www.reservations.com Deceptive, Non-transparent, Camouflage, Masquerade, Confuse and Misrepresent Internet
Beware: This third-party reservation site will show up in search engines when searching for lodging.
I needed to book quickly for a hotel a co-worker provided. Did a quick google search on the hotel name and this must have come up in a sponsored link. SheratonStLouis.reseravations.com and I clicked through and made a reservation.
What came up: The room rate that you would get if you search the hotel's site.
What they hide: A breakdown of taxes and fees. They add a $14.99 fee but you won't know that until you see your credit card charges.
What they also hide: They tuck the cancellation policy in a small area that requires you click a link to see it and of course it is non-refundable.
I injured myself, was going to be unable to travel. I followed a link in the confirmation email and cancelled online. I then found out it was non-refundable.
When I called their customer service they told me that it was the hotel policy that made the room non-refundable. So I call the hotel directly and they say that since they never received payment for the room, there was no problem for them to refund my money. A return call to reservations.com yielded only more stonewalling and more lies claiming that it was the hotel preventing the refund.
The hotel said that the reservation was made through expedia.com. My credit card charges showed a $14.99 charge from reservations.com and 198.00 from a "TRAVEL RESERVATION 877-283-5585, NV 891440000 US".
I called that phone number and got a series of menus and recorded messages and there is just no way to get a real person on the phone. They reference going to their website but they never state the URL for the website.
In conclusion: I guess if you make a reservation and complete your travel, you will be overcharged $15 and that is what this company is about, taking your money with no customer service.