I didn’t wake up happy at my hotel

Question: I recently reserved a room by phone at the Extended Stay America Providence Airport-West Warwick in Rhode Island through Hotels.com. I repeatedly asked if the rooms where non-smoking, and that if it was OK to do a late check-in, and the answer to both questions was “yes.”

When we arrived at the hotel at 11:45 p.m., the manager on duty said we had reservations for two smoking rooms, and one of them only had one double bed. I explained to the hotel manager that was not what I had booked through Hotels.com, but she said that was the type of reservation they had received, that she only had three rooms left, and all of them were smoking rooms. What’s more, she could not give us a refund because the bookings were made through Hotels.com.

We called Hotels.com, but a representative insisted we had been given the rooms we requested. After some back-and-forth, and us explaining that these weren’t the rooms we asked for, Hotels.com agreed to give us a $40 voucher and a 10 percent discount on our rooms.

We decided to use the room. We could barely sleep because the smell remained so strong. Both my sister’s grandson and I spent the dawn hours throwing up.

In the end, it would’ve been better for all of us just to sleep in the car than spend $191 for two rooms where we couldn’t sleep and got sick. I hope you can help me in some way. — Zoraida Fernandez, Hackettstown, NJ

Answer: Extended Stay should have handed you the keys to two nonsmoking rooms with two double beds in each one. If it didn’t, or couldn’t, then Hotels.com should have found you a comparable room at another hotel.

What went wrong here? Everything.

You reserved a room by calling an online travel agency. But you’re better off conducting that kind of transaction online, because there’s less of a chance a mistake will be made. For example, you can tell offshore reservations agents that you want a non-smoking room, but they may misunderstand you and reserve a smoking room. That’s probably what happened to you.

You could have contacted the hotel directly to make sure your reservation was in order. That’s particularly important when you have special needs, such as a nonsmoking room, bed type or a late check-in. I wouldn’t accept your online travel agent’s assurances that everything is OK. Get it straight from the hotel.

Of course, the hotel should have had the correct rooms ready when you checked in late in the evening, as promised. When it didn’t, the hotel or Hotels.com should have sent you to a property where you didn’t have to spend the night throwing up.

The $40 voucher and discount was not enough. I would have left the hotel and disputed the charge on my credit card.

A look at Hotels.com’s terms and conditions on its site confirms that the company normally doesn’t guarantee any special requests such as the ones you made. Either the representative to whom you spoke wasn’t clear about that, or misunderstood your question.

I contacted Hotels.com on your behalf. In addition to the voucher and discount, you were offered an apology and an $89 refund for the room with a single bed. A representative also said Hotels.com would review its policies regarding room availability at its properties.

  • http://www.panchosays.com pancho shiell

    re: fiasco res / Extended Stay, caugh caugh
    Hi Christopher… your advice is good, as always.
    One of my few compulsive habits, and a pleassnt one, is ALWAYS calling hotel desk to verify my reserviation made online or however…nothing better thank making personal contact with hotel employee, also ask usual quesiotions that are rarely clear on hotel websites.. 1) how long is your swimming pool? 2) is your in-room wifi free or not, and if not how much…AND do i have a NICE ROOM? could it be better? verify no smoking, verify not near elevator or cnstruction, or side of bldg with noisy traffic, etc…AND upon check-in, ask for that person and say hello, even bring a trinket-gift from your home town (New Jersey?)
    Also, I ALWAYS call the Airlines’ 800 number to verify my res (and record locator, and make sure you have the locator of the airline, not to be confused with that of the vendor; verify/request seat assignment, verify/request inclusion of my appropriate frequent flier member number–often it’s advanrtagous using affiliated airlines program– also, which Airport Terminal number, arrival and deprature (avoid mix-ups with code shares…sometime pax flies on airline other than that ticketed and goes to wrong terminal), what is the “official” advance time to arrive at airport, and verify baggage allowance and whether there is charge for first checked bag, etc.
    Oh yes, always good idea to peruse hotel and airlines websites, and note the hotel’s DIRECT phone/fax/email (rather than of res center).
    Think Murphy’s Law, which applies to all including the dear traveler
    Happy trails,
    pancho shiell, nyc

  • Nathan Cunningham

    Had an almost identical experience with Hotels.com last summer and will never use them again as a result. It was not that they did not try to make it right, only that the hassle and wrangling that went on was not the kind of effort I wanted to expend while ON VACATION. Hotels.com: not worth the effort that may be needed if things go wrong. Its like going into a fast food joint, getting cold food and have to bring a lawyer to convince them that they should give you another (this time fresh) hamburger.

  • Ed

    I’ve used hotels.com several times and have had good experiences each time. Once to reserve a bed and breakfast that went flawlessly and another to reserve a resort at the beach. I made a mistake on the online booking and called hotels.com on the phone immediately and was able to correct my error with no fuss and no additional cost.

  • Carver

    @pancho

    I’m sure your system works for you but that’s way too much work for a frequent traveler. On average I check into hotels about 40 times a year, probably making about 25 plane trips and renting cars about 25 times. That’s almost 100 phone calls. Far too many.

    Unless you have special circumstances, the best practice is to have a printout confirmation of your travel reservations regardless of how made. It’s hard to argue with black and white.

    That means 40 phone calls to hotels, 25 calls to the airline, 25 calls to Hertz.

  • carver

    meant to say, that save 40 calls….

  • Thalassa

    I’ve used hotels.com several times, and I’ve had no problem whatsoever. I suspect the problem lies exactly where Chris put it – with calling an online business. What’s the point in that, anyway?

  • Bill

    I strive to never accept a smoking room under any circumstances. Places that will not guarantee me a non smoking room do not get the reservation.

    Once hotels realize this is happening, they will become more serious about this issue.

  • Steve

    First off, I don’t care *how* a room is reserved – the reservation should be honored. I’m aware of overbooking, etc, as an unfortunately necessary business practice, but as the customer I frankly don’t care: if I make a reservation, I expect that I will receive what I reserved, or be upgraded if for whatever reason you can’t accommodate the reservation we agreed upon. As a practical matter, should this customer have avoided calling an online agency where there are a number of ways a reservation can go wrong? Sure. That in no way makes her at fault for not getting the room she reserved. If Hotels.com can’t handle telephone bookings properly, they shouldn’t take them at all.

    Having said all of that…I don’t want to blame the customer here, but if she and her family are so allergic to cigarette smoke that being placed in a smoking room results in them becoming physically ill, maybe she should have been more careful either to confirm the nonsmoking room with the property or to book at one that is entirely nonsmoking altogether. I book nonsmoking rooms out of preference, but I’m not physically bothered by being placed in a smoking room. As such, I don’t bother confirming anything in advance but if I was given a smoking room despite having reserved a nonsmoking one, I’d complain and expect compensation. However, if I physically could not stay in a smoking room, I would be much more proactive about ensuring that I get one.

  • Nan

    Last summer I had a similar situation occur with Hotels.com. I phoned in my reservation because I wanted insure that I got the last room with 2 double beds in a downtown Chicago hotel. I repeated my requirements several times and was assured each time that my request was being honored. Heeding your advice, I called the hotel a few days before my trip and was dismayed to learn not only was the reservation for a king size bed, but all thedoubles were booked. I spent the next 5 hours on the phone with hotel.com customer service. The first time I was lied to, next I was disconnected, then I was told the same reply over and over again. Finally, one rep gave me corporate’s number. There I discovered, Hotels.com records conversation (or makes a log) and they confirmed what I had reserved, their mistake in making the reservation, and eventually finding me another hotel in the downtown area that was superior to my original selection at the same rate I already had. While my vacation was saved, I did not appreciate the stress and time it took to rectify the situation. I now go directly to a hotel’s website and always verify my reservation 5-7 days prior to check-in. I use on line travel agency to compare prices, but I make my reservation at the hotel’s on line site. Usually, those websites have a lowest price advertised guarantee. If not, I have called the hotel and gotten a room at the lower rate found elsewhere online.

  • http://www.allseasonhotels.net discount hotel reservations

    The experience of Zoraida gives us travelers who do reservations online a lesson to contact the hotel directly to double check the reservations and not rely only on the agency. The advice of Carver of having a printout confirmation of the travel reservations is good.

  • http://travelinggiraffe.blogspot.com Crissy

    Another thing that would help with booking with a online agency over the phone is to request an emailed confirmation, or even a fax confirmation. Even if you don’t have an email account I would imagine they know someone with an email account. I always feel uncomfortable when I make any reservation and don’t have a printed out copy of it to show an agent what I really booked.

  • Roberto

    Another reminder: for most hotels outside of the US, online travel agencies don’t have direct access to the hotel’s inventory and reservations systems. The reservations are made by generating a fax to the hotel. Needless to say, this process is extremely error-prone.

    Calling the hotel is always a good idea, especially when allergies or late-checkins are involved.

    P.S. I know it was midnight, but what possessed you to expose yourself to a known allergen? What did you think was going to happen? If you were allergic to peanuts and you were hungry, would you just eat a PB&J and wonder why your next memory was waking up in the hospital?

  • FJP

    I know that opaque and other third party booking sites cannot guarantee “special requests,” but since when is a nonsmoking room a special request? Sorry, I’m not with you on this one.

  • Meredith Putvin

    Let’s get some facts straight…

    1) Foreign or Domestic, These 3rd party travel Agencies DO NOT have access to the properties inventory. They have an allotted number of rooms and even they do oversell.

    2) Hotels will set aside a number of rooms for the Allotment and if they oversell on one room type, the agent entering the reservation will try to book the guest in a room and make notes on the reservation for the front desk to do room assignments the night prior.

    I used to be the agent booking the rooms for the properties. Make no mistake, these online reservations sites are not travel agencies. They are Wholesalers… When you look at it that way, Buyer beware.

  • Innkeeper

    As the owner of a small independent inn I ALWAYS send a written confirmation for every reservation made directly with us to avoid these types of mishaps and to ensure our property’s policies are clearly communicated. It sure prevents a lot of problems and gives our guests the conmfort level they need that their requests are being accommodated.

    Travelers should be note that online booking sites, such as hotwire, hotels.com, expedia, etc often only provide the property with the guest’s name and credit card # when an online booking is made. We, as inn owners, find this particularly troublesome, as it precludes us from confirming directly with the guest to ensure that their reservation is in order. Additionally, while travel agents & online wholesalers do (yes, they do!) have realtime access to our inventory, systems glitches have often resulted in rooms being booked that were not available. Since we are a small property & often fully booked, we do not always have the flexibility to accommodate room type changes. In our experience, our most problematic reservations are always those that were booked through online wholesalers.

    Your best bet for a worry-free holiday is to book directly with the property. Most properties even have an online booking/enquiry form directly on their website that is not third party affiliated.