I just wanted to alert my fellow travelers of a new hotel scam.
This one involves the Hotel in Venice Hotel Guardi. It is true that when you book through the hotel itself you get a slightly better deal BUT this opens you up to a whole new scam.
Once you book they e-mail you stating that they don't have the room you wanted just a more expensive room. They tell you that you don't have an active reservation (they pretend that they lost your reservation)but if you want the slightly more expensive room to give them your credit card details. At this point people either get charged twice, pay for the more expensive room, or they are counting on you going somewhere else. Much later you find that they actually did charge your account for a 'non-refundable' rate. The hotel doesn't lose because you either stay with them, pay a more expensive room, or go somewhere else so they can sell the room again.
If you confront them they state a non-refundable policy and pretend like you 'mis-understood' them.
Moral of the story: don't stay at the Hotel Guardi, book through a reputable site like hotels.com or booking.com (then you have proof of your booking), don't believe them when they say that they 'lost' your reservation or that you don't have a reservation unless you go for the more expensive room.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5517 posts
If this happened to you (they told you no room was available, but charged you anyway), you should file a dispute with your credit card company. The email that states they don't have a room or don't have your reservation should be supplied to your credit card company with your dispute.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
It is under dispute with my credit card company. My mistake was taking them at their word when they said that they didn't have the room I requested and that as of August 31 I had no reservation. I should have checked my banking statement first. Now I have paid for two hotel reservations at the same time.
Posted by
British Columbia
43 posts
You should include your comments on trip advisor as well so that everyone is aware of the problem with this hotel.
Good luck with dealing with your credit card company.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5835 posts
I just got a notice from Capital One Visa about their Second Look system that monitors transactions for duplicate charges. I've had duplicate charges in the past when a clerk thinks that the charge didn't go through and does a second swipe.
http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/benefits/second-look/
We’ll raise a red flag by sending you an alert if it looks like you were accidentally charged twice for one transaction.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32757 posts
In your complaint you make it sound like this has happened to lots of people. Can I just get it straight, for my own understanding, phoenix did this happen to you personally or are you aware of it happening to others?
Posted by
Central Florida
484 posts
I had a similar experience in Rome but fared better than you because I went through booking.com. The place is called Flamini Domus Suites. Booking.com no longer books for this place. I went on tripadvisor to warn others. People booked when it had positive reviews months ago. Now, the reviews are all negative. It's important that you do this. A reputable hotel would have given you a more expensive room for the original price to help a customer. At least, a full refund if no room was available. Non-refundable means you broke the contract, not them. If the business breaks the contract, then the business needs to fix the problem. Please post this on tripadvisor.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
I don't think it matters too much whether you book through the hotel direct or a booking site. If a hotel wants to try and scam you, they will try. You should still get an email confirmation when booking direct through the hotel (and they often use a third-party processer for reservations).
What always amazes me in this day of online reviews is that a hotel would try something so stupid. But a few still do it.
Since you have emails stating they didn't have the room you booked, your CC should easily resolve this for you.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you all for your very insightful responses.
In response to one question. Yes, this happened to me personally.
I also wanted to pass on more information. The venice tourism office gave me this website where you can try to dispute any international consumer matter. This will come in handy if you have a problem in any country. So here you go.
http://icpen.org/for-consumers/do-you-have-a-crossborder-dispute
Happy travels my fellow Rick Steve's fans!
Posted by
Los Angeles
1825 posts
So you joined RS forum to complain about this hotel experience? Looking at Trip Advisor it has many good reviews within the last few weeks. Obviously there was some misunderstanding but I can't tell if it was completely the hotels fault. I doubt it was a scam.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Everything that gets screwed up is not a fraud or scam.
Posted by
53 posts
Well, if the hotel doesn't make things right then, by definition, it is a scam or a fraud.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32757 posts
Well, if the hotel doesn't make things right then, by definition, it is a scam or a fraud.
Not necessarily.... it takes 2 to tango ,,, sometimes miscommunication can happen ... on either side.