Alliance Reservations Network Precharged my credit card for a hotel reservation. When I cancelled the reservation with the hotel, the charge remained on my credit card - I was not aware I had to contact a third party to cancel. Customer service unwilling and explain a strange charge on credit card bill. Phoenix, Arizona
Who has heard of being charged for a hotel weeks before you actually stay there? I hadn't either until the charge turned up on my credit card two weeks before I travelled anywhere. Ironically, I cancelled the hotel reservation three days before my reserved stay. Regardless, the charge of almost $400 appeared on my credit card. When I called the number to inquire about the mysterious charge, it seemed that others regularly call with this inquiry as they have a whole separate dial-a-number-path for such questions. When I finally got an agent on the phone, she explained to me that it was a pre-paid hotel reservation and that canceling with the hotel didn't do any good, as I had to cancel with them (a fourth party in fact in this hotel-Kayak-me-reservations company menage-a-quatre). She pointed out several times that by agreeing to the reservations, I had in fact agreed to their policy, and that this was followed up by an e-mail. I did not see it any sort of plain statement: if you want to cancel, you do not call the hotel, you have to call this other company. When I expressed my frustration to the person on the phone, she simply hung up on me.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Tfuller
Phoenix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Prepayment
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, September 01, 2010
Within the travel industry there are many times one must prepay for their travel. Airfare, Cruises and Vacation Packages come to mind. Prepayment for a hotel room is not unique to online travel; many major hotel brands offer their lowest rates based on prepayment. Sometime the lowest rates come with harsh cancellation penalties, as in the hotel purchase being non-refundable. At Alliance Reservations Network we strive to offer the public the lowest available hotel rates. Usually, if one wishes not to prepay there is a slightly higher rate available that would not require a pre-payment, and we offer these rates as well. If there is a prepayment needed we make this very clear before the booking is placed and confirmed. Same goes for the cancellation policy - on all bookings made thru us the deposit policy (if any) and cancellation policy needs to be reviewed and accepted by the user before a reservation can be placed. These policies are noted on the Guest Receipt we provide the client once the booking has been processed as well. Thank you.
Flynrider
Phoeix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
not unusual
#3Consumer Suggestion
Tue, September 29, 2009
"Who has heard of being charged for a hotel weeks before you actually stay there? "
It's fairly common when you use a third party reservation site. I made reservations through a well known hotel reservation site (not the one you used) last month and the charge hit my card the next day, even though the hotel stay was three weeks off. I understood that the reservation site was pre-paying the hotel for my room. Of course, before doing that I had carefully reviewed the cancellation policies on the site before agreeing to the charge.
Third party travel related websites have varying rules for cancellations or changes once a reservation is made. It's a good idea to read them over carefully before agreeing. I'm not saying what they did was fair, but you need to acquaint yourself with all of the rules whenever you're dealing with a third party. They usually have different requirements than if you were dealing directly with the hotel.