Vancouver Olympics hotel scam?
 

Has anyone heard of this happening? A friend booked a Vancouver hotel--the Robsonstrausse--over a year ago for the Olympics. The rate was three times their normal but they didn't have a minimum. My friend's credit card was charged for the complete amount. Friday the hotel sent an email, claiming the friend cancelled the reservation, and refunding her money. My friend was furious (they have Olympics event tickets, airplane tickets, etc) and demanded proof that she cancelled, which of course the hotel couldn't provide.

A long email exchange followed, with the hotel variously claiming that: they'd turned their reservation system over to a third party (they say almost all hotels have done this) and that they can't do anything about this; that the friend probably had malware on her computer that cancelled the reservation; that "marketing groups" have taken over the hotel's rooms for the Olympics; there were other crazy excuses too. But, looking on their website, they DO have rooms available for that time--but now they're even more expensive than what my friend paid, and there's a week minimum stay. It's clear that they booted my friend out so they could rebook the rooms for more money. They have completely washed their hands of her and said, oh, there are months until the Olympics, you'll find something else. (Yeah right).

Has this kind of thing been widespread? I know who I'd complain to in the US--can anyone point me to an agency (Better Business Bureau?) in Vancouver that she could at least lodge a complaint with?

Write, phone, e-mail - the hotel won't like it...

Better Business Bureau-Interior
404-788 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2M1
(888) 803-1222

Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games
400-3585 Graveley Street, Vancouver, BC V5K 5J5
(778) 328-2010

Mayor Gregor Robertson
Vancouver City Hall
453 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Y1V4

The Premier of B.C.'s website: http://www.gov.bc.ca/premier/

Vancouver Sun: www.vancouversun.com

Vancouver Province: www.theprovince.com

Talk Radio - phone and complain on air: http://www.talk1410.com/Default.asp

Definitely report this to all of the above. This is not acceptable!

Also contact bc.tv and get Pamela Martin (a newscaster on
the 6 o'clock news) involved. And the channel's consumer
reporter, Chris Olsen.

Keep at'em............

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll pass them on to my friend. We did hear about one similar thing in Whistler, and I'm sure there were more "victims" at this hotel, but I'm glad that no one has posted they are hearing a lot about this sort of thing.

What is the name of this hotel anyway?

Based on the original post, it's this hotel:

http://www.robsonstrassehotel.com/

Well, if the OP doesn't get 'no satisfaction' from her legit.
grievance, p'haps we should keep mentioning the Robsonstrasse
AFTER the O's are over.....after all, hotels need patrons all
the time not just during special events.

I agree - if that is in fact the hotel in question (OP, please confirm), I would choose to stay elsewhere if I were traveling to Vancouver -- just because this ticks me off!

That's it. It looks like sort of a budget hotel in general--I myself originally booked it (then cancelled) before I found a condo in Whistler, which is where my events are. It doesn't look like the kind of place I'd normally stay--it just doesn't look that nice--but it was literally the ONLY hotel either my friend and I could find for less than $500/night and without a week minimum. Though now they are asking $700+/night and do have a week minimum. It does have a good location though.

My friend is planning on contacting a lot of the organizations you guys listed this weekend so thank you again for that. I just hope she'll be able to find something else, because she's going to be out a ton of money (not to mention being very sad over not seeing the Olympics, which she's always wanted to do) otherwise.

Sorry - I somehow missed the name. $700 a night?!!

$700 a night! Obviously, this is the pension plan for the owners.

Has your friend tried the cruise ship that's going to be docked there? It's not the best location, but they've lowered their rates and reduced their minimum stay requirements. It's the only place I've found so far in or close to Vancouver that doesn't have a 7 night minimum (but I'm hoping things will open up closer to the games).

I would contact the local CBC - Kathy Tomlinson is an investigative reporter there who has a "Go Public" series that replies on viewer-submitted stories.
The number for the local newsroom is 604 662 6397.

Since CTV is the Olympic broadcaster, they are less likely to want to expose Olympic scams.

and you could inform Tourism BC- they have contact numbers on website and an email address.

Unfortunately there are scams everywhere...What is wrong with people?..At least they got money back...I just paid for a cottage in Nova Scotia that I couldn't stay in because it was freezing and no heat...Stay away from Sunset Cottage near Peggy's Cove to those going to Nova Scotia.

Just saw this story online (not the same hotel but a similar situation):

http://bit.ly/176utf

As far as I can tell the Olympics has brought out the worst of the possible behaviors for the Vancouver hotels. Personally I have had 4 confirmed hotel reservations that have been cancelled (without my consent) and one condo rental that disappeared when they were required to provide proof they could rent out the condo for the games.

I tried complaining to the BBB about one of the reservations. That was a total waste of time. The BBB did absolutely nothing to help. The BBB never even tried to understand the complaint. In the end the place tried to charge 6X what I booked for, and the BBB viewed this as a reasonable attempt to settle the issue!

It's certainly buyer beware right now. I ended up renting a condo privately. I'm lucky to have a brother in BC who could check the place out, so I'm very confident that it will work out, but I won't really be sure until we get there...

Spaggis, do you feel like listing those 4 hotels?

Good luck when you arrive. I hope you have a great stay.

The hotels were:

1) Komfort Properties - This is really a condo rental place instead of a hotel. In April I booked a 2 bedroom condo using their web site and received a confirmation email. A few months later I received a 'reservation canceled' email. When I finally got them to reply to my questions about why, they claimed they were doing 'internal testing' of their web site and so none of existing the reservations were valid. I tried complaining to the BBB, but that went nowhere.

2) Pacific Palisades Hotel - In May I booked a room here using the Hotels.ca web site and received a confirmation email. About a week later I received an email saying there was a computer error and there were no rooms available. Hotels.ca at least sent me a $100 voucher for this error.

3) Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown - I booked a room here in June using the Marriott web site and received a confirmation email. A couple days later I received an email and phone call indicating there was a computer error and there were no rooms available. I've pushed for the hotel to find a room somewhere, but they haven't really tried. The hotel is offering to send a cheque for cost of one night.

4) Quality Inn Airport - I booked a room here in February and received a confirmation email. This was a 'backup plan' hotel for me in case I didn't find anything else. Like others I recently received an email saying they are no longer a Quality Inn, etc.

Along the way I also booked a room at the Ramada Inn Coquitlam as another backup plan. That hotel tried to change the terms of the reservation (from no cancellation penalty to 1 night's lodging cancellation penalty) but backed down once I complained that they are not allowed to change the terms of an existing reservation without my consent. I recently canceled that reservation.

I also tried renting a condo using the rentatthegames.com web site. It fell through when the person listing the condo removed the listing once they were asked to provide proof that they could rent it out.

As I mentioned above, in the end I found another condo for a good price on the rent2010.net web site. I was lucky enough to have a brother who could check the place out, so I'm confident things are all set.

Spaggis, thanks for posting that. It's really quite ridiculous, and you have some "name-brand" properties on that list too (the Marriott, of course, and Pacific Palisades is a Kimpton, and Quality Inn Airport).

FWIW, the Pacific Palisades is no longer part of the Kimpton hotel group.

There are now 3 complaints about the Robsonstrausse canceling Olympics reservations on Trip Advisor. The hotel posted such a poor defense of its practices as a response, it's almost comical.

http://tinyurl.com/y9zw57s

Thank you for posting the names of the hotels with such questionable practices. We are planning a trip to Vancouver in August 2010 - before and after an Alaska cruise - and we will be certain NOT to look at any of those hotels.

Too bad they don't seem to realize that the Olympics are only for a limited time ... but the internet is forever ....

christy1, I remembered this thread and thought you'd be interested in an article in the Globe this morning about the Robsonstrasse and how it refused to sign up for VANOC's hotels program, which sets price limits during the Games so that visitors are not gouged. This hotel's manager fully admits he is taking advantage of the Olympics to jack up prices way over that of other hotels who DID sign up for the program. He says the profits will be used to finance "renovations". Ha.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/about-vanc...e+life+strasse

Thanks for the update. I notice there are multiple Trip Advisor postings about Robsonstrausse guests having their Olympics reservations cancelled by the hotel. It seems like this behavior is the exception--I'm glad to see that this isn't rampant among Vancouver hotels.

Is your friend still looking for a hotel room? I MAY be able to steer them toward a reputable business looking to resell a hotel block for the entire time. I would assume it would be at their cost. If they are interested please let me know [email protected]

No, they luckily found another.

I hope you all realize the rates will go up exponentially - Simple economics of
Supply and demand. All the hotels in Vancouver have had an expected price hike. In fact, every business has a bottom line philosophy and that is to make money. Customer services goes out the window when the demand for rooms in Vancouver is high. You cant blame a business for followings its own mandate. No one is to blame - only VANOC.
They forced a rate cap on hotels in 2006 for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by securing 31,000 rooms from various hotels in Vancouver for there own corporate use and this created a compression in the market with only 11,000 rooms available to the general public. Also added pressure when the Norwegian liner floating hotel canceled all reservation for Feb 2010 and left 1100 passengers hunting for hotel rooms. As long as the market can bear the high price, the demand will continue

Desmo, if the hotel has a contract with a person who has paid a nonrefundable rate in full, as in this case, then surely you don't think the hotel should be canceling on its guests.