Hotel Ripoff

[pixiesmimi]

We had an incident this weekend that I've never had happen before. I was so mad Friday night that I could have screamed ( and probably did some). Just wondered if anyone else had this problem.

I made a reservation for a hotel room in Pensacola back in May for this past weekend. I went to RamadaInn.com because I never go through those discount booking services. I always go to the hotel site or call. The computer evidently redirected me without my knowledge. The site looked legit and had the Ramada Inn logo,etc. Now I usually don't stay in a Ramada Inn because their quality has gone down in the last few years. But we had to stay in a certain area for a seminar and of all the hotels given us on a list, this was the most reasonable and was on the bay, so since I was going to be stuck in the room or by myself for the weekend while DH went to the seminar, I thought it would be nice to be on the bay. When we checked in, the clerk handed me a receipt for the room since I had paid in advance. The receipt was for a significant sum under what I paid. I asked what was the difference and if the room was cheaper, were they going to reimburse me. She said I must have gone through another booking site and they would have to do the refunding but they probably wouldn't because that was their commission. I was floored and on top of that, the place or at least the hall where our room was, was a dump! There were no other rooms around there available and we would have lost our money if we did find one. I put up with it but asked several of the clerks the same question and got the same answer. They said it was Hotels.com that had made my reservation. Do these people usually get a commission? I could have gotten the room cheaper by going through the hotel itself if I had the number for it. On top of that, "Bayview" meant that if I stood on top of the roof, I might be able to see the bay. Not what it was advertised. I was not a happy camper and will never do that again. Is this a common practice with the hotel sites now? Do they all redirect for bookings online or did I just get taken?

[SBETigg]

I've never been redirected from a legitimate hotel site. I wonder what happened there. Weird! Sorry it was a bad experience. But I have also used booking services and had good experiences, so I think this was just one of those things. I still think that no matter how you booked it, the Ramada had a responsibility to keep you happy as a guest. What a shame.

[SurferStitch]

I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It's not fair.

I made the mistake of booking a hotel in the La Porte, TX, area through Hotels.com, and will never do that again (for business).

The hotel they showed on their site looked new, safe and clean. When I showed up, it was in a truck stop, above a lower level with a convenience store and pawn shop, and was filthy. It was sooooo unsafe. I immediately left and found another hotel that was much nicer. I'm a smart cookie when it comes to booking hotels online, but my company insisted I saved money, so I tried something new. Never again. That set of photos had to be altered somehow.

I only book through the hotel sites now. It's really weird that you got redirected. I didn't know that could happen.

[deedeenmickey]

I use Hotels.com quite often and have never had a problem. Some hotels don't do 3rd parties so when you book the room the card is not charged it is only used to hold the room. When you check in they run the card and the hotels pays hotels.com. I believe the last time I stayed near Ft Stewart, GA the room was about $112 per night and hotels.com got about $5.00 I like to use this site when you are going somewhere that you are not familiar with. It shows you all of the hotels in the area.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Not so much taken in as using the wrong site. We book Ramada's occasionally and the correct site is www.ramada.com. That takes you to Ramada Worldwide which is the official site of Ramada Worldwide Inc. which includes Ramada Inns and is part of Wyndham group.

RamadaInn.com is a redirect address for cheaphotels.com, basically setup to catch people looking for Ramada Inns. They have traps for other hotel chains too. So unfortunately you did end up booking through some one other than Ramada hotels.

[pixiesmimi]

That is exactly what happened. It was cheaphotels.com which I had never heard of. The hotel clerk looked at my reservation and said it was hotels.com. I usually go to the real site and had no way of knowing that I should go to ramada.com instead of ramadainn.com. Figured it was the same thing. I will know next time but probably won't ever go to a Ramada after this. This one was a dump, not what was advertised, and the clerks not very helpful. If we had been able to get a refund or find another room elsewhere, we would have moved. Other people were standing there complaining about their rooms when I was checking in and I knew we were in trouble. I just wondered if this was a common practice for these sites to charge a commission like this and the hotel to actually tell you. The receipt they handed me should have been for what I paid instead of their part of it. I needed that receipt for business deductions and it doesn't reflect the real amount we paid. I do have a receipt from the site I paid but it will be hard to prove that they are the same place now because of the differences in prices. We were told by someone that the hotels put a certain number of rooms out to these sites until a certain date and then the rooms get turned back into them and they sell them cheap to get them booked if not booked by the other site. I'm beginning to think there is this kind of stuff going on everywhere now instead of businesses just trying to do an honest day's work to get business. I told them at the desk that they just lost a customer because of it and I took pictures of the hotel and will be sending them and the complaint to Ramada headquarters.

[LauraByTheSea]

Expedia, the parent company of Hotels.com and cheaphotels.com and numerous others, is not one of my favorite sites. My mother books with them all the time and has never had a problem, but since I work with them through my hotel, I'm not all that fond. They've been in some legal trouble lately too, cheating comsumers out of hidden fees, so... About the commission part... That actually IS how it works. Just like a travel agency, they get a commission for booking the room. WIth them, it's actually a negotiated rate that they sell at a markup... AND the hotel clerk should NEVER have given you a reciept for the room rate. That's rule number one with 3rd party bookings at the front desk...

Sorry you had all that trouble, and I would definately complain. Not sure if it will help to go to Ramada though, because they don't own the site you were directed from, but it never hurts to try!!!

[LauraByTheSea]

Forgive me, the site you were directed to from ramadainn.com is not the one I thought it was! It's not owned by Expedia, but a similar one is... But STILL, it was not good that it pulled you in like that. Kinda shady, IMHO...

[NotaGeek]

It sounds to me like you weren't necessarily "taken" ... you were just the victim of some clever internet domain usage.

One thing I suggest ... if you ever check into a hotel and you are unhappy with your accomodation DO NO wait to complain. Once you stay at your hotel and leave, the hotel has provided you with the lodging you booked and paid for so their contract with you is fulfilled. Its rare if ever that consumers get a refund for a stay that's completed. Complaining while on property is more likely to get you a good result.

If you book a stay through a 3rd party hotel vendor like cheaphotels.com, Expedia or Travelocity just beware ... do research before you book as many deals are non-refundable and/or have fees for changes. A good source for real reviews of properties is tripadvisor.com, but they too are a hotel consolidator, they just allow real people to talk about the hotels and post pictures.

Booking directly with the hotel is generally the best idea, or using a travel professional ... and of course, if you're booking a Disney Vacation our partner Magical Journeys (http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/) will never steer you wrong! :thumbsup:

[jillluvsdisney]

When I am deciding on a hotel, I go to TripAdvisor.com. I read user reviews of the hotel I am thinking of booking. Users also post pictures too. You can't rely on hotel web site photos.

[pixiesmimi]

We did complain while there the first day and all we got were shoulder shrugs. They had no other rooms and we couldn't find anything else in the area. Others were complaining too. That is why I am going to contact Ramada. They need to know how their hotel is being run. They just said they couldn't make any refunds. It would have to be through the site we booked on.

I thought the same thing about they shouldn't have given me the receipt. Especially when I asked about the difference in what I had paid. They gave me another one more detailed when I checked out. I did pay in advance but didn't select the non-refundable one. But we aren't going to pursue the refund. We are going to send pictures to Ramada though. The room across from us had the door bashed in with police tape across it. That was our first impression of the hotel except for the disgusting shape of the stairs we came in. We asked about the bashed in door (didn't make us feel very safe.) They said they had to take the door out while putting in a bigger boiler. Take the door out? It looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it! And why hadn't it been repaired. Apparently they don't care about first impressions. The rest of the hotel wasn't in that bad a condition but wasn't great.

Anyway, I will know next time. And, yes, I always book through MJ. No problems there! :) :mickey: