Complaint Review: HOTELS.COM

(Hotels.com Confirmation Number 79572783a)

A few days ago I booked a hotel in Spain through your website. The hotel was in Sitges Barcelona. I arrived from Los Angeles to attend an industry conference. All hotels were booked. Except one I found on your site for a reasonable price being most spiked their prices for the event.
I assume it was available because I read in its customer comments that bathrooms had to be shared. (no sure how this constitutes being called a "hotel" but..ok).  I received a confirmation (Hotels.com Confirmation Number 79572783a) twice via email and proceeded to think that everything was ok. 

I arrived to the hotel from a long trip at 6pm. A middle eastern man standing on the side walk
claimed he was the hotel-caretaker and walked me upstairs.  He walked me upstairs to a make shift
office in the top of the stairs. (wish I had seen these pictures hotels.com).  He proceeded to inform me that I didn't have a reservation. Then that there was one but sorry its been cancelled for non payment. I was floored. It that was the case I would of surely been alerted by either hotels.com or this "hotel manager". I asked his name and he only give me his first name, Gonzalo.  I told him that couldn't be as my card was in perfect conditions as I was using it for this trip. He offered my the door. I asked if he had a record of the charge or anything thats shows the decline. He kept showing me the door.

So here I was in the middle of a now dark city and all hotels are completely booked.
I sat at a cafe and logged into my bank account. It was fine. I later called them in the morning and they told me no charge had been attempted. I explained my situation to a local and he helped me find a place to stay later that evening. Thankfully. 

Needless to say this made my conference attendance a little frustrating toting my suitcase around.

I contacted hotels.com about this situation and I was given a generic answer about how I should write to customer support. I did. They replied saying they appologized for the inconvience and that the card was not correct. If that was the case how did I get an approval? Or if the merchant had an issue why was I not quickly alerted. I check the number and it was fine. It wasn't the first time I booked a hotel online.

This complete disregard for customer service from both hotels.com and the "hotel" shows me what kind of business ethics they have. I have to warn anyone booking any accommodation through hotels.com to stay well away, because this could very well happen to you.