Hotels.com Reviews

For the most part, I’ve spent a minimum of 20 minutes on hold each time. Then I get a representative who is very difficult to understand. Once I am able to provide the representative with my dilemma, I was put on hold while he/she checked on it. Then I was told the usual: “The vouchers are being mailed to you. You will receive them in 4-6 weeks.” It is now June of 2011, and I still have nothing. I have been repeatedly calling, trying to get these vouchers. This past week, I have called 6 times, waiting on hold for ridiculous amounts of time. I did get 3 representatives live on the phone. They wound up putting me on hold, and then I was cut off all 3 times. I had provided them with my call back number, and not one of them had the common courtesy to call me back.

I have now finally given up. I cannot waste any more time with a company who cares nothing about customer service. It has been the absolute worst. I have read about other customers having had similar experiences with Hotels.com. It’s pretty pathetic and sad that a company does business this way. I am done. To anyone who’s contemplating to use them, please, please stay away. Go to the actual hotel website to book. You will be much better off. I am just so glad that I did not have credit card issues with this company because I really don't know how one would ever get their particular problem resolved with this horrible customer service. Do not ever book with Hotels.com. Trust me, you will regret it.

This was the worst. I own an event planning business; I will not tell any client to book with Hotels.com.

We called twice to get the mistake corrected, but were told we would have to pay $199 a night for the villa. The man I spoke to the second time apologized for the mistake, but would not accommodate us. Even after I told him our children would have to sleep on the floor and asked how they could book 4 people in a room that had one queen bed. That proved that Justin lied to us about the 2-bedroom villa. Ultimately, we ended up cancelling the reservation. Needless to say, we are not going to deal with Hotels.com ever again and I do not recommend them to anyone who plans to book a hotel.

At the beginning of the conversation, they had three rooms available, I gave my information, I was put on an extended hold only to have a rep inform me when she returned that only 1 room was available with absolutely no other explanation. I told the rep that was unacceptable, cancelled the entire transaction and hung up. Hotels.com forwarded this illegitimate transaction to the hotel anyway and I was charged for a no-show. There is no confirmation on my part that this "reservation" was ever authorized. I filed a claim with my bank, Wells Fargo to investigate this unauthorized transaction.

For some reason, the Wells Fargo bank claim I filed has ruled in the favor of Hotels.com, stating that I cancelled the transaction after I failed to show at the hotel to honor my reservation, a reservation that I did not know existed. The bank has re-debited my account which is now overdrawn from the hotel bill plus overdraft fees. I am having to file a case in the small claims court to see if a judge will reverse this ridiculous business decision of Wells Fargo. This is how they treat long standing clients that have good credit.

I asked her where she was located because I couldn't understand her English. I was told that she was in the U.S. When I asked her where she was, she said the state of California, Texas. I then asked for a supervisor, which took 12 minutes to come on the phone. His name was Miguel. I asked Miguel where they were and he admitted that they were in South America.

Again, he said that he could not help me and I would have to call back later. I told him I would not call back and spend another hour on the phone, and again asked if he could call me when they could complete the transaction. He also said that he couldn't call me back, but he would personally take care of my refund when the computers came back up and would email me when that had been done. That was on 6/13/2011 between 4 PM and 5 PM, and it is now Thursday, 6/23/11, and they have still not taken care of my refund.

Every time I ring, they cannot explain why there has been no refund and they tell me it will be fixed and I will receive the refund within seven days and an email confirming this within 24 hours. I have never received the email or any correspondence from them. I believe they are counting on me eventually giving up and they have no intention of ever giving the refund they promised. I am out of pocket, US$ 432.10 that is owed to me as a refund which hotels.com readily admit they owe me but have not paid.

I called American Express to dispute the charge and they gave me Expedia's number because the charge came from them. I talked to a manager Viele, for Expedia and Hotels.com, who said she didn't have access to my reservation because I made it on the website. I told her that I called the reservation in, and even though she had my phone number, was eventually disconnected. She never called me back. In total, I was disconnected 4 times. Avoid this company!

Then I was told that my time to use the credit had expired. I called the Insurance Company and kept calling Hotels.com until they finally admitted that my time to use the credit had not expired. I had trouble communicating with all of the customer service reps since none that I spoke with were native English speakers. My calls were constantly disconnected when they weren't telling me to call another telephone or putting me on hold for long periods while they got a "supervisor".

Finally, after weeks of talking with these people I had reservations on Lufthansa to leave May 16, 2011 out of Reagan International in D.C. I received an email telling me that my reservations were confirmed and giving flight numbers. The email also said there was no need to reconfirm. Even though I had gotten a $900 ticket with my $1600 credit I was resolved to take the loss just to get my relationship with Hotels.com over with. I then purchased tickets for my 2 daughters through another agency to travel on the same Lufthansa flights (actually Continental through Star Alliance).

I arrived at Reagan to find that while my daughters' tickets were fine and they were issued boarding passes, I no longer had reservations. I was on the phone for 4 hours with Hotels.com to no avail. I then called Lufthansa, they said my reservation was canceled because Hotels.com did not issue the tickets. My daughters had to leave for Scotland without me. When they got to Scotland, they couldn't pick up the rental car because it was reserved in my name and with my credit card -- they were hours from the hotel.

Finally, my youngest daughter was able to use her father's credit card (my ex-husband) to get the car. Meanwhile, I slept on a bench at the airport. I had to get to Scotland, my children were freaking out because I wasn't on the flight with them. After having a Lufthansa rep tell me the only available economy coach seat to Scotland would cost me $4500.00 (my girls' tickets were $900 each), I called a friend who went online and found the same tickets for $900. I arrived in Scotland a day later. I still have not been able to use my $1600 credit with Hotels.com nor have I received a refund of the funds. I had to spend in excess of an additional $900 to get to my destination because Hotels.com did not issue my tickets.

I lost a full day of my vacation. I have spent literally weeks of lost time just trying to deal with them on the telephone. The stress involved in having to send my children overseas without me was tremendous and my children's stress was also extreme, they were crying as they left for the plane. Hotels.com appears to be deliberately defrauding me of my money and this seems like a scam to me.

Finally after 4 calls and 3 emails, I got a response saying they confirmed the reservation, and they did not cancel it. I again called back telling them I wanted to cancel it. They then put me on hold again for 45 minutes, only to come back on the line telling me to call at 9 am Rome time to confirm cancellation. This place is obviously a scam. If they can burn 100 people in a month’s time at 500 dollars a pop, they can get very rich very fast. They should be shut down! The last woman I spoke to told me they can only give a first name. There is no incident number recorded and it is up to the phone agent to make notes on file. That is total **. This would never happen in America. Shame on Canada or whoever started this scamming business! They will hear from me. And I will have an attorney contact them when I am stateside.

i spoke with one male who stated that the refund would take 24hr. I asked when does the 24hrs commence ( the of May from the 16th or the 17th of May 2011). He later provided me with an authorization number and said it would take 24hr. I called back again and spoke with another customer care who stated that my cancellation will not be processed on the 16th but on the 18th of May and she cannot see anything because their system was down. She in turn hung up on the communication. I called back again and spoke to another, Rachel, where I insisted I speak with their manager or supervisor, Jose. Rachel told me that would not be possible because he needs the information before he speaks with me and the system is down, therefore he would not be able to assist.

I asked her if all the conversation was recorded. She said yes. Jose came on the phone and he informed me that the system shows that the cancellation was made on the 16th and he would send me an email with all the information. The email was sent but it was a blank page. I informed him that a charge back and a dispute was open with my credit card company regarding this charge.

After the fourth attempt to explain the problem, I calmly asked him to stop interrupting me and he abruptly put me on hold, mid-sentence. I called back and again calmly talked to another agent, who seemed more reasonable and assured me he would call the hotel property and then get back to me. Neither happened. I talked to the hotel manager twice later that day. He never got a call from hotels.com and had to call them. However, he could not get them to reverse my charges. Apparently, he did get his money and reversed the hotel charge on my card.

I basically paid Hotels.com $30 to make a hotel reservation for me, withhold payment from that hotel, scold me and ignore me. I vow in the future to only book my reservations directly with hotels either by phone or their corporate website. Hotels.com, like so many online agencies, is only making a buck on useless, rude service.

They pulled the entire, ''I'm sorry miss but that's the policy, and you should have read the email''. I work very hard and long hours, I don't have time to fool around online, I trusted people to take care of me on the phone with clarity. As of now there is a cat and dog game going on between the hotel and hotels.com about who owed me my $322. I will file a fraud report with my credit card and make sure some people get put in their places.

After discussing this with a CS Team member, I requested to talk to a Manager. She said, all were busy and no other resolution could be found. I disagreed and asked again for a CS Manager. The individual simply hung up on me! Nobody to reach. 2nd phone resulted in 20 min being on hold!

What a poor Customer Service job! I have never had such a bad CS. Other companies at least don't hang up, which is the minimum. I understand that some misunderstandings cannot be solved, but hanging up is unacceptable!

I called back five minutes later to keep my reservation. I was told by Hotels.com that I would not be allowed to keep my reservation and must pay the $169.00. Interestingly enough, the cost of the hotel for one night is $89.00, yet the charge of Hotels.com would be $169.00. I think that their actions and the way they handle business is despicable. I will certainly advise family, friends, and others not to use Hotels.com. They are not a reputable business.

As we were in a rural part of the state, phone contact with Hotels.com was spotty. When I did find a signal, I was put on hold for 10+ minutes just to get customer service. Then when I explained the problem (I don't think Gin believed me), they wanted me to drive back to the hotel. Then they tried to call the hotel and speak to the manager. This took again several minutes on hold. The manager was not in so I was asked to call back the next day. When I did so, I was again put on hold for a very long time. Again, the manager was not available and I was asked to call back. On my third call, I was given the same runaround. I told the third customer service person (Moses) that I was leaving this issue with him to solve. I was not going to waste the rest of my vacation on the phone alongside the road where I could find a signal.

On all three calls, I asked for a refund because Hotels.com made a mistake. I was never given a refund nor was I ever compensated for the error. I don't know why Hotels.com bothers with a customer service line. It is totally a waste of time. Do yourself and your credit card a favor, call the hotel directly and stay away from Hotels.com and Expedia (owned by the same company). Apparently, refunds are out of the question regardless of who is at fault.

On Feb. 5, 2011, I thought it's okay to book the hotel with the correct location again, so I reserved another hotel through Hotels.com. When I looked at my credit card statement on Feb. 14, 2011, I found the charge of $436.12 from Hotels.com. I called the the customer service. I was told, "the policy is policy," and there was nothing that they can do. I argued and pleaded to them to just give me a break, but they told me "you do whatever you need to do." They won't give me back my money. I asked if I can still have the hotel at least, but they said no. I asked why would they let me cancel it if it's not refundable. But they said that they have to give customer option. Well, the option certainly only benefit Hotels.com, not the consumer!

Unfortunately, I was charged on December 28, 2010 for a room that wasn't canceled. Hotels.com canceled one of the rooms under the itinerary, but not the other. In calling Hotels.com to resolve this issue, I was put on hold for 90 minutes (after a 30-minute hold time and disconnection), I spoke with Melvin and then his supervisor Bernie, who took my home number, but never called me back. After 8 days, I contacted Hotels.com and spoke with Caitlin. After 30 minutes on the phone with her, she put me on "hold" and hung up on me.

We took our kids over to Disneyland to try and salvage some of our day. While in the park, temperatures dropped pretty low and it got cold real quick. We returned to our room to warm up and try to get some sleep. There was no heater in the room at all. We went to the front desk to ask why, and all they offered us were extra blankets. My five-year old slept in two shirts, a sweater, her jacket, and her tennis shoes. We started calling hotels.com again and continued to play the hold game to only get disconnected every time we got a rep on the phone. I was so irritated. Finally we looked up the corporate number. They wouldn't do anything either. They basically said that we booked a 2-star hotel so what did we expect. I told her that no heat is unacceptable in a 30-degree weather and she told me that I would have to pay for the difference to move. They took no responsibility to us.

She called our current hotel and the manager wouldn't take her calls to help in the situation either. They knew they had scammed us. He would only allow a partial refund. Because of the time of year that it was, we couldn't book into another hotel until 2 days later. We paid for the difference out of our pockets. As of today, a week later, we still don't have even the partial refund. I called hotels.com again today, and again they were very unhelpful and tried to tell us to deal with the bank. The lady named Linda who helped us was so rude, I couldn't barely hold my tongue. She was an absolute smart ** to me. She didn't want to help and told me to let my lawyer handle it because she wouldn't do it anymore. We had to call back 3 times before finally someone at our bank went above and beyond, and helped us.

I advised her that my agreement stated, which I had with me at the time, that you must be at least 25 years of age to check into the room and I meet the requirements. The hotel manager advised me that I could not check in. She actually called and spoke with a representative at hotels.com and advised them of their guidelines in which hotels.com should be aware of if they are a third party company conducting business with this hotel chain. She then placed me on the phone with a representative at hotels.com. I explained my situation to that representative and advised them that they either find me the same type of room that I had or refund me my money immediately on my credit card.

The representative was over talking me, which was very rude, so therefore I asked to speak with a supervisor. The representative continued to talk to me then eventually, without being notified, the representative placed me on hold. I actually held the line for approximately thirty minutes with music playing in my ear. Not one time did the representative came to the phone to advise me she was getting me an assistance. I held the line until a recording came on the phone and stated to me that unfortunately, we cannot assist you at this time, please hang up. The hotel manager then called back to hotels.com and immediately asked for a supervisor. At that time, the CSR got a supervisor on the line by the name of Robert.

The hotel manager then spoke with Robert and explained the situation to him again and also advised him that I was not informed of the guidelines for an adult. I spoke with Robert and also advised him that they can either find me another hotel, in which the manager at the Coral Beach Resort took upon herself to call around the area and she actually found a hotel to meet my accommodations. Robert then told me he could not refund my money. I advised him when I called in and booked my reservations, I was not advised by the customer service representative who took my reservations of the guidelines. He then asked me, did I advised the representative at hotels.com the age of the adult? I advised Robert that the question that was asked to me by their customer service representative was how many adults? I advised Robert that the representative never asked me the age of the adult. Robert then informed me that it was my responsibility to disclose the age of the adult.

I advised Robert that I do not work for his company, therefore, I do not know the rules and regulations. However, if there are rules in reference to and adult that is eighteen years of age, it is the responsibility of the representative that is employed by hotels.com to ask me the age of the adult. He continuously asked me why didn't I advise the rep the age of the adult. I feel as though it is the company's responsibility to verify that information with customers if they are booking reservations. I'm not sure if they are reading from a script when conducting business, but if business is conducted over the telephone, it should be conducted the proper way and information need to be disclosed before processing a credit card payment. He then advised me that he would book me at Landmark Resort and that my reservation would be there when I arrive, this was after spending one hour and a half at the Coral Beach Resort.

I arrived at Landmark Resort and there was no reservation there. I stood in their lobby for approximately 15 minutes, still no reservation. So once again, I called back to Hotels.com. I spoke with a representative, they advised me that my reservation was at Landmark and I advised them that I'm at the Landmark Resort and there is no record of my reservation. The representative then told me to hold the line while they contact Landmark. I was then placed on hold again while waiting in the lobby. There was no call into the lobby area at the Landmark Resort in reference to my reservation. I then again had to call back to hotels.com and asked to speak with the manager.

I spoke with the manager and she placed me on hold. At this time, I was informed by the receptionist that they were sending my reservation through. It actually took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get accommodated for my weekend stay. The CSRs' services were very poor and instead of them admitting that they were at fault due to their company not disclosing the correct information that was needed at the time of check in. I do not recommend this service to anyone. They have very poor customer service and they place customers on hold, never coming back to the line to advise them that they are being placed on hold. The service was poor and they do not take into consideration the care of the customers. They do not provide customer courtesy neither do they hand they customers or calls on a professional level. This company needs to stop making reservations if they are not familiar with rules and regulations.

I made a two-night reservation at a hotel in Dallas. Before I did this, I checked the hotels.com website and reviewed their cancellation policy. They recommend you hit the "Description" tab for the property you are staying at, so you can see just what that property has in terms of a cancellation policy. However, most of those sites don't mention anything. So I went directly to the hotel, punched in some dates, and got to see what at typical reservation cancellation policy looked like.

Comforted in the fact that I had a couple weeks to decide, I made the reservation on hotels.com. I actually had to cancel the reservation an hour later and thought nothing of it. When I got my credit card statement, I saw they charged me a full one-night penalty. Basically, they had given me a non-refundable reservation, because they were obligated to pay the hotel due to their agreement with that hotel.

I will never use them again, and I am challenging the charge due to faulty advertising. And like numerous others who have complained about this company, I couldn't get anyone from the US to address my problem. And if you were able to understand them, they were powerless to do anything but regurgitate what is written in front of them...even the managers. Do yourself a favor and deal with hotels directly--they are much more flexible and forthcoming.

They were very unprofessional and were clueless when I asked for an explanation. I made at least 8-10 calls to them, and even had one to tell me that the information on my account was not available to discuss. After countless calls with the hotel, my bank, and hotels.com I was left waiting to see if I'd be refunded for being double charged over the next 72hrs. Had I not called hotels.com they would have never owned up to their mistake. I ended up contacting the actual hotel itself for assistance on resolving the incident. The manager at DoubleTree was actually very understanding and Hotels.com was far less helpful being that they were the blame. Because the account that was overcharged is used for billing only, I ended up with a negative balance, which resulted in overdraft fees. I ended up with a headache a mile long and mad frustration!

I checked everywhere on their site that shows us making the reservation in the first place and there was never mention where once you make a reservation, it's non-refundable. The only way we saw there policy on it being non-refundable is some papers they faxed to us. Yet on their original site, it shows where you can cancel, even with options you can cancel for. After going back and forth with this lady about them keeping money when the services would not be rendered, how can this be so? Their only response is the contract states that it's non-refundable.

Nevertheless, our money was wasted and the hotel where we were suppose to stay at told us they didn't receive anything from them about our reservation or they could have adjusted for future use. I'm telling my story to anyone who reads it to know that Hotels.com is a scam. You can't advertise refunds and not allow people to use it if necessary. This was the very first time I have ever use this kind of service and I promise I'll never use any of them again. I've been using hotels across the country and never had a problem not even close to this before. This is my last. I don't deal with companies that lie, cheat and steal then try to make it the customer's fault.

Hotels.com customer service rep didn't speak good English and kept putting me on hold so we just took the room. After complaining to Hotels.com the next week, I was sent the Hotel Bucks and was told to just use book another stay and write the booking number on the back and mail them in. That's what I did a month ago.

I have not been credited in 3 to 7 business days as promised. Hotels.com is saying they have no record of sending me the vouchers or receiving them back and to call back in 30 days. I asked for a supervisor and was put on indefinite hold. After calling back twice again, I was told by someone who speaks even worse English that I have to wait 6 to 8 weeks for the vouchers to be processed and to call back after that.

An email to "Contact Us" on the Hotels.com website, got me several form letters apologizing and telling me how to use my Hotel Bucks. I've already did what they asked me to do with no results. In addition to Hotels.com ** me, the Hotel that I stayed in which was the Hilton got me as well. They told me that the $100 deposit that they hold would be released in 3 business days. After it wasn't, I called them and was told in 5 to 7 business days. Another call to the Hilton and the rep told me that the money was released the same day that I checked out and that it's the bank that's holding my money. Of course it wasn't the bank. Finally, 3 weeks after checkout my money was released by Hilton. Never using Hilton or Hotels.com ever again. I'll spend my money elsewhere.Tthank you.

The phone was answered in India by a very rude customer service representative. He told me that I have to wait for all the 4 nights and after that I would get my free night. I was not happy, so I requested a supervisor. I was answered and after debating about poor customer service, he hung up on me.

I called when the I finished my 4th stay and requested my free night. Now they told me to wait 72 hours afterwards. Since the beginning, when I booked this reservation they took my money of my bank account. I was not happy and requested for a supervisor and was hung up again! I called back and was hung up again! After calling the 3rd time, I was put in a long hold, 30 minutes. When the representative came back to see if I was still there. Imagine, she told me that a supervisor was busy and if I want to hold. I said yes and after 15mins, I got disconnected again!

Imagine if I had an emergency. They don't know anything of customer service. They treat you as scum. So people, watch out for this company they just want your money!

I then checked with Amtrak to see if I could change my Acela train reservation to Sunday night. After changing it, I called Hotels.com back and was connected to a "Kristen" who put me on hold for over an hour total. I am very sure that the wait time she subjected me to was purely cosmetic, as I called the Monticello hotel and was able to talk to them and figure out what was going on in a few minutes. It turned out that I could not cancel that last night, and I would not get my money back. I don't mind so much the hidden rules and conditions - this condition of a 5-day stay at the Monticello Hotel being mandatory. But the long waits were maddening, and they do this deliberately.

I will never use hotels.com again & will be sure to let everyone I know never to use this service either. It was not only a horrible experience, but cost me since I had to find another hotel to stay in the middle of the night & with having paid Hotels.com already, it significantly impacted my spending power and also caused me to have another horrible experience at another hotel with a roach & bug problem. It has made me leery of travelling and reservations since you can't be sure it's on the level.

I received the same response and asked to speak to a supervisor. I told Erica I was not interested in being put on hold again. I then spent another 5 minutes and 17 seconds on hold before hanging up again. The third time I called, I talked to Amanda. I called at 5:27 pm and it is now 5:33 pm and I am still holding. I see this as a way to wear me down to not pursue this refund. I also called the hotel directly and told them what happened.

It is now 5:34 pm and I was just disconnected. 5:35 pm and I am calling again. Talking to Chudee, she told me all the same stuff again except she had the decency to tell me I should have been told it was non-refundable when I booked it. Said she would make sure her supervisor would talk to me. 5:43 pm and still holding. 5:48 pm, caller came back on the line, not the supervisor. Told me again it was non-refundable. I let her know I went back to my original email and could then see the cancellation policy. For some reason, it did not print.

As I told her, it was pretty much a moot point as the whole matter starts when you book a reservation and are not told it is non-refundable. Printing it in an e-mail confirmation is too late. It is a scam, unethical, wrong and a bad way to do business. As I told her, I will continue to pursue this and will take it to consumer groups who help people who got screwed from businesses such as Hotels.com.

It is now 5:52 pm and I have been working on this for over an hour and it is quite apparent that supervisors are unwilling to talk to me. Probably because they also know it's wrong! I will never again book with Hotels.com and I have already let Baymont know I will no longer do business with them as this also reflects on them. It is now 5:54 and I just got a recording saying there is no answer and this call is being disconnected. I guess I should send letters to all large hotel chains letting them know that this is how people booking through Hotels.com get treated and they should reconsider using them.

I'm 6'3" and 250 lbs. and I don't fit in a double bed, so I called Hotels.com to straighten this out. They said that what they had sent me was not a 'confirmation' of a room reservation (which it definitely looked like to me!), and offered me a 10% discount on the room. I told them that I couldn't use the room. The hotel manager was kind enough to find us another hotel room.

When I got home, I saw that Hotels.com had still charged my credit card for $154. When I called them, they said that the 'fine print' says any cancellation after the original reservation gets no refund. I didn't know until I tried to check in that Hotels.com had ** up the reservation, and the only reason I needed a refund is because of their negligence! I intend to follow up with all consumer-related forums I can find (like this one) to let people know to never use Hotels.com. It's a bait and switch operation.

I had to call the next day to cancel and was told that a 1-night penalty fee would apply. I explained that that was not what was told to me over the phone, not just once, but several times. The representative asked if I received the confirmation email, which I hadn't even looked at, and explained the cancellation policy was in that email. I was confused why the correct cancellation policy would be given to me after I actually made the reservation. I asked Rene, who says he was a supervisor and would not give me his last name, if Hotels.com would reimburse a long-time customer due to one of their employees mistakes and he said "no." In the meantime, I will try to dispute $213.17 charge with my credit card and spread the news to anyone who will listen about their terrible service and policies. I realize I will never get back the few hours I was on the phone with them, including 3 hang ups. I have decided not to use Hotels.com or its parent company Expedia.com in the future.

They charged me a one night fee. How are you supposed to go back and cancel a reservation before you ever made it? This company is a rip-off! When I called to discuss this policy with them I was put on hold in the middle of the conversation. I had not cursed or been rude. Do not ever use this company; make your reservations with the hotel itself. Who needs this kind of service anyway? I will never use it again.

I had booked the bad hotel because of a "review" that described the hotel as "convenient to reach from the airport, the cab would charge 150 pesos." The reality was: 2 cab drivers refused to take me there because it was in an area they were not familiar with. The third one had to call his dispatch and he agreed to take me there without dropping the flag for a flat fee of 350 pesos. The ride took almost 45 minutes.

Hotel looked totally different than on the picture (Photoshop?). No restaurants around, just cockroaches. The "review" that makes customers believe that this is an airport hotel, "conveniently located and ideal for long layovers" is still there, actually it is the only review that gives a description. According to Hotels.com the authors of the other reviews did not leave any comment.

I feel that what Hotels.com is doing is fraud. They are engaged in deceiving people who trust the reviews that they are able to read by censoring and deleting the bad reviews. I believe that it is even possible that the only report that I was able to see came from a Hotel employee or the owner. I don't trust this company and their website anymore after this experience.

I have been told that I will not receive credit for by past reservations because I reserved the rooms in blocks larger than eight and that my email address was invalid. Their response seems odd to me since there has never been any disclaimer on their websites concerning the amount of rooms reserved and the fact that I constantly seem to be getting emails from them, despite my invalid address? Bottom line is, do not use these people to book your room! It's a fine place to get info, but stick the rewards program of an individual chain.

When I started the program I was told to give my e-mail address and they would credit my account with welcome reward points. Even when I call hotel.com directly and ask all the question to confirm that I am not talking to a 3rd party affiliate, my reservation still does not qualify. The most recent explanation from the customer service person was that the representative who help booked my reservation picked a 3rd party code. The end result is that I will not be credited my just reward point because hotel.com finds ways to make reservation not valid for welcome rewards.

I don't mean to be racist or prejudiced but it seems that they don't put any money into maintenance and amenities and paint. I'm sorry but their places suck.Told I had to cancel within 24 hours but my reservation wasn't even made 24 hours in advance. And Hotels.com does not post or respond to your negative comments. But a couple of years ago, when I wrote a positive review, I was getting letters from the president and everything. I will never use Hotels.com or Expedia again. The little and oft time presumed savings just are not worth it. And I'm telling my story to everyone the minute I hear they are taking a trip.

Awful experience, spent 4+ hours on the phone with 0 results, no options for modifying the reservation, nobody took responsibility for the misleading hotel information.

When I returned home from my trip, I called Hotels.com and was given the run around. I made 3 different calls at 3 different times and spoke to 3 different people. I was never allowed to speak to management. I was left on "terminal hold" when I insisted on talking to manager. I was told that it was the hotel's responsibility to refund my money, when it was not the hotel that messed up. There's no resolution for this issue. I will never use Hotels.com again. They do not back up their promise of good service.

On Sept. 2, there still was no credit and again customer service said, "Sorry. Just check back in 24 hours." On Sept. 3rd, there was still no credit and again customer service said the same thing. Since this was the day of my trip, I had to pay full price for both nights. On Sept. 7th, I contacted customer service again as I do not see the credit nor do I see the credit for the nights I did pay full price. I requested several times to speak to a supervisor but was denied. I am not only frustrated but feel no one is attempting to assist me. I will plan to blog and communicate my experience throughout all the travel web sites.

They had a double-bed room that was available however it had no window, the carpet was filthy and the room was dusty. The toilet was not working properly and the tub did not drain water quickly. The iron was filthy and almost ruined my shirt when I used it. I called their so-called customer service because the hotel was not worth $90.00 a night, the website did not represent the pictures of the hotel room I was staying in. The hotel room was disgusting. This was not a 3-star hotel. There was a leak coming from the lobby ceiling in front of the elevators and the "fix" was to use an ice bucket to collect the water which appeared to be urine. I took a picture of it. They had a sign on the front of the outside door that after 10pm you had to use your key to get in. The hotel staff did not follow this at all and anyone could walk in off of the street and gain access to the hotel.

I spoke to a Maurice, they said they were going to put me on hold to contact the hotel. I was placed on hold for more than five minutes and then I was hung up on. I spoke to the manager Tracy at the hotel and asked if anyone called from hotels.com and she said no one had called. I had to deal with hotels.com about my concerns. I called back to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold and was hung up on. I called back again and again only to be dropped. I was even told by one rep that her "tools" were down and could not pull up my info. At this point I asked again to be transferred to a supervisor. I got dropped again. I finally got to speak to a supervisor. They answered unprofessionally by just saying “hello” and not giving his name. I had to ask for it.

I explained everything and the only thing they could do was give me a credit for one night and that If I was to leave my hotel, I would still be charged. I have never been given such a runaround and treated with such disrespect. When I asked why it is so difficult to speak to a supervisor, he said there are 30 reps and he is the only supervisor. Your tactic is to park people on hold so they hang up. This is a terrible way to do business.

We have also have had guests with 2 adults and 3 teenage children arrive with reservations for 2 adults in a room that will only fit 2 adults. The room descriptions are often wrong stating there is a spa tub or a fireplace or is a pet friendly room when it is not. The latest problem we had was a guest who was told by Hotels.com that there was a shuttle from the other side of the park to our B&B which is an hour drive away! There is no shuttle! These poor people had taken a bus and had no way to get here. I offered to go get them but, they opted to get a room at that side of the park. I'm sure they won't get a refund from Hotels.com. I can't afford to refund them their money. I feel bad for them but, I didn't cause their dilemma. Beware of booking a small B&B through a booking site. You only save a couple of dollars and don't know what you are getting. Contact them directly.

I made a reservation for a Comfort Inn about 20-miles away from the ride. Since all I needed was a place to sleep, I figured this would be acceptable. The following day I received a confirmation email indicating my non-smoking reservation. Everything looked good, right? The night before the bike ride, I went to the Comfort Inn and was told my smoking room was ready for me. When I stated that my reservation was for a non-smoking room, the Comfort Inn desk clerk told me the reservation had been made for smoking and since they were completely booked, that was all that was available.

Again, since all I needed was a place to sleep, I agreed to at least check out the smoking room. The clerk opened the door, but a few inches when I was overcome with the ashtray ambiance—clearly there was no way I'd be able to sleep in that room. When I asked if I'd be charged if I didn't stay in that room that night, the clerk almost gleefully indicated that I'd already been charged. I then called hotels.com to explain the issue. The rep kept putting me on hold to “check my file to see if someone had changed my reservation.” Then, she called the hotel and confirmed that indeed there was no vacancy.

At this point, the Comfort Inn clerk was telling me hotels.com would have to refund my money; and hotels.com was telling me Comfort Inn would have to make the refund. On the next business day, I contacted hotels.com and was given the same type of runaround—it was all my fault and Comfort Inn would have to make the refund. When he contacted the Comfort Inn manager, he was told the refund could not be made. As a courtesy to me, the hotels.com rep (Rafael) was willing to give me a refund of 10% and an $80 hotels.com voucher to stay somewhere else. I declined. After driving around seeking out a place to stay, I ended up yet another 30-plus miles away from my event, got to bed about 2 hours later than desired, and paid another big chunk of money for a room.

I called Hotel.com on 2 occasions to file a complaint. On the phone, the best offer of compensation was vouchers for future use. The latest offer of compensation was a 50% reduction in my original booking fee, which amounts to CAD68.50. Unsatisfied with the response I received, the consumer service department suggested I write to Hotel.com, which I did on 3 separate occasions. Over a span of 1 month, I wrote 2 emails and sent a registered letter to the corporate headquarters of Hotel.com in Dallas. None of my written communications were answered, and nor did I get any acknowledgement of receipt.

The law demands that as a vendor of services Hotel.com must provide all necessary information to the consumer at the time of purchase. False advertising or failure to provide all necessary information is absolutely prohibited under the relevant consumer protection legislation. The lack of any information on the AirCanada/WWTMS website regarding the excess fees that the consumer is required to pay in addition to the reservation costs is a failure wholly on the part of Hotel.com.

As a consumer, I have every right to demand full compensation for my economic loss of EUR 170. I simply do not understand why I must be content with the offers of vouchers or a reduction in my original reservation fare, when the fault is entirely on Hotel.com. The lack of satisfactory attention paid to my complaint for the past month and ignoring my communications had not helped my determination not to accept anything less than full compensation for my economic loss of EUR 170 and a lot of wasted time and energy corresponding with a poor excuse for a business that does not respond or reply at all.

To me, Hotels.com is a con and they steal not only individual's money but also corporations’.

The Hotels.Com has been of minimal help. I have called twice, both times England was reached but there was no one there to refund the double charges; a responsible party was not at the Hotel and I was requested to call again early in the morning. 1st call: 4:00 pm, 2nd call, 02:15 am ET and now I'm being requested to call again at 04:00 am CT/ Hotels.Com so that they can then try to call once again the Holiday Inn Transaction Action Person to refund the doubled charged room.

I have used Hotels.com for a long time, but are getting the run around while dealing with: $905.87 they charged me for a reservation, and the Holiday Inn Charges resulting in the same amount charged to my credit card when I checked out. I have a $2000.00 dollar hotel room in Winchester England at the Holiday Inn and no wants to take back the extra charge against my credit card. Please assist.

We have 3 more trips planned this year and will not use their site. They lost hundreds of dollars of future business with us because of a $100 dollar charge that they would not correct. We will try to cancel our credit charges and call the hotel directly but probably will have no luck.

These are usually the ones with outdated TVs, AC issues, smells, leaky faucets, et cetera. Rarely are the hotel clerks so forthcoming as the ones in this case though. If you are looking for a getaway or a relaxing time, you are better off dealing with the hotel directly. I have dealt with **** customer service before as well and I discovered that it is much easier and safer to book via the web and never call them unless you like spending hours on the phone getting put on hold by someone who isn't listening to a word you say.

We reached the hotel at around 11:00 pm on July 3rd. The front desk associate at the hotel told us that the hotel has oversold the rooms and we need to contact the Hotels.com as they do not have to offer the room. We tried calling the Hotels.com and nobody would pick up the phone. After one and half hours the front desk associate called the hotel manager and offered us one bed smoking room. We toured the room and found that the room is not acceptable to stay in for that night. The hotel manager, Trish also tried calling the Hotels.com. I was able to speak with one associate at Hotels.com around 1:30am. I asked the associate to let me speak with the supervisor/manager and I was on hold for another hour before I had to hang up my phone line.

Finally, we decided to look for other hotels/motels around the Newport News. We were not able to find a room with other hotels/motels as they were completely booked due to July 4th weekend. We had to cancel our vacation and had to return back to our home. We tried calling Hotels.com customer service many times next morning. After fourth time, we were able to speak with a supervisor, Ms. Suzanne from Hotels.com. She offered us the cancellation of our booking. We were never able to stay at any hotel, and were subject to a great inconvenience and had to cancel our trip to Virginia Beach. There will be not cost compared to ruined family vacation time on July 4th.

I called Hotels.com back to see what could be done and after being on hold for 34 minutes over a very bad connection, I was told that Hotels.com would fax the hotel manager a copy of the room confirmation and that I should call back in an hour to see what had been done. I called the hotel to see what could be done, and there was nothing they could do. All the two-bed rooms were booked for the weekend.

I don't understand why Hotels.com would confirm that I had a two-bed room when none was available, why I was on hold for so long, using my minutes, and why they could not call me back instead of placing me on hold for so long, and then on top of all this, why no one solved my problem. I'm now going to have to sleep at the Holiday Inn Express on a roll away, because all the hotels in the area are booked. Thanks for nothing Hotels.com. I don't believe I'll be using your services again.

I asked if she owned the company and she said no but this is the way they are set up. **** is a crappy company with crappy customer service. She kept saying she could offer me a 10% discount if I booked the room and paid for it. She also said she could send to me a $20 voucher that I could use to book my next room, great! But it won't arrive for 6-8 weeks. She finally admitted that there was nothing that she could do to help me with Friday's reservation. Thanks a lot. Expedia? **** ? Never.

I don't know if they will charge me for this room, but Holiday Inn has told me that there will be no charges to **. ** is the biggest rip off, period. Do not support them. They don't allow you to get a receipt from the desk when you check-out. They'll send you a receipt via email, this is unacceptable, for my expense reporting.

The economic damage is yet to be determined. ** states that they do not charge for cancellations, and that all of the charges come from the hotel chain itself. Holiday Inn will not be charging me for this room. We will see if ** charges me. I will follow up soon.

We arrived at the hotel less than an hour. After the call to Hotels.com was made, we were told that they had no reservation for us. The woman working behind the front counter that night told me that not only did she not have a reservation for us in the system, but that nobody had even called to confirm a reservation in the last hour and that the place had been sold out for weeks. Apparently the confirmation number that they had emailed me was completely meaningless. They did make it a point to charge my credit card though.

I called Hotels.com to find out what the problem was and after having to wait almost 10 minutes just to speak to a real person, I was placed on hold again so that the customer service agent could call the hotel. I was standing at the front desk of the hotel during all of this because the woman working there was calling around to other hotels in the area to see if she could find a room for us. After being on hold for another five minutes, the phone at the hotel desk finally rang and it was the person from Hotels. She must have taken a break between the time she put me on hold and the time she actually made her call to the hotel. The call lasted only a few seconds and then it was several more minutes before she came back on the line to tell me that the hotel was full and that they could either offer me a refund or try to locate another room in the area and apply the balance that they had already charged me towards it.

I asked her to look into the latter which turned out to be a huge mistake because she put me on hold and never came back (I waited almost 30 minutes before hanging up). Fortunately, the woman at the front desk had found us a room at a hotel one town over in Leed, SD and we went on our way. I hadn't budgeted for having to pay for two hotel rooms that night, so I was very relieved when the new charge cleared my credit card. I was very angry that Hotels.com could have just as easily left us stranded and sleeping in my vehicle that night without so much as even an insincere apology.

I contacted Hotels.com a couple days after getting home from our trip to inquire about a refund. After waiting quite a while to speak to a person again, I was asked what the name was of the person working at the front desk that night so that they could speak to her and confirm that we were actually there. Again, I was placed on hold for a ridiculous amount of time while the customer service person contacted the hotel. After that, she came back on the line to inform me that the person I named wasn't there when she called and that they had no record of me checking in. I had to explain to her a second time that we didn't check in because we didn't have a room to check in to and that was why I wanted a refund. She told me that she would need a manager's approval to give me a refund and placed me on hold for another 15 minutes or so.

When she came back on the line, she told me that I would be refunded the price of the room within 24 hours and thanked me for doing business with Hotels.com. Still, there was no apology or any sort of offer to make it up to me. Before she could hang up, I asked her to please explain to me what had happened. The first thing she said was that it was my fault because we showed up to the hotel late. I told her that we were there before 10:00 pm and less than an hour after they booked our room there. Then she told me that it was the hotel's fault for not informing them that they had no rooms. I told her that they never even called to confirm my reservation, so the hotel was never given the opportunity to tell them that they had no rooms. Then she said that it was a "combination of those two" events/excuses and at that point I just let it go since it was clear that they weren't going to take any responsibility for what had happened.

How's that for customer service? I will never do business with Hotels.com/Expedia (same company) again and I hope that anyone who reads this will either find a different company to book their hotel rooms through or at the very least be extremely cautious when dealing with them. They may be able to save you a few dollars, but when it comes to hotel reservations, being confident that you will actually have a room when you show up is worth far more than anything they have to offer.

The only reason I decided to use Hotels.com was the rewards system. I wanted a free night with ten stays. Hotels.com only credited me for one point and not two. Because my account still doesn't show that I had a reservation (hence my issue with getting the confirmation email), they act as if I never booked the second room through them. After over ten more emails and three calls, they said that they would credit my rewards account the point I earned. I was told it takes 48 hours to apply. A week later it is still not there. Again, it took another five emails and two calls. I am told the same thing, but to wait 72 hours. I did. Guess what? The point was still not credited. Now they simply won't respond. I've emailed four more times and got put on hold twice (no one ever came back on the line). I am furious.

On top of all that, the first hotel I booked was nothing in the description I read at Hotels.com. The place was horrible. After my stay there I wrote a lengthy, but professional review (my side job is reviewing hospitality businesses). Hotels.com deleted my review. When I asked why, I received a formal email stating the policies and restriction to which the reviews must adhere to. My review did not violate these policies and I pointed that out. I received another email saying that Hotels.com has the right not to publish a review for any reason. Essentially, they do not want to hurt their clients with reviews such as mine.

Reviewing as a profession has made me cognizant of everything when I stay somewhere. I take mental notes of names, colors, smells etc. My review was absolutely on the mark and it was deleted. It makes me wonder what good reading the reviews of the hotels are if they are not accurate. Negative ratings and reviews are deleted at will.

After reading all of your complaints and dealing with my own experience I have decided to take action. I placed a call to Fox News Problem Solvers to investigate the practices of this company. I hope they are exposed to the nation as a scam.

My best advice for Hotels.com is to find more people like the woman I spoke to in TX who are U.S citizens.

Since that time, I have called hotels.com four times for a refund and each time, they promised me the refund was being processed and I would receive an e-mail within 24 hours confirming it, and the money will be back on my credit card within 3 to 5 days. This has not happened. Also, two of the times, I was promised a $40 & $100 credit vouchers which I have not received. It should be noted that hotels.com call centers that I talked to are outside of the country which is obviously additional proof that hotels.com doesn't care about the American public and our unemployment problem.

Additionally, I was told by a LAX Hilton employee that 30 to 40 people who used hotels.com/Expedia that same night did not have their reservations show up on the Hilton system. In summary, do not use hotels.com or Expedia! My time spent on this is 1 1/2 hours the night of the reservation with no success, and over 2 1/2 hours on the phone since then, trying to get a refund.

So I call hotels.com and the nightmare ensues. Obviously I called India. Now, the people I dealt with were polite and all, but I had a very difficult time understanding some of them, which just makes a bad situation worse. They read from a script, and anything outside of that script is useless. It's like dealing with a robot that only has one answer for all situations. At one point I was inadvertently connected during the hotels.com conversation with the hotel clerk. She was telling him that, "Now I have faxed the confirmation to you and you will now honor the customer's reservation..." The guy, frustrated, says, "How can I honor the reservation if I don't have rooms available?” This went on for quite a while. Twice, while talking to hotels.com, a third person got on the line, saying, "Hello?” It was the clerk from the hotel; somehow he kept getting called, so I took the opportunity to reserve a room for the night with him, while hotels.com listened in (she was completely confused about what was going on).

I was on hold 4 times; once for 40 minutes from just north of the Baltimore-Washington Airport to the PA border. I can't imagine how much this will cost me in cell phone roaming charges. So now I'm nervous because either my battery is going to die, or (yep) I get disconnected. Start over. I begged the CS rep not to put me on hold. I implored them to call me back if we get "disconnected". They can't do that, she says. She puts me on hold again, until I'm actually now at the hotel. I give the phone to my wife to wait on hold while I go inside to see what the hotel can do for me. The guys at the front desk of the hotel are extremely sympathetic, and they put us in a room for the night and honor our rate, but they don't know what will happen for the remaining 4 nights. They leave a long letter for the manager.

Meanwhile, hotels.com finally tells my wife that the "relocation department" is closed and to call back tomorrow. They offered her a $50 voucher. Are they serious? Is their policy just, "Sorry, we screwed you. Goodbye." They should have someone available in the U.S., 24 hours a day, who can immediately get to work on finding customers a place to stay. The next morning the hotel manager had a frustrating call with hotels.com and gets nowhere. She somehow found a way to move some flexible reservation customers to accommodate us, and even though we had to change rooms a few times (and yes, to a lesser room than we reserved and paid for) we were so grateful to have a place to stay we didn't care. They also directly billed hotels.com so I didn't have to deal with it.

As for hotels.com, never again. They left us high and dry on a busy weekend, with no follow-up, not even an e-mail. I did get a "How was your stay?” email. Hah. I sent them a detailed response, and checked the box that said "Would you like hotels.com to contact you regarding your stay?” Never heard from anyone and I'm not surprised. Also FYI, Expedia is their parent company as far as I know. From now on, I only deal with the hotel, airline, and rental car company directly. I'm done with 3rd party on-line brokers where there is no recourse and no accountability.

Long story short, we kept going back and forth - she putting me on hold to check with Days Inn manager and she said they will not refund me. I hung up, called Days Inn and spoke to the manager named Bob. He said he doesn't have a problem refunding me but the reservation was made at ***. They try to pin it on the hotels. I called back *** and explained that I had spoken to Bob, the manager and explained what Bob said. They put me on hold again for another 15-minutes and said they spoke to Bob and he said there was no refund. Basically, *** is playing head games. We need to put these crooks out of business. Its all fraud; their web site clearly lies, and I lost $556.00. I told them I was giving them 1 month notice, which is clearly enough time to have someone else rent the room. I am trying to fight the charges. It's not $5.00, it's $556.00.

I was deceived, stressed, and lied to. I had migrains, and was pissed off.

After a heated discussion on the issue and a number of lengthy holds Phillip came back and said that he had corrected the issue and as an apology could give me a 10% discount on my reservation - he gave me a total after tax cost of $159.61 and for the inconvenience I would receive $60.00 hotel.com bonus bucks. In comes the confirmation, $218.38, at least it shows 3 adults on the confirmation sheet. I call back and speak to Skyne, she states that she couldn't do anything for me. I had accepted the bonus bucks this was my refund. I was willing to cancel at that point and should have in hindsight.

I was very upset at this point, ready to cancel my reservation, I asked to speak to Skyne's supervisor, so Cathy comes on the line. She would refund me the %15 percent she could see in the notes left by Phillip. Okay. so now the cost is down to $185.63. They will still charge my card the $218.00 but will also give me a refund of $32.75 to make us for it and an additional 20 bonus bucks They'll send an email stating the refund amount. So, in comes the new confirmation. It shows 3 adults and 80 bonus bucks now but has also been changed to 1 king bed with no guarantee on the roll away. I call back again. Giermo comes on the line. Giermo offers to call the hotel to see if they can correct the reservation. They can but they will have to bill me an additional $21.83, new total on the reservation $240.25, but he says... I'll definitely refund the $21.83 it will take approximately take 24 hours to process.

I feel like I have been ripped off. Hotels.com/ca charged my credit card $44.46 without authorization. I feel they have mislead me in numerous instances, lied about the amenities they were providing and have not provided what they were contracted to do. I would not use their services again. Those bonus bucks might as well be monopoly money for all the good they will do me as I would not use their company again nor would I recommend anyone else.

Needless to say, I didn't stay there and ended up sleeping on my friend's couch on Friday. "Sam" told me he would continue looking for a relocation hotel for Saturday night. He told me that if I found my own hotel (which I did within 5 minutes of being online), to book it and fax the receipt to them for refund. I expected a full refund for Friday, and all monies beyond the $89 I paid for Saturday as well.

I am currently on hold for the 20th time, wasting another hour of my life. So far, I have been told that that they cannot refund me anything other than what I paid to them--forget the additional expenses I incurred due to their error.

After we returned home, I spent an additional 20 minutes obtaining (I hope) a refund to the credit card of hotels.com fees. Another note, hotels.com was hoping to make a 50% markup on this room, as the owner did not charge anyone over $60/night, yet the motel.com charge was $213 for two nights, quite a discount over contacting the lodging provider directly, eh. I will not do business with hotels.com, until some acknowledgment of their error is made beyond an “oh well, we'll refund your money”.

I cancelled the Hotels.com reservation, was refunded the money and I booked another hotel at the last minute. Upon my return, I emailed Hotels.com with my complaint. Their response was a form letter (email) indicating they never read my complaint. When I followed up again, I got another form letter inappropriate for the inquiry. It seems like nobody is home. I will no longer trust bookings through Hotels.com and will now avoid the distress and frustration of dealing with unresponsive and incompetent service.

After complaining with hotels.com, I received a phone call from the Equipo de Atencion al Cliente, telling me they actually could change my dates (amazing on a nonrefundable booking that they had told me before could, by no way, be changed), but that they could not guarantee 2 beds. It was their "policy". Haven't I read it? Yes I had and thought it concerned the smoking-non smoking preferences or even not being able to guarantee a king size bed instead of a double bed, but that 1 bed or 2 beds couldn't be a preference: someone that is booking 2 beds is not available to sleep with his roommate or would have booked for just one bed, and that seemed quite clear to me!

I was then told that "Based on our telephonic conversation, I have contacted the hotel and placed a request for 2 twin beds. The hotel will do their best to facilitate it however, it is not guaranteed as it is subject to availability. I suggest that you make a request for it at the time of check in."

I once again insisted: "Please be reasonable. A 2 bed bedroom is not an option. Someone that chooses 2 beds is not willing to sleep in the same bed as the other traveler! Or they would have booked a 1 bed! For crying out loud: it's not the same as smoking or nonsmoking, it is sleeping in the same bed with someone else! I'm traveling with a friend but it could be a co-worker! And still: we're not that close! Please be reasonable and if you can't guarantee me a 2 bed at Indigo Hotel, cancel the reservation there and let me book some other hotel (which I'm betting will be much worse than Indigo), through you. Indigo won't charge you a thing (and if they do I'm willing to pay), you'll still be selling 5 nights and you'll have a satisfied client. And I'll probably pay more, since with only 20 days left. Chances are that rates are now much higher. That's still a good deal for you. Please, and once again, be reasonable: 2 people expecting 2 beds can't be informed at check that they're sharing a bed. You shouldn't have that option because it's not an option. If you don't allow me to book a 2 bed bedroom at another hotel, I'm sleeping at the floor and my travel will be ruined". They had no response.

Hotels booked the rooms non-refundable (cheaper) thus they only get what rooms are left over. Hotels put a note in the reservation that we would need 2 beds in each, but that does not guarantee we will get it (as was the case here). Due to this being an event weekend in Charlotte, no rooms could be found with 2 beds. Hotels lied about my reservation. It would take too long to explain how poor their customer service is. I will just say that I will never, never, never use them again.

I called Hotels.com regarding the matter and they first stated that I had not spent the nights at the hotels in question. I stated that I have receipts and if I didn't stay there, I should get a refund. Now, all of sudden,they find the records. Ryan, a manager, stated that he sees the records but they will not update because there are no tools available to CSRs to update my record to reflect that I stayed any nights at any particular hotel. The manager then went on to say that any coupon codes that are applied do not count towards the 10 nights=1 free night. I told the manager that I made the reservations over the phone with an actual person, who did not state that there are stipulations with using a coupon code. So they have procedures in place and do not inform the customer service representatives about restrictions nor does it mention restrictions in the TV/web advertising.

I feel that since I had fulfilled my portion of the "contract" in the program before the new policy was enacted, I should be rewarded for what was agreed upon when I signed up for the program. Hotels.com should, at the very least, be grandfathering in the customers that completed their paid nights before their new policy came into effect. They have alienated their customers, and I will no longer be using their service. I don't know if a class-action against hotels.com has been initiated, but there is a large base of plaintiffs and surely a big potential payoff for the attorney who can win this.

On my itinerary print out, I noticed that it said "standard" room and not the sleep number deluxe, so I call the hotel (the Radisson). Of course they argued with me, saying that the Sleep Number Deluxe was more expensive and that this was not what I had selected on the website. To ensure I was right, I pulled up the website again and then called Hotels.com. I was on the phone for 1 hour and had been hung up on by two different Hotels.com customer service reps before getting to someone who came to the conclusion that their website was "incorrect," yet nothing was reconciled regarding any sort of refund discount or whatever. The only thing that they could do was "ask the Radisson" to change our rooms but could not guarantee us anything.

I feel like I was completely "hosed" by Hotels.com and that this was a big scam! It has left a bad taste in my mouth both in regards to the Radisson and the Charleston trip all together. Although I have not actually taken the tri,p yet I am so far expecting nothing but a miserable trip. I wasnt even given any kind of discount from Hotels.com for their mistake. Horrible, horrible customer service and I will never again book through this website!

Fast forward to 5/9/2010, still no refund in my account. I called the service center again. This time, I spoke to a Jennifer. She told me she would have to get the refund approved since it was a large refund ($1,700), so she put me on hold. A few minutes later, she came back and said that the refund would be sent to my bank in 24 hours, then it depended on how long it took my bank to process refunds. 3 to 5 days was her estimate. She said I would be able to contact my bank, and they would see it processing.

Then on 5/13/2010, I spoke to my bank; and they had not seen any sign of my refund. Luckily, I work just 2 miles down from the corporate office in Dallas, Texas. I went to the office building at 11am to talk to somebody face to face. I arrived at the luxurious high-rise hotels.com building, walked into the building on their beautiful marble floors, and headed to the 4th floor. I then stepped into the fancy reception area, complete with a 40-inch flatscreen television, and explained to the receptionist my problem. (I see now how they can afford such nice amenities since they constantly rip people off.)

She told me that there is nobody physically there who could help me, but she took me over to a phone and called the service center herself. She then said that she was calling from corporate and a customer on the line who needed help. I got on the phone. It is William this time, and I explained (yet again) what my situation was with the refund. He apologized about fifty times, put me on hold to ask a supervisor for approval, then came back on the line. William told me that he got the refund approved and that it would be sent to my bank by midnight. I thanked him, and I thanked the receptionist for their help and left the office.

I headed back to work feeling half-relieved and half-skeptical, since I have been told many times I would be refunded. When I arrived back about 11:30am, I checked my email and was shocked at the email I received from them. It was a refund verification email, with the date, refund amount, and account holder's name, stating I was receiving a refund. I had no idea these refund verification emails even existed.

I supposed the key to actually receiving a refund with these people is to go straight to their corporate office. I am lucky I had that advantage. My next step was to dispute the charge with my bank. If that didn't work, I was going to send a letter from my attorney. I work in a law office, so it would have been free. I just want people to know that they have other options then just calling that ridiculous excuse for a customer service center.

Also, if you do call them and they promise you a refund, a change of date, hotel, or anything, always ask for email verification. That way, you can dispute the charge with your bank and have proof that they promised you a refund. They will try to tell you that your confirmation number is your itinerary or the cancellation number you used; that is complete crap. In reality, they are liars and scammers who don't want any sort of confrontation with you, so they tell you what you want to hear when they really have done nothing to help you.

I hope this post helps people who are dealing with this terrible company, and I hope people considering using hotels.com will read this and be warned. I will never use this company again. It's lesson learned the hard way.

We paid a lot of money for our rooms; then when I called them to complain and relocate they did not apologize, they were really rude to me and acted like they were doing me a favor. They said it wasn't their fault that the hotel decided that they could not accommodate us and 400 other people! Then I called the hotel and asked about rooms and they told me they were not overbooked and they could book me a room right now... but for double the price.

Then the reservations person, Laurence, told me to always make the plans through the hotel only so they can guarantee our rooms. Why would our rooms not be guaranteed through hotels.com! This site is a scam. They said that they can get people great rooms at low prices but they can't. This is not the first time this has happened either. I have heard it from others, I just didn't think it would happen to me for some reason.

Next time make reservations through the hotel itself! Do not use this site or expedia.com. We are not getting our deluxe suites and we are not getting smoking rooms in the hotel of our choice. Also the hotel they are relocating us to, is farther away from the ceremony we were traveling for. They will switch your room for something cheaper last minute, that is why the prices are cheap- because they have no intention of giving you that room. It is a scam.

I spoke with my bank and they told me Hotels.com had to remove the authorization request and my money would be back in my account as soon as my bank's system updated. The next day, Hotels.com removed the requests for the money and everything appeared to be OK. When I returned home, I was able to check my account again and Hotels.com had actually sent through one of the 4 requests and withdrew the money from my account of the reservation they cancelled. I called Hotels.com again on April 25, spent an hour on the phone and they told me it would take 24-48 hours to refund my money. It's now April 30 and they still have not refunded the money.

I spoke with yet another customer service rep and I was told it will be refunded by tomorrow morning. If anyone reads this before using Hotels.com, be careful. Watch your bank account closely to make sure whatever your reservation amount is, is the only amount withdrawn from your account. Lastly, when I asked their customer service reps where the home office is located, they told me they are not required to tell me nor would they tell me. I find that odd that they can't and won't tell me that information.

I again sent another 2 emails; again, they gave computer-generated replies. I sent through the site; again, no reply. What really annoys me, besides the fact i have had no response, is the fact they have already debited my account. How they can debit me without giving me a confirmation or the courtesy of a reply is beyond me. In the past, we have been satisfied with their service. But now, they have gone over all norms of fair business practice.

I believe their tactic is to send you computer generated emails saying they are very busy and will get to you sooner or later. Of course, they never get to you and hope you'll eventually go away. Loss of a small amount of money is the consequence. The real issue is that at the best Hotels.com is not operating this business in good faith.

Well, I arrived well before midnight the next night and my room was canceled, the hotel said that the room was canceled because I didn't show up the first night. Although, I was assured by Hotels.com, that my room would still be available, it was not. I was in Alabama and I live in Ohio, I do not know anyone in Alabama. Fortunately, another guess did not show up by 4 PM and I was able to purchase that room thru the original hotel.

We then had to change our plans so that we could go to Florida right away. Although there is a no cancellation restriction, and under the circumstances and because my mother is on a fixed income I called hotels.com to try to change the reservations. I was told by Chanel at hotels.com that we would need a copy of the death certificate first. Because we did not yet have the certificate, we had to make other hotel arrangements. We felt that when we obtained the death certificate we would fax it and my mother would receive a refund.

The funeral home faxed the certificate and when we returned to New York on 4/12/10 I called to see if the certificate has been received. I was told that Mr. Shaiar *** had denied to credit my mother's account. My mother is on a fixed income and cannot afford to lose $365.00, not to mention that the request was made due to a death in the family. I would like someone to help my mother receive her refund. This has been a financial hardship for my mother as she had to pay for my uncle's funeral as he had no insurance. This can all be verified by the funeral home.

I told them that it should have been only for one room. So I called Hotels.com and asked what happened, they told me that they had a global glitch on there computers and saw that they had 5 reservation under our name. They said they would fix it and make it only one reservation. We said okay and that was it. But I really didn't like what happened, so I called my bank to see if they charged me and guess what, yes, they did, 5 times and well let's just say it was all of money I had in my account was all gone! Called hotels.com to settle all this and told them what happened with my bank account. So I just canceled everything with them but they still charge me for all 5 reservations.

They called them again and they told me that it was my bank's problem. LOL, can you believe that? My bank called them because it was posted on my account. I and my bank settled it with them on the phone Thanks USAA, but I still didn't have any funds in my account for 5 days, I had to live off 15 dollars I had in my pocket. No money in my account for 5 days because they made a mistake. Didn't go to my friends wedding because of that and had to borrow money just so that I had gas in my car to commute to work. The stress of not being able to do anything and heartaches and headaches of missing everything I wanted to do that weekend.

We arrived at the Comfort Inn Aviator's Lodge on the 17th. On the evening of our 6th night there, we received a visit from one of the ownership partners of the Comfort Inn Aviator's Lodge, a Mr. Jonathon **. He announced himself by rudely pounding on our door (room number 11). Upon opening the door, Mr. Jonathon entered our room, demanding my credit card and stating that Hotels.com/Expedia.com had not forwarded the funds and that he was sick and tired of this happening, indicating that this was not a uncommon occurrence.

Mr. Jonathon implied that if I refused to give him my Visa card, we would be ejected from our room immediately! I tried to reason with Mr. Jonathon, showing him the Hotels.com payment deduction from my bank statement and the confirmation number I received from Hotels.com. But Mr. Jonathon was unsatisfied and remained unreasonable.

Due to the late hour and as we are both senior citizens, I complied and gave him my Visa card. The following day we checked out and flew to Brisbane, never to return to South Australia, never to stay at any Comfort Inn again, and never to use Hotels.com/Expedia.com again. This incident completely spoiled our holiday that we had been planning for so long.

Life is a learning experience, and we hope others may learn from our bad experience.

I went next door to eat and looked over at the hotel and the shuttle pulled up two hours after my plane had landed. So I am awaken at 5 am by the dumpster 20 feet from my door. I said something when I checked out and he didn't know what I was talking about. So I called Hotels.com and after the runaround and getting put on hold forever, they would only give me $20 toward my next stay. I wanted them to take that hotel off their list and they said they wouldn't do that. Book through someone else. I wouldn't have booked through them but Delta recommended them and transferred me over there. Never again.

Long story short, the Philippines-based hotels.com customer service center is an utter and complete fake. The representatives give false names, put you on hold, and then hang up on you. If you call back and ask for the representative you've just spoken with, they'll tell you that no such person exists. They will tell you that they understand your problem, but will not help you solve it. After going through several circles of representative ** over the course of an hour (over what should have been a 10-minute problem fix), I was finally given to "Marvin **", the supposed top manager in the department who said he'd reviewed my problem, would fix it immediately, and would call back within the next 4 hours.

I never received a call back, the problem wasn't fixed, and when I called back and asked for Marvin **, I was told that no person by that name worked there. I have never experienced anything like this outside of street hustlers and con artists. Hotels.com is a complete fraud! I sorely regret having given them my credit card information, and will be monitoring my card closely. Beware!

When I got to the Inn at Pasatiempo, the front desk informed me that the reservation not only wasn't booked smoking room and they didn't have any, period. My reservation was also not booked as having a dog because they have specific rooms for people with pets but none were available. The agent never informed me that there would be an additional $75.00 fee for having a dog after I had asked several times if the price of $103 included all costs, taxes, fees, etc.

I am highly disappointed in Hotels.com for having an employee with such a lack of respect for me and only being concerned in making the sale of my booking a reservation. I chose Hotels.com over every other company but never again will I make that mistake. This was supposed to be a little getaway for us after almost 4 years of not having had any vacations at all. It was a frustrating day especially in this economy with very limited money.

I called them right back, and they said they can't retrieve the old reservation. I have to cancel the crappy hotel from the second reservation too. And now, they also canceled the Barcelo Maya Palace reservation. I want this Maya Palace Deluxes, because others of my friends stay in this hotel. I never want to change to different hotels from the beginning.

They made the mistake on my reservation and didn't fixed it. I called 3 times and sometimes have been hung up on in the middle of conversation. Anyway, I don't have any reservation from them now. But I advised you to not ever book through hotels.com. When you try to cancel or anything happened, they will not solve your problem . Just please don't book to their website. They put me from 5-star hotels to 3-star hotels in Cancun, which I found that 3 stars in other website is just $700 less than their website. Booking to their website is a big mistake I ever done in my life.

I noticed that I had only put "1" person, and wanted to change this to "2" to be honest. I read their cancellation policy regarding cancelled free nights, which stated that the free night would be returned to my account when I cancelled the night. I did and then the free night still showed as used. I called the Hotels.com customer service and spoke with someone who said that it would take 72 hours to receive my free night credit back into my account. I explained that the policies would change on March 9, which was in 1 day, and could they please either note on my account that I had earned the rewards prior to March 9, or cancel my cancellation, or get my free night credit before March 9. He said nothing could be done. I also informed him that there was nothing on the cancellation policy that said there was a 3-day waiting period to get the free night back into your account.

I asked to speak with his supervisor, who was very curt. When I asked, "Is there anything you can do to help me?" His response was "No". I couldn't believe how unhelpful a customer service representative was being. Several times I asked if he could help in X way, and his reply was always "no". I asked if I could be compensated for the loss, and he said "no". At least the original guy had offered "small vouchers" that I've heard about from other complaints about Hotels.com.

Also, I asked the second guy when exactly the switch of policies would take place-- March 9 night or morning. I asked specifically March 9, 11:59 pm and he said yes, that was when the change was (in case I would receive the free night credit back sometime on March 9). This was a lie or at least very misinformed, as I checked Hotels.com today (3/9/10) and there is no mention of the previous rewards program. This costs me $300. The free night was worth $400 prior to the switch on 3/9/10. They refused to honor my free night that I earned prior to 3/9/10 and thus the value of the free night has now gone to about $100.

My last interaction was on 27.02.2010 with Uday, when I was again informed that due to some technical glitch my refund had not been processed yet. He intimated me that he had reconfirmed this with the supervisor, Micky. I have been told that he would personally look into the same & ensure that I would be refunded my money. He also apprised me that my case had been forwarded to the management for a speedy resolution. Prior to this, my interaction was with Obaid on the 15th & 16th of February.

There again, I was informed that due to some technical glitch that nothing had happened. On the 15th, I had also spoken to Shruthi & Hassan, the Supervisor, who had promised to revert to me within 2 hours & I have never heard from him yet. All my attempts to reach him again have also failed as irrespective of the time that I call, he is never available. Similar was my experience with Micky on the 5th of February. He had committed a refund within 7 working days, which I have not received, nor have I been ever able to speak to him again. On the 16th of February, Obaid reassured me that he had done the needful to process my refund. He informed me that I would be getting a full refund & that this would happen within 7 working days.

Now, Uday informs me that again this has not happened. From the 5th of February, since I am tired of listening to these constant excuses, I have been requesting that if they have a problem refunding the amount to my card, which I do not know why they should have, then to please send me a check. I do not believe that it can take 75 days to sort out a technical glitch. The fact that no one to date has bothered to call me back to apprise me of the delay if any itself shows, that possibly there is no intention to refund.

Even in previous interactions with their executives / supervisors on 25th December, 5th Jan (Joy), again around the 15th or 20th of Jan and so on, all I have been hearing is an apology and an assurance to process within 7 working days and follow the issue personally. If ever some one has committed to call me back, it has never happened, which is why after 2 such incidents, I have been promptly calling back if there was no feedback.

When we entered the hotel, they made me give my credit card info and form of photo ID in order to access my reservation and informed me that there were three reservations. I asked to speak to a manager and waited in the lobby for over one hour. They never got the manager and charged me for three rooms. I have spent hours on the phone with Hotel.com and they have done nothing and say they will do nothing. They put my family in danger and fraudulently made reservations for me. The monetary value is $313.98 plus the $200 for the hotel I had to walk into at the last minute. The emotional damage to my children has left them with nightmares and upset about their trip to Israel and their heritage. This was supposed to be a wonderful and spiritual trip and has turned into a horror for my children.

I asked to speak to a manager and was put on hold for over 10 minutes and then was told the manager was not available. I called back again and the only solution is to cancel the reservation and make a new one and wait for my first reservation refund of $1700+. I find this totally unacceptable, I am presently holding reservations with hotels.com for 2 other hotel stays and will never use hotels.com again. It sounds extremely fraudulent that you cannot make a correction to a reservation that is 2 months away.

When asked to speak with their supervisor, they will instruct the consumer that he/she is on another line, put you on hold and never return. (You can experience being on-hold indefinitely I have held for up to 70 minutes before finally giving up). When asked for another number to call, they will give you a number that puts you back into the queue for the Customer Service Center. When asked to speak with the person you were speaking to before they will never know who that person is or how to get in touch with them. When asked to check with accounting on when the refund was processed they will require your credit card number even though they have all the information concerning the reservation and cancellation numbers.

If you express concern in giving this information to every Customer Care person you have spoken to, they will inform you then they cannot help you. I now am concerned about additional fraud charges being made to my credit card. They will then tell you they are going to contact accounting, will put you on hold and never return. Ever since making a reservation on February 6, 2010 and cancelling it on February 8th, I have been pursuing a 1,542 ($2,150) refund to my account. I have spoken with fifteen (15) different Customer Care representatives over a 17-day period, and in each instance have been put on hold with the representative never returning. I have waited on hold for up to 70 minutes and over 3.5 hours in total (from Germany to the US as none of their International numbers work).

I still have not received a refund and have been told by my bank it will take up to 6 weeks to get a refund if I get one. In view of all the other complaints against this company, including but not limited to bait and switch pricing, double billing, and failure to honor published promotional prices and promised discounts all resulting in over-charges to the consumer - when accompanied with a pervasive failure to promptly refund the overcharges it becomes clear that this policy of holding customers funds is deliberate. I call upon the States and US Attorney Generals to investigate these companies and take action to protect consumers from this abuse.

When the balance was not returned to my account 4 days later (today), I called to find out why. I was told that I should not have received a discount (despite the fact that I had their email with the promotion details on the confirmation page). After some choice words, I was offered a $50 travel voucher. I agreed to accept this stating I would use it tomorrow for my business trip, and then be done with them. Well when this little twit of an agent returned to my call, she stated that I could expect it in 4-6 weeks! What did I just tell the ** about when I would use it? I stated that this was unacceptable. I was out of patience, and I wanted my ** money back now, and to put her supervisor on. She hung up on me!

So upon calling back, I demanded for a supervisor, who strangely sounded exactly like the same woman I had spoken to on the other occasions. She got a little attitude when she was telling me I had accepted their stupid voucher already, (yeah witch that's why I'm calling, your minion hung up when I said no dice) and went through the same ** I had already gotten from the other girl. She began to raise her voice and talk over me, which was not how this conversation was going to go. Finally, they agreed to credit my card back the 1 night. Fine, I said. I'd like a confirmation email. "You said you had the confirmation" was her reply. "Of this conversation" **!

I was told "yes, you will get an email". 3 hours later, no email. I assume I'll be going through the same ** in the coming weeks/months as the other posters here, to get my money. Well the squeaky wheel gets the grease! FYI, with respect to the staff at the Days Inn Lafayette on University who were very nice, the place is a dump! I wouldn't recommend it to any traveler who wasn't looking to score some crack, and get high in a dirty, nasty hole in the wall! Really, I stepped on a pipe getting out of my car after work! We'll see what happens as far as restitution. I'm not holding my breath, but I won't be backing off either!

Needless to say I was extremely upset. Now I have spent countless number of hours on the phone trying to rectify the situation ** has put me in. Being a single mother of 2 boys and trying to give my son a decent birthday without breaking my pocket, I can not see myself spending close to $400.00 when I was anticipating $240.00. ** can not guarantee that I will get a refund because of the facilities cancellation policy. But they are more than willing to refund the $5.00 processing fee that I completely understood was non-refundable. I can honestly say that I have never been treated in this manner ever!

But here's the real clincher, they kept my money! They told me that it will be up to 30 days before I get it back. I am livid! This is a lot of money to me. They are making money off from my money for doing nothing! They instantly took the entire stay out of my account and then told me that they do not have a room for me and they will not give me my money back for up to a month! What a scam! Oh, to top it all off, I've called them 3 times now trying to get an email confirmation of my cancellation, and each time, they tell me it's on its way. Still no email.

So I got involved and I told them about the Marriot and if I showed them proof that she stayed elsewhere, Frederick stated he they would credit the account. Then I received a call from Mr. B. who refused. Along with being charged $311.00, my wife had to go to a Marriot where $406 had to be paid so she and the kids can stay comfortably.

The Ocean Breeze told my brother he could leave his Mercedes in their parking lot since they had caused us such a hard time, but that night, they had it towed away which cost my brother $250. It was horrible and Hotels.com was horrible. I have always used them, but I will never use them again. From now on, I am going to try Priceline or Orbitz. Thank God, the hotel they put us in was so nice and really made us feel like humans.

I called **** and I spoke to Sam who spoke to me for 2 hours and 20 minutes and he agreed to refund the difference of $73.95 for the remaining nights of my stay and cancel my future reservations. He also offered me a reservation in another hotel for the same price however, the trick was that I had to repay for new booking and the refund can take anywhere up to 30 days. After 2 hours, he told me that he cannot get through to someone in the new hotel to discuss their cancellation policy so he will have someone call me the next morning. Nobody called me again.

I called again and I spoke to Joseph who I had to explain again everything. Whilst trying to solve my problem, he said that he needed to reboot his computer so he will call me back which he didn’t and after several attempts, I managed to get through Joseph again and he told me that he could not get through me because he didn’t have the right number although in the same conversation, he reiterated my number again which means he had it on file and then he wanted to do a double booking prior to canceling my old ones and then he told me that according to the cancellation policy, I will not be able to cancel my reservations. He also told me that although the online booking says that no child is allowed in the room, he has spoken to the property manager called Clayton and he has agreed to let a child stay in the new room.

I refused to book the new hotel unless he can give this to me in writing which he denied, as his system doesn’t let him do it so I requested to speak with his manager and apparently all his managers and supervisors were in a meeting. I did not go ahead with the reservation and Joseph told me that his supervisor will contact me within 1 hour. So far, she has not contacted me. These guys are as dodgy as anyone can be and I think since so many people have complaint against them, there should be a class action for unethical and bad business practice. At least, I would like to explore legal options. If any attorney is reading this, please contact me to discuss my options. Any other reader who has been through this can also contact me on **** if you are interested in a class action.

Funny that when he tried to transfer my call, it dropped. Finally, I was able to speak to Silvia from an out of state customer call center who told me that there was no way I could cancel the previous reservation in spite of what David told me. Mind you, there are charges over $1,200 on my credit card for a stay that is supposed to cost $561. I told Silvia that this was unacceptable and that even the cancellation policy stated that "Cancellations or changes made before 3:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time, US and Canada) on Dec 31, 2009 are subject to a 1 night room and tax penalty." I am not canceling this reservation the day of the stay! I am canceling 12 days in advance and that this was not my initial intention to begin with.

All I wanted was the reduced rate and participate in Hotels.com advertised price match guarantee. She told me that I did not understand the cancellation policy and that I needed to pay $325 for canceling the reservation. I insisted that I was not the one who had double booked on purpose and that David was just too eager to have me double book under the false pretense that everything would be taken care of. The call dropped. I called 3 more times, only to struggle to find someone who spoke English because my husband does not speak Spanish and I was so upset that I was crying and he insisted on taking over the telephone call.

Finally, my husband was able to speak to Ana who spoke English. She agreed that the first reservation could be cancelled without a penalty but that it would take up to 30 days to receive credit of $651.88 on my credit card. Great! Less money to spend on my supposedly wonderful New Year's trip with my husband. My trip is ruined. I am upset about the customer service and their deceitful practices. I was forced to double book. If you can't cancel a reservation 12 days in advance without being penalized, when can you cancel?

I booked a hotel through Hotels.com for two nights stay starting the Friday. I booked the hotel on Thursday. Within hours of my reservation, I called Hotels.com to change/cancel or credit me because my corporate agency had booked a hotel at another location. Hotels.com were given a window of few hours to find a resolution. I called Hotels.com offices to cancel or credit me for the W Hotel and I spent good part of the day on my way to the airport being put on hold. I was made to wait and wait. I called literally 6 times. The customer service people, whoever they are or wherever they are located, in Bangladesh or in India, had no idea what they were doing and I had difficult time understanding them. They put me on hold and read from a scripted line. My cellphone was continuously charged. I spent literally two hours because every time I spoke with one person, it took them 20 minutes minimum and no resolution.

Before I got on my flight, I spoke with a Hotels.com representative who spoke English. He said he will call after he finds out more details. When I got to my hotel at Ritz Carlton, in which my corporate department had planned my trip, I called Hotels.com's office with the opportunity to discuss canceling it or crediting me. I also got his name. For duration of about 7 hours, no one from their office called me back. Nothing was done and no resolution was made. And the longer I was forced to wait, the more critical it was to make any type of arrangement for credit. I was charged for a stay that never occurred. Their office and website act as an intermediary and there is no way to contact the hotel directly. I am forced to go through Hotels.com channels and yet, they cannot resolve any issues and if they act as an intermediary, Hotels.com has an obligation to provide the essential services.

The hotel said they could not give me a refund and if I wanted one, it would have to be through Hotels.com. So, I spent a couple of hours on the phone with them, ruining my one night in New Orleans. Of course, I got no satisfaction. So when I got home I spent more hours talking to their "hotel experts" and supervisors and was constantly being put on hold while this horrible loud music played. Another reason this took so long was that the people I talked to all had very heavy accents and I had to get them to repeat everything two or three times. No one seemed to give a fig about what was their mistake, and the only compensation I'm supposed to be getting is 80 hotel "bucks".

Long story short, they did reverse the charges but what ticks me off the most is that the whole time, the supervisor kept on telling me how lucky I was that I wasn't going to be charged on my account. "How lucky I was." Verification, remember that. When it comes to Hotel.com, verification means they are billing your account right then and you don't even know it. Thanks a lot Hotel.com, I'm so lucky.

Hotels.com tells me that the supervisor of the hotel is the one that needs to assess the charges and the supervisor of the hotel tells me that hotels.com is the one who needs to refund the money because it was booked through their agency, not the actual hotel. Several agents who don't even speak clear English have put me on hold several times, each time consisting of more than 30 min. I was also told by 2 agents and one supervisor named Sergio that we would receive a refund because it was an error on hotels.com's behalf. I am still on the phone, on hold once again, trying to speak to a supervisor. This was our first experience and will be our last experience with hotels.com.

He put me on hold pretending to talk to a supervisor and then came back and said that the supervisor was busy, but he could make the refund because the supervisor gave him the okay. This reeks of boiler-room antics. Both times I booked through them I got the room directly across from the elevator (noisy). Result? You can probably do just as well, or better, with a direct call and if something goes wrong, you'll have an easier time not dealing with imaginary supervisors.