I needed to book a reservation for a hotel in El Centro, CA. I wanted to book for Best Western Hotel. The price was right: $157.00 for one night, but then once I payed the price jumpred up to 220.00!!. Taxes and fees were $47.00 and service fee was $12.00. On the Expedia website taxes are included and are only $17.00 and no service fees.
I immediately cancelled the reservation. I called the 800 number for follow up and was told the WHOLE PRICE was non refundable!! "because I had accepted the cancellation notice". Well that is NOT visible! You hace to open it so you can read it!! The supervisor was not helpfull either. This website is a ripoff!!
Posted by
Austin, TX
2340 posts
Thank you for the information. I have had very good experiences with booking.com
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11970 posts
Good warning that when one uses a 3rd party site to book something, be sure to read ALL the fine print.
Looking at the BW website it shows a base rate of $187 plus tax for a $205 total
The site used by OP also clearly show the base rate of $157 and the total of $220 on the page where one fills in their info, BEFORE making any payment.
Paying an extra $15 for the room is not desirable, but not catastrophic. ( Or did you cancel, loose the money and room reservation and have to start over?)
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
2793 posts
Honestly, with just about any booking, your mantra should always be book direct. Sure use those websites to do research but book direct.
If a website is showing you a much better deal than booking direct you’re probably going to run into something like the original poster dad unfortunately
And my other rule is, I do not put a credit card number in until I have read the cancellation policy. And I do that when I’m booking direct. And it saved me money the other day. I booked a hotel for an upcoming trip a couple of months ago and spent more for refundable. I went back and checked last week and it was several hundred dollars cheaper over the course of my stay. I canceled that first booking and re-booked. (Still refundable)
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8924 posts
I have a terrible feeling you just lost way more than the service fees if you cancelled the reservation. I am so sorry you have this negative experience. It is a good reminder to us all to read cancellation policies before paying.
Posted by
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
3109 posts
This happened to us. I blame Google and other search companies. The listing for Reservations. com comes up first. We had this exact problem with a Wyndam hotel reservation.
Pay attention when reserving. LOOK FOR THE DIRECT COMPANY NAME!!!
File a dispute with your credit card. We filed and have not paid as of now, but it is not cleared from our card either.
Posted by
Atlanta
5246 posts
Honestly, with just about any booking, your mantra should always be book direct. Sure use those websites to do research but book direct.
Listen to Carol. We always book directly and have never had a problem. Should there ever be one, we would be dealing directly as opposed to getting a third part run around.
Posted by
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
3109 posts
Yes, yes, yes. We all know about book direct. The way that this scam works is that they have cloned the website and the scam website comes up at the top of the search algorithm. Unless you are very careful, you get snookered by these people. They are out of Singapore or Phillippines or in that vicinity. When we got taken, they flatly lied about the location of the hotel. As I noted above, we are disputing the charge. Thus far, the card has not cleared the charge.
Posted by
Washington DC
28275 posts
I don't claim there's any substitute for paying attention to URLs when you're buying travel products, but I try to remember to include the word "official" when I search for a website. That seems to help a lot. So, "Best Western Official", "Alhambra official", Colosseum Official", "United Airlines Official" and so forth.
Posted by
Atlanta
5246 posts
Just an additional note, we know it is "old fashioned", but calling them directly on the telephone has never failed for us either in the U.S. or overseas.