Be careful booking hotels - when we got a room for my grandma's funeral, we called the number listed on the Google business page, Turns out Expedia had hijacked the page and pretended to be the hotel's front desk when I called. Charged us a higher rate than we would've paid had we reached the front desk.
I reported the charge as fraud and my bank is getting me a refund, and I've spoken to the actual hotel to pay them the correct amount directly.
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Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •BritishTechGuru
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
Unknown parent • • •Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
Unknown parent • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • •@Dr. Amy, Psy.D. How is that even legal?
Is that even legal?
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Dr. Amy, Psy.D., Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲, Michael Lubert and merely ash, and nothing more like this.
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Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •UncleRico
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to UncleRico • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • •@Dr. Amy, Psy.D. Yeah... I really wish things like fines were calculated proportional to the income of the person or entity being fined.
That'll never happen though.
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Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe
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ironhydroxide
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •noplasticshower
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •TransitBiker
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in reply to TransitBiker • • •Your Autistic Life FR/EN/ES
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in reply to Your Autistic Life FR/EN/ES • • •Green Roc Thoughts
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •StaringAtClouds has moved
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Unknown parent • • •Chris Ferguson
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Good tip! I'll also mention that many hotels/airlines/transit companies offer discount rates for those who have lost loved ones and are traveling. They typically called Bereavement Rates/Fares. They do often require proof though, a death certificate or statement from a hospital regarding an imminent death.
Hope this helps!
RiaResists
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •I caught on pretty quickly and was able to contact the hotel to book a room.
Scammers everywhere, these days.
Sibshops
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Jeffandthekid
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •@JessTheUnstill I thought the benefit of going via a third-party travel broker was that someone else's reputation was on the line, but at Microsoft we had to use the Concur system and there was no accountability there at all.
I booked a room in Dream Apartments - Obel Tower for CyberUK. It was one of the closest hotels to the venue and I had my arm in a sling with a broken shoulder, so didn't want to have to travel far while I was there.
When I turned up, I discovered that the hotel had decided to cancel my booking. When I booked, it was much cheaper than anywhere else nearby, so I guess they realised that there was a big demand and wanted to make more money. They hadn't told me because, they claimed, they had no contact information for me (other hotels have managed to contact me when booking through Concur). Looking on TripAdvisor, they've done this a lot (indeed, the most recent review was from someone else this happened to, though at least they found out before they arrived to check in).
They also claimed that they hadn't confirmed the booking, but Concur said they had.
Concur were able to find one hotel in walking distance for the two nights, but it cost five times as much as the hotel I should have been in and they passed that on to us (and it wasn't covered by the corporate travel insurance). They also refused to remove the hotel from their listings, so it will happen to other people in the future.
If I understand their billing model, they take a cut of booking fees and they charge for contacting them, so their incentives are to keep hotels on their books that do this kind of thing.
Matthew Sainsbury
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Moss Wizard
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •LM Little
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •dangrsmind
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •it's worse than just getting charged a higher rate. I know someone this happened to in Jamaica and when they got to the hotel they had no reservations at all. Expedia took their money, didn't make a reservation at the hotel. Luckily they ended up staying somewhere else that was better and I believe they got their money back as well .
Arriving in JA to find out you have nowhere to stay is not fun however.
Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to dangrsmind • • •M.S. Bellows, Jr.
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Coles Street Pothole 💀
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
Unknown parent • • •draNgNon
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •did you report this situation to Google? please do!
(yes, I work there. no, it's way outside of my bailiwick.)
Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to draNgNon • • •Maria Langer | 📝 🎬 ⚒️🛥️
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •WylieCoyoteUK
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •I know they function as aggregators, but like ticket sites, they exploit it.
JustRosy 🇺🇦
in reply to Dr. Amy, Psy.D. • • •Dr. Amy, Psy.D.
in reply to JustRosy 🇺🇦 • • •@JustRosy They don’t have that relationship, I asked when I checked in. They had no idea the listing was hijacked.
This is both according to the front desk workers, and the owner of the entire hotel (he knows my parents so they asked directly)