WARNING!! Do NOT Book Hotel Rooms On-Line!!!!

[CO Liberal]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Texas, to see friends. We booked a hotel room at a Holiday Inn Express through Orbitz a few weeks ago.

I just found a better deal at another hotel (Comfort Inn), and called the Holiday Inn to cancel my reservation. I was told that since I booked the room on-line, it could not be canceled. And if we didn't show up, we would STILL have to pay for it.

I called Orbitz and was told the same thing. I then called Holiday Inn's corporate office, and was also told the same thing. The customer service manager I spoke to said there was nothing she could do - I should have known the room was a non-cancellation reservation.

I went back to the Orbitz web site and looked up the hotel again - I saw the notation "no chg no cxl", with no explanation of what "no chg no cxl" meant.

So let that be a warning to you. You're much better off dealing with the hotels directly - forget about the third-party sites.

And STAY AWAY FROM HOLIDAY INN!!!!!

[Maddy McCall]

1. If you book a Holiday Inn "Internet Saver Rate" room, you get good rates..

but it is spelled out in the booking contract that you can't cancel.

I hate Holiday Inn, too, but I never book the internet saver rate room unless I am certain that there is no chance I will cancel.

It's not their rates that bother me as much as it is their shitty, nasty rooms and staff attitudes.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. Always go to the site of the hotel.

We usually stay at Marriot. We went to the courtyard last time and paid $65 for a $119/night room. Always look at the site first before making reservations. But I do also know that if you cancel 24 hours before your reservation, all is usually fine. I've never used orbitz. The ones that SAY they're they cheapest usually aren't.
Duckie

[ewagner]

3. I used Expedia

and was able to cancel reservations when we ended up not getting as far as we thought we would in the first day. No problems at all.

[stranger_with_candy]

4. Most online sites

that offer discount rates make it perfectly clear that once the room is booked there is either a fee to cancel or the room cannot be cancelled at all. You should read the agreement closer. Its your own fault.

[CO Liberal]

18. It Was Not Specified Clearly On the Orbitz Site

There was no explanation for what "no chg no cxl" meant.

[seaglass]

20. That's travel agent lingo. n/t

[stranger_with_candy]

22. Do you usually buy or agree to things you don't understand?

maybe you should have found out what it meant before you agreed to the price.

[galadrium]

5. i have used expedia and travelocity... found some really good deals

But the cancelation thing is true.

[Wickerman]

6. Ran into that just the other day.

Luckily, Mrs. Lunabush read the fine print.

Enjoy your visit, Co. Make sure you go to San Antonio - its the best part of Texas.

[Texasgal]

15. Not to derail this thread or anything

But San Antonio is NOT the best part of Texas! Come to Austin! Just a little shameless Austin Pride!

[Wickerman]

17. fair enough

can we settle on the Austin-SanAntonio corridor?

[CO Liberal]

21. We Went To San Antonio Once

Stopped in on our way to a weekend conference in Houston. Tried to find the Alamo, but couldn't find it.

But I agree - what we saw of San Antonio (especially the Riverwalk) was beautiful.

[atreides1]

7. Meanings

For on-line companies like Orbitz, no chg=no changes, and
no cxl=no cancellations.

Mainly because it cost them money to do business with hotels, airlines, and other members of the travel industry.

For the last few years we've made our reservations on Yahoo!Travel and we can cancel up until 24 hours before we're due to check in with no cost to us. If we cancel after the safety period, then they will
charge us a holding fee.

[lefty_mcduff]

8. If you used a credit card online

and *did not* sign *anything* you can cancel the charges through your credit card company. If the merchant does not have a signature, and you dispute the charges (know as a charge back) you'll win.

[GOPFighter]

9. Thanks

I did not know this. I often use orbitz for plane tickets, but only once for a hotel room. I'll be sure to avoid making hotel reservations though them in the future.

[Shakespeare]

10. Always, always, always read the fine print.

I book hotels online all the time, for both business and pleasure (just booked one again yesterday, in fact). It's fairly rare to run into the "no cancellations" proviso, but it does happen, and that's generally a deal-breaker for me. Sometimes the no-cancel thing is a rule by third-party booking sites like hotels.com and hotwire.com (and AAA's online booking occasionally traps you with that, too). Always read the fine print before confirming a booking.

I've found that most hotels do have a cancellation policy for online booking, usually 24 hours (sometimes 72, and sometimes less than 24 hours if you're a frequent stay member). Also, internet rates are sometimes among the lowest you'll find, usually in line with AAA rates.

[Sparkle]

11. A lot of those online bookings are like that.

Once they accept your rate, you can't cancel. Priceline is another one.

[Richardo]

12. I got burned by expedia...the hotel was a rat hole

see my rant and the whole sordid story here --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1409779

[Cha]

13. Too late! My sister and I just booked a room at

the Brock Plaza in Canada today @ hotels.com. We're going to Niagara Falls over Labor Day weekend!

Sorry about the problem you had with holiday inn..the good news you never have to stay at one ever again.

[Blue-Jay]

14. Hotels AND flights.

Find a good rate online, THEN call the hotel/airline directly. Low-ball them on the price that you found online, and they will cut you a better deal. EVERY time! If they don't want to deal, quote them a (made up) price from a competitor. It doesn't cost 150 bucks to vacuum and change the sheets, and they know that.

[MsUnderstood]

16. I'm sorry for you

But the truth is when you CLICKED that I AGREE button one of those 50 paragraphs explained explicitly that you CANNOT cancel or there would be a fee.

The moral is USE THE INTERNET TO BOOK but DO NOT IGNORE THE FINE PRINT.

[curse10]

19. I like booking online

I search for the best price at the time- if something comes along that's cheaper, oh well. I'd rather pay more for a sure thing.

[LynneSin]

23. I use those websites to find out what is available and what's cheap

then I call the hotel - they have always had the room I wanted and given me the price I told them I found

[Placebo]

24. I book a lot of hotels online, never have any problems.

:shrug:

[EV1Ltimm]

25. You could always...

Just go ahead and stay at the Comfort Inn and chargeback the transaction that Holiday Inn will try to bill you for.

"no chg no cxl" could have meant anything. They didn't specify in clear text that you were unable to cancel your reservation, nor did they include a key that stated "cxl = cancel, chg = change".

Whenever I book a room online, they ask for the card that I used to book the reservation at the front desk and run it then and there. Odds are, they won't even bill the card.

[SoCalDem]

26. Best rates are ALWAYS directly through the hotel

I book rooms in large quantities for my bowling groups (50-100 rooms at a time), and the best deals are always with the hotel itself.. Long distance is cheap these days, and that one phone call can help a lot..

Go online to look at the place and get a feel for the "ambience", but call them directly to book it..

Always ask if there are any "extras" that they charge..separate from their rate.. sometimes these are collected at check-out..and it's too late to complain then :)

Also, if you travel a lot , you probably know this, but some do not.. When you give them that credit card, they "reserve" an amount of credit available on it, so if you have a nearly maxxed out card, you may have problems using it while you are on vacation..

Use a card just for hotels.. It makes recordkeeping easier too to have them all together ..:)

Be sure to get the name of the person, the number you called to reach them, and the date & time of all your calls.. It helps figure out mysteries if you need to later :)