irishescaper

What action can I take with Orbitz and/or the hotel due to Orbitz cancelling my confirmed hotel reservation.

Details: While searching via Orbitz recently, I was able to book a room and received a confirmation for an Athens hotel during the Olymplc period next August. I was amazed at my luck, given the high demand and rooms being reserved by the Olympics, until I received a phone call from Orbitz that my confirmed reservation was being cancelled. Reason: "due to a technical gliche with the hotel's own reservation system", the room is uanvailable and cannot be booked. Thus, thus, Orbitz will be cancelling my reservation!!
What can I do??
Thanks!

hotandsweaty

it sounds to me that you never really "had" a reservation and you should not feel bad.

that said, after 9/11 orbitz was the one provider who gave us grief, and made us spend a year of our time trying to recoup the flights we booked with them for a trip that was to begin 9/13 from new york, so good luck if you are trying to "get anything" from them.

expedia has been much more reiable for us and we are frequent travelers

BeachBoi

I am guessing you may have no recourse.The Olympics is a or the premier "special event" at which times hotels seem to claim they have policies which supersede all their other policies.But nonetheless Good Luck.

JaneS

I had a similar experience with Orbitz except they NEVER called me to tell me the reservation had not gone through. So my hubby and I show up at our hotel in Aspen for the Fourth of July weekend with no reservations. I take responsibilty for never calling the hotel directly to confirm the reservation but I do feel that Orbitz was also to blame. When I called Orbitz to complain, they said that they are not really "travel agents." Their role is to just inform a hotel that a person wants a reservation but that does not mean that the room is really reserved...even if you receive a confirmation code from Orbitz. It is up to each individual hotel to either accept or refuse the reservation. So in your case, it sounds like the Athens hotel denied the request and Orbitz is letting you know about it.

I agree with others- there's not a whole lot you can do. I called to complain to Orbitz b/c we ended up paying for a more expensive room (and out of town) since all the hotels were booked for the weekend. They refused to take any responsibilty. This is the second time I have received such unreliable and shoddy service from Orbitz (first time was after 9/11) and I've just stopped using them.

Good luck to you- hopefully, you can find something else for your trip. Maybe you could post on the Europe board for advice on finding a reasonable hotel....
JaneS

Curious

irishescaper,

Sounds to me like you should SUE THEM!!!!!!

So it didn't work out. Try something else. It's not the end of the world.

I've used Orbitz a few times with absolutely no problems. I have an idea that many problems, (not necessarily yours) are created by the customers.

Curious

PCHsmiles

I had a similar experience with Orbitz - after flawlesss service.

I arrived at the airport, only to find Orbitz had failed to complete the transaction with the airline, after its request, and the airline cancelled my flight. Orbitz agreed it was their error.

I had to fly the next day. When I asked Orbitz to at least reimburse my wasted taxi fare, they agreed, then declined. After numerous back and forth messages, Orbitz said they would give me a $50 credit on my next purchase. When I tried to use that credit, Orbits said no, I had to pay the fare, then apply after the trip for the credit, and it would take 8 weeks. I told Orbitz that if they refused to give me the credit up front I would no longer use their service.

Orbitz told me to take a hike, and even now they send me emails about specials. My suggestion: forget about it!!! Use or don't use Orbitz - but do NOT get angry and lose sleep over it. Threatening to sue or to take any action whatsoever isn't worth the breath.

Use or don't use Orbitz, whatever is easier for you.

travelbug18

I agree w/ you... I've never had a problem w/ Orbitz and most people I know use orbitz because of this...

If you feel as though you deserve some kind of assistance, feel free to call them -- their customer service is pretty good...

You also have to take into consideration the fact that you are booking a hotel, online for the olympics...circumstances are a little different here than what they might be usually.

E

PCHsmiles, I seem to remember a time when threatening to take away one's business was effective! Now, businesses (and not just in travel) don't seem to care, I think because they've left flunkies in charge of customer service, and these low level employees aren't trained to think of the company's long-term interests, they're trained to get us off the phone as fast as possible. So consumers aren't loyal to companies any more--why should they be?-- and companies have to spend big $$ to lure them, a cost they pass on in the form of rising prices and/or lower levels of service. Who wins?

CalgirlSusan

When will people learn that trying to get something for nothing is more likely to produce problems? I for one am tired of hearing people who are surprised because discounters don't follow through or can't quite match some of the deals they claim they can do. It is just like the people who use Priceline to get special discounts and then cry because they had to cancel their trip and can't get a refund.

leslie

In defense of Orbitz (in this particular circumstance), I just reviewed a co-worker's business itinerary booked through Expedia. Hotel, air and car rental were booked as 3 separate items, and there was a specific disclaimer saying that the hotel reservation had not been confirmed by Expedia at the time of booking. There was, however, a confirmation number provided by Expedia. A subsequent email message was attached to my co-worker's itinerary stating that the hotel had been confirmed (Sheraton), and there was an additional confirmation number provided by the hotel.

Is it possible that certain hotel reservation systems are not immediately linked to Expedia's, Orbitz's, Travelocity's, etc. websites, thus creating a non-confirmed reservation?

My own experiences with Orbitz have been wonderful. Prior to 911, I had made airline reservations through Orbitz on Sabena Airlines. Shortly thereafter, (7 days prior to my departure) Sabena filed for bankruptcy. Individuals that had made and paid for airline reservations directly through Sabena became creditors of Sabena. I don't know how many cents on the dollar that each ticketholder received after the bankruptcy, however, I received a full refund from Orbitz 7 days after I returned my airline tickets via certified mail. Orbitz also was able to get me a reservation on Swiss Air (also in bankruptcy at the time) for the same price that I paid for my Sabena ticket. And, this specific fare was approximately $300 less than Swiss Air's best price for the same itinerary. I was initially annoyed that I had to out of pocket money for a second airline ticket and that a ledger transaction could not be made by Orbitz, but I was informed by Orbitz that this was the easiest way to maintain a paper trail, and the second reservation did have a separate confirmation number.

Persistence does pay off. At the time, I was calling Orbitz almost a dozen times a day trying to obtain status information. I know that Orbitz keeps a folio for each customer's reservation and each telephone conversation is fully documented. I was able to get a copy of the documentation when I submitted my request for a full credit. Although, I was frazzled at the time, the process was smooth, and I was satisfied with the turn around. Initially, I was told that it could take up to 3 billing cycles for the credit to appear on my credit card statement. As I stated before, the credit appeared within 7 days, as I am able to see my credit card transactions online.

irishescaper, should anything like this ever occur to you again, you should always ask what the alternatives are and how you will be compensated for the error. You should not accept "no" for an answer. Had I received the subsequent telephone call that you did, and being that you were able to interact with a live person, I would have requested that the customer service person you spoke with provide you with assistance including putting you in touch with a reservationist to help you acquire hotel accommodations. At this point, you are not out of pocket anything financially, except for wasted time and research. If you have not already made reservations, I think you should contact Orbitz again (preferable the CEO), in writing this time (snail mail, certified mail) detailing the events, and asking for immediate assistance acquiring a hotel reservation. However, if there is a disclaimer similar to the one I mentioned above, you may very well be wasting your time. As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, there very well maybe a disclaimer regarding reservations in Athens during the Olympics. You already stated that you were "amazed" at your luck securing a room during this time period.

Christina

I don't understand why you are saying Orbitz cancelled your confirmed reservation. I have never used them because I don't care for their interface nor results, but you never had a reservation, that's the point. And if they aren't lying, Orbitz wasn't the one who had the problem, it was the hotel. So that Athens hotel confirmed with Orbitz and then later there was a problem and they told Orbitz you didn't have a room

It seems they have pretty good customer service if they called you up to tell you this. I don't understand why you think you are owed anything or that you are disgruntled with Orbitz. Even you admit that you never expected to get a reservation and weren't counting on it. Life isn't perfect, this doesn't merit a mention in anyone's terrible events list and as for what "action" you can take against them -- geez, get on with your life.

eileenleft

So always confirm with airline and hotel? I didn't know. Thanks.

irishescaper

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll keep in mind your advice. Also, Orbitz is offering a new Concierge service that (apparently) provides custominzed and personal assistance. Having been offered this option as a user of Orbits, maybe this option will work-out for me.

Cira

I applaud those who go with the different discount companies, but I personally think that my airline and hotel reservations (read: my vacation and vacation time) is too precious to risk. I do everything myself, I shop around and if eventually I end up paying a little more, I'd rather do it. Sometimes one week a year is the only time some people have. The extra money I spend is worth my peace of mind.

travelbug18

Christina -- You don't like Orbitz's interface or their results??? Have you ever used them, even once?? Most people that I've talked to have been relatively happy w/ the results that they've recieved. I'm just curious to see why you don't like them.

I had no idea about the Concierge thing... sounds pretty cool, I'll have to use it next time I plan a vacation.

ahlizeee

i bought a ticket to thailand from orbitz and later on discover they are more expensive by 150 dollars. their customer service are no good either, giving me wrong information when my paid ticket was cancelled in their website itinerary.

thats their usual reply, they are not airline and they are not travel agent. if they are not none of the above, what type of business are they??? we pay service fee for them to the work for us

in order not to waste my effort in complaining
I WILL SETTLE NOT TO BUY FROM THEM EVER

its my first time to deal will them (orbitz)

Christina

This is really old, it's coincidental I saw it -- but yes, I most certainly have used Orbitz site quite a lot. I wouldn't have said that if I didn't, I don't just make things up, if that's what you are implying. I've used it enough to know I don't like it (certainly several dozens of times). I have not bought anything from them because they are not the cheapest (I always compare to other places), and I don't like their entire setup, as I said.

sam

This thread is 2 years old - please let it go.

donco

Even though old, the question of reliability is of great interest to many travelers. I'm actually new to booking travel so the thread is still timely. After 10 years of wonderful service, our travel agent closed up shop. We just went to San Fran, we used Orbitz and everything was exactly as represented. In the "everyone is different" category, I found Orbitz more staightforward to use than Expedia! I still called the airlines and the hotel just to confirm that we were in their systems.Is that good advice for any traveller???

Patrick

Well my personal opinion is I always feel safer arriving at a hotel with a confirmed reservation direct from the hotel itself rather than from Orbitz, Expedia, or any other "agency". It would be different if normally these other places were saving me money, but so far every price I've found on line from them I've been able to match or beat when I call the hotel direct or even check on their own online reservation system.