[TKMCE]

Being bumped off is more common on airlines so when it comes to hotels it is a little bit of shock. Never the less it does happen to qute a few people, not just to you and me.

Find below one such case which hit the headlines then. Link is from India Today but it was widely reported elsewhere as well. Again reason for this case can be many...

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/i.../1/133883.html.

vasnthn21, I do agree with you about responsibilty etc, but while consumer protection laws are good in India, there is still a long way to go compared to many other countries. Knowing all that a little caution from your end does not hurt. As for saying the portal in question is unprofessional, the feedback in this merged thread seems to indicate that opinion is divided on that score and it may be one of the better ones around.

My advice still remains the same. In peak travel times (and that includes Singapore as well in periods like Chinese New Year), it pays to cross check your booking directly with the hotel if made through an intermediary.

[windsurfer]

Thanks folks. I guess this not as uncommon as i thought. I need to be bit careful in future. Well, this will serve me a good reminder always

Coming to actions, I have posted my review in few online review forums and submitted this to Council For Fair Business Practices (http://ccrc.in/index.php).

Also, planning to post this on http://www.nationalconsumerhelpline.in/ if I do not see a response from above.

[blorebuddy]

Friends
I have booked hotel rooms through GOIBIBO with steep discount. Will it be honored?
I am scared after reading the stories here.

[alpha1]

Any idea about sites like kayak, flightnetwork, tripsta show me nearly 40-50% less than what I am seeing on Cleartrip/yatra/makemytrip.

Are these site legit?

[Zezé]

Frankly, I'd rather book directly with the airlines or the hotel. Last year I had booked a double room in the Karnataka Tourism hotel in Bijapur through one of the travel portals, because it offered a discount as compared to the official rate.

However, on arrival after driving all the way from Mumbai, I was told by the management that only a single room had been reserved. The manager was kind enough to accommodate both me and my wife, but for the record made me sign the register for only one person.

Appears that the portal was fudging to offer a discount without its commission being affected.

[alpha1]

Yeah, so I decided to take a plunge and tried to book, it turns out that just before the final payment the site says that tickets not available at the listed prices!

Surprisingly this phenomenon (about 50% less price) occurred only for the Jet Airway flights. For the rest of the operators, all websites showed nearly the same price for the flights.

Ultimately I got exasperated and booked directly via Flight website.

[adithya.kp]

Wow. team bhp has some many interesting threads under shifting gears.
I had the same experience with travelguru. Every time I called, travelguru assured its confirmed. The hotel guys kept telling us it was not reserved for us. Finally we reached the hotel, who told the whole hotel was booked for some wedding. to our surprise, travelguru insisted we take refund. they didnt even have the courtesy to arrange some hotel. finally after a lot of calls, they arranged a below average hotel.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Looks straight forward. The entire property was booked out for the wedding. Either the hotel didnt inform Travelguru or Travelguru ddnt block out the dates from their system Either way, end result, you suffered. These things can happen.
But again as a mattter of good practice especially on ultra peak dates like the ones you travelled, it is better that you reconfirm your bookings directly with the hotel. Let me again repeat, for some of the smaller independent properties the electronic booking confirmations may not be always seamless as you think. Not speaking about any specific property or portal.

[ALTIMAed]

Sharing my experience with Make my Trip

On 28th November 2017, my friend and myself were to start our drive from Kolkata to Delhi in my Dzire AGS (AMT) Diesel. The plan was to leave Kolkata at 5 AM, stop over at Varanasi. 29th Nov start from Varanasi at 6 AM and stop over at Greater Noida (I would spend the night at my Uncle's place, my friend would proceed by bus / taxi / auto to his residence at Civil Lines, Delhi). 30th November, I would depart Greater Noida for my parents residence at Dwarka.

With recommendations from regulars (Tbhpians and non Tbhpians), the most appropriate hotel was and I say is Hotel Kaushik. Did the booking through makemytrip.com, on 19th November, got a confirmation sms and email, hence was pretty confident, the booking part was settled.

Through Saskar (fellow Bhpian), I obtained the mobile number of the manager of Hotel Kaushik. On 20th I called him, just to reconfirm our reservation. To my horror, he told me that the entire hotel was booked for a marriage party and that he had informed the same to all his online hotel portal partners. Makemytrip did not inform me of this development.

20/11 I immediately called up the call center, the agent told me that he shall revert back to me, even after 24 hours no response.

21/11 No response from MMT. I called again, assigned to a different agent, repeated my story, she told me she shall get back, this time I said "I have all the time in the world, I shall hold on till I get a solution". She kept me on hold for about 5 mins, then told me a senior agent has been assigned to handle my case, the senior agent is in touch with Hotel Kaushik and shall get back to me. She gave me the name of the senior agent. I waited the whole day, no called from the so called senior agent.

22/11 The senior agent calls me and apologies for the goof up, but tries to give me a very good news that they have upgraded our booking to Hotel Hindustan International (a 4* property), with complimentary buffet breakfast. The breakfast would be of no use to us as we intended to depart by 6 AM. I had already seen this hotel's location on google maps, it was way into the heart of Varanasi. We needed a place bang on the highway (intended to check in by 7 PM, freshen up, have dinner and leave the next day by 6 AM). With no other option, I had to agree to this option.

27/11 All set to leave tomorrow morning. Casually I checked my booking on MMT, to my utter horror, I see that my booking for Hotel Hindustan International had been cancelled! Immediately called up the call center, the agent was very helpful and assured me that the reservation was valid. I told him to send a confirmation email, which he did. Uff tension till the last moment.

In order to approach the hotel, we followed google maps with directed us into Mughalsarai from the highway. It took us 1 hr 45 mins to reach the hotel from the highway, having reached the hotel at 6.45 PM. Traffic was really horrible. Check in was smooth. It took a good lot of haggling with the manager to make sure they pack us a decent breakfast spread.

No doubt, the hotel was good, but the experience with MMT was really bad.

On the return journey, contacted the manager of Hotel Kaushik, transferred Rs 950 by paytm (non ac room).

For all those traveling on the Etawah Kolkata route, the best stay option is Hotel Kaushik. The food there is fantastic. Rooms though basic are good for a night.

Hotel Kaushik's Manager Yogesh - +91 9452631237 (same number is used to receive paytm payment).

Thumbs down MMT, I have lost confidence in your services.

[sumeethaldankar]

I was checking out homestay/hotel rooms on one of the national highway and was surprised to see check in time like 10:00 AM and check out time similar to that. Does that mean one cannot arrive at such destinations before said times or it is just that the billings starts from mentioned time? If one was travelling by a vehicle and not by a overnight train/bus there is little possibility (unless one lives close by to the hotel/stay) to check in at say 10:00 AM. So how does the check in check out works? It's been a while I have been at a hotel to stay etc so I am totally unaware of the process.

Thanks.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I was checking out homestay/hotel rooms on one of the national highway and was surprised to see check in time like 10:00 AM and check out time similar to that. Does that mean one cannot arrive at such destinations before said times or it is just that the billings starts from mentioned time? If one was travelling by a vehicle and not by a overnight train/bus there is little possibility (unless one lives close by to the hotel/stay) to check in at say 10:00 AM. So how does the check in check out works? It's been a while I have been at a hotel to stay etc so I am totally unaware of the process.

Thanks.

Ok Chat GPT explained it to me. Check in means the earliest one can arrive at the hotel and check out means the maximum time slot till which you can stay at the hotel. Does not mean you have to arrive or leave at exact same time. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Ok Chat GPT explained it to me. Check in means the earliest one can arrive at the hotel and check out means the maximum time slot till which you can stay at the hotel. Does not mean you have to arrive or leave at exact same time. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.

You can arrive any time you want but a room won't be available to you before the check-in time.
And you have to vacate the room at or before the check-out time.
Generally, check out time is an hour or two before the check-in time for the hotel to tidy he room for the next booking.

Of course, exceptions are always there. You can call the hotel to ask for an early check-in (possible if rooms are vacant) and you can also ask the hotel for a late check-out (possible if there are no immediate bookings).