Travel Blog April Archive

I made a reservation with Hotel Roma in Panama City for a one night stay in February. I also followed the instructions on Hotel Roma's website for their free airport pickup.

When I arrived in Panama City I couldn't find anyone waiting to take me to the hotel. Copa Air was nice enough to call the hotel for me. I learned that the "free" pickup from the airport advertised on their website was going to cost me $27!

I think the trick is that the procedure outlined on their website is one that can never actually be completed so you will never be picked up -- or only if they feel like it.

I made the decision that I would use a different hotel and at worst would have a one night charge to dispute.

Sure enough late in February a charge for $60.55 appeared on my credit card which I disputed. To my surprise another charge for $60.55 appeared on my credit card in late March.

I disputed that as an unauthorized transaction. My credit card company replied that it was a "subscription" and I needed to cancel it with the merchant. An completely absurd request since I never made any subscription with any merchant!

I guess Hotel Roma finds it suitable to charge you $60.55 a month (for ever) in addition to leaving your stranded at the airport!

Now, since I provided my credit card number to Expedia for the reservation, I went back to them. Expedia claims they never entered me into any subscription, and they absolutely refuse to resolve the issue unless I "telephone" them.

Now, I entered into the transaction online, and that is where the customer service should take place.

Additionally, upon notification that one of the companies they are giving credit card numbers to is abusing the information they need to very promptly get on top of the matter!

I am happy to argue about whether I am responsible for paying for the 1 night reservation that I "missed" (becuase they left me stranded in the airport). There is no arguement about the "subscription". That is down right fraud and shame on my credit card company for not jumping the merchant and shame on Expedia for shrugging it off as well.

On August 16th, I noticed that my credit card had been charged twice. Once the day before her stay and once on the check out day. I contacted Customer Service at choicehotels.com asking that they resolve the problem.

I am still waiting for a credit for the unauthorized charge. Yesterday, August 31, I did receive a corporate feel good message. The message is actually in response to a survey they sent me. The department sending out the survey was much more responsive than the "customer service" department who flat out refused to help me.

I think the goal of that message is to make the corporation feel. It is certainly not going to make me feed good, as I have still paid double for the hotel.

They are certainly deluding themselves if they believe that charging a customer double and refusing to resolve the problem is a good way to encourage customers "continued patronage".

I made the wrong choice and I hope you don't.

[April 5, 2007 update: Choice Hotels has still not resolved the problem!]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to our recent customer satisfaction survey and for providing us with the additional comments about your stay at the Rodeway Inn at the Falls in Niagara Falls, NY. We do apologize for the incident that occurred at this hotel, as well as the delay in responding. We have forwarded the information and issues you have raised to our field staff who will be addressing them directly with the hotel. Choice Hotels is committed to helping facilitate corrective action and ensuring that appropriate changes are made with the hotel directly. Your comments have assisted us in identifying areas in need of attention, and we greatly appreciate your feedback.

We are looking forward to providing quality accommodations and service to you in the future. Thank you for your continued patronage.

The main reason was the combination of price and location. Many places were too difficult to deal with (the prices on the web were differnt than when you called, an answering machine to leave a message about availability, etc).

My preference is not to call anyone, but to do it all online.

When I made the reservation, Expedia was abundantly clear that my credit card would be charged the full amount of the hotel reservation the moment I made the reservation. Thank god!

Not only was the charge made immediately to my card, when my wife checked into the hotel there were no hassles. No request for a credit card, no request for a deposit. When she checked out it was just as easy as saying, good bye. No disclosed card numbers, no double charges, just the simple transaction that it is.

One reason I like the instant charging of my card for the full amount is that it avoid problems with credit limits in the future. On a recent trip to Brazil, the travel agency waited weeks and weeks to actually charge my card. Since the total cost of the trip was near my total credit limit, I was unable to use that card for anything until the travel agency charge posted.

I was also worried that if that charge posted too close to the trip date, I wouldn't be able to pay it off before the trip and wouldn't have the use of that card at all on the trip!

Expedia needs a thumbs up for first of all clearly informing their customers how the transaction will be handled and second for actually handling the transaction like they said it would be.

The reservation form asked if I was making the reservation for myself or someone else. I selected the someone else option and was prompted for both the guest's name and my name as the credit card holder.

The website and reservation confirmation email implied that my credit card would only be charged if the guest was a no show. Well, actually, it was probably completely ambigious about whether I was going to pay for the reservation or if my associate would be asked to fork over some money when he checked out.

When he checked out, my associate remembers giving the clerk his Visa card. When he got home he was someone confused because the receipt he received was for a mastercard.

That was ease to figure out once we checked the number and discovered it was my Mastercard number. The Caravan Motel was nice enough to give out my full credit card number and expiration date to the guest who was clearly specified as not being the card holder on the reservation.

Orbitz claims to have very rapid customer service on their website: "We'll do our best to respond within 3 hours." Last wednesday, that would be about 4 days ago, I presented this problem to them via the customer service email form on their website and asked, "Is it your normal policy to give people's credit card numbers out to 3rd parties".

So far not a peep from them. The question, I should hope is quiet easy to answer. The answer of course should be absoslutely not! However, maybe the reality of the way they handle customer information is different. The real customer service issue of making me a satisfied customer is much more difficult.

So far, it doesn't appear they want to answer my simple question or offer any customer satisfaction.