Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - otel.com or MetGlobal Inc

Has anyone booked a hotel thru otel.com or its parent company MetGlobal, Inc?
I just booked (and pre-paid) for a hotel in Helsinki at a rate that was considerably cheaper than all other booking sites. They then provided me with vouchers.
Has anyone had any experience with either of these entities? Their main offices seem to be located in Turkey and Malaysia.
Thanks.

I have used Otel.com before. Very good deals for some cities. No problems.

Welcome to FT!

I've also used otel.com for several bookings throughout Europe. No problems whatsoever and generally, easy cancellation situation.

Wecome to FT Lisa!

Stay away from OTEL. I booked my room reservation is November, 07 through OTEL using my AMEX card for a trip to Prague in June, 08. Last week I received a email from OTEL asking for a duplicate payment on Mastercharge. Their reason for the second payment was stated that they has problems with their AMEX account. My charge went on my AMEX card immediately in November as I expected. So it had been paid for months ago. When I questioned why my payment months ago had anything to do with their current problems, they said if I didn't send another duplicate payment on Mastercharge, they would cancel my entire reservation. No mention of a refund even though that is their policy. It appears to me that the same thing is happening to OTEL as happened to Frontier airlines. Amex has probably started withholding a bigger percentage until the reservation has been taken. So be careful of OTEL, they may be the next bankruptcy.

Amex has probably started withholding a bigger percentage until the reservation has been taken. So be careful of OTEL, they may be the next bankruptcy.

I'm a little unclear on what you mean by 'withholding a bigger percentage.' Amex charges a set percentage, subject to change, just like Visa/MC to the merchant for the privilege of accepting the card. Amex holds funds from merchants based on their merchant contract. Mechants are paid by AMEX after AMEX retains their percentage of the funds - this lag can be 3-21 days depending on what the merchant contract states. To be clear, AMEX gets paid before the merchant gets their share.

So I'm curious, what does how AMEX deals with it's customers or retains from its customers have to do with the financial situation of OTEL?

I'm sure you read that First Data began withholding a larger hold back on Frontier airlines which was given as the reason for the bankruptcy filing. It appears that something similar has happened to OTEL since they abruptly stopped using Amex. Their reason for not honoring prior Amex reservations was they had trouble with their Amex account and couldn't give credit. No doubt, Amex dropped them or they raised their holdback.

i've used otel, but not recently. can't say anything bad about it, although had some difficulty checking in.

I'm sure you read that First Data began withholding a larger hold back on Frontier airlines which was given as the reason for the bankruptcy filing. It appears that something similar has happened to OTEL since they abruptly stopped using Amex. Their reason for not honoring prior Amex reservations was they had trouble with their Amex account and couldn't give credit. No doubt, Amex dropped them or they raised their holdback.

I work for First Data but not very familiar with this situation but can attest that AMEX transaction fees are higher than Visa/MC

These rates and fees are all different for VISA/MC depending on volume, transaction size, risk to us, risk of default etc etc but I think set for AMEX..

I don't think FDMS is the result of Frontiers total failure.

My point is that blaming a processor such as First Data or even the CC companies like AMEX/Visa/MC is a little ridiculous. I don't think that problems with AMEX should be heralded as reason to doubt a company's credibility.

More weird credit card problems with Otel:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=35126360

These two stories together would make me avoid them, at this point.

My point was that OTEL stopped taking charges with AMEX. That was no reason not to honoring my prepaid reservation. I ask OTEL for either a credit, a check or to honor my reservation. No luck. I ask AMEX for a credit, but since the payment to OTEL was made 6 months ago, they said no as well.
I've made prepaid reservations before with other companies, but never had a problem like this.

Hi, I just cancelled two reservations with otel.com due to VERY rude customer service reps. The site may work fine unless you have to deal with an actual person. I made a call to clarify something on my reservation, and the first woman I spoke with was rude, and downright argumentative; when I asked to speak to a manager, she told me I could just hang up. I called back, got another [not at all helpful] representative who told me there was no manager available I could call another time. I have dealt with Orbitz.com and hotels.com in the past, and getting one of their reps on the phone was very helpful, and they were extrememly polite. I believe you can ultimately judge the service of a company, in large part, by the way they treat you - if and when you need to make contact. I feel quite sure, should there be a problem when arriving at a hotel, that I would not have been able to count on otel to help. BEWARE.:td:
JTD