Comments on: Room with a wrong view

By: James L. Morrison

James L. Morrison — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:40:54 +0000

When you have an experience like the one described by Mr. Ledford, you can always vent your frustration on Trip Advisor, which many people rely on when making travel plans. The vent, of course, should be accurate and with reasonable language. :-)

By: Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:02:03 +0000

In todays Make Money Now world my advice is no matter how or whom you choose to book with, it’s best to work backword from the assumption that they are Liars, Cheat and Thieves of a magnitude that is currently unfathomable to the average person.

If it’s written? READ it! Every single word BEFORE you sign. Don’t like what you read? Move on.

If you were told it, get full name and title of the person who told you and make notes. They come in handy later on in the story.

The worst thing that can happen to you if you assume everyone is a rip off is be pleasantly surprised when you’re not ripped off.

Hell of a way to live but you have to now.

By: S. Bahr

S. Bahr — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:30:35 +0000

I do exactly what Linda does… use Expedia and other sites like it to find what’s in the area I want, then I book through the hotel.
I was the front desk supervisor for a year in Phoenix and people who book through third party sites were ALWAYS considered second-class citizens. We put them in the worst rooms and were very unwilling to work with them.

Also, many times Expedia and such wouldn’t fax us their reservation, so someone would come to check in and we’d have no record that they were staying with us… not our fault, but there was nothing we could do, except talk to the operator in India and try to get their reservation. It once took 3 phone calls to get them to fax it to me.

PLUS, you can request a certain number of beds and smoking/non-smoking, but Expedia had no idea what we had available, so, if we were out of 2 doubles and only had 1 king, it didn’t matter what you requested, you were SOL.

Take it from a former insider. NEVER book through a third-party, even if it’s slightly cheaper, you still get treated poorly.

By: RegularGuy

RegularGuy — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:01:53 +0000

Gee, Dr Wong… ya think?

Always book directly with the hotel, airline, etc. The few bucks you save with these middle men are not worth the way more than infrequent flubs we are constantly reading about.

Everyone trying to pinch a penny then boohooing when they actually get the kind of service they pay for.

By: Linda Snow

Linda Snow — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:04:12 +0000

Based on a few minor problems with both Expedia and Travelocity, here’s what I’ve decided to do in the future: Use those websites as search engines only, to find the best fare or the best fit hotel. Then do the actual booking directly with the airline or hotel. That way, in case of a problem, the online agent and the actual service provider can’t get into a buck-passing game about whose fault it is and neither of them wanting to make compensation.

By: Dr Wong

Dr Wong — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:23:17 +0000

The supposed review says very little about the crux of Bob’s complaint as described in this article – wonder whether Expedia redacted certain portions that it deemed false or inaccurate?

By: Stan Prus

Stan Prus — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:41:12 +0000

You can’t put a price on a ruined vacation, but $378 is certainly not it. You’re right that it is a puny amount but the really sad part is that Expedia, like most travel-related businesses, refused to accept responsibility until someone who has a travel site contacts them and then they do what they should have done months ago. When an airline pulls that bs with me, I stop using that airline. While I realize I’m starting to run out of airlines, I would put Expedia in that same category.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:33:40 +0000

So they refunded the price difference. I imagine Bob’s entire vacation was ruined due not only to the room being the wrong one, but to him feeling a justifiable sense of injustice all the time during his stay and after.
A refund of $378 might have been appropriate during the time of the dispute, but they should have to refund the entire trip for being so stubborn about the whole thing.

I am not one who asks for excessive compensation when things go wrong, but thinking about all of the frustration they caused, it should be a bigger settlement than the price difference…anyone else feel the same way?

By: Gregg T

Gregg T — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:58:53 +0000

It took them five months to clear that review? I wonder how many management meetings were involved.

By: Andy M.

Andy M. — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:39:55 +0000

The review is there now:

Bob L from seattle does not recommend this hotel

By: Brian Hamil

Brian Hamil — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:35:45 +0000

I just went to Expedia to read his review and what a surprise, it’s still not there. The more I read about Expedia the more I realize my experience a number of years ago when they rented me a hotel room in Ireland for a hotel that didn’t exist at the time of booking or wasn’t due to open for a year after my stay wasn’t an isolated incidence. It took me threatening to go to the Travel Industry Council of Ontario before they would even reply to my complaint, but surprisingly not 20 mins later I was refunded the booking.