danger

I put in a claim and submitted rates in GBP for a stay in Euros (ie. the hotel's currency is GBP). For the two night stay on Hyatt the GBP rate was GBP542; on Orbitz the rate was GBP305. Twenty-odd hours later I get a reply with the agent denying the claim because the rates are within 1% "when converted to the hotel's currency". Included in the email were rates she pulled from some place unknown to the common man: Hyatt EUR741; Orbitz EUR738. Obviously these rates were significantly different to the ones I submitted and, as with many others' experience, weren't reflected at the time I received the email.

So I got on the phone, spoke with an agent, lots of time on hold, lots of typing away. It became clear that the agent who responded to my claim wasn't able to open the screenshots, but this wasn't mentioned in the email; she had simply gone off on her own mission. Anyway, the agent on the phone acknowledged something had gone amiss. The final rate: EUR170, of almost four hundred Euros less than that alleged by the agent to be the Hyatt rate at the time. It was 40 minutes on the phone that was completely unnecessary. So after the agent corrected it and sent a revised email confirmation, I cancelled the stay.

Aaaaand approved for ebookers.