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Hotels.com Consumer Reviews - Page 4

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Meaningless Confirmation
By -

I had a bad experience with Hotels.com/Expedia (same company) over the 4th of July weekend. We were on a spontaneous road trip and hadn't booked any rooms in advance. After visiting Mt. Rushmore on July 3rd, we began looking for a room in town. Of course, all of the local hotels had jacked their rates up to ridiculous amounts, so I called Hotels.com and let them know that we'd be happy to drive as far as Deadwood, SD if they could locate a reasonably priced room there for us.

The man on the phone (he said his name was **, but if you've dealt with them before you know that anyone who answers a phone is on a different continent and probably makes up an "American sounding" name) said he had found us a room at at the Americinn at Cadillac Jack's Gaming Resort in Deadwood. The price was fair, so I asked him to book it and we started driving there. We arrived at the hotel less than an hour after the call to Hotels.com was made and were told that they had no reservation for us.

The woman working behind the front counter that night told me that not only did she not have a reservation for us in the system, but that nobody had even called to confirm a reservation in the last hour and that the place had been sold out for weeks. Apparently the confirmation number that they had emailed me was completely meaningless. They did make it a point to charge my credit card though... I called Hotels.com to find out what the problem was and after having to wait almost 10 minutes just to speak to a real person, I was placed on hold again so that the customer service agent could call the hotel.

I was standing at the front desk of the hotel during all of this because the woman working there was calling around to other hotels in the area to see if she could find a room for us. After being on hold for another five minutes, the phone at the hotel desk finally rang and it was the person from Hotels. She must have taken a break between the time she put me on hold and the time she actually made her call to the hotel.

The call lasted only a few seconds and then it was several more minutes before she came back on the line to tell me that the hotel was full and that they could either offer me a refund or try to locate another room in the area and apply the balance that they had already charged me towards it. I asked her to look into the latter which turned out to be a huge mistake because she put me on hold and never came back (I waited almost 30 minutes before hanging up). Fortunately, the woman at the front desk had found us a room at a hotel one town over in Leed, SD and we went on our way.

I hadn't budgeted for having to pay for two hotel rooms that night, so I was very relieved when the new charge cleared my credit card. I was very angry that Hotels.com could have just as easily left us stranded and sleeping in my vehicle that night without so much as even an insincere apology. I contacted Hotels.com a couple days after getting home from our trip to inquire about a refund. After waiting quite a while to speak to a person again, I was asked what the name was of the person working at the front desk that night so that they could speak to her and confirm that we were actually there.

Again, I was placed on hold for a ridiculous amount of time while the customer service person contacted the hotel. After that, she came back on the line to inform me that the person I named wasn't there when she called and that they had no record of me checking in. I had to explain to her a second time that we didn't check in because we didn't have a room to check in to and that was why I wanted a refund... She told me that she would need a manager's approval to give me a refund and placed me on hold for another 15 minutes or so.

When she came back on the line, she told me that I would be refunded the price of the room within 24 hours and thanked me for doing business with Hotels.com. Still no apology or any sort of offer to make it up to me. Before she could hang up, I asked her to please explain to me what had happened. The first thing she said was that it was my fault because we showed up to the hotel late... I told her that we were there before 10pm and less than an hour after they booked our room there. Then she told me that it was the hotel's fault for not informing them that they had no rooms...

I told her that they never even called to confirm my reservation, so the hotel was never given the opportunity to tell them that they had no rooms. Then she said that it was a "combination of those two" events/excuses and at that point I just let it go since it was clear that they weren't going to take any responsibility for what had happened. How's that for customer service?

I will never do business with Hotels.com/Expedia (same company) again and I hope that anyone who reads this will either find a different company to book their hotel rooms through or at the very least be extremely cautious when dealing with them. They may be able to save you a few dollars, but when it comes to hotel reservations, being confident that you will actually have a room when you show up is worth far more than anything they have to offer.

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Reservation and Cancellation Fees
By -

OREGON -- I made reservations through Hotels.com for a room, several months in advance. I found that Hotels.com charged my credit card for the full amount the day I made the reservation. This is the email I sent to them, and their reply:

"Comments: I would like you to know that I am VERY displeased with a transaction I recently had with HOTELS.COM. I reserved a hotel for two nights in Bend, Oregon. The next day my credit card/debit card had been charged for the full amount of the reservation. I have never heard of this before, I do know that reserving a hotel through the hotel company does require a credit card to hold the reservation, which is fine. I have never been charged for the reservation for the full amount before I actually arrived.

I emailed your company about this, and was given a reply of... "Please be advised that when booking a reservation through hotels.com, you are charged on the date of booking. This is so that we may confirm and guarantee your reservation at the lowest discount rate available at that time. We apologize if you were not aware of this when you submitted your reservation request. Thank you for using our service."

Well, I checked with the hotel that you reserved with, and their regular rate IS THE RATE that you claim was a discount rate, so you weren't doing me any great favor to begin with. And so, I went to cancel the reservation on your website, and find I am being charged $25 just for canceling. OK, this was probably somewhere in the fine print agreement, buried in the 5,000 word document you have to click on to continue with the reservation process.

I guess what really makes me mad is that you took $175 from me just for the reservation, which was for July (it is now just January). And then, you charged me $25 to cancel the reservation. I absolutely will not deal with you again, and will tell EVERYONE I know about your way of doing business. Believe me, they will not like the way you do business, either."

Their email reply to me was: "Thank you for your email. Our records are indicating that this reservation was booked online. In doing so, you agreed to the terms and conditions posted on our website. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused you. Thank you for using our service."

OK--I found the 'Terms and Conditions' section posted on their website, only after having to dig into link upon link. I would think that this type of 'Terms and Conditions' should be shown somewhere a little more noticeable, like where you are actually GOING THROUGH THE PROCESS of making the online reservation. And so, by Hotels.com taking $175.00 out of my checking account via my debit card (without knowing this for a few days), I had several checks bounce, which was expensive at $33 per NSF charge. And then, I lost another $25 to Hotels.com when I cancelled the reservation to get my money back.

I still have not been credited the $150 I have coming from them for the cancellation. In my opinion, these people, and their website, SUCK. As mentioned, I will tell everyone I know about my only experience with Hotels.com, and do my utmost to prevent it from happening to anyone else. I haven't had this type of trouble with any other travel/reservation website I have used, and will deal directly with the hotels I want to stay at from now on.

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Hotels.com Faulty Booking System and Incompetent Customer Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LONDON -- In September 2011 I tried to book a hotel in Paris. Using Hotels.com I got to the final stage of a booking (name, address, email address, credit card numbered entered and check for terms and conditions) but when I clicked confirm nothing happened, my browser just kept waiting for the site to respond (I tested the Internet connection for another site, which was OK). I left my booking waiting for around 15 minutes but nothing happened. I did not receive any confirmation email.

I was concerned about this because I had got to the final stage of the booking and had provided my credit card details. The next day I telephoned Hotels.com to find out the status of my booking and I was told by the agent that it had not gone through. She apologized to me and she even persisted to try to find me another hotel, which I declined. I found and booked directly with another hotel and enjoyed a wonderful autumn weekend in Paris.

At the end of the month I received my credit card bill and noticed that I had been charged by the hotel that I had originally tried to book through Hotels.com (not only for one room as I had originally requested but for two rooms!). I contacted the hotel and was told that they had received a booking from venere.com, which I requested a copy of. Sure enough, there were clearly two bookings made for two nights each in my name from venere.com and the hotel had charged me the full price because I did not show up and did not cancel the reservation.

I was a bit confused at first because I had made the booking through Hotels.com, but I discovered that venere.com is owned by Hotels.com (which in turn is owned by Expedia group). Because I was dealing with one of the biggest online booking sites, I thought that this would not be too difficult to fix, but that has not been the case. First of all they could not find my booking, then the booking mysteriously appeared and they tried to get me to take this up with the hotel (who have not done anything wrong).

Then they admitted a faulty system and directed me to head office in America (via a fax number) where I have been practically ignored (I did receive one message four weeks ago telling me they were dealing with this and it would be completed in 72 hours. At least this confirmed I had the correct fax number!). Each of these steps involved dozens of phone calls and emails and has taken almost six months with considerable persistence and patience. I continue to email, call and fax but keep going around in circles.

The reason why I am writing to you is to share my story with you and ask if you have any advice for me to get this resolved? Hotels.com have displayed incompetence with their booking system and their customer service. Although this is not a huge amount of money (320 Euros) I am angry at how poor their booking system and customer service is. I feel I should fight this not just for my sake but for other potential victims of their booking system problems.

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Either Their Workers Are Dishonest or the Whole Company Is!!!
By -

BELTON, TX. -- I've used these guys in the past several times, last year, I was charged twice for a room, my bank helped me out with that. Then this past weekend I stayed at a Rodeway Inn in San Antonio, the room was $54 on their site, and I made the purchase over the phone because I was having trouble with my connection, with tax and all it was $69.19, which was taken from my credit card. On the way home, my bank is in a Walmart, so they are open on Sundays, being curious I asked if my transaction with Hotels.com had gone through, and they over charged me $81.12 so about $11.99.

I called to straighten it out, was disconnected twice, put on hold for twenty minutes each time. They tried to tell me that the price of the room was $69 something and tax, and I said, "look not told that by your operator, and bottom line is, when I was told the price would be $69.13 with taxes and everything, then that is what I agreed and authorized." Surely they have no right to steal, which is what they are doing, taking more money than the customer agreed to, or at least inform you that the room was another price. I was not informed from the hotel clerk, and wouldn't had found this out if I didn't ask my bank.

When I argued with these two operators, trying to blame me for their mistake, I asked to speak to their supervisor, put hold another 15 minutes or so. He offered me a voucher for $30 to use the next time I used them, which I feel like, I wasn't treated decent enough for them to expect any more of my business. The supervisor, told me his name was **, he would not give me his last name, or ID number so that I could talk to his supervisor or the CEO of the company. He gave me his last initial O, if that was really it, or even if his name was really **.

Bottom line here is, if they have your credit card information, address and all of that, shouldn't the customer have the right to know who they are talking to, especially when they seem to be lying. When he offered the voucher for $30, I told him I'd rather have my money put back in the bank, all $11.99 of it. He told me they didn't have the money to do that. NOW THAT'S A LIE, but they offer me a $30 voucher. My thoughts is this, either these operators are ripping customers off and putting the money in their pockets, and using the vouchers as (let the company pay for it attitude) or the company is telling these guys to do it, to put money in their pockets....

Whatever it is... it's dishonest, and it's stealing... And I think a class action lawsuit should be filed, actually they should be put out of business. I've used these guys about 15 to 20 times through the years, and as long as they respect my privacy, and my bank account information, and not try to cheat me out of my money, I was fine with them. But until I talk to a CEO and get this straightened out, that voucher don't mean... to me. I want my money, or decent compensation for my time and trouble.

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I Will NEVER Use Hotels.com Again
By -

We searched the internet for hotels for a recent trip, called the number on their website thinking we were talking to someone at the property. We were actually booking the room through Hotels.com. We booked one night for 12/28 and our credit card was charged immediately. We were told we had to cancel by midnight 12/26 to avoid any penalties. After further checking, we learned the hotel we had booked had terrible reviews including bedbugs. We called to cancel on 12/26 and were told we were beyond the cancellation period. They said they would cancel the room, but we would be charged the full amount.

They claimed there was a 48 hour cancellation period and it needed to be cancelled by the 25th! I called every day trying to resolve the issue and get the charges reversed. The best they would offer was a voucher for a future stay, but they wouldn't reverse the charges. On 12/27 I spoke to someone who finally said I needed to talk to the hotel manager and he gave me a different number to call. This was the first time I realized we weren't even talking to the hotel! The person at the hotel desk gave me the manager's name and said I would have to call back the next day.

I was not able to connect with the manager, but on Tuesday evening I received a call from the hotel wondering why we had not checked in! Hotels.com had never cancelled the reservation! I explained to the hotel that we had cancelled the room on Sunday the 26th and she said if they had been contacted, we would not have been charged. She said I would have to take it up with Hotels.com. I called them again on the 28th and was told they would have to talk to the hotel. Obviously, when they did they were told we were a no-show. I was told to call back after 2, so that they could speak with the hotel manager. I called back after 2 and spoke to ** at Hotels.com.

I had to retell my story AGAIN. This time he tells me that there is no record of our call on Sunday cancelling the room. He was lying! I told him the previous agent had confirmed that she could see that phone call and the explanation of the charges. He then put me on hold to call the hotel. As I sat on hold for 20 minutes, I called the hotel myself. The hotel offered to waive the charges and told me to have ** call her directly. Both agents had told me they were talking to the hotel and they weren't. ** had me on hold all that time and he wasn't attempting to call the hotel!! Unbelievable.

This has been a nightmare and a vicious circle that no one at Hotels.com could seem to understand. We shouldn't be charged for a room that was cancelled within the time frame we were given and the hotel shouldn't suffer because Hotels.com didn't cancel the room. 100% of this responsibility is on Hotels.com. In the future, I will make sure I'm talking directly to the hotel and never book through Hotels.com!

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Forced to Take a Room
By -

Well my family decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Myrtle Beach & after Hotels.com was recommended to us we decided to give it a try. The site left us a little confused so since it was our first time using this group we decide to call the toll free # & talk to a real person to answer our questions. We asked about the deal we were interested in & how much it would be total & were informed that the price was only good for 3 people or less even though it was a 4 person room. My husband immediately told the girl that we were not interested then & tried to end the call but she just kept pushing the sale putting him on hold while she called the hotel to see what she could do.

My husband thought about just hanging up but it was a good thing he didn't as you will soon see. She came back saying that the hotel was standing firm & once again my husband told her we did not want the room to which she just kept replying "but it's only $39 for 3 people" over & over again. Finally my husband had to raise his voice just to get her to stop & then she called out a confirmation #. "What do we need a confirmation # for?" my husband said "because I just told you that we were not going to book this room."

He then asked if anything had been charged to the card & she said she didn't know & put him on hold which sent him back to the main menu so we had to start all over again. By this time I got on the phone because my husband's blood pressure was shooting up. I got a different person who had no clue what was going on so I told him the story & was put on hold & yep you guessed it I had to start all over. When I finally got another person on the line I immediately asked for a manager but was told that he was busy & it would take 15 to 20 minutes before he would be available.

So yet again I recite the story & this time when I was put on hold I was assured that I would not have to start all over again. After about 10 minutes the guy came back informed me that the reservation had indeed been made & that if we canceled it it would take at least 24 hours for the money to be put back in our account. That would have ruin our plans completely so I asked again to speak to the manager & was informed that he would only tell me the same thing because it was company policy. I was then informed that there was only 1 manager there & it would be at least another 15 to 20 minutes before he would be available to talk to me.

We took the room because we had no choice & were basically forced to do so. I never got to talk to the manager but I got coupons for a future booking that will NEVER happen.

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Read - Never Book!!! Contact Better Business Bureau!!!
By -

This company is an absolute fraud!!!! I hope everyone who is mad and upset with the horrendous service will do their part and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and shut this business down. HORRIBLE! I originally booked a four day reservation, which 3 weeks prior to leaving changed to 5 days. They TOLD ME IT WAS ALL BOOKED. I call the actual hotel 2 days prior to leaving and am advised by the hotel that only a 4 day reservation was listed. Then called back hotels.com, who said, it would be updated in 15 mins. LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES.

This calling the hotel/calling hotels.com continued. I arrived at the hotel and it still wasn't updated! FOR THE NEXT FOUR DAYS, I WAS ON THE PHONE FOR 1.5 HOURS EACH DAY, being put on ridiculous HOLD TIMES, BEING WRONGLY/PURPOSELY TRANSFERRED, DISCONNECTED. AND WORST OF ALL - stupid reps kept HANGING UP ON ME. I have never witnessed such horrendous, poor, cowardly business practices. THIS CONTINUED TILL THE LAST 4TH DAY when I WAS FORCED TO CHECK OUT.

Was told by mgmt that extra day reservation had never been received and that hotels.com was advised 4 days prior to make a new reservation. However, because hotels.com HAD SCREWED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE, the rate they have to pay it higher than what I had paid. SO HOTELS.COM WAS UNWILLING TO PAY THIS DIFFERENCE. Not the customer's fault right? THINK AGAIN! NOT WITH HOTELS. COM. They refused to lose money on their own error, so left me hanging till the very last day, 3 hours before I was to check out. I then realized that they were complete frauds.

They tried to get me to give them VISA INFO TO RECHARGE ME TO PICK UP THE DIFFERENCE. I'm a full time student, and I don't have much money to spend esp on the errors of someone else. So I was forced to check out. they would not answer my questions, supervisors were leading me on with complete BS, supervisors kept hanging up on me, and would not book the extra reservation. Completely fed up, I checked out and spent my last night with no place to sleep or stay. BY FAR, THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN. I HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT.

What is upsetting is that this could have been resolved prior to my arrival when I called in. However, they did not want to pay more for an error on their part, even though I ALREADY PAID for 4 nights - FRAUDSTERS. Also, when I booked the 5th night, was told I'd get a refund of 60 dollars. Never got it. Had to call back, on the phone for over an hour and told there was no notice of it. Until 1.5 hrs into the conversation, supervisor MIRACULOUSLY found the refund note. Convenient?

A FEW THINGS I'VE LEARNED: Refunds by customer service are processed instantaneously. They will tell you that you will receive a refund email in 15 mins, etc - DO NOT BELIEVE THEM. Insist that you will stay on the phone with them till you receive it. Insist that you will not hang up, and that you have been advised by customers who have dealt with them that you are to stay on the line. Trust me, if you don't - you will not GET A REFUND FROM THESE SCAM ARTISTS.

Ask the agent you are speaking to refrain from hanging up on you. Getting them NOT to hang up on you, or disconnect you is HARD ENOUGH AND IS totally pathetic that you even have to do this. But TRUST ME. YOU NEED TO. When you spent the last 4 days trying to get a hold of them and are yelling and angry - TELL THE IDIOT REP YOU'RE SPEAKING TO that YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE PLACED ON HOLD. Tell them that each time you've been placed on hold you've been placed on hold for 20-30mins only to be disconnected. I had one supervisor name ** transfer me to an Expedia agent, and another named ** hang up on me while talking.

DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO PLACE YOU ON HOLD. I made this request, and was freaking insistent. instead, I'm pretty sure the girl put me on mute, but nevertheless - no stupid music and she came back because she realized I was furious. If you've made a booking, check for price matches all the TIME. TRUST ME, you don't want to give your money to this company. If you've already have, ensure you got the best deal. I found much better rates on a website called booking.com - don't know how reliable they are, but all that matters is the price anyway.

So always check!!!! when you call in to make a price match - MAKE SURE YOU STAY ON THE LINE TILL YOU GET THE EMAIL.

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Be Careful when you call Hotels.com - DECEITFUL!!!
By -

On December 12, 2009, I made a reservation using Hotels.com for a stay starting 12/31/2009. Today, December 19, 2009, I received an email from Hotels.com advertising the same hotel for $50.00 less a night. I called and told them about the PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE and was told by ** that I needed to book at the new lower rate and that he would cancel the previous reservation with NO problem but that that he had to transfer me to "Customer Care."

I told him I was hesitant to "double book" but he assured me that this WOULD not be a problem because the original reservation would be automatically cancelled and the charge on my credit card would be credited back. Funny that when he tried to transfer my call it DROPPED. FINALLY, I was able to speak to ** from an out of state customer call center who told me that there was NO way I could cancel the previous reservation in spite of what ** told me. Mind you, there are charges over $1,200 on my credit card for a stay that is supposed to cost $561.00.

I told ** that this was unacceptable and that even the cancellation policy stated that, and I quote: "cancellations or changes made before 3:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time (US & Canada)) on Dec 31, 2009 are subject to a 1 Night Room & Tax penalty." I am NOT canceling this reservation the day of the stay! I am canceling 12 DAYS in ADVANCE and that this was not my initial intention to begin with. All I wanted was the reduced rate and participate in HOTELS.COM advertised PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE. She told me that I did not understand the policy and that I needed to pay $325.00 for canceling the reservation.

I insisted that I was not the one who had double booked on purpose and that ** was just too eager to have me double book under the false pretense that EVERYTHING would be taken care of. The call DROPPED. I called 3 more times only to struggle to find someone who spoke English because my husband DOES NOT speak Spanish and I was so upset that I was crying and he insisted on taking over the telephone call. FINALLY, my husband was able to find ** who spoke English, she agreed that the first reservation could be cancelled without a penalty but that it would take UP TO 30 DAYS to receive CREDIT of $651.88 on my credit card.

GREAT! LESS money to SPEND on my "SUPPOSEDLY" wonderful New Year's trip with my husband... MY TRIP is RUINED. I am upset about the customer service and their deceitful practices... I was forced to double book. If you can't cancel a reservation 12 days in advance without being penalized when can you cancel????? 30 days? 45 days? Can you even ever cancel when you book through Hotels.com without being penalized? I am really sorry to have used HOTELS.COM to book my hotel stay. I wish I would have spent the extra $10.00 booking directly with the hotel. I would have saved the trouble and anguish I have caused myself and my husband.

BE CAREFUL!!! with the "PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE." DO NOT TRUST CUSTOMER SERVICE. Call reps are from outside the US and they don't understand policies well enough. Please learn from my lesson, unless you are SURE the call center is in the US DO NOT Trust what they TELL YOU. Sincerely, VERY, VERY, VERY UPSET in Miami!

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Reservations
By -

I usually use Orbitz, so perhaps I am spoiled. I booked this time through Hotels.com, who only allows you to use one credit card to pay for the reservation. I guess I should have been smart enough to make separate reservations for my one four day stay at the same hotel, but I hadn't had a problem with this issue before. My employer is very specific about what can go on their credit card (I am a government employee) so since I was staying extra days on my own I put it all on my credit card. In the past I have had no problem once I check in getting the days split out. But at hotels.com they won't let you split the bill afterward.

I was on the phone with at least two of their employees, one who was nice but either I lost signal or he disconnected me, and another who could barely speak English, who was just repeating the canned scripts for customers with requests that require any thought process. She would not give me the name of her supervisor, but did agree to transfer me to him. ** picked up after waiting long enough to see if I would pick up, and he sounded like he send people to sleep with the fishes in his spare time. He told me that they could not do that with no better excuse than that is company policy.

I asked if there was a financial company who handled the paperwork I could speak with, but he just said no, it was in a hotels.com account and they don't do it. They told me that if I wanted to, they could cancel the reservation for the last two nights, but they couldn't rebook them and only if the company would let them. That would mean I'd have to find somewhere else to stay those two nights. I really like the hotel, but they couldn't give me the same rate if I did that, so I told them I had no choice but to suck it up and pay it all on my own, since I won't be able to get reimbursed at work.

Hotels.com told me if I canceled the last two nights they would refund me the money, but I suspect that was a lie, and what the front desk told me I doubt they would have paid me back anyway (at least without a fight). What kills me is if they were telling the truth that they would refund the money, why won't they just refund it and transfer the rest to a different credit card. I am somewhat familiar with the financial industry, and that just doesn't make sense to me. I think it is just laziness or they don't trust their employees to do it right. I don't travel for business much, thankfully, but I travel a lot for fun, and I will NEVER use them again. I am sticking with Orbitz from now on.

They were very unapologetic (they would say they were sorry, but it was clear they couldn't care less). I was really horrified that a company in a service industry would respond this way. I will probably report them to BBB or consumer protection.

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Hotels.com Rating:
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1.0 out of 5, based on 61 ratings and
119 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Hotels.com
10440 N. Central Expwy., Ste. 400
Dallas, TX 75231
800-964-6835 (ph)
214-361-7299 (fax)
www.hotels.com
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