I booked a hotel, the new Otani Kaimana Beach, through this company in April, about a month before my trip. My credit card was charged and I received a confirmation email immediately after. But when I got to the hotel (flew out from Los Angeles to Honolulu in May), I was informed that my reservation was canceled. I was shocked since my credit card was charged and no credit was posted.
The hotel called the company and was given the runaround. First, the hotel was placed on hold. The hotel employee actually hung up the phone and called Hotelclub back because it was so ridiculous and unprofessional to place a customer on hold for 15 minutes without coming back and at least saying "Sorry for the long wait. We are still trying to resolve the issue."
Then, the hotel was told that the reservation was still showing up on hotelclub's computer. However, my hotel had only received cancellation fax even though Hotelclub insisted that they had faxed a subsequent paper confirming a booking. Hotel procedures state that when bookings are faxed to the hotel, the hotel faxes back a confirmation number to the booking agency. The booking agency, Hotelclub, did not have any confirmation number and was unable to explain why not.
When the hotel asked to speak to a supervisor at Hotelclub, she was placed on hold for about 20 minutes.
Hotelclub denied any wrongdoing, stating that it must have been a system error. They offered to switch us to a different hotel, which in my mind, was not an acceptable solution. First of all, there were university graduations that weekend making most decent hotels full. Secondly, how was I supposed to know the quality of the hotel they were planning on sending us to?
Two hours later (with a lot of being placed on hold by 2 different employee of Hotelclub), I agreed to have Hotelclub look around to see what other hotels were available. Another 15 minutes of being placed on hold, Carmen the supervisor came back on the phone and informed me that my reservation had been moved to a different hotel.
What kind of customer service is Hotelclub running where they switch people's reservations without first consulting with their customers? Do we, as paying customers, not get a say in where we are staying?
When I told her I had not agreed to switch hotels (especially one that I had not heard of), Carmen was unapologetic and stated that I had two choices: to go to that hotel or to get a refund. I guess I was supposed to take the bus or hail a cab to that other hotel and pay out of pocket since I didn't rent a car.
At this point, over two hours of trying to resolve the problem with Hotelclub, I decided I didn't want to EVER do business with them again. They screw up the reservation, inconvenience me, and then expect me to just take it? Seriously?
I asked for a refund and was told that it would be posted on my credit card in ten days. A few days later, Hotelclub sent me an email stating that they had resolved the issue with the hotel and that I would not have to pay anything else.
Why couldn't they have done this the first hour I spoke with them instead of arguing with me AND the hotel staff for two plus hours? Did they really think that an email apologizing for "any confusions caused while dealing with your reservation" would make me any less upset about the situation? And notice that they didn't even apologize for the inconvenience of the TWO PLUS hours they wasted.
It was truly THE WORST customer service I have ever encountered. I nor anyone I know will never use this company or their affiliated company, Orbitz, again.
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