elle

I've had some odd experiences with them, and am wondering if anyone else has.

We were having difficulty booking a hotel for the Bordeaux area in June. We're going to a trade show that books most of rooms in the region during that time. We didn't want to book through the trade show unless we had no other choice, because the terms and rates are not especially favorable (must book for five nights, no refunds at all, etc.)

Anyway, I was researching other options on line when I came upon this site, which had an availability at a chateau in Medoc. I thought I'd reserve it, but in the middle of submitting my credit card info, my connection failed (damn dial-up).

The phone rang almost immediately. It was the hotel booking site (I had already entered my name and phone number) informing me that they did not receive my entire cc#. The gentleman told me that he would need to charge one night's deposit to guarantee the room.

I didn't want to give my credit card out to someone over the phone, so I asked them to send me an e-mail with that information. They did, and I replied to the e-mail with the rest of the info.

They then replied saying that they had quoted me a low season rate instead of a high season rate (the difference was only 7 euros, so this was not too big of a deal).

Everything seemed fine after that, and as I heard from my husband's associates about the impossibility of booking anything within 60km of Bordeaux during the show, I was glad that I had booked this when I had the chance.

Yesterday I received my American Express bill and found that they had charged me for the entire stay, not just one night's deposit. When I went through my correspondence with them, I saw that they had tacked this on in the fine print at the bottom of their second e-mail to me, the one that informed me that I had to pay the higher rate than the one initially quoted.

I have this horrible feeling that we're going to show up at the chateau and not have a room. I will fax them and ask them for confirmation (they do not seem to have a direct e-mail address, just this service), but was wondering if anyone else had ever dealt with this site/company, which seems to be based in Nice.

Thanks.

ira

Hi elle,

Do you have a URL for this company?

elle

It's

www.zac.fr

ira

Hi elle,

The "terms and conditions" shown at their website (in French) seems to my poor French to say that youa are billed for the entire stay.

You can cancel with a fee of 15% or so.
Article 9.

The best bet is to get a faxed confirmation from the hotel.

elle

I don't have a major problem with being billed for the whole stay, it's just that after all weirdness with the phone call from them, and the reservationist telling me it was just one night's deposit, and then the wee hike in rates, I'm left feeling a bit rattled.

But I will definitely contact the hotel for direct confirmation. Thanks, ira.