Avoid WooGo Group and Expedia.com -- Worst Travel Story Ever.
 

Beware: Apartments being Illegally Converted into Three-Star Hotels

I recently visited the Big Apple with my family for a return spring-break vacation from my home in Atlanta, GA. I was lead to this property through expedia.com. These are apartments that are probably being illegally Converted into Three-Star Hotels.

I had a nightmare experience that was so bad, that I put up a consumer warning, detailed website at www.WooGoSucks.com (wait till you see pic of the sofa that won't unfold because of the TV/Sink.)

Through this website, a tenant of that property has alerted me to other illegal and unscrupulous activities that are happening there -- namely that it is being illegally converted into a hotel, and the management is fleecing both tenants and travelers.

I'm bringing this to your attention because I hope to help stop the harm that these people of WooGo properties are bringing upon locals and NYC vacationers.

What a nightmare! For both you and the long term residents of the building as well.

I had heard some negative Woogo comments earlier, but your letter documents it in a way that leaves no doubt!

Thanks for the warning.

I too have heard evil tales of woogo on other sites. Obviously they are complete scammers. You really can;t blame Expedia - since they operate on info from the hotel.

I would consider filing a small claims court suit against them - since the web claims were clearly fraudulent.

But - in the end - the rule is - you get what you pay for - or less - never more.
So - for a super bargain place in NYC (without specific reco from someone who knows the place) I would assume it to be a dump and possibly have rooms rented by the hour.

Wow. That is amazing. My favorite part is the argument that Expedia put the wrong pictures on the website. The ONLY thing the real pictures and the website pictures have in common is that they have the exact same headboard -- clearly the pictures were provided by this rip-off operation.

nytraveler, I'd agree that rock bottom prices would normally tip off a person not to expect much. But I just went to Expedia and checked it out -- yes they still offer this place. Weekend nights range from $259 to $459 a night. That's hardly a tip off that it is the kind of place it is!

Wow!

I'm assuming then it is probably a good idea to avoid Craigslist.com for accommodations?

If Expedia is including this place at those price I would try to include them in the suit. (But have never read their small print - I assume it says all info is the responsibility of the establishment - not Expedia.)

Here's another idea.

Send all this info to the New York Post. They'll cover anything that will sell papers - and with all those Page 6 problems are desperate for "news" that won't get them in legal trouble.

nytraveler, The New York Times has already done a story so it isn't like it isn't already in the mainstream media.

So it has been established that this is an operation ILLEGALLY operating as a hotel, according to New York housing authorites. And Expedia has been notified of that fact as well as the incredible misrepresentation of the place. And yet Expedia continues to act as an agent for them? Somehow my faith in Expedia just dropped to the zero level.
I'm not saying they need to stand behind every place 100% -- but handling an illegal and unlicensed hotel? What gives?

Remember the infamous Yourstay.com? Yourstay is now Woogo.com - so, another huge scam under a different name.

This was mentioned last year here:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34651499

I am curious, if something had been done illegally, why is this place still in business?

Expedia is down at the moment. BBB doesn't have anything on WooGo.

What is the hotel name as it listed on Expedia? I hope it will work at some point!

Yourstay was in business for quite a while despite all the negative reviews. If you do a search on the Europe forum on Yourstay, you'll get quite a number of threads.

I suppose because of the negative word on "yourstay" is out, they change their name to WooGo while at the same time still renting out the same flithy apts to unsuspecting tourists?

I think there was some investigation in UK into yourstay, but I wasn't able to find anything on google.

It is amazing that sites like Expedia would still have affiliations with WooGo.

And if one reads the reviews (both on Expedia and Tripadvisor), it's obvious that the 5* reviews "Wow! The place is Great" are probably fake... There are some posted photos on tripadvisor which were as bad as the ones by ibdkb.

Expedia was working for me just a few minutes ago. It is listed as WooGo Apartments and that's where I saw those weekend prices I mentioned above. It still shows pictures of a wonderful place, and claims that 17 out of 25 reviewers recommended it, but when you click "see the most recent reviews", nothing happens.

Jdbkb

The following link may assist you.

It is for Interactivecorp, this is the parent company for Expedia.

Maybe you should send details of your complaint to the CEO.

www.iac.com

HTH

OK, Expedia is working now. I searched for "woogo" in NY and got 5 places listed, ALL OF THEM advertised as APARTMENTS not hotels, so the first statement by the OP that they were converted into 3* is not exactly true.

I'm not saying they are good, and not saying the OP is wrong, and I'm sorry s/he had a bad experience, but this is not a reason to announce that this is illegal business.

Why a reservation was made through Expedia? Is is because this website offered lower rates? What if you'd get that same apartment through Priceline even less expensive? Would you say you got what you paid for?

Have you filed a complaint with BBB? Strangely, they don't have anything on WooGo.

Oh, and by the way this is a one-time poster.

Hello, AreYouSure, have you found the URL for marketing department in Monte Carlo? I saw it by clicking on your nickname.

What's going on here today?

Hello FainaAgain

No, unfortunately, I never found a link for MC marketing dept.

Go to Trip Advisor and see what the reviews say. I'm not sure what the post above meant about 5 fake ones, but the only ones I see are all about as negative as this one.
Faina, you seem to indicate there's nothing wrong with this place. Did you at least read the link to the New York Times article? Yes, it is an "illegal" operation according to the New York Housing authority (at least I believe that was the agency quoted in the article).

Neopolitan-

You misread my post. I meant that on tripadvisor, most reviews were as negative as ibdkb's, but then there are some really positive reviews - which makes me think those are fake reviews.

Faina-
Whether this operation is legal or illegal, I don't know. But this is surely a scam - posting impressive photos on the web (including on its own website) and then the apt looks nothing like it.

As I've mentioned in my posts above, WooGo is the new YourStay, and the scams are the same. YourStay also posted fabulous pics of the "apts" when the actual rented ones looked nothing like that.

yk, no, that's what I thought you said, but I went to TripAdvisor and now I can't find ANY positive reviews. That was my point. Perhaps they thought they were fake too and removed them?