No rain check from Hotwire
Question: What happens when you’ve already paid for a hotel room but you can’t stay in it?
I recently booked a weekend at The Ocean Club Beach Resort in Palm Beach, Fla., through Hotwire.com. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse the Friday before I was supposed to arrive, and we had heavy rains. I called Hotwire and asked if they would allow me to take a rain check for another weekend. I was told, “No.”
So my friend and I drove down there in the storm. When we checked in, the power was out and the computer system was down. The oceanfront room we reserved was not available because rain was leaking into the rooms and saturating the carpets. We were given a parking-lot view on the third floor. When we got off the elevator, we found it was about 80 degrees and there was a very bad odor — probably because of the power outage earlier that evening.
At 3:30 a.m. we were awakened by a leak from the ceiling. We packed our belongings and went down to the lobby to check out of the hotel, only to find a stream of water flowing from the lobby ceiling, a terrible leak in the roof, and three trash cans in the middle of the floor to catch the water.
I called American Express and asked them to dispute the room charge because of the weather and the condition of the hotel. I have also called the hotel manager directly to discuss this experience with him and he has failed to return any of my phone calls. American Express won’t return my money. Can you help me?
– Jennifer Holland, Lake Mary, Fla.
Answer: Hotwire should have given you a rain check, not a refund.
Here’s the thing about rooms booked through so-called “opaque” Web sites like Hotwire: You get a deep discount but you don’t find out the name of the hotel until you pay. And your purchase is nonrefundable.
You knew that when you made your reservation. Sites like Hotwire make you check an “I’ve read the terms and conditions” box several times during the booking process to make double-sure you know that you’ll never see your money again.
But does Hotwire guarantee anything in return? Yes and no.
Hotwire handles its hotels a lot like car rental companies handle their cars. Which is to say, it offers a “class” of hotel based on a star rating, the same way a car rental company offers a “class” of vehicle at a particular rate.
There’s an implied warranty that these properties will be up to standards, right?
Not exactly.
Have a look at Hotwire’s “Terms of Use” on its Web site. If you read carefully, it becomes clear that the company makes no promise that you can actually sleep in the room. The contract specifically says that Hotwire makes no warranties of “satisfactory quality or fitness for a particular purpose.” The way I read it, that means it can sell you a nonrefundable room that’s underwater.
Just as an aside, I wonder how many travelers actually take the time to read these dense legal contracts. If more did, would it affect where they booked their next trip?
I can understand why you would want to dispute your credit card charges, but that should be the next-to-last resort, before hiring an attorney. Contact the hotel first. Phoning the manager was a good idea, but you might have tried a letter or e-mail, too. You could have — and should have — also enlisted the help of Hotwire, who acted as your travel agent when you booked your room and is supposed to be your advocate.
American Express was correct to deny your dispute. But Hotwire should have contacted the hotel when you called asking for a rain check, to find out if it was still accepting guests. I mean, how hard would it have been for the phone agent to look up the weather report and determine that the hotel was about to be ransacked by the mother of all storms?
I contacted Hotwire on your behalf, and it issued a voucher for the equivalent of one night’s stay at a different hotel. A spokesman also said Hotwire no longer sells rooms at The Ocean Club Beach Resort in Palm Beach because the property is undergoing “extensive” renovations.
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