Orbitz Hotel Reservations Consumer Reviews - Page 3

BOISE, IDAHO -- BUYER BEWARE!!! Problem: Upon arriving to our hotel, we were told that Orbitz had booked a promotional code that we were not eligible for. It was for a “Single Ladies” promotion. We had no idea what they were talking about. So explained that Orbitz required us to fill in the passengers' names and sex origin and that it was not our fault that their system did this to our reservation. In the end we had to pay the difference of $250.00 out of pocket right when we arrived to the hotel.

Technical Issue: Orbitz system only looks for the cheapest deal for the hotels in the area you are looking for. Their online system does not have algorithms set to catch whether or not the buyer meets the requirements of the promotion.

Customer Service: When we contacted Orbitz upon our arrival to our hotel to ask them to fix the issue, (which took them an hour just to get us on the line with the right person) we were told that it would take 2-3 weeks for resolution on the issue, and that we would need to pay the difference. They told us that we would get an email confirmation within 48 hours. (BTW there were 2 other couples dealing with the same issue when we arrive to the hotel, and calling them as well) Since we were in another country, we were forced to reluctantly pay the difference. When we returned home, there was no email.

We contacted Orbitz again 2 weeks after our original call and they said they had not began working on the issue. I requested they escalate the issue and get back to me ASAP. Two days later, they called and stated that they found no issue with our reservation and somehow we agreed that we were eligible for this “Single Ladies” promotion.

After some arguing with the customer service representative about how the system never asked us to check a box or anything and that there should be an algorithm to catch these things (my husband is an electrical engineer and computer code for a living), we were offered a $50.00 voucher to use Orbitz again and that they were sorry for the inconvenience.

Overall Rating: 0/10. I would not ever rate them a fraction of percentage since I could have gone with any other company and not had to deal with this crap. Next time we will book with the Priceline guarantee. Recommendation: DO NOT USE ORBITZ FOR ANYTHING!!!

I booked a hotel in September 2010 through Orbitz and found a lower fare through another website within 24 hours. I submitted a claim and was refunded the before-tax difference. With a higher price basis for tax calculation, Orbitz charged more tax than the other website, but that difference was not refunded.

The Hotel Low Price Guarantee also promises a $50 coupon, which I received a month after submitting the claim. However, the fine print on the coupon states that I must use the coupon within 2 months to book a hotel of 3 nights or more, which is very restrictive and essentially renders the coupon useless since I have no near-future travel plans. Therefore, if you're relying on Orbitz's Hotel Low Price Guarantee to get the lowest rate, you're screwed. You'll end up paying more in taxes, and the $50 coupon is useless.

Hotel Low Price Guarantee Terms and Conditions: "If you book a qualifying prepaid hotel rate on the Orbitz website, and then find the same room, in the same hotel, for the same dates, at a lower price online, before taxes and fees, we'll refund the difference. If the lower price is found on the Orbitz website, Orbitz will rebook your hotel reservation at the lower price and issue a refund for the difference. In either instance, we will give you a refund and a $50 discount on a future hotel or vacation package booking. Just submit your claim to Orbitz before the hotel's cancellation fees apply. Qualifying rates are marked with a 'Low Price Guarantee' label."

Orbitz will refund the difference to the credit card you used to make your hotel reservation in approximately 7 - 10 business days. You'll receive the $50 coupon via e-mail. Remember to make a printout or take a screen shot of the page with the lower rate, in case a customer service representative has questions. Expect a response to your claim within 72 hours. Please read General Terms below for full details.

In addition to the Low Price Guarantee, customers who book a prepaid hotel rate are also covered by Orbitz Price Assurance. If another Orbitz customer books the same itinerary for at least $5 less than the hotel booked on Orbitz.com, Orbitz will refund the difference up to $500 per reservation automatically.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA -- I will never, EVER use Orbitz to reserve a room or stay at a Ramada Hotel again. I reserved and paid for my room 10 days prior to my planned trip. When I checked in, I was told that the room I reserved was not available at that time and that it was not available at the time that I paid for it.

The desk clerk and night manager were apologetic, but had an attitude of "Oh well, its not our fault". They asked if I was certain of the amenities of the room I reserved (as if I was mistaken about what I paid for). When I produced the copy of my itinerary showing that I had reserved a King, smoking room with private balcony and jetted Jacuzzi tub, the clerk shrugged her shoulders and said, "Sorry, we don't have it." I don't know what Orbitz did.

After checking into the offered double room with regular tub, I contacted Orbitz customer service online. After about 30 minutes of back and forth, they advised that the hotel was busy and could not talk to them right then and for me to call the 800 number in 30 minutes to an hour. An hour later, I contacted customer service by phone, was placed on hold and after about 20 minutes, the Orbitz representative advised that they were willing to credit $10 per night for my inconvenience.

First of all, there are MANY cheaper hotels in Virginia Beach at this time of year and if the cost was the only consideration, I would have booked one of those. The amenities I desired were the REASON I booked the room the way that I did. I advised customer service that this was not an acceptable solution and hung up.

On Monday, after returning home, I emailed customer service asking for a fair resolution to this problem. I received a response fairly quickly advising that a supervisor would be in contact. 5 days later, still not one word from the supervisor. Do not advertise or book and accept payment for rooms that you can not provide! PERIOD!!! I have a pretty big mouth and will be sure that this information is passed on to everyone I know. ORBITZ bites and Ramada is no better. Each one passed the buck to the other and NEITHER party made it right.

I have never used my blog to rant against someone, but today'€™s the day. I'm that angry. I just had the worst customer service experience in my life. I booked the Casa Sant'€™Andrea Hotel in Venice, Italy with Orbitz, using a $50 off coupon code. Everything went fine until I received the confirmation email, which said the hotel was in Rome! I immediately canceled the reservation online. When I went back to the site to find the correct hotel in Venice, it gave me the same hotel, and the map showed Venice, not Rome as well. Turns out the hotel I booked was in Venice, even though the confirmation email from Orbitz said 'Roma'€.

Okay, time to rebook and let Customer Service know what happened. I deserve my coupon back, right? I canceled because of a mistake on their end, and at best misleading email that said the hotel was in Rome. I called their toll free number.

Long story short, in 30 frustrating minutes I was transferred 4 times, each time someone telling me something different. Back and forth between Customer Service, who was supposed to re-instate the one-time use coupon code because of the error, then back to Booking who said the code wasn't valid. Yikes! To make things worst, the customer service reps were clearly out of India, so there were plenty of language problems during this fiasco.

It goes without saying I'll never book with Orbitz again. When I told a few other world travelers about my experience, they nodded as they too had terrible service with Orbitz. Unfortunately, this hotel only books through Orbitz so I had to bite the bullet and rebook. Let's hope when I get to Venice the hotel will be there and I'll have a reservation. Check out this link to learn more from someone who is collecting horror stories like mine and organizing a boycott. Okay, that off my chest, time to think about art.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- The first time Orbitz messed up for me was in Mexico, when we discovered that Orbitz had sent us to a non-existent car rental agency. We ended up without a car and many dollars worth of taxi bills. The second time Orbitz messed up was when we arrived at a hotel only to find that Orbitz still hadn't confirmed our reservation with them! We ended up waiting for an hour and a half before just booking a room with that hotel.

The third time, this time, Orbitz cancelled my hotel reservation without my permission. Then, they charged me for the entire stay! Wow, Orbitz sucks. I have used every site online and I have to say, Orbitz is the worst. Customer service is off! Orbitz doesn't even know what's going on; no proper contact with the hotels they manage. I will be sure to tell everyone I know and every review site I can find to avoid Orbitz unless they want to spend an hour of their time trying to rectify a mistake that Orbitz made.

SALINAS, CALIFORNIA -- We were trying to book a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Salinas California, but for some reason were booked at the Holiday Inn in Santa Nella California, which is an hour away. Before booking I checked all the relevant information, as I was aware the one in Salinas was booked, and I've been burned by Orbitz before, NEVER AGAIN! The dates were correct, the location was correct, the price was right, everything looked good.

Fastforward to when I open my email. The room is booked in Santa Nella. There is a cancellation fee, which I was aware of, but only agreed to under the context of renting a room in Salinas... So disappointing, such a headache to try to refund, ended up filing a Visa dispute with my bank, but they are even fighting that. Must not be going so well with Orbitz right now. Maybe I'll start check My3Cents before dealing with online companies from now on.

I will never book with Orbitz again. After getting an e-mail confirmation of my hotel reservation we drove 300 miles only to be told that the hotel is full. I called Orbitz and after spending 2 hours with them on the phone with 3 different people. They sent us to another hotel but turned out they booked us for the following night. It was the worst vacation of my life. After all that they had the audacity to charge my bank account for the hotel. Then it took me another 40 minutes to explain to the incompetent supervisor that they need to refund me because we did not step a foot in either of the hotels.

I had an emergency and needed to cancel the reservation I made 2 hours prior. I called the hotel to cancel and they told me I had to call Orbitz direct. That is when the waste of my time began. I gave the CSR my information and I Sat on hold while I waited for him to contact the hotel. Then I had to wait on the phone while he had to send them a fax! I was sitting on hold a total of 15-17 minutes. Why was it necessary for me to sit on hold while he did his work? I offered nothing while he talked to the hotel nor while he faxed the hotel. Better yet, why couldn't I cancel with the hotel directly?! I can assure you I will only make my reservations direct in the future.

BOULDER, COLORADO -- I booked 2 nights for Lexington hotel in Key West for May 9, 10 of 2013. The room had none of the amenities functioning... Non-working phone, TV and refrigerator, plus giant cockroaches and the building had termites buzzing some of the rooms. I departed after that first night but the front desk clerk refused to accept my checkout, referring me back to Orbitz who made the original reservation; Orbitz was totally non-accessible that whole morning of the 10th, so I placed the room key on the front desk and departed after the first night.

"Dispute resolution" through Orbitz now consists of Orbitz, in collusion with Lexington, telling me that hotel records show that I stayed the second night, was moved to another room and had no further complaints! This is an absolute lie and we can produce evidence of our whereabouts on that second night; it was certainly not at the Lexington! Outrageous scam and collusion between Orbitz and sub-par hotels should be recognized; avoid Orbitz at all costs.

We booked a hotel through this site, which was a part of a trip we are taking for our daughter's birthday. We double checked our dates several times before confirming the dates, and after confirming the hotel. We then proceeded to book a snorkeling trip with a local company close to where we were staying, which further proves the date we were intending to stay. Today we received an email asking us to review the trip which we are not due to take for yet another month. We immediately called customer service to help rectify this error.

First, the customer service representative informed us that as it was "past our booking date," she could do nothing and that we should have called before this date. We were charged for the room for the night we booked the room, not for the dates we requested one month from now.

I asked to speak with a manager, and the same customer service representative got back on the phone and refused to do anything to rectify the matter or reimburse us for this error. I have never seen such poor customer service nor such a lack of regard in correcting clear errors. I will never use this site, and I feel very strongly about letting others know how poor the quality of service this site doles out to its customers.