Anyone used otel.com - is it reputable
 

Hello fellow Fodorites:

I just discovered a travel (hotel) site, while searching for hotels in Italy, called otel.com http://www.otel.com/hotels

The price in general is 30-40% cheaper than expedia, or booking.com or venere.com - this is too good to be true, and I have never seen this website before

Does anyone know anything about this website - whether it is real or reputable?

This not www.hotel.com, which I know and have used occasionally.

There seems to be an associated/sister webiste (?) called olhotel

http://www.olotels.com

which is even cheaper ... a room that costs $300 in venere.com, olotel and otel.com list the same type of room at the same hotel for $160-170.

This can't be real, can it???

I did a bunch of research on Olotels prior to my upcoming trip to France. Same deal, much cheaper than other competitors with listed prices. I chose not to use them, but they seem like a reputable company.

It appears they room blocks in bulk like European travel agents. There are several sights on the internet with people complaining but also people saying they got a good deal. Here is a topic from TripAdvisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic..._Lombardy.html

I know I usually get on the internet to blast something if it goes wrong, so bad reviews may not be a representative sample. I'm sure you could find the same type of complaints about Priceline and Hotwire if you look hard enough. Sorry I couldn't give you first hand experience.

I prefer to use meta searches on sites like Kayak for hotels.
Their results consolidate all major booking sites, so you don't have to many individual searches on hotels, expedia, otel, booking, ...
That way I have eventually booked thru otel.com a few times and it was as uneventful as booking thru booking.com or hotels.com
Always check the cancellation terms, though.

I almost used otel.com once. Did not at the end because with them, you are required to pre-pay. I have used many times venere or booking.com ( never hotel.com, don't remember why but somehow I did not get interesting offers with them ) and pay direct to the hotel at check-out. Prices a bit higher than otel.com but all in all, thee sites suited me better than otel.com. 30-40% cheaper? Is that relly so? I might consider using them then but you have to accept non-refundable pre-payment, I suppose. I did read some negative reviews ( hotel confirmed by otel.com but did not have your reservation..) but not sure about the details. It was some time ago. Could have been an unlucky incident that can happen with any sites.

I booked recently through otel.com here in the UK and it wasn't a problem. Checked in and got the room we'd booked.

When I looked at otel.com or olotel.com, there are some hotels with the bolded messages "Pay at the hotel" so there is no pre-payment. That is one reason I do not sue Expedia much because they require prepayment. Although the couple of times I cancelled I got the payment back.

I think if I pick the hotels that I pay at the hotel, the worst case is that they didn't make the reservation for me rather than pre-paying and trying to get the money back. I always check directly with the hotel itself after reservation through the booking website, to make sure that a reservation is actually done.

I am not too worried but "mistakes" because sometimes it depends on the hotels, it may not be the fault of the booking website. Since I have never heard of otel.com or olotels.com I was not sure if it is real or just some scams.

Yes - the hotels I checked in Venice really have the prices of some hotels at ~40% less than other websites - I alwaus go by the motto: "if it is too good to be true, it usually is ..". Maybe this one is an exception?

kappa1: you are correct. I went back and check otel.com - although some hotels you pay when you check-in/out, the "best" price or the lowest price at otel.com are the ones you have to pre-pay.

This is similar to Expedia (pre-pay but you get a refund if cancelled within a certain time period ... like x days before checking in); and is different from the Booking.com prepay hotels - which are usually pre-pay and non-refundable.

I still think the otel.com pre-pay price is lower than those of Expedia and Booking.com, in general (I only checked Venice Italy).

There are a couple of threads on this site on the Travel Tips
and Trip Ideas forum regarding Otel.com.

I booked (and paid) for a hotel in Maldives for August 2016.

Otel.com cancelled the booking 3 days later.

This is their response after loding a complaint:

"We regret to inform you that , due to hotel entering incorrect rates to their supplier system (10 times cheaper than original) they are unable to honour this bookings since the number of bookings they received exceeded their availability significantly.

As your credit card has already been charged for the reservation, you will receive a refund of xxxx AUD. Please allow time for the refund to reflect on your credit card statement.

We are sorry that we have not been able to arrange your accommodation on this occasion, but hope that we can assist you in the near future."

The company couldn't even offer any compensation / deal for their mess up.

I would NOT recommend this company to anyone - totally unreliable.

They didn't even have the courtesy to email/ phone me to advise of this. I saw this when I logged into my account.

I tried to contact the company via Live Chat on a couple of occassions. My messages were delivered and read too but the customer service person chose not to reply to any of my messages. Appalling customer service!

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!

Run from this company, they are lying sleaze bags and will steal your money, dont give them a credit card.