Hotels.com — A clear case of cheating / fraud.

Address:	400709
Website:	www.hotels.com

On the outset, I would like to bring to your notice the horrendous experience I had with a recent hotel booking made from your website.

The booking details are as follows:
Booking made : 3rd August 2016.
Booking Confirmation No. :[protected], Colmar Beach Resort, Goa. Check-in 3st, Dec 2016 / Check-out 1st Jan, 2017.

I drove down from Mumbai to Goa (about 600 KMS). Upon reaching the property I was informed that there is no booking under my name. This came as complete a shock to me.
I had booked 2 Rooms, and your booking receipt clearly mentioned that the booking is "paid for and confirmed".

What is more appalling is the fact that all this happened even while I got a reminder 4 days prior to my check-in date, 27th Dec'16, i.e. ! This clearly indicates that the payment was taken from me and no details and no money was ever transferred to the hotel. A clear case of cheating / fraud. This is the busiest time of the year in Goa and it is close to impossible to find accommodation during this time of the year. Even if one finds a place, it will only come with an extremely hefty and exorbitant price tag!

We reached GOA around 12 pm and were stranded with no place to go. Upon calling your customer care ([protected]), we had to hold the call for more than an hour before we could get a concrete response. We were a group of three people and everyone called from their respective phones to save on time and get this sorted ASAP and get on with our vacation. Screenshots of the call times have been attached for your reference.

All this went in absolute vain as none of your executives were able to help even after almost 2 Hours of our wasted time just holding calls. They kept saying that we will give you a refund, which was a pathetic way of avoiding the situation, rather than finding a solution to this whole mess you put us through. By the time we finished contacting your customer care (with zero result) It was already past 4 PM and we were exhausted. We eventually had to make our own arrangements.

The situation has been so disgusting that your customer care did not have the updated contact number of the Hotel. I had to give them the number so they could contact the hotel. Your staff got no response from the hotel after they contacted the hotel reservation. Eventually, I made the hotel manager speak to your Cust. care executive. The hotel manager bluntly and categorically informed your executive on phone that hotel.com can take care of their guest and the hotel will not be able to help since they have not received any booking details whatsoever from the website.

This has really been an utter shocking and terrifying experience. Not only has it caused us a lot of inconvenience, it has caused mental stress, trauma and has completely spoiled our New years eve plans.

I would want to ask for the complete refund, along with additional compensation for the mental trauma that has been caused during all this havoc we had to go through.