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Orbitz - Hotel Reservations

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Patricia of Spring Hill FL (8/5/04):
I booked 2 nights through Orbitz to stay at the Disney Grovesnor resort. The first night was booked pretty well in advance about 7 days. The second night was a day in advance. Regardless, I recieved from Orbitz confirmation numbers for both nights. All right, load up the family, the three kids and head to Orlando. Arrive at the resort, get super excited about staying, only to be told by a quite rude clerk, that these are not our confirmation numbers. We don't even have you in the computer for a reservation. That's that now get out of my face lady!!!

Ok, now it's Saturday night in Orlando, FL. Call Orbitz immediately , only to get told by them that I made my reservation too late and too bad on you. I inform the gentlemen that I am speaking with that it is saturday night in Orlando, and we have no where to stay. He didn't even try to help. Anyway, we ended booking a 2-night stay at Disney -- $160.00 more than planned.

Since The Grovesnor did not have my reservation for the first night, I assumed the second night was not reserved either. Big mistake, never assume. We were charged for the second night stay. I called Orbitz again only to be put on hold and treated like a child. I in reality paid Disney for a 3 night stay because the Grovesnor is A Walt Disney Property. I don't know about the rest of you, but after being told my first night reservations was no good would you assume the second night was not either.

Ended up paying for a room that we did not use. Stayed at a Disney resort anyway. Orbitz takes no reponsibility for their screw-up, although I recieved confirmation from them. I will never use their service again.

Rita of Peru IL (7/22/04):
I made a reservation for a Marriott hotel room for 4 people (2 adults and 2 children) on July 22. The reservation was for one night on the 24th of July. I called the hotel to make sure they had my reservation. They told me they had it, but only had rooms with king-size beds left. I called ORBITZ to cancel and they said it was less than 48 hours. I told the woman with whom I spoke that we had 4 in our party and could not stay in that room. She said that I would have to reserve a second room. They refused to simply cancel the reservation.

Since they charge a $25 fee plus the cost of the first night I told her not to cancel the reservation. Even though we cannot fit in the room, I will not pay them an additional fee for cancellation.

Anna of Washington DC (6/15/04):
On April 30, 2004, I made a hotel reservation through Orbitz, Inc. for several nights at a hotel in Paris. The Orbitz site stated a standard cancellation policy of one day prior to arrival. Meanwhile, a week later my credit card was charged in the entire amount of my reservation (about US$1,000).

By then, I already knew I was going to cancel the booking but when I discussed this with VISA, I was advised at the time not to dispute the charge as "it would fall off" upon cancellation. I cancelled three days prior to the expected arrival date and went on a different trip for two weeks - and when I came back, I discovered that the charge was still on my VISA and VISA had sent me a statement listing it among my other charges.

I immediately called Orbitz, whose staff were remarkably unhelpful, blamed the situation on the hotel, and kept suggesting that I contact the hotel myself to resolve it. Needless to say, I had never given the hotel my credit card number to charge, nor had I had any directy dealings with the hotel whatsoever - I was considering Orbitz as my counterparty. Numerous requests to speak with an Orbitz supervisor have been useless. Staff would put me on hold for 20 minutes at a time and then re-routed to the initial switchboard; they refused to disclose anything except their first names (e.g. last names/staff numbers), which makes them untraceable and not liable from a customer's point of view, and repeatedly refused to put me through to a "hotel specialist" who was allegedly handling my case, to the point that I no longer think the position really exists.

In the past week, I have been told several different stories about my charge and different dates for a promised refund, some of which have already passed. Orbitz has structured its contact details and "customer service" procedures in such a way that a wronged customer has no other recourse except to be funnelled to the same incompetent and extremely unhelpful low-level "customer service" staff all the time (in fact, Orbitz' report to SEC says that telephone call centers are staffed by "Up|Stream" (a subsidiary of Rosenbluth International that was acquired by American Express a year ago)). Orbitz' handling of my case so far is so substandard and suspicious as to make me suspect fraud on their part.

I have already had to go into my savings account to cover an overdraft on my credit card that would not have occurred if Orbitz had refunded me as expected (for a charge that should have never been made in the first place!) The fact that someone has been holding on to a thousand dollars of my money (and probably accruing interest) while I am paying credit card charges is enough to know that they are benefiting at my expense. If there are more people like me, Orbitz is probably making a big profit.

Carlene of Santee CA (6/1/04):
I booked a motel on Orbitz, and they used a bait and switch on me. When I arrived at my distination, I found they had switched me to a much inferior motel than the one I booked, and prepaid, online. I'm 63 years old, was in a stange city alone and could not afford to change motels! I spent a miserable eight days, was afraid to be out of my room at night - it was horrid. I was supposed to have in-room cooking facilities - I had a fridge with a microwave on top. Period. No dishes, not nothing. There was a motor running somewhere near my room all night that kept me awake. I complained so they simply didn't start it until after 11:00!

Jennifer of Westlake Village CA (11/30/03):
On Monday Nov 30th I purchased reservations for the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada for the nights of Dec 30, 31 and Jan 1st. I was given a rate of $140 with taxes and fees of $24.34 for a total of $164.45 and a confirmation #. The following afternoon I received this email: Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

Jennifer, We are contacting you in regards to your reservation you booked last night for the Tropicana Hotel and Casino for December 30th, 31st and January 1st. The hotel has recently contacted us stating they are sold out for the dates of your reservation and will be unable to honor your reservation. We ask that you cancel this reservation online and rebook for another hotel. You will be refunded in full for this reservation being the hotel is sold out. For any further assistance in this matter we ask that please contact us at 866-607-5807.

Sincerely, Sarah, Orbitz Hotel Customer Service www.orbitz.com

Orbitz is flat out lying. They are pulling the “Bait and Switch”. The Tropicana is not sold out, and now after they, not myself, cancelled us are now asking $286.00, $299.00 and $126.00 for the same three nights. Even before taxes, it is over $547.00 increase.

We now have no place to stay, and feel like we have been screwed, because we have lost the opportunity to stay in any hotel for any decent rate at this late date. We would have had other reservations at any other number of places, but now those places are now sold out and we are left with nowhere to stay.

Ziba of Menlo Park CA (9/29/03):
I made hotel reservations through Orbitz in late July for 2 adults in Tahoe for August 15th and 16th. My only requirement for which I received a confirmation was to have a King size bed. Prior to this, I had made several travel arrangement through Orbitz, and I must admit that all my previous experiences had been extremely positive.

We checked into the 3 Peaks Resort & Beach Club late on the night of the 15th. We were given our keys at the Front Desk, but there were no mentions of the size of the beds in the room. The room contained two Double size beds. I complained to the Front Desk reminding them that I had specifically requested a King bed, and had received a confirmation. I was told that by the time they had received the fax request from Orbitz, they had no more rooms with King bed. I went back to the room, used my mobile phone and found another place with a King bed. Upon checkout, we were told that they understood and that it was not a problem. When asked about a refund, we were told that the refund was to be made by Orbitz so I should contact Orbitz personally.

On the following Monday, I contacted Orbitz. A week later, when I called again, I was told that Orbitz was having problems with the refund. I then received a call from Lindsey at Orbitz, who first informed me that the hotel manager was not refunding us at all, and a second phone message to let me know that the hotel was agreeing to refund a one night stay. Later, I was given the hotel manager's phone number to deal with directly. I seriously believe that my agreement was made with Orbitz and not the hotel manager. Regardless of what he says or does, Orbitz is responsible for keeping its promise.

Orbitz's final answer basically was that even though they send confirmations regarding the travel arrangements, they cannot always guarantee the cutomer's preferences. Their comment insinuates that if I'm using Orbitz, I should have no expectations regarding receiving the services for which I have paid. That would be similar to going to a restaurant and ordering a steak and being charged for steak, but receiving hamburger because that's all the restaurant had left. When I plan a travel for vacation, the last thing I would want to worry about is what awaits me when I get to my destination.

We were charged for one night stay at the 3 Peak Resort. We ended up paying more than usual for another hotel room since it was a last minute arrangement. I spent many hours on the phone and sending email trying to resolve this issue.

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