We had booked On-line through travel agent M/s Cleartrip, Trip ID No.[protected] dated 26/4/24, a Deluxe Premium Room at “Welcome Resort”, Pahalgam, J&K for check-in on 25/6/24 and check-out on 26/6/24. The room tariff fully paid in advance was Rs. 12, 204/- (Partially paid through our own HDFC Points).
We two, my wife and me Sudhakara Rao V, reached the hotel around 1.30pm for check-in. The manager Mr.Shabir denied us from giving the room saying that as soon as the booking confirmation was sent to them by Cleartrip two months ago, the very next day they had cancelled the booking due to some problems of maintenance in their hotel. He also said that they had immediately informed M/s Cleartrip. However, on the contrary, we found that there were many guests waiting in the lobby for occupying rooms. He even showed one vacant room stating that their rooms were not fully operational, though we found it okay for occupation. We later noticed that they were busy allotting rooms to guests who had directly booked with them.
On enquiry, why we were not informed earlier, he said he did not have our contact details (neither contact no. or email ID) as Cleartrip do not share these details with them except for the customer name. He also said that the problem is now between Cleartrip and the customer. Hence there is nothing to do with them nor on the issue. He put all the blame on Cleartrip for not keeping the customer informed or for having taken any alternate corrective actions.
After an hour of heated arguments, he suggested 2 hotels known to them.
We were literally pushed out to fend for ourselves. It took us more than 2 hrs with continuous traffic jams, to reach one of the hotels suggested by them which was meant to be better than the other. The hotel was under construction, uncouth and the room offered to us was not to our booking standard. The room offered was in fourth floor, no A/C nor fan and was not suitable too. The infrastructure, ambience and the dining area were dirty & far below average. The accommodation was not worth the amount we paid for “Welcome Resort”. We refused to occupy it.
We lost our peace of mind, our valuable day time and our sightseeing bookings for the day. We had lot of mental trauma as we were left to fend for ourselves. Next day, as the Governor was visiting, they had closed the tourist spots. Our trip to the famous Pahalgam tourism got wasted.
As far as we are concerned, we have paid the full amount. Due to the problem between Cleartrip and the hotel, we are the ones, who have suffered and our holiday got into doldrums. Though we had informed Cleartrip immediately, no action were taken by them to provide us with the required accommodation as contracted nor an alternate accommodation.
On return to Hyderabad, we had written to Cleartrip seeking refund. Madam Anjali of Cleartrip support team, replied that based on their review, the hotel had provided us with an alternate property with upgraded room and upgraded meal plan. Hence there will be no refund possible. This is false. They are unable to provide any documentary evidence like, our check-in / check-out details. They have refused to pay our money back.
Seeing their mail, made us very upset and annoyed. It appears that there is no regret in them, about their failures in arranging as per booked and on the contrary they are giving false information. There was no prompt communication from Cleartrip regarding any such arrangement. It is their responsibility to ensure accommodation as booked, for which we had paid or resolve with us for an alternate accommodation in case of any exigencies, so that as customers, we are attended to, promptly and appropriately. They just ignored our situation even after we had promptly kept them informed over phone.
We never expected a reputed travel agent on whom public depend for booking of Flights/Hotels like M/s Cleartrip would stoop down to behave in an unprofessional manner.
We expect them to refund the booking amount of Rs.12, 204/- and pay a total sum of Rs.25, 000/- including compensation for the mental agony and for the loss we had suffered.
Was this information helpful?
Post your Comment