel’s star rating by just a fraction can translate into millions of dollars of revenue to an online travel company. So every half-point counts. It certainly does to Sugi Harto, who found himself booked at the Fairfield Inn Placentia through Hotwire recently.
When Ed Boston books a two-star hotel in Flint, Mich., he expects a reliable property with minimal amenities — not the dump he ends up in. He asks his online travel agency if he can change hotels, and it says “no.” What now?
If you live in the Midwest, I don’t need to tell you that you’re having a white Christmas. A very white Christmas.
Llouellynde Orahood’s flight from Los Angeles to Dallas has all the makings of a trip from hell, including weather delays, cancellations and almost-missed flights. What could be worse? Having to pay again for the same tickets. Now, neither the airlines nor her online travel agency is willing to help her recover the money she should have never had to spend. Is there any hope for a refund?
Southwest Airlines, according to a new survey by Glassdoor, a company that conducts online salary surveys.
I am Patient Zero for attention deficit disorder, which may explain why more than a few people with legitimate grievances e-mail me back after I’ve responded to their questions, asking me if I even bothered to read their inquiry. I did, but I was probably distracted by a screaming child in my home office or a kitten scurrying across my keyboard.
Gordon Houston prepaid $97 for a rental car in Cancun through Hotwire — a rate that was supposed to include all required fees. But then his car rental company, Europcar, added a mandatory insurance charge to his bill, leaving him with a $268 bill.
Who pays?
In the short term, Houston shelled out the extra money. But [...]
“We are all too familiar with the sometimes draconian policies and less-than-stellar customer service,” Clay Hawley’s e-mail began. “This story is the opposite of that.”
Is a nonrefundable hotel rate really nonrefundable? Not really.
Even though she prepays for a hotel room on Hotwire.com, Elke Rist gets half of what she’s promised: just one bed and quarters the size of a “jail cell.” It will cost her twice as much as the room she reserved. Can the hotel do that?
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