Reservations at Wyndham Old San Juan? Read this!

[GiniB]

This is a long post, so bear with me:

 

My husband and I (we'll call us the Jones') made reservations back in August through Expedia at the WOSW for Jan. '05 for two nights pre-cruise.

 

Our friends (the 'Smiths') made a reservation about an hour later for just one night pre-cruise at the WOSW.

 

Mrs. Smith read on this board about the changeover from Wyndham to Sheraton and told me about it.

 

Being overly-cautious as I am, I called Sheraton's central reservations to see if they had our reservations. They said they didn't and suggested I call Expedia. They also told me that they had no rooms available for my dates of stay.

 

I called Expedia, who put me on hold while they called: 1) Sheraton's central reservations, 2)the hotel directly and 3) Wyndham. Sheraton's central reservation confirmed what they had told me (no reservation and no availability), the hotel confirmed this, and Wyndham said they had already transferred all the reservations and there was nothing they could do.

 

The good news is that, for once, being anal paid off (sort of). Me and my DH would have shown up in Puerto Rico at 10 pm on a Saturday night and been told we had no hotel room. Now that won't happen.

 

The bad news is that we now won't be staying at the same hotel as our friends the Smiths and, in fact, don't have a place to stay in San Juan at all.

 

The weird news is that when my friend, Mrs. Smith, called Expedia, she found out that her reservation HAD been transferred over and her room was reserved and secure.

 

I'm so mad at all of them now I don't know what to do. Apparantly the Sheraton does have rooms available for the second night we were going to stay, but not for the first. And now the rate has also gone up $25 a night.

 

I guess the moral is, if you have a reservation at Wyndham Old San Juan you should immediately verify that your reservation "rolled over" to the Sheraton system.

 

So I guess I'll either have to fork out $300 a night somewhere else, or stay in a roach motel somewhere...lovely thought.

 

Sorry about the long post...I'm still venting!

[thereuare]

Gini,

 

I would fax Expedia your confirmation, explain to them that the hotel does not have your reservation and to fix it. If they tell you that the hotel is now sold-out, have them find you a room at that property (hotels overbook all the time and Expedia has a better chance at getting them to do this for you than you do o yoru own) or get you an equivalent hotel at the same price. If they refuse, explain that you have had these reservations for months and since that time rates have gone up... you expect them to book you at a new hotel and make up the difference.

 

What i don't understand is that i assume your credit card was charged for this stay, no? Did Expedia say that they would credit your account or had you not yet been charged?

[GiniB]

Thanks for the advice, but I don't think they'll do it. I've spoken to two of their representatives and they said there was nothing they could do.

 

The said they would refund my payment to my credit card (they had charged the full amount at the time I made the reservation).

[thereuare]

Ask to speak to a supervisor and explain the situation. If they're unyielding, give the following hypothetical scenario:

 

You have plane tickets that you bought for $300/RT months in advance and during a sale. You purchased the tickets, were charged for them, received a confirmation, and the day you show up for your flight the airline states that they have no record of your reservation/purchase.... but they'll be happy to let you pay the 'walk-up' rate of $1200.

 

Your purchase with Expedia is a binding contract... you paid them and they will deliver the goods you purchased, subject to the terms of the contract. At the last minute they can not suddenly cancel your reservation as it causes you irreperable harm (ie- higher prices due to the late purchase)... i don't think it says anywhere in their terms that they have the right to cancel your reservation at any time (otherwise hotels would simply give new reservations to the higher paying customers and cancel the reservations of lower paying customers).

 

If you want to puruse this i think you will have success, although it may take a little work. You may also have to get your credit card company involved, but if you have posted all the facts correctly and not left out any information (i'm not saying that you would do this intentionally), then Expedia's answer of "there's nothing we can do" is unacceptable... once you paid them and they accepted payment and delivered you a confirmation, they took on a responsibility. If they can no longer deliver on that responsibility, they have an obligation to make it right (ie- find you an equivalent or better hotel for the same price).

 

If you have a question about any of the above feel free to ask and if you pursue it update us on the outcome.

[GiniB]

Okay, I've emailed and received a reply. Basically it said, "tough luck." They made it sound like it was MY fault. They claim that there is no way they can get me a room at the Sheraton now and that they have no obligation to find me a room elsewhere at any price other than the ones posted on their website.

 

I assure you, things happened exactly as I put in my post. If I had not called them to check on my reservation, I would have been even more screwed than I am now (had I shown up in San Juan with confirmation in hand and told there were no rooms). I am absolutely flabbergasted that this could happen this way. I know that they have an obligation to me when I had a confirmed, prepaid reservation. But how do I convince them of that when they're stonewalling me?

 

They even had the nerve to insinuate that they did me the "favor" of refunding the full amount and not charging me the "usual" $25 cancellation fee. Arrrgh!

[thereuare]

You need to call and speak with a supervisor.

 

Emailing will not do it.

 

If the supervisor is not helpful, get their name and the phone number of the corporate offices and call the corporate offices directly (you can tell the corporate offices receptionist that you have an issue that isn't being handled by Customer Service and want to speak to the next level of support... usually an 'office of the president' has a second tier of customer service that handles 'escalated issues')

 

(told you it may take some work)

[GiniB]

Well, I did try to call. I asked for a supervisor and was told that the representative could not transfer me to a supervisor until after she tried to help me. So I explained the whole story to her. She then told me that she had to transfer me to their "sister affiliate," which had actually made my reservation. I waited online for a few minutes and eventually another person picked up who stated she was with "Worldwide Travel Exchange." I asked who they were and why I was transferred to them. She replied that they are an affiliate of Expedia and who was I and what was my issue. So I went through the whole story again. After listening to the whole thing she told me I would have to call Expedia directly...I explained that Expedia had transferred me to her and asked her if she could transfer me to a supervisor at Expedia. She said yes and that she'd stay on the line until I got one. Then she put me on hold...for 45 minutes. I finally got tired of waiting (I am at work and everyone's been covering for me while I try to get this straight) and hung up.

 

While I was on hold, I sent another email to the rep at Expedia asking for a number I could call to speak to a supervisor directly. I got a reply that said I'd have to call their main number and ask to speak to one.

 

I feel like I'm on a horrible merry-go-round. I will call again and this time try to get a corporate number I can call Monday. If that doesn't work I don't know what to do.

[GiniB]

I called Expedia again and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told (again) that I'd have to give the agent a chance to try to fix my problem before speaking to one (what is that all about!). So the agent got the full earload from me. I also asked for a corporate headquarters phone number and address. I was told (after she conferred with her supervisor) that they are not "allowed" to give out that information. I find that absolutely unbelievable.

 

Anyway. After about an hour of fighting, scratching, whining and screaming, they agreed to give me a $100 "good faith credit" toward another hotel in San Juan. So I made a reservation at the Radisson. Our travelling companions will still be staying at another hotel, but at least we have a place to stay.

 

Never did speak to a supervisor (they are much too important to talk to mere mortals) and never did get a corporate HQ number or address (I apparantly don't have a high enough security clearance for that).

 

I will never do business with Expedia again.

 

The end.

[thereuare]

Well at least you got something more from them. Hopefully the $100 is enough to defray some of the additional costs you are incurring by changing hotels.

 

I tried to send you an email with the corporate phone number but you dont' accept email thru this board. You can send me an email (put 'Expedia Problem' in the subject line so i know it's not spam) and i'll reply with the phone number of the corporate office.

[GiniB]

How funny! I tried to email you and your profile doesn't accept emails either. Mine is higini@yahoo.com. If you'll email me that phone number I will call them. I do appreciate all of your help and expertise.

 

Gini

[Hypo]

I have a reservation at the Sheraton OSJ that was booked when they were Wyndham. I just called the hotel directly and verified my reservation was still active.

 

The reservation personnel at the Sheraton OSJ checked and it is still valid. So we will have a room next week.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. I hope it works out and you have a wonderful vacation.

 

Mark

[missmissypie068]

Thanks to your post, I called Sheraton and guess what? No reservations. I made reservations for two rooms thru Wyndham's 1-800 #. I told the rep with Sheraton that there were posts online about similar things happening to others due to the change in ownership. I figured I was safe since our reservations were made directly with Wyndham, but no such luck. UGH.

 

A rep with Sheraton said she's going to check with someone with their corporate office and see what they can do and call me back. Not sure I should hold my breath on that happening.

 

It maybe time to try Priceline. I wanted to stay in the Old San Juan area. Anyone have any suggestions for places to stay in or close to Old San Juan??? I'm just glad we didn't show up after a long day of travel to find no room at the inn.

[missmissypie068]

Well, shock of shocks, the Sheraton rep called me back and said that we are in their system and that all is fine. Go figure! She said the problem seems to be in the difference of the computer systems with the change. She gave me new confirmation numbers and assured me that all was ok. Whew! Good news!

[GiniB]

I'm glad it worked out okay for you. As for me, I think I'm going to give up on "discount" travel services. I'll pay a little extra and book directly with the hotel from now on. This is the second time we've had issues like this happen. The first time was with a Priceline air reservation (several years ago) and now this.

 

Oh well! Life's lessons learned.

[ocngypz]

Expedia Inc. is owned by IAC (Inter Active Corp.). They also own hotels.com

 

Corporate HQ

13810 Southeast Eastgate Way, Suite 400

Bellevue, WA 98005

425-564-7200

 

Spencer Rascoff is vp of lodging for Expedia and hotels.com

[jerseygirl3]

You are not the only one who has been told they can't speak with a supervisor. This happened to me when I had an issue with Dell Computers. They absolutely refused to put a supervisor on the phone, stating the supervisor could not do anything further for me than the person I was talking to.

 

The part about your story that gets to me is that when you book a room with Expedia, if you cancel, you are automatically charged a cancellation fee ( I had to pay $26 fee for a reservation I made and then had to cancel...9 months in advance!). But they screw up your reservation and you have no room, and you have to jump through hoops to get them to do anything.

 

When you get that corporate number, I would really push the issue about what would have happened if you had arrived with confirmation in hand, but no room available. Then what would they have done?

[jcruise67]

My DW and I are confirmed at the Sheraton Old San Juan in April for two nights. I booked directly through the hotel internal reservations and spooke with Maria. I also requested a fax of my confirmation and received that as well. I did the same thing for our resrvations at the Wyndham Condado plaza for our post cruise stay for three nights. Central reservations won't fax you confirmation (Email Only), only the hotel internal reservations will. (Directly at the hotel)

 

NOTE: The wyndham Old San Juan was bought out by Starwoods Resorts (Sheraton) this past year. The hotel can be found through the starwood resorts web site or directly through sheraton web site by destination. Your best bet is to call the hotels directly to book your stay. Get the name of the employee/s you spoke with and your confirmation by phone. Then request the hotel internal reservations fax you a copy of the confirmation letter. This was hassel-free and the hotels were very acommodating.

 

John