I learned today the hard way something I had known all along: it is not a good idea to use Expedia to book a hotel. I had a hearing in immigration court at the county prison in York, PA. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) sublets space there for illegal immigrant detention. The immigration judge scheduled that hearing to take place at 8:30 am. Since the Firm I am with is in New York, I had to travel there ahead of time and stay overnight to make it to court on time.
I booked Courtyard York by Marriott through Expedia. I needed to stay overnight checking in on the 18th and out on the 19th of February. To book, I used Expedia%u2019s iPhone app. I got a confirmation and was sure that everything would be OK. When I arrived at the Courtyard, I had to wait for about 20 min until the only person working the front desk finished useless and irrelevant conversation with two individuals who were not even checking in or our, nor staying at the hotel. It was a completely private conversation while several guests waited quietly, trying to check in.
Finally, about 20 min latter, after several complaints by the guests, the front desk personality returned to her duties and I asked me how she could help. At that point, I learned that Expedia reserved a hotel for me for the 17th of February, which was the very day I made my reservation.interestingly enough, the reservation was apparently made after I was actually supposed to check in according to the information Expedia forwarded the hotel. My attempts to reason with the hotel led nowhere as they kept adamantly directing me to Expedia.
I came to see my client in prison and then represent him in court the next day. I was not very familiar with the York area and did not want to end up looking for a hotel late at night. Weary and tired after a long drive from New York and visiting the detention facility, I decided to stay. I had to pay for the second night as the Marriott personnel directed. Once in my room, I called Expedia and inquired about the error. They put me on a long hold but eventually informed me they contacted the hotel. They said it was the hotel, not Expedia that charged my credit card for the erroneous reservation and they had no money to refund, therefore. They said, the hotel receptionist said that manager was not available that late at night and they would need to call back in the morning the next day. They assured me, they would contact the hotel in the morning and definitely refund the $174 I had paid for the hotel for the night I was not there.
To make a long story short, the hotel eventually said that Expedia collected the money not them and they thus could not refund. Expedia pointed right back at the hotel and no refund was issued. Having spent several hours on the phone, I eventually ended up paying twice for one night in the hotel. The funny part of this all is that Expedia sent me a review request the next day. I rarely used Expedia or any other service of the sort except to get an idea of the market price on a particular service or accommodation. I then usually go and always try to deal with the provider or carrier directly.in this case, there always a way to remedy a situation of the kind I ended up in here. I made an exception this time and learned my lesson.
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