bwiadca

I had first hiccup with the HH application on my phone today. I was trying to book hotel in Dubai where I stay every month. This HGI is in my favorites with the little heart. The rate is 141AED HH sale. I've selected this hotel, clicked next and it was booked. Five minutes later I went back to my application to book another hotel, but this time in Saudi Arabia. I've looked at my upcoming stays and what I saw got me scared. My Dubai booking wasn't there, instead my application is showing Hilton Sharjah!
Ok, no problem. App glitch. I'll cancel the reservation and make new one for the proper hotel. WRONG.
The reservation for Hilton Sharjah is non refundable. If I cancel I will forfeit $340. I've called HH reservations and asked to cancel it for me. No dice. You've booked wrong hotel, you'll be punished. They will let me know in the next 3 days if they can cancel the reservation. Really?
I've tried to see if there was remote possibility of mistakenly booking this hotel from my app. I've typed Dubai, typed the dates and hit search. My favorite HGI comes up first on the list, then 3 more Hilton hotels in Dubai and then Hilton Sharjah. I have to scroll twice to even get to that page with this hotel. Now I'm stressed out.
When I was on the phone with HH agent, I've restarted the application and made another reservation for the proper hotel in Dubai. I was taking screen shots as I went. This time it booked me in the proper hotel. At the same time I've booked my next stay in KSA. No problems there again.

The agent on the phone said that she's sending email to me with the request to remove my unwanted reservation. That was over 40 minutes ago and no email.

jxd

If you can't replicate the problem or prove it then I doubt you have a case. They'll probably think you'e giving excuses.

Then again you should double check every single detail before clicking book. Take it as an epensive lesson I guess.

smmrfld

Kinda think it wasn't the app.

Finkface

So you did need (and subsequently booked) a stay in KSA as well? Are you 100% sure that you didn’t make a mistake? Are you sure you weren’t thinking of the fact that you needed a hotel in KSA and mistakenly typed that in even though you meant to book Dubai? If you didn’t also book a Saudi hotel I would find it easier to think it had to be a glitch but considering you did need to book a Saudi hotel makes me think it was a case of user error and you just mixed up the cities.

danielonn

Do a Mileage Run to the mistake hotel and report on it!

missamo80

It's always best in cases like this to just contact the hotel directly. If you explain nicely to them and it's literally right after you booked they should have no problem cancelling the reservation for you.

Honestly they'll probably cancel it for you anyway, but going through Hilton's central reservations just takes a lot longer. They aren't able to make these kind of changes and just wind up having to reach out to the hotel anyway. The disadvantage is you miss out on being able to be nice and apologetic to the person at the hotel and graciously asking them to cancel the reservation for you.

Neil

bwiadca

If you think that I've made mistake, it's ok. I'm still convinced that it was something with the app. I've noticed that if I go to the app and select city where I have favorite hotel set, all hotels flash and my favorite hotel goes to the top of the list. It's not only with Dubai, but also with hotels in Bangkok and Warsaw. My only explanation would be that during initial booking, my favorite hotel didn't go to the top and I've selected first one on the list automatically. If that's the case it's a honest mistake. I caught it less than 5 minutes after the booking. When I was on the phone with the agent, I've booked proper hotel to make sure that it books in to the property where I want to stay. While in Dubai, I only stay at this HGI Muraqabat. I've stayed there this year probably 25 nights in total. They have the best employees of any hotel around the world where I had the pleasure to stay at. That's the only hotel where all the employees know me and my routine (I also know all the employees on the first name basis). So there is not even remote chance that I was even glancing at other hotels in Dubai.

As for the KSA hotel I've booked it also while being on the phone with the agent. And when you type Dammam you don't get to select hotel in Sharjah.
Anyway, I'm hoping that they will be able to cancel my extra booking. It's a business trip and I will be out of my pocket if they don't. I've never had to cancel prepaid hotel stay, so they can see that I'm not notoriously doing it on purpose.

Speaking of cancellations. Why can't we cancel hotel reservation within 24 hours window after making the booking? In the airline business you can even cancel non-refundable ticket within 24 hours. Why can't we do that with the hotels? If my stay was tomorrow then ok, I get it, but my stay is 2 weeks out.

AutoSlash

Because the DOT doesn't have jurisdiction over hotels and they can get away with it.

:D!

That's why I avoid using apps when I can help it unless there's a good incentive.

I also made a mistake where I booked the wrong hotel and was convinced I had booked the correct one until I saw the confirmation email. Fortunately, it was only 10 minutes walk away from the one I actually wanted.

bwiadca

I just got two emails this morning. One from HH rep in US that they've contacted the hotel, and second email from manager of Hilton Sharjah saying that they have canceled my reservation. I feel so much better

SK AAR

Yeah, as long as your credit card hasn't been charged yet it is easy for the property to cancel even non-refundable reservations (and most properties are fairly lenient about it). The outcome is as expected.

To the OP: I would pay more attention when using the app next time. I believe this mistake could easily have been avoided.

jeffandnicole

So you didn't look at any of the subsequent screens to verify the hotel you were booking? You didn't look at the terms and conditions of the room you were booking? Honestly those reviews should be done every time, as conditions may change.

Luckily you did catch it very quickly, and your quick response probably saved the day. But I'm still not seeing where this has anything to do with the app.

bwiadca

I've looked. Especially to make sure that I'm getting cheaper rate on non refundable room as I'm confirmed for all the meetings. I guess it's just brain fart on my part.
In my 20+ years of booking hotels, I only had one other episode where I booked wrong dates. Mileage run to Nicaragua few years ago. Arriving at midnight at the hotel just to find out that my booking was for the previous weekend. At that time I had no excuses. Just paid for the weekend stay again at the hotel. We were lucky that they gave us a room. There was a wedding at that hotel and they had last room left, with 3 beds So had to pay extra.

Anyway, I'm glad that the hotel was nice enough to cancel my reservation. In the worst case I would go an check in to get those 4 nights. I'm 13 nights short this year from Diamond. I'm getting 6 in 2 weeks and about 10 in August. So for the first time since I've switched to Hilton couple of years ago I'll become Diamond.

sbams

I'm glad they sorted it for you. But this post certainly makes me think you have a lot of things going on in your head at once. Your post was about booking the wrong hotel, and now we have a wedding in Nicaragua and your progress to Diamond. Stick to the point in question and you might just concentrate on what you are doing!

bwiadca

That's the side effect of going to Saudi for the past 7 months