Just returned from a trip to Key West. After much searching I booked a Travelocity Best Buy hotel reservation for the Westin Beach Resort in Key Largo. Thought the price was too good to be true and it was. When we arrived after traveling for 14 hours they said they were overbooked and could not honor reservation. They booked us into the Howard Johnson at Key Largo which was a dump. Westin provided a full dinner at their Treetops restarant to soothe us. I suspect we were bumped because we were only staying one night. Anyone have an opinion?

Hi, Janet!
I will be interested to hear if you get any feedback from Travelocity about this. I had a different experience with my reservation with this company... no problems on checking-in, but, at checking-out time, the Day's Inn we had spent a pleasant night with said that they would not honour the Travelocity price guarantee, and that we would just have to pay the going rate, despite our written confirmation. When we emailed Travelocity about this (several times) we didn't even get a response. Hope you have better luck!

This is quite an interesting story. This is why I always try and book directly with the hotel. With all of these travel web sites one has to wonder which one is for real and what will be the bottom line once you check in and check out.

Janet,

Sounds like you were "walked", which is the term for when a hotel is overbooked and they must send a confirmed guest to a hotel down the road. I don't think you were singled out b/c of the Travelocity reservation, but rather the hotel overbooked figuring at least X% wouldn't show up, but unfortunately for you, there were no cancellations.

Would it be safe to assume that you checked-in late at nite OR was there a major convention/attraction in town?

When you are "walked", you're supposed to be taken to a hotel of equivalent quality, which is a gray area.

Did they give you the room at the HoJo at no charge (as well as not charging you for the stay at the Westin?)

If you paid anything for this stay at either hotel, i would call my cc company and have them withhold payment, as you were not given what you paid for.

ttt

I have booked hotel reservations through Travelocity a couple times. Once was ok, the second time was not. The hotel was listed as a 3 star on the site, but was definitely not a 3 star property. The rooms smelled musty, the furniture was old, the night table had cigarette burns on it, and the bathroom door knob fell off in my hand, trapping me in the bathroom. When I complained to the hotel, their response was "Oh, sorry". I complained to Travelocity and got a form letter response.

I have used Yahoo travel about 10 or 12 times to make hotel reservations and never had any problems.

As I said in the last post... the Best Buy rates (prepaid) are HRN bookings via Travelocity.
There is always a slight risk that you could be walked at a hotel. It has nothing to do with the agency or online tool you used.

There is another current post lamenting problems with this company... potential customers might do well to read it, also, before choosing to deal with them!

ttt

I thought that if you booked through Travelocity, that you were immediately charged for your hotel, airline tickets, etc - i.e, you prepaid vs. just confirmed.

Tvlpro, you mention HRN -- how is it affiliated with Travelocity? Does Travelocity then resell to HRN?

Thanks for all the feedback. I have tried to post to travelocity message board under the reviews for Key Largo Westin and they have not posted my message! I failed to say in my original post here that we were not late arrivals- we were there at about 4:30 and posted checkin time is 4:00 I believe.

I just booked a hotel with Orbitz. What have people's experiences been with them? (Hopefully, better than Travelocity.)

Hi again, Janet!
I was so heartened by the interest in Travelocity shown on this and another simultaneous post that I sent an email (my fourth) to the company mentioning these complaints and repeating that I had been waiting seven months to even hear from them about my problem. Amazingly, I got a reply half an hour later to say they would look into it.... that was a week ago, and since then I have heard nothing further. I couldn't recommend them, even though I must admit that a second reservation made with them around the same time was effected without incident.

Alan,

where did you find the e-mail address to contact travelocity?
Thanks.

Hi again, Janet!
Travelocity's email address was given on the original printout of the booking form which we took with us and showed to Day's Inn when we checked in... it was this confirmation we relied on when disputing the bill at check-out time. There are phone numbers also... but from Australia that's not so convenient. Here are some details:
[email protected]
Phone 800-477-8540 or 210-531-5871.
Best of luck!

ttt

Travelocity is a subsidiary of Hotel Reservations Network (HRN).

No, Travelocity is not a subsidiary of HRN. Travelocity is owned by Sabre, which is one of the main Global Distribution Systems (travel agent booking sources). Certain hotels participate in the Best Buy program via HRN, but this is optional for the hotels.

Lots of negative talk about Travelocity.. just wondering about Expedia. Anyone had any negative issues with Expedia? Just booked a trip thru Expedia for October. Trying to get a heads up.

Willie, although I never actually used expedia, I know there have been several recent discussions on this company in the postings here of late.... a search (above) should turn up a few for you.