** PLEASE READ **

If you don't have time to read all of the above ... in my case
a) Otel.com seem to have failed to book our hotel twice on the same holiday
b) the hotel we did eventually get was in another city from what we wanted
c) the hotel was much cheaper than what we paid
d) our complaints and requests for information now seem to be being ignored
e) Otel.com made what was meant to be a nice weekend away VERY stressful!!!

at this point I would recommend anyone that asks me not to book through Otel.com

i've used Otel.com and just loved them. I used them for the first time back in 2010 to book a hotel in London, the Andaz Hyatt. NO ONE could beat their price, not even the Hyatt which offers a 'price match'. You have to read Otel.com's policy, I got a Capital One card just so I could book with Otel.com and not pay the conversion fee, I believe that Otel is based in Turkey...or somewhere foreign. Most credit cards charge a conversion fee, so check with your bank before you book. I went to New Orleans in November 2011 and the best price I could find for the Royal Sonesta was with Otel.com. I'm a fan, but I READ THEIR SMALL PRINT AS IF MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT. know the rules, and you should be fine.

I require a fast respont and a solution to my below booking
I have booked my accommodation through www.Otel.com in February 2012, received paid in full on February 4th as below
TRACKING NUMBER : OA-50696418

Hotel booking details:
RESERVATION STATUS : Confirmed
DESTINATION : Cannes
HOTEL : Best Western Cannes Riviera
CHECK-IN DATE : Jun 21, 2012
CHECK-OUT DATE : Jun 28, 2012
ROOM TYPE : Double, Double
MEAL PLAN : Cold Buffet Breakfast
Total price : 1757 EUR

wanted to get other rooms and contacted the hotel directly and booked and asked them about my booking above as I got a pre-paid voucher as below
http://w3.metglobal.com/voucher.php?...id=OA-50696418
the hotel responded that the did not accept this recervation and I dont have resrvation and they have contacted otel.com and told them this booking is not acceptable, I contacted otel.com several times and had a chat with customer service based in Manila, a lady called Mae and Marie and Trinitie and Jim and Ila, all insisted on my reservation is correct, the hotel reply to was as below

Just to keep you informed: today we called and emailed Exclusively Hotels regarding your reservation with them. The reservation was first refused back in February, and since then we have sent multiple emails refusing the reservation as we do not accept bookings from Exclusively Hotels during that period in June (when it is conference-time in Cannes and so room prices are higher than normal). We have again refused the reservation today, and requested that the booking be cancelled and you be refunded any payment made as the booking was never accepted.
I have send mgs to otel.com through FaceBook and another email to met global to '[email protected]' asking for a respond and wanted to talk to someone in-charge not customer service and till date nor feedback from them
I am based in New Zealand and what will happen if mt issue is not solved and I travel all the way to south of france and find no booking waiting for me
I need an urgent solution and a quick feedback to solve my current situation, please email me directly to [email protected]
thank you
May

<B>May_Yassawi:</B> <i>what will happen if mt issue is not solved and I travel all the way to south of france and find no booking waiting for me</i>"

If the hotel says you don't have a booking, and they seem VERY clear about that . . . You don't have a booking. No one on Fodors can help you with that.

If you still want to take this trip, I'd say you need to make other arrangements. And keep trying to get a refund from Otel.

I had a very bad experience with otel.com. I have confirmed my booking in sofitel hotel in Marrakech, I have the voucher and the charge in my credit card. However, when I arrive to Marrakech, the hotel told me that they don´t have confirmed the booking to otel.com and they didn´t give us the room. I have made a claim to otel.com, but they didn´t give me a solution for that terrible experience.

Hi Caroline from otel.com,

If you are still somewhere here, let me ask you a question:

I wanted to book a B&B stay at Augusta hotelclub, Ibiza for this July 2012. You have indeed very attractive rates, however alerted by all the reviews, I tried to call the hotel first and check whether they know otel.com, metglobal or anything like. Their answer was that they never heard about before. I understand this may be because you buy the rooms from wholesalers etc, etc, but please could you give the name or suggest any other way in which I could check with the hotel that they actually directly or indirectly work with you?

<B>olyoly:</B> Caroline probably can't/won't answer you here. First of all she posted 3 and 2 years ago. And even if she did happen to see this - Fodors monitors might delete her posts since commercial companies aren't supposed to post here. So, if you REALLY want info from her, you probably should e-mail her directly.

Thank you for your post Olyoly.

If this is a hotel that we do not have a direct contract with then they would not know our company by name and this is because we have a wholesaler between us and the hotel.

We work in partnership with a number of wholesalers and they in turn would have a contract with the hotel. If you have booked then please can you let me have the booking tracking number and for your extra reassurance I shall be more than happy to obtain the hotel’s own confirmation number for you.

Caroline

Question for all. What do you thing about the down reservation?

DESTINATION : Amsterdam, Netherlands
HOTEL : TRIANON
CHECK-IN DATE : May 19, 2012
CHECK-OUT DATE : May 22, 2012
ROOM TYPE : Double Room
MEAL PLAN : Continental

when I arrived at the hotel they gave me two beds into a dormitory of 8 persons !!!!!!
because for otel.com a double room mean " two beds in a room with more beds.. even 8 !!!"

And of course, I did not stayed at that hotel, and more, I send a complaind at otel.com and also to Caroline and.. surprise.. They won't give me the money back because they gave me that two beds!

Now.. you think if otel.com are onest ot not.

" Double room" to me means that the ROOM holds two beds.. not 2 shared in an 8 bedded dorm room.

wow. that's horrible. These experiences certainly have given us all a heads up on not only this agency but others operating the same way.

Double room to me means sleeping space for two people, i.e. there might be only one bed, but it would hold two people. (In the US it is likely to mean two beds, in Europe you should check if you care.) But it certainly doesn't mean a dorm room!!!

A little research shows that while Expedia lists the Trianon as a hotel, with a picture of a room with two beds, other sites list it as a hostel, with less than stellar reviews. It does seem to have some twin rooms, but it also has dorms. What did you pay for the room? If it was a twin room price, you are at least due a refund.

Unfortunately, I only read up on otel.com after my booking, and I would discourage people from using this website. Thanks everyone for posting your warnings!

My experience with them seems similar to what other people have described in this forum. Yesterday I booked a single room in a London hostel through otel.com; at least that's what I thought I did. To check whether my booking had gone through correctly, I contacted the hostel who found my booking, but had to inform me that I hadn't actually booked a single room, but a bed in a dorm. I have no desire to stay in a big dorm, and I'm hugely disappointed about otel.com deliberately misleading their customers.

Furthermore, the service hotline published on otel.com's website didn't work, so I had to cancel through the online system. I have received an email saying my booking has been cancelled and I will be refunded; however, I can only hope that this will actually be the case...

I wanted to add my own experience to this thread. I have used otel.com in the past, and the experience has been fine with excellent rates, so I compared rates again for this trip, and did make a couple of reservations with them. One went fine, the other did not.

I always book hotels many months in advance and did so again this time, getting a great rate for a well researched hotel in Copenhagen.

A week before we were due to check in (while we were already on vacation), I got an email from otel.com saying that our prepaid reservation could not be honoured due to overbooking. I was given two choices: Cancel without penalty, or take a room in an alternate hotel. The alternate hotel was a 2 star (I had booked a 3 star), near the airport (I had booked in the City centre), and was currently offered on their website for LESS than I had paid! No compensation or refund of the difference was offered. Obviously I was going to cancel, and did. I was then in the stressful situation of finding a hotel room at the last minute. I ended up paying double what I had initially paid otel.com for a far inferior hotel.

I am still waiting for my refund . . .

Was routed to otel.com from Trivago for 2 night stay at 5 star hotel. Price was £120 cheaper than all other quotes. Booked at short notice and then found this thread which concerned me.
However, after confirming with hotel that booking had been received, I was a little more comforted.
Had a wonderful time, no hassles and saved a considerable amount. Very happy and will have no concern about using again.

As a respond on my message posted on May 23, 12 at 3:43pm (upper)

otel.com refound the entire amount back, so , they are finally ok. Mistakes can happen oll the time.
so.. I am happy.

I have never had any issues with the otel.com bookings that I have made. I have booked, cancelled etc and never had any issues with the charges on my card, etc (all in the US). All turned out great. It appears in reading that many of the issues have been in Europe, and not the US. Perhaps the management of otel.com is different in Europe or perhaps the hotel booking policies are different. For use in the USA, I have had wonderful experiences with otel.com.

And any time I book through any travel site, I always re-confirm with the hotel that they have my reservation (right away and then a week or two before traveling).

JUST RETURNED FROM HOTEL BOOKED VIA OTEL.COM. PERFECT SERVICE, CHEAPEST PRICE, BREAKFAST INCLUDED (£18 PER DAY PP) AS GOOD A ROOM AS EVERYONE ELSE. THEY EMAILED 3 TIMES TO REMIND ME TO PRINT OFF VOUCHER. WOULD USE AGAIN.

MY MAIN CONCERN IS THEY APPEAR TO BE BASED IN LEFKOSIA (WHICH I THINK IS NICOSIA, CYPRUS) THAT MEANS THEY COULD BE IN THE EU, OR WAY OUT OF LEGAL REACH IN T.R.N.C. (TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS)
ROBERT PEGG

I booked with Otel but only to find "on request' in account not even an email to confirm booking, so I sent them an email, messages (Otel is in Turkey) even sent messages to Otel USA yet no replies. I sent message to Otel Staff in Tripadvisor still no reply after 1 week!
Ok so I send email to Hotel Le Meridien India (5 Star) and they reply saying no booking was made by Otel in name/ ref no: etc.
I booked tonight with another web (Hotels.com) and got confirmation email 5 seconds after booking. Do not book with Otel. Also remember cancellation dates after booking or you will get hit with a cancellation fee. I think that's what Otel was waiting for with me.
BTW Otel's online booking payment system is slow and I see many complaints from people being charged twice.
Best link is Hotelscombined.com & check the one's with "free cancellation"
If an booking web doesn't send you a confirmation within 15minutes of booking cancel it and go to another.

We booked two rooms using Otel.com last month. We we staying at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
THE GOOD - Reservation was very simple to make, no problem checking in at the hotel, and best of all the price was less than anything else I could find.
THE BAD - Otel.com bills from outside of the US so I was charged a foreign transaction fee. Not sure if I saved any money after having to pay the fee.