What is Reddit's opinion of Hotels.com?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Failure to provide service is the sort of situation that credit card disputes and chargebacks are made for. You've tried unsuccessfully to get a refund. Stop calling hotels.com and call your credit card company.

I don't how much this helps, but if they do try and proceed with action, there are many much larger companies that do the exact same thing, for example ASOS is currently running 20% off in the app, and Hotels.com removes some of their fees relating to claiming free nights when using the app.

If the hotel has a contract to make x-amount of bookings with hotels.com, your direct booking will not count towards that amount. They may be booked so well, that they can often easily sell their remaining rooms at a higher rate.

Just noticed this today. On Million Dollar Listing they had a really obvious ad for hotels. com where Ryan Searhant tried to use a travel agent and his assistant was like "no use this website it's so easy". Cringe.

I had an incident on the reverse end of a scam involving one of the third-party booking sites. I didn't feel it worth a post, but the short is that a lady downloaded an ap for Hotels.com. Not sure if exact from memory, but this isn't a slander on any of the ACTUAL booking companies. This was a fake AP. She winds up booking a room for the wrong date, either way she shouldn't have been able to book the room because we were already booked up, and I personally blocked off third party booking for that night. She winds up calling their 'customer service' and proceeds to get bullied into a scam costing her another $200 through buying Google Play cards. I felt so bad for her, but I instantly informed her of the refund scammers, and was able to actually fit her in. I didn't even take a CC for the res, figuring she would be gunshy about giving out her CC number again.

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Moral of the story: Be wary booking on phone APs (Unless they're the official Expedia or whatever), and if they ever ask you for money when you're calling for a refund, you've called the wrong number.

I had the same issue with Expedia and a refund needed due to flight cancellations six times in a row.
Every conversation needed to iterate the first cancelled flight, the reason for the cancellation, the rebooking 'fees' that would need to be waived, etc. etc. Waste of manpower.

Finally, when the conference itself I was planning on attending cancelled, I simply asked for a refund. Multiple expletives at being given the run around, until finally I was like "I'll just ask the airline."

8 months of back and forth resolved in less than 48 hours.

Third party establishments, such as hotels.com and expedia.com, can ultimately give you so much more of a headache as the process is not about streamlining it for your ease, it's for efficiency towards their profit. Also, people can be downright stupid.

Working for the government makes you ELIGIBLE to use the Government rate, but it doesn't guarantee that you'll get it whenever you use a hotel, even on business. The corporation determines a number of government rates they'll offer at any given time, and the hotel I work at offers very very few, especially in the holiday season and in the summer. Eligibility does not equate to availability. The trouble is that even mid-range hotels are raking in a million dollars a day because their rooms rent for $200-$300. The Government rate chops that down by a LOT and that cuts the revenue of the business. So the government and the corporation have to reach a deal over the availability of the government rate. The government can't ask for too much availability because it encroaches on the hotel's revenue, and the Hotel can't deny too much because, well, it's the government and they don't want to get fucked by taxes.

Ex, My hotel offers five rooms a month on the GOV rate in the summertime. That means five people get to use 1 room once under that rate, and then no one else that month can use it. It's usually sold out before the month even begins because there are some good planners out there who are good at booking in advance.

If you really want the GOV rate during those times, you need to book several months in advance (as mentioned above, this is with Marriott Hotels, and probably more applicable to high-end ones).

And since we're on the topic of hotels, can I say, PLEASE don't book through Expedia or hotels.com. Go to the actual hotel site. No matter what Expedia says, 90% of the time the hotel's price will be cheaper. Expedia has a shitload of dirty backdoor fees hidden in the fine print and they prey on people who don't read it. Fuck Expedia man.

Nick giving hope to all the Instagram shillers that they can shill on TV...sort of...

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Text:

When life hands you lemons, make wine. #joke #Puns #Influence #HeyLadies #WhyIsMyShirtOn

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This is for a Hotels.com ad where some woman wishes she could be in Sonoma after seeing Nick on IG.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just sitting here, drinking my Pepsi and eating my Doritos, thinking about if I want Pizza Hut or Wendy's for dinner on Friday, and you're talking about a bunch of nonsense that doesn't happen. If I were you, I'd book a vacation using Hotels.com and take a nice vacation somewhere where there's a SeaWorld. Honestly, this kind of talk gives me a prescription-strength Tylenol headache. Please take this somewhere else.

Never book with Hotels.com, their "service" is non existant and once they have your money you are never seeing it ever again, no matter what, including hotels that have no rooms for you. Basically Hotels.com see them selves as a booking platform and at that point take no further responsibility for anything. In this instance they caused the problem and then only took action after being contacted by the media. I have had too many bad experiences with them.

As for the cops they need to learn the law. they should not have removed these guests. About now they should be arresting the hotel owner.

All right, I'll say the unpopular thing...

I'm not sure why everyone has it in their head that AirBnB has the obligation to re-book you somewhere at no additional cost when a host flakes out.

If you book a place on Priceline or Hotels.com, and you get there and there and the hotel is super sketch (a problem with boutique hotels in places like NYC), if you're very lucky you'll get a refund eventually. Demand that they rebook you in another hotel, even when the prices may have gone up since your booking, and at no additional cost to you?

It doesn't happen.

AirBnB isn't going to dip into their own pockets because some host sucks. And, as a host, you aren't going to get me to eat a lower price because some other host sucks. Much like Jack's Hotel in Midtown sucking shouldn't force Expedia to come out of pocket so you can stay at the DoubleTree or force DoubleTree to honor Jack's ridiculous low price just because they both had the misfortune to book through that booking site.

You save money with AirBnB or third party booking sites in general. But there are risks associated. With the third party hotel sites, the biggest risk is often no refund under any circumstances. Here, the risk is that the place won't be available and you need to seek accommodation elsewhere.

What did Tripadvisor or hotels.com give you when you put this in the filters?

Also, from the OP:

>We have no clue about good deals on accommodation, given we live here. It's expensive & there are no secret deals.

You also don't get hotel/airline points going through third party travel agents.

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I try to go directly through the company unless it's a huge difference in cost. I did recently use Hotels.com because the difference was (~$400 for the week cheaper through them.

Heading to Eastern Europe for vacation. Very inexpensive, beautiful apartments with kitchens and W/D for the same price as a Clarion hotel here. I did all the planning online through hotels.com. I'm not advertising for them, they happened to be the best deals. Budapest, Prague are as beautiful and full of history as Italy or France.

Both are exactly the same. The LIST view shows the price increase. The room selection view shows the price increase. I've emailed Ebates about this...though I suspect it's not them. I suspect it's hotels.com manipulating prices when the referrer is ebates. But I can't be sure.

For anyone needing a new phone -- Google Fi is running a promotion where you buy a phone (for today only!) and get the full value of the phone back in gift cards for AirBnB, Hotels.com, Delta, or Southwest.

https://fi.google.com/about/device-promo-terms/

The easiest option is probably to transfer to Westjet, Avios, hotels.com, or another partner. You can create an account in his name (they don't ask for any id to create an account). In the future, you can redeem the points for yourself from his account. Just for simplicity, to avoid bureaucracy, it's probably best not to mention his passing (if others have any experience please correct me).

If you would rather keep the points with RBC you can call and ask about their policy, but it will probably be a hassle if nobody else has an RBC card.

Yes. From what I understand Hotels.com is very bad. Hotels.com has terrible customer service. From the article it seems Baymont Inn & Suites in Helen GA is terrible and the manager there is a real asshole. Reading this I would avoid Baymont Inn & Suites in Helen GA and it's terrible customer service.

First, I love Iowa. What a great place to live. I used to travel there on business for years. Greatest porkchops in America. I am going to give you some advice. It will accomplish some of what you are looking for as a goal. It will not be perfect advice.

I have traveled exactly the way you are traveling. In fact, I have travelled for over 40 years. Lots have changed in those 4 decades. When I cruise, I am very specific. I take either and uber or super shuttle from the airport to my hotel. In the past, I would try getting one source just like you are suggesting. It became much easier just to handle the ground transportation individually.

Suggestions:

From Airport to Hotel: Uber or Super Shuttle.

Choice of Hotel: A hotel close to the port of departure. I have used both Priceline and Hotels.com as my source. I usually do those hotel reservations early and do a nice hotel if I come in in the afternoon. If i come in at night, I go cheaper because all I need is a bed.

Restaurant the Night Before the Cruise In Miami: Since as indicated, I fly in the night before the cruise departs, I also book the Capital Grille since it is so close to the hotels near the port.

From Hotel to Port: The hotel can handle this or you can again call Ubers. Since you are so close to the port, the hotel has taxis usually waiting out the front door.

What I just laid out is exactly what I am doing for my cruise in November. It is what I did for my last cruise a few years ago pre-covid.

I promise it is super simple and really pretty stress free. Cruise well.

I came here to make a similar comment. We usually book through Hotels.com and had an experience like this. They couldn't do a card refund, but gave us the amount as a hotels.com credit for our next room.

I used to be with Hostelworld before they did this. In fact my old hostel used to be listed on the front page for Taiwan and I was very familiar with the Shanghai office. My old hostel was even featured on some prominent blogs and tourism sites.

Here's a few things you should know:

1. Hostelworld hostel owners can simply blank out the dates if you reserve with them directly, so they actually make more if you book directly. If you're worried about protection or hostel owners are worried about protection, Hostelworld offers nothing in practice anyway.
2. Hostelworld is not actually an ethical company. They have agreements in their details that aren't fair. Your reviews don't mean much because Hostelworld is more than happy to remove them. While we had some weirdo guests that left strange reviews, I was also taken aback by how HostelWorld Shanghai will just delete those reviews on whim when I had prepared a lot of evidence to justify my case - they made it too easy in favor of me and didn't need evidence. I found that disturbing.
3. Hostelworld fucks up bookings occasionally. We were double booked by their system on multiple occasions over the years I had to go out of the way to solve the mess.
4. They argued in the UK that they didn't have a monopoly on hostels which is a total lie by saying their competitors was hotels.com which wasn't true. Anyway, the UK allowed them to become a monopoly. Fuck monopolies.

It depends on the type of travel you're doing and your timeframe. It's about maximizing the benefits of your cards. Travelling to Asia is a good example of this. For the trip I got the Amex Platinum. After you meet minimum spend, you get the value of the annual fee in MR points + the travel credit. However, here's some other tricks:

Priority Pass - I timed my flights throughout Asia just after meal times. Lounge food (e.g. in Singapore, etc.) is just as good as restaurants if not better. Plus in asia, you can access lounges pre-departure and upon arrival - I was always ready to go (food wise) as soon as I landed Of course, I encourage people to try local food, but you're likely not having local food all the time.

Hostels - I used my Amex to buy discounted hotels.com gift cards. Amex MR points + discounted hostels!

Hotels - every few days, I would switch from a hostel to a Marriott / SPG. Asia is incredibly worth it in terms of value for using Marriott Points. Got upgraded to a junior suite in Malaysia in one of their autograph collection hotels, only paid 10,000 Marriott Points.

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Asia aside, the same principles apply. "Extra Costs as a result of taking these trips" - it takes planning and looking for discounts (often found in gift cards / promo codes). Avoiding FX fees of 2.5% helps as well. At the end of the day, there's not a way to make a trip completely free, but you try to maximize what you have. If you still can't afford the travel related expenses, then the trip isn't something that one should take sadly.

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✓ Bucket List Glacier Hike on Perito Moreno -- highly recommend

50k avios redemption for AA metal to/back from EZE + $100ish fees [otherwise was looking at cost-prohibitive ~$1k cash rate RT nonstop from NYC]. thanks UR: CIP SUB. so almost 2 CPP

12.5k delta redemption on Aerolineas Arg for FTE, but about $200 return on LAN on the foreigner fare (not sure if that's enforced, but they did ask to see passports...almost 1.7cpp). $215 after the for "Big Ice" Hike booked after currency collapse, and very reasonable steaks/wine/transport to Chalten otherwise (highly recommend fitz roy + cerro torre hike)

stayed cash rates (~$40-60/nt) at local boutique/business hotels.com and deltaairbnb bookings (saved about 10% using GC/amex deals), since SO didn't want to splurge pts on Park Hyatt in BA

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upcoming Memorial Day West Coast trip

SW CP so just $181 for both to OAK from EWR, using SO's 15k hyatt pts instead for Fishermans Wharf before the rate bump

cash stay and for rental car to see klamath falls, a little over 8k AGR roomette sleeper but missed the amtrak free companion deal for the following day to PDX

PDX -- waiting to see if a Marriott fn cert will post for the AC hotel, if not eyeing cash rates on hotwire/hotel tonight (Or has anyone had luck with the Kayak/Opentable discount??)

PDX back $190 at booking, but I used 13k pooled trueblue. so set 1.4 cpp.

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also lining up a KY bourbon tour over july 4 using SW CP via Nashville, lots of cat 1 hyatts to burn. Most expensive part will be the rental car -- any good experience with turo?

1: Yes they can, also no it's not that high. My hotel currently gets $75 per night, my last hotel was $100 per night. 350/4=87.5.

2: Most hotels you just swipe a card at check in for incidentals. Why don't you call the hotel directly and find out if you can do this.

3: You should read your hotels.com confirmation page, read the terms and conditions. See if it mentions anything about this incidental deposit up front.

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>TripAdvisor unfortunately does cover up reviews about dangers like scams and rapes in reviews, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had removed other warning reviews.

I recently gave a really terrible review of a hotel on Hotels.com, was removed. Horrible place to stay for numerous health and comfort reasons. Don't trust the reviews on any of those sites, those sites depend on the locations staying available so they get a cut.

I'd look into guest houses, or traditions BnBs they usually the owner lives in the place. H H Whitney is a great BnB, but New Orleans has tons. You can use a website like booking.com or hotels.com to find some options.

This is an issue I've had to consider before. There's one particular hotel chain we stayed at pretty often for a while, and they offered good perks. But hotels.com gave you a free night at any chain for staying at any combination of chains. Since I was traveling frequently during this period and being reimbursed for the cost, I wound up with a lot of free nights I could use wherever I wanted.

Does Wells Fargo also plan to discontinue the co-branded Hotels.com card?

Based on previous Wells Fargo announcements, I would guess they'll also keep the Hotels.com card.

I'd try calling and getting a different rep, as they might be more helpful. Mastercard is not going to give you the card number, regardless of if you have the authorization, but they may be able to help you in some other way.

Also for future reference: Booking, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak all fall under Booking Holdings (meaning they are all owned by one company).

Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, VRBO, and Trivago are all owned by Expedia Group.

Pretty much boils down to no matter what OTA people use, they are using one of two companies.

The day she said Storm spent 2 hours on the phone trying to find a Denver airport hotel during that snowstorm or whatever...#LOVETHISMAN...I found several fully available on hotels.com in 20 seconds, same area. She's full of shit #lovemyself

You can get to Dana Point or Long Beach in about the same time. Long Beach does have some beach front, but it's protected by the harbor, so not so wavy or busy for that matter. I always liked it for walking around the harbor they have a bunch of food places. You can also drive around the corner and be in Rancho Palo Verde. Harder to get to a beach though.

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Hungtington is probably what you are looking for. Great beach, lot's of shops. As for hotels, check hotels.com and then hotelstonight. com. Obviously on a beach it will be pricey, but slightly inland it's usually much less.

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Dana point marina inn is usually cheap, state park nearby.

I'm in the same boat with the $350 AF. 4th night free sounds great but there are so many options to book hotels using points, hotels.com giftcards, Air BnB etc. I find myself considering changing travel plans just to try and use this benefit and convince myself I am getting value. Probably gonna drop this card at the next AF unless I get another retention offer (currently slogging through the $50 back for $1500 spend for 7 statements).

1. Car Rental companies may charge for pick up from a different location to where you picked the car up from. However, most rental companies have offices up and down the country so it shouldn't be an issue.
2. Pay as you Go SIM cards can be picked up from most corner shops for £1 and they have different options for data and calls. But you might want to speak to your current provider to see what they do about roaming charges
3. There's plenty of budget hotels across the country such as Travel Lodge and Premier Inn - most will always have rooms available but have a look at websites like Trivago, Hotels.com etc as you might be able to save some cash going through them than just showing up at the front desk
4. Not sure if it's possible to see the farm used as I believe that was filmed back in the 90's so it might not be there. But I believe the show was filmed in Kent.
5. If you're going across the country, do make a stop in Yorkshire - Saltaire in West Yorkshire is a World Heritage Site and if you like beers there's some excellent pubs there including Fanny's Ale House

As someone who is well outside your personal situation, it sounds like you're internalizing some of the external stress of law schools. A lot of your fellow students are competing for the first time in their academic career. Let's face it, high school and undergrad was not a competition for a lot of these folks. They are used to being one of the smartest people in every single room they walk into. Always the smart one in their group of friends. Now that position is being challenged. People act in funny ways when a position they've held since the age of 4 or 5 is challenged. I already see people trying to regain that position by running their mouths and other antics. Take for example the people who brag about all the time and nights spent in the library as if it were the Hotels.com rewards program. You know what you get after ten nights in the library? The eleventh night free. Your free night is only equivalent to the average cost of the other nights. It's not a great rewards program and I really don't need to hear about it. Definitely don't need to stress about it. I really wouldn't worry about all the crap that comes out of people's mouth at the start of law school. Keep putting in the work and you'll be fine. Don't worry about people bragging on their study habits. Most of them are full of ish anyway. If you really want to be a lawyer stick it out. Law school is the cost of admission for the career you want. If you don't want it then it's ok to be done. When it comes to lost money and student loans, your first loss is your best loss. Makes no sense to take on $150k in debt when you realized this wasn't for you after the first $26k. If it makes any difference I hope you stick it out. Can't tell you things will magically get better, but you will get better at dealing with these issues and managing time constraints. That will make it feel easier.

For an occasional overnight, if you live in a typical (non-tourist) city, decent hotels can be relatively inexpensive. Hotels.com or Booking.com (or many other sites)...

go ahead and charge it back anyway with your credit card company. Even if it's been a while, they may accept it as they're usually pro-customer, especially if you tell them the story, provide them the proof you gave to hotels.com.

Even if the CC company won't refund, hotels.com still owes you the money. Keep call them back. Their shitty business model is to keep the money and hope they can stiff-arm you.

they outsource their customer support? That's literally all they do, deal with customers. it's not like a cable company whose actual job is to string up wires and run a cable system, all hotels.com does is deal with customers

Good post! This will be my first time going to Lollapalooza and I think it'll be great after this hellish year we've all had. I'm going alone and I just booked 5 nights at the Travelodge. I chose to pay at the hotel and the email I received from Hotels.com says I'm guaranteed my room. Is this true? There's no catch (aside from a 3% reservation fee from the hotel), they won't charge my card in advance, and I can just pay once I check in on the 28th? To me it seems good to be true, but it seems like it went smoothly. I'm just anxious because I've never done anything like this before (I'm 21) and I want to make sure I'm as prepared as I can be before everyone else finds out about Lolla and the prices skyrocket and rooms disappear.

Gonna be working full-time all summer towards this -- I cannot wait.

I'm just pissed because Hotels.com keeps sending me links to review my hotel stay for bookings I was unable to use and they refused to refund or give me a credit for.

It's one thing to fuck me over when I can't even legally enter that country and another to keep asking, "How was your stay! Did you have fun?"

I understand that these emails are automated but it's still rubbing salt in the wound.

It has been a good week

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• AP 10x amazon points from december finally all posted
• that brought me up to AP Diamond status
• Booked Swiss J for two YUL->ZRH->YUL Feb 8th to 10th. weekend trip in two weeks!
• used hotels.com free night for the 1 night in Zurich
• redeemed 6 marriott nights in Kauai and $187 off a $300 car rental with Aventura points.
• booked Brisbane -> Vancouver -> Montreal all in Air Canada J with only $15 YQ (outbound leg was not as great, had route through beijing to get decent seats and low YQ)

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I got a pixel 3 XL ($999+tax) last night with Google Fi's offer to get a $999 travel GC (e.g., delta, airbnb, hotels.com).

Since I am using google Fi in Canada, the offer basically just gave me a new pixel 3 XL for free (paying 8% tax).

The best deal I got in black friday.

Yeah they do! I found that while hostelworld has a better user interface and overall selection, they were more expensive. The good hostels are all on hotels.com and the CAD prices were much cheaper.

It was a certain sale, I don't know the frequency of it, but I got mine at $85 for a $100 gift card (15% off).

One shoutout is to the fine folks (especially trystee) of the RFD community for keeping an ongoing and updated tracker of gift card deals. If you scroll down, you can see summer which had a LOT of deals on cards and whatnot.

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/various-retailers-gift-card-deals-discounts-2018-2161518/

I was die hard Airbnb, and have basically completely switched back to hotels. I go through Hotels.com, and always find at least one hotel that is discounted quite heavily. Add to that I get a free night for every ten nights, and it's fast becoming cheaper than Airbnb.

Cheers. Your responses are very appreicated.

Damn, that is FAT FIRE in Mexico! I think I spent about $1000 a month when I was in Mexico and Central America. But, the more I traveled, the more I tried to relax my standards and go cheaper and cheaper. By the time i hit southern Panama, I was spending $5 for a hotel room with bars on the windows and communal cold water prison showers (I think this hotel was the old jail). And I was trying to get it talked down to $3. :-)

We will have about $2500 a month. You definitely get much better deals by being on the ground. Online bookings typically cost me more, but somethimes they save the day. I used to go to the best hotel in town and ask for their rates. Freqhently you'd hear back $400 USD a night. Laugh and ask for a better deal, and the desk worker will frequently tell you about their cousin's 2-star hotel for $30 a night and make a call for you. Sometimes, I would poach their lobby wifi and go on Hotels.com or Booking.com and see what the best rate was for the same hotel, book a cheap room and roll right back up to the front desk at a third of what they just quoted.

I've just been looking on Air Bnb recently and seen only nightly rates in lots of places in Portugal, and no monthly discounts.

Basically, the way I handle travel planning is:

1. Create a Google Doc/Sheet with all of the locations I want to go to. For example, London to Athens to Mykonos to Santorini.
2. I then figure out transportation between those locations. If I'm flying, I'll book the flights first (especially for summer travel to Europe as prices can get pretty high). If its trains or ferries, those can usually be booked later.
3. Next, I'll look for accommodations. If I already know an area I want to stay in, I'll look in that neighborhood for an Airbnb or hotel. However, I'm usually pretty open to staying in any location as long as the accommodation is within my price range and is comfortable, so I'll go to Hotels.com, Booking.com, and Airbnb to compare prices. I always read reviews for everything.
4. The last thing I book is activities. For the most part, I'm kind of laid back so I don't need each day planned, but if I know I want to go to a specific museum or some historic site, I'll book reservations especially now as capacity at each place is limited due to COVID. Or, for example, I know I want to go on a boat ride in Greece and maybe go diving, so I'll research/book those as well.
5. I put all of the information/bookings into my spreadsheet to stay organized.

Another thing that is helpful for inspiration and planning is Googling "[Name of Location] + 3 day itinerary]" or something similar to get ideas on how to spend your days. I also will go on Instagram and look at the tagged location to get some inspiration. r/travel is also a great resource. Hope this helps!

I use hotels.com a lot. It's perfectly fine. You're not going to get "the worst room possible," as the other poster said, unless that's the one you booked. There are generally several room options/price points listed, as I'm sure you know.

As far as the difference in price, you didn't say if the $169 and the $390 is for the exact same room. Also, the Resorts World app may include the resort fees in the total, where Hotels.com doesn't until the checkout page. Or, they may have a special sale on the Conrad, since it's new.

You don't pay the agent directly, they get a commission. If you can afford to travel, you can use an agent. It may cost a little bit more (as you're not shopping on individual sites), but it's like going through hotels.com or something like that. It works out fine in the end.

This is precisely why I won't ever use Hotels.com again. They policy of "we need to talk to the hotel" is complete garbage, as they *always* side with the hotel. I booked a hotel once specifically because I was arriving at an airport and I needed to use the shuttle they offer to get there, the listing said the shuttle was free, and to call to schedule.

Well I did call, repeated the day before I arrived, no one answered. Tried again as I was getting on my flight, still no one answered. When I arrived, I finally got someone to answer and was promptly told that the shuttle was out of service. I had to get a very expensive Uber ride there. The hotel was a complete shit hole, nothing like the pictures, but that's a different story.

So I called hotels.com to at least get some money back, they told me that they had to check in with the hotel before they could do anything. The hotel lied to them, said the shuttle was working just fine. Guess who they decided to believe?

By the way, don't ever stay at the Penrose Hotel in Philadelphia, the places is a shit hole. The uber driver that I got after my stay there was telling me all about how people routinely got shot there. It was the filthiest room I have ever stayed in.

I would NOT cancel the reservation. I would call hotels.com and ask them what you should do if you get there and Plum Guide won't let you into the room. I would read them the emails Plum Guide has sent you off to them over the phone and really push your concern about being stranded when you arrive.

Roberta's was DOPE. Lived up to the Pizza Show 100%. That show is dangerous though because it not only makes me crave pizza, but all different styles too.

For the resort fee, I blame the booking website I used. I will NEVER use hotels.com again. Extremely bait and switchy, not up front about terms, no free cancellation or room change for any period of time after booking, and HORRIBLE customer service for someone who had been a repeat customer. Going back to booking.com.

And last! What county are you in? I live in a shore town in Monmouth. Expensive property taxes but soooo worth it being a 10 minute bike ride from the beach!

If you look on Hotels.com you'll find lots of places in Bali that cost a lot more. They aren't hostels or cheap backpacker rooms, though. Sure, you can find lots of rooms in Ubud for much less. You get what you pay for.

The cooking is part of the social experience. They organize group meals, and it's nice to have some groceries handy. Some of us enjoy cooking and sharing what we make.

I don't stay at nicer hotels or Roam to "be part of the DM community." I choose where to stay for my own comfort and to socialize with people I have something in common with. Bali offers plenty of accommodation choices at all price ranges. Are the people who stay at The Samaya idiots for paying over $800/night for a resort? We all have our own priorities. Like I wrote, it was full the month I stayed there, and everyone there knew about cheaper hotels and villas -- quite a few people I met there had experience at other Roam locations or had stayed in Bali before.

I have no relationship with Roam other than as a guest.

You get 10% cash back on hotels.com as well, and that stacks with the hotels.com loyalty program, so it's pretty good if you're a hotels.com user.

Works fine with Hilton that was a FHR for me. I recently booked/stayed at a Hilton property through AmexTravel which was a FHR property since I wanted to use my $200 FHR credit. On my booking it asked for my Hilton#, I got my gold status and upgrade. Didn't get any points for the stay but I rather have the FHR benefits ($100 hotel credit + $30 per person daily meal credit)

But ya, I agree if it wasn't part of FHR I would just book directly. For the non big commercial hotel brands, I have used AmexTravel instead of like hotels.com, some properties they have a "lowest price guarantee" and I would email them another OTA and they priced matched without any issues.

On hotels.com and booking.com and Google, you can review places as well as put up photos. I'd go with taking photos of the closed down hotel with doors locked and signage and post reviews of the hotel on multiple sites, noting the date of closure, etc. This might put a bit of fire under them - plus letting others who research a place to stay know as well. Admitedly, the booking sites might decline the review, but Google reviews or Yelp or whatever should upload it.

Every time I've checked my hotel's rate on hotels.com, it's the exact rack rate, no discount at all. It's always the same price I'd offer anyone walking in the door. Our rewards program gets up to every fifth night free, too at the top tier, so.... I see no benefit here to hotels.com. I only check it routinely so I know where I can send people when my own hotel is sold out. I actually thought it was pretty dead on for nightly rates, no discount really, so that's why I've been using it as a reference tool for all the walk-ins I get who apparently can't do a search themselves. I have never seen it offer a lower rate for my own place, and I check it at least 3 times a week at work.

​

You'd get the same or better benefits by joining that hotel chain's reward program. But the better reason is, that the hotel cannot help you if anything goes wrong with your ota reservation. You're their customer now, not ours. Need to change the date? Call them. Need to cancel? Call them. Need a refund? Call them. It also puts you last in line for any benefits we give. When assigning rooms for the day, we'll preassign all the best rooms to our rewards program members, ota guests get whatever is left.

So there are 2 issues here really.

1) Despite the random bad advice in the comments, Hotels.com or any OTA are "Non-Qualifying Stays." There is little-to-no chance of sweet talking the front desk into anything.

2) Are you actually staying? Your post intones that others will be staying there in which case you would be SOL in either case.

That sucks that your place fell through.

I would suggest finding a hotel or AirBnB near an L station somewhere outside of the Loop/Downtown. That way, you're not paying downtown prices but you can still hop on the L quickly and get right to the fest.

For example, looking at Hotels.com, the Marriott at UIC/Medical District has rooms for $217/night. From that hotel, you can hop on the Blue Line and be at the fest in 15 min. You could probably save some more money but taking a longer L ride. Or if you spend more, you could be in the Loop or Mag Mile and just walk to the fest.

I have no idea if you're limited by being under 21 though.

I'm assuming it's AIG Travel Guard? This is what their website for it states:

>Trip Cancellation: Up to 100% Insured Trip Cost*
>
>Reimburses nonrefundable, Unused payments or deposits if you must cancel your Trip due to an illness, Injury, or death of you, a Family Member, Traveling Companion or Business Partner, or for other covered reasons. Maximum of $100,000.

So based on that, your issue may not be a covered reason. I'm sure they put some kind of "click here for the full terms and conditions" thing on there.

I think you are SOL on this one, unless you can pester hotels.com enough to get a refund.

I've only used the guarantee once but it was a great process for me. I booked a hotel to Paris for 6 nights, and immediately went and found a cheaper rate on hotels.com. I took a screenshot of the lower rate and sent it to Amex travel. Within 3 business days they had matched the rate and refunded the difference to my platinum. So all in all, they matched the lowest rate I could find and I still got the 5x points through Amex travel.

​

Hope this helps, good luck!

I found links in your comment that were not hyperlinked:

• Hotels.com

I did the honors for you.

^delete ^| ^information ^| ^<3

I know a lot of people have negative sentiment about AirBnB for various reasons (ex. bad experiences, raising rents in their locale), but I've always had positive experiences with AirBnB's all over the world. Last year, my fiance and I were booking our honeymoon and when searching for places to stay in Europe, we found many hosts posting their units on other sites such as Hotels.com and Booking.com. You can even book these same places listed on AirBnB on the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. In fact, we found an AirBnB in Rome we liked, read all the reviews, looked at all the pictures on AirBnB, but booked it via Chase UR. A lot of people used AirBnB for reviews and the security/insurance provided by AirBnB in case something went wrong, but it seems like other websites are offering similar coverage. I don't know if there's any incentive as a host to just use AirBnB, but I imagine a host may cross-post their units on all platforms just to cast a wide net. I guess my personal takeaway is that it seems AirBnB doesn't have much a moat anymore. Also, I 'm more reluctant to book AirBnB's due to less flexible cancellation policies compared to hotels. Depending on what the IPO is priced at, I'll still considering investing, but as a long term investment I feel there is a lot of risk and competition.

This is the right answer.

My experience: I had hotel reservations (about 15) and had to cancel due to COVID (booked in December for June/July travel). I used Agoda (some group as Booking.com), Hotels.com and Airbnb. In all cases they looked after me and I didn't contact the property, they did. I got full refunds on most bookings (no cancellation fees were charged) and on ones that were non-refundable they gave me full credits (Hotels.com and Agoda) that can be used in the next 2-3 years.

I found links in your comment that were not hyperlinked:

• Hotels.com

I did the honors for you.

^delete ^| ^information ^| ^<3

Note that you can't collect or redeem hotels.com nights when you use a discount code (including this one), so the discount is worth less, around 5%.

Hotels.com gift cards regularly go on sale for 15-20% off -- and as you can still collect nights when paying with a gift card, the "true" discount can jump to 25-35%.

Terminology clarification - "Award night" is usually reserved to describe nights booked by redeeming points directly through a hotel's program at their own award chart rates (in most cases, not tied to a cash rate). IOW, cashing out points to book a night is not an award night. This is important because regular award nights DO count towards elite status. Nights booked through OTAs like Expedia, Hotels.com, etc. (which is what you technically did by purchasing using points) do NOT count.

Just to be sure, by "purchased via points" you mean that you cashed out points through a portal via Chase, Citi, AMEX, or something like that, right? If by chance you mean that you transferred Chase points to Hyatt, then "purchased" (really, "redeemed") through Hyatt, then you're good. Otherwise, sorry for the bad news.

The best way is for a redemption that you want. I personally would never take Hotels.com GCs since I hate using OTAs, whereas I find value in AAdvantage (although I have my gripes), WestJet (for select destinations) or BA Avios (if taxes are reasonable).

If you transfer your points to WestJet Dollars, there's no expiry. If there's a bonus (ie. 20%) then the bonus dollars would expire in 1 year's time (so the $50 bonus dollars received from transferring $250 have an expiry).

There are... several digits between 6 figures and millionaire haha. And to be honest. I'm doing well but not everyone does. I know writers that never broke into the industry and switched career paths to UX or something else. I also know some writers that are stuck at bad agencies and afraid to make a jump.. forever making 50k a year and working 70 hour weeks.. (not worth it). So, there's a range of success (as with every job).

ALSO, and this is big. Most writers that go into ad life are more interested in working on creative stuff than making a lot of money. (Think Old Spice, Nike, Hotels.com, etc). Those are fun brands to work on. There's a million copywriters that will give their left arm and take very little pay for the privilege to work on a fun b rand at a great agency. And after many years they can eventually make a lot of money working on those fun brands. BUT, there are plenttttty of less fun brands to work on too. And plenty of ad agencies that are a little more pedestrian - and you may be able to make way more to work at those places. (Like an ad agency that specializes in pharma stuff for example). But overall the work will be a little less whacky/creative/fun.

Sorry for the TED talk.. but I think it's important for people to understand there are a lot of paths in copywriting. And.. that not everyone "makes it."

I usually check reviews on sites like booking.com, Agoda or hotels.com. Since only customers can leave reviews, it would get quite expensive to leave fake reviews.

A lot of the crazy fees cleaning fees right? Damn covid. Alternatively, there are a lot of dog friendly hotels in the area so hopefully you find your fix! The hotels.com app (not desktop, actual app) offers pretty competitive pricing. Maybe calling a hotel directly will offer you a long term stay discount.

It doesn't say their wedding was booked there. I doubt the resort even knew it was "wedding accommodation".

Is there a box you fill out when booking that asks "why are you staying here?"

Instead of going on hotels.com to find another room, they called up 6PR to whinge.

Believe it or not, you arent the first person to try to get a hotel room at 1am. In the past people had to actually go into a hotel to see if they could get a room, but now we can call or go to a website like hotels.com

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Almost all hotels have a night person there in case anything goes wrong, if you're already at the hotel you're trying to get a room at then just walk in, if nobody is at the desk then there will be a bell or call button to get somebody there.

Their rating with Hotels.com is a 5.7. That's so low, it means it's a dump. Once you get below a 7.0 average, there are consistent problems with a place. They can only last if they are the hotel of "last resort", and I don't mean it's a resort place of accomodation.

Why book through Hotels.com? If you know the hotel you want to stay at, book direct. You are then a customer of the hotel not the booking agent. If you have any issues with a third party reservation (change, cancel etc.) you need to deal with the third party (and their restrictions), they then have to call the hotel and so on... Book direct and you are dealing with the business directly. You will be able to pay at property (unless you purchase a pre-paid discount) and will have established a relationship with the property.

Most hotels will pre-authorize your credit card for the room and tax plus incidental hold which allows you to charge meals or sundry items to your room (this process does hold this amount from your available funds) . The charge is posted on departure when your bill is finalized, reviewed and approved.

Hope this helps

Most hotels now accept pets, though some will charge an additional $10-30 pet fee. I use hotels.com to find places that are pet-friendly and usually the prices are the same as going directly to the hotel's website. The cheapest prices with clean rooms tend to be Motel 6, Econolodge, Days Inn, and La Quinta, but you're still going to pay $50-75/night. I do recommend booking in advance, since some places limit the number of rooms set aside for travelers with pets. It ends up being a wash, financially, between flying with a pet or driving.

it's really difficult to know the answer here unfortunately.

I think you'll certainly be able to travel abroad from the UK in September but you'll need to be really careful about the status of Covid in the countries you're travelling to. 3rd waves, Covid variants, difficulties vaccinating in poorer countries - these are just a few reasons I can think of as to why things could change at any point.

With that said, I've found that most accomodation companies (booking.com, Hotels.com, Airbnb) are all really good now (I know booking were good beforehand as I used them a lot) with free cancellation and pay later offers. Which provides really risk free accommodation booking if you later decide not to travel.

Flights are always a bit more difficult to book ahead of time and worry about whether you'll get your money back - essentially, if the flight goes and you choose not to travel then you're a bit stuck. Even if you would have to quarantine for 2 weeks on arrival, as an example. That said, Covid has made many companies reevaluate their business models so maybe flight operators will increasingly offer more flexibility with their tickets than they used to.

Hope you get to travel safely soon though, so many great places to see. I've been to both those places and Budapest definitely was my preferred one, with the various ruins bars and spa pools, but Prague is a beautiful city too so you'll be great either way.

Pro tip is right - I worked my last gig in an embassy - the command had us exempt from using DTS and the GTC for travel as you use embassy for bookings and reimbursements. Embassy travel is like ordering from Amazon compared to buying through the Army supply system for ease of use. Rental cars also went on individual cards as orders provided the insurance.

On this note, I had every travel rewards card that has a fee waived (AMEX, Chase particularly), and used Hotels.com frequently along with all the hotel/car/air memberships. Lots of points/credits I am now finally using as COVID subsides, but something to think about if you are TDY a lot. AMEX Platinum is decent (I feel at times over-rated), but the Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Gold are also pretty nice as far as points and benies. If you are TDY a fair amount, these are must-haves.

Hostels are on all the major room-booking sites, so hostelworld and the like aren't as necessary now.

It's just like finding any other room. Search hotels.com, booking.com, airbnb.com, google maps, vrbo, etc.

Why downvotes ? BBB helps more often than people think.

The right way is to go full berserk, provided you’ve given the hotel the opportunity to fix the issue. BBB, Yelp, Tripadvisor, Tripadvisor forums, booking.com, hotels.com... just keep copying the same review across different sites until you get bored. Oh, and file a c/c chargeback.

Same ! But only one week...

CAR: Aeroplan miles to book 1 wk in Mid size suv from Avis 23 000 AP

PLANE: booked AC economy on 789 as well during the promo (just got my 15 000 miles back too btw) and used eupgrade credits that came with the 25K status obtained through the earn at home promo to upgrade to Premium both ways. Also, the Maple Leaf lounge passes with 25K came in handy since we got to YYZ ridiculously early and the place was a ghost town.

HOTELS: cash for Lake Louise and Emerald Lake BC via hotels.com / 3 Nights at the Kananaskis Pomeroy booked with Marriott Bonvoy points. Upgraded to a suite and visited the Nordic Spa and used a Marriott GC I bought during a promo earlier in the year to pay off our hotel bill on check out.

MSR: wrapped up the BMO World Elite M/C and last months on TD AP VI & P2's TD AP Plat

I found links in your comment that were not hyperlinked:

• hotels.com

I did the honors for you.

^delete ^| ^information ^| ^<3

Yeah, I am not counting on it.

All up I only lost a few hundred bucks on my trip so it's not the end of the world.

But now I am getting these emails from Hotels.com that say, "Please rate your stay at Leonardo Hotel Munich Arabellapark! We hope you had a great time." After they refused to give me a refund or voucher (contrary to the posted COVID policy on the website)...so while I am over the financial loss, it's zout in de wond strooien.

list of motels that take cash

motel 6

extended stay america

la quinta

howard johnson

non brand motels

also trick

buy a hotels.com card with cash and then book using it, no credti card needed. Also you can use a coupon too hotels.com has many coupons always

> you can always save them for months down the line

The travel industry is completely destroyed, no doubt some airlines and hotels are going bankrupt, booking portals like hotels.com / Expedia are not immune either, your gift card is worth $0 when that happens.

There are a couple hotels within a mile or so from the venue which may be mostly sold out. Most peeps who can't get into these are staying in hotels around the outskirts of the city or as close as you can get. Just go on hotels.com and see whats left!

Hotels.com sent an email with an offer - Book 2 or more nights and get a free night!

Wondering if these night will be counted towards their normal rewards program (stay for 10 night and earn an extra night)

Anyway, worth considering :)

My inexpert understanding is that this woman rented in an apartment building and became famous for her apartment decor; then one day the hotels.com "Lisa Frank" hotel popped up in her building, ripping off many of her design choices, which made her (publically) angry.

And when she tried to pay her rent, the landlord refused payment and stated he wants her to move the fuck out. (Since that is illegal, I'm assuming she might be on a month-to-month lease agreement where a landlord is not required to give more than 30 days notice to the tenant when they want the renter to move.) She finds out that the landlord actually owns the Lisa Frank hotel apartment and is also the one profiting even more directly from ripping her off.

She now suddenly has to move, despite having zero plans or preparations to make that happen. Thus she now has a Go Fund Me to help her relocate and is sharing the details online.

That probably wasn't TL;DR. I don't know how to TL;DR.

I disagree, the first level of most programs will be similar to hotels.com or other third party websites. Once you break into the second level, which is rather easy, the incentives begin to pile up and rightfully so since hotels want you to be a reoccurring customer. Check out what Marriott offers in their gold level as it is basically what you described minus breakfast.

I've shifted from booking one via hotel group directly to booking via Hotels.com instead. I was top tier at one of the large groups but maintaining status was hard and after ending up staying at a crap hotel in one city instead of the much nicer botique hotel down the road to rack up nights, I realised it just wasn't worth sticking to one group.

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Hotels.com offers 1 night free after 10 nights stayed (the one night is based on average price of the ten) which is a nice and easy to cost out reward. Sure, the hotels don't love that you've not booked direct but I find the flexibility worth it.

Available: 3 Rooms On The Strip At Low Prices (No Longer Needed)

Hi everyone,

I booked many rooms months ago for a conference that happens to be the same weekend as EDC and no longer need three of them. They are all for three nights (Thursday through Sunday) and include tax but not any resort fee.

If anyone is looking for last minute accommodations, please let me know ASAP (before the cancelation window) and I can transfer them into your name through Hotels.com where I booked them.

Hope this helps!

Room info is as follows:

MGM - Two Queen Room
Thursday 5/16 - Sunday 5/19
$510

Howard Johnson by Wyndham - Deluxe Two Double Room
Thursday 5/16 - Sunday 5/19
$400

Howard Johnson by Wyndham - Deluxe Two Double Room
Thursday 5/16 - Sunday 5/19
$400

On hotels.com page there is no language that the deposit will be refunded at checkout if there is no damage to property.

So the "hotel" is apparently in a condo building that the owner is listing his rooms on Hotels.com There is no staff, self-check in only. If I give them cash there I feel there would be even less protection if I get scammed.

According to a quick Google search the day with the most deals on flights is dubbed "Travel Tuesday" and follows Cyber Monday. Download the app Hopper, it tells you when a flight you are following goes on sale. Most travel deals you find will be on lodging (per the article). It mentions Priceline and Hotels.com will start having sales the night of the 23rd.

"Hopper found last year that 20% of all routes, domestic and abroad, offered airfare discounts. This year’s Travel Deal Tuesday will fall on Nov. 27.

'Last year, we sent more deal notifications on Travel Deal Tuesday than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined,' Patrick Surry, Hopper’s chief data scientist told the Times."

"But travelers can also expect to find big savings on air and rail travel. Amtrak will offer travel discounts of 30% on nationwide train rides, according to CNBC. Similarly, the airlines JetBlue and Cathay Pacific will have Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, with Cathay Pacific flyers saving up to 60% on airfare to Asia."

&#x200B;

Hell yeah

Haven't been following Marriott/SPG merger but I know there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding it. If I may ask

1. Is there any Marriott or SPG card that one should apply before the merger ( I have Chase Marriott Biz and I'm 3/24)?
2. Should one buy a Marriott travel package and perform some steps (book a room etc.) before the merger, if there is plan to use it in next 1 year?

I usually book using hotels.com but it doesn't hurt to splurge once in a while if it is a good deal. Thanks in advance.

So we picked our hotel because it is connected to our venue ( a restaurant that owns one of the hotel ballrooms) and due to the connection we got some perks (it is a westin which is owned by Marriott) the SPG points program is huge and FH and i get points for all rooms booked in the block in addition to our guests getting their usual points. We got a suite the night of our wedding, the block rate was $70 less than the hotels.com rate per night. 2 queen beds or 1 king bed rooms were the same price which is nice for a few families of 3 or 4 in attendance. We didnt owe any money up front but if we didnt fill 50% of the rooms we needed to buy out some rooms ( we filled our block and had a huge out of state guest list so we werent concerned) it has free wifi for guests (usually this is only for rewards members, guests had the option to upgrade to a suit at a still discounted rate (more than the $129 a night regular room, but still less than the usual rate). They are letting us use their shuttle to get guests to and from the welcome dinner 2 miles away (it will run in a loop for the 3 hour event) and they are handing out our welcome bags for free

I will say i hated working with the hotel in the beginning and we went through 3 coordinators before one actually stuck ( 2 quit and moved to other hotels) but we got a decent number of perks

I've got seven 4th night free bookings between now and the end of the year.

3 are Sandals all-inclusive resorts, which are fully reimbursed and not available on hotels.com. (I'm hopping between resorts to squeeze 3 free nights out of a 2-week stay.)

2 are for a small hotel in Tokyo that the concierge booked directly through the hotel's web site, which was cheaper than any third-party booking site even before the 4th night free.

2 are for a different small hotel in Tokyo that I booked through the portal with a limited-time $50 discount (per booking), after the 4th night free. The per-night price was comparable to third-party booking sites as well.

For certain specific types of redemptions, it really is an unbeatable value.

Besdides the reasons mentioned, when MP doesn't work for whatever reason (user error or error om MP part) many customers take it out on the theater and the theater employees when they can do nothing to fix the issue.

On a similar note, I know a lot of hotels hate hotels.com and places like that but use them because they have to. The reason they don't like them is the same. If there is an issue the hotel can do nothing to fix it whereas if the reservation is done through them and it is in their computer system they could change it and fix a problem.

https://hotels.com/ho254623/?q-check-out=2018-07-21&amp;tab=description&amp;q-room-0-adults=2&amp;YGF=14&amp;q-check-in=2018-07-20&amp;MGT=1&amp;WOE=6&amp;WOD=5&amp;ZSX=1&amp;SYE=3&amp;q-room-0-children=0

Directly opposite of the airport. Just book it.

My friend and I are going to be staying at the Sheraton, which I think is within 5 minutes walking distance of the venue. Last time I checked, most if not all of the hotels around the venue are completely booked for the weekend, even on hotels.com and expedia. I imagine the closest hotels to the concert are going to be overrun with army just like at the WINGS stops, which means it's going to be either super fun or super crowded (maybe both)!

Well his second and fourth photos are from this: https://hotels.com/ho211274/collingham-serviced-apartments-london-united-kingdom/, his third photo is from this: https://www.showmetherent.com/355-And-West-Deer-Park-Road-Gaithersburg-MD-20877, and I don't see any information on the host (on mobile), so yeah it is fake.

I didn't know to even ask for this, and hotels.com didn't show me anything about it when I booked my ASQ+ hotel in Bangkok. Fortunately the info desk and the transport people in the exit area of BKK were helpful and called my hotel. My hotel then arranged it, and I paid 3200 THB (for pickup and then test). But since it was not arranged in advance, I waited 2 hours longer at BKK. Not the end of the world, but I certainly would have paid in advance had I understood the need.