DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: Hotels.com is refusing to honor the terms of our reservation, and I would like your help with getting a refund. My wife and I made a refundable reservation and prepaid the entire amount of $3,630 (and $504 worth of OneKeyCash) on Hotels.com for a 10-day stay at Lost Property St. Paul’s London — Curio Collection by Hilton.
The rules said we could cancel without penalty. After checking in, we found that the room was much smaller than advertised, with barely any room for us to move after laying down our bags. Also, we could not open the window.
As a result of insufficient ventilation, I woke up with a migraine headache the next day, so we checked out the same day. I called Hotels.com to let them know that we were checking out. A representative said they would contact the hotel’s reservation team about the refund.
Hotels.com offered to make another reservation at a different hotel if we paid the price difference. We had already checked into another hotel through a reservation I made on Hotels.com.
I asked for a refund for the nine nights that we didn’t stay at Lost Property. But Hotels.com refused because Lost Property would not refund the money. Can you help me get my $3,630 and points back?
— Krishnamurthy Viswanathan, Sunnyvale
ANSWER: You prepaid for a hotel room, but also had free cancellation, so you should have been able to get a refund. But before I get to my answer, you might be wondering if the hotel breached its contract by giving you a small room with a window that you couldn’t open.
I say maybe. Small hotel rooms are fairly common in London, as are hotel rooms with windows that don’t open. I have also stayed in some really small rooms in Europe, and like you, I think we deserve a fair warning before we pay good money for them.
The best thing to do when you get a room that doesn’t work for you is to immediately ask someone at the front desk if you can move. If the hotel won’t relocate you, then you should contact your online travel agent.
But you should have allowed Hotels.com to fix the situation instead of taking matters into your own hands. I think the company would have been able to find you new accommodations at a reasonable rate, but you had already booked another hotel on your own. So, you ended up paying for a hotel room again.
But what if it couldn’t find you new accommodations? I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of key customer service executives at Expedia (owner of Hotels.com), and you could have appealed to them. And don’t forget the hotel! I also have the names of Hilton’s executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.
Your case seemed pretty cut-and-dried. You should have been able to cancel your room. (After all, you had a free cancellation, and oddly, you were still within that window when you checked in.) The hotel wouldn’t let you, and Hotels.com wouldn’t help you. After you contacted my advocacy team, we took up your case and reached out to Hotels.com.
In response, the company sent you $100 in OneKeyCash, which is Expedia’s loyalty program currency. That didn’t sit well with you — or me. So, we sent your case back to Expedia. The company reviewed your case again, and this time, it gave you a full refund, including your points.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.
(c) 2024 Christopher Elliott
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.