Consumers Frustrated With Travel Booking Sites

In the 1990s, when the Internet was only beginning to be part of the mainstream media, online travel booking sites began springing up with the promise of making travel booking easier, less frustrating and cheaper.

So, how has it worked out over the years? For many consumers, it appears to have made travel more frustrating and in come cases, more expensive.

Denise of Doylestown, Pa., recently used Hotels.com to book a hotel in New York City. After making her reservation, Denise said she discovered the hotel was offering the same room at a much lower rate than she paid Hotels.com.

“I called Hotels.com to cancel so I could book directly with the hotel,” Denise told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I was put on hold several times for 20-30 minutes. In the end, I was told that since I booked it online, I would have to cancel it online. I hung up and immediately went to their website to cancel. After entering all information and pressing submit, I received the response that my request cannot be processed, call customer service."

Paying twice

Denise said she was given various reasons why her reservation could not be cancelled but finally spoke to a Hotels.com rep she says told her the reservation was cancelled. She then booked her hotel room directly. After her stay, which she paid for directly, she opened her American Express bill and discovered Hotels.com had, in fact, charged her for the room. So, instead of saving money, she paid for the same room twice.

Nicole of Toronto, Ont., used Expedia to book a room in Chicago but quickly realized her trip had to be moved up by a day. She said she called Expedia and agreed to an extra charge of $331.73 to make the change in her itinerary. Upon arriving in Chicago, she made her way to her hotel, looking forward to resting after a 10 hour trip.

“I tried to check in and the the person at the front desk told me that there was a booking under my name, but that it wasn't until the following day, September 3,” Nicole told ConsumerAffairs.com. “She recommended that I call Expedia to have the issue corrected.”

Change not in the system

Nicole says when she called Expedia, the representative she spoke to said the system did not show that she had updated her itinerary by a day, that she was still scheduled to arrive the following day. That might be an understandable lapse, except that Nicole says when her Mastercard bill arrived, it had the $331.73 charge for the change in itinerary that somehow never made it into the system.

Consumers often think of booking first with an online travel site thinking they will save money, and perhaps in the early days of the Internet, these sites were the most efficient way to do that. But these days hotels have their own, very sophisticated websites and sometimes offer good values to travelers who book online. When you deal directly with the hotel, there are fewer opportunities for mistakes.

Also, many consumers may still not understand how these travel sites work. They book unused rooms in blocks, well in advance, and must sell them or lose money. Once booked, a reservation can almost never be cancelled. If schedules are subject to change, it's usually not a good idea to use an online travel site.

Conducting searches on Google and other search engines for hotels can usually provide a wide choice of places to stay, at a wide range of rates -- as long as you are certain your actually on the hotel chain's site, not the site operated by someone who pays Google a truckload of money each month for ads aimed at unwary travelers.

Remember travel agents?

Time-pressed travelers might consider going “old school” and calling a travel agent. Yes, travel agents are still around, and according to industry statistics, are thriving in the Internet age.

A website operated by Rand McNally, Tripology.com, says travel agents still sell 51 percent of all airline tickets, 87 percent of all cruises, 81 percent of all tours and packages, 45 percent of all car rentals and about 47 percent of all hotels.

Don't travel agents cost more? Some do, but Tripology describes the average fee as “marginal.” And sometimes it might be worth paying a little more to have a human being you can reach out to when travel snafus occur. Travel agents can also call a place directly to see if they can work out other kinds of special deals for you, something an online site can’t do.

Just something to think about the next time you need to travel.