Luxury Link declares bankruptcy. Trips Canceled (thread re-opened)
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 45
Luxury Link declares bankruptcy. Trips Canceled (thread re-opened)
Had a trip planned to Costa Rica in a couple months. Got this in my email box:
So annoying. Hopefully AMEX can get me a refund. Going through bankruptcy proceeding is going to suck.
Dear Consumer:
Effective immediately, Luxury Link LLC aka Luxury Link Travel Group has ceased all operations and entered into a General Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC), following which all of its assets will be sold. As a result, Luxury Link will not be able to honor the travel you have booked through it. We suggest you contact your credit card issuer for your options regarding any charges to your credit card. You may also want to contact the destination property directly to see what arrangement you can make with it. As Luxury Link is no longer operating, it will be unable to assist you in rearranging your travel plans or obtain a refund.
You will be receiving further news regarding the ABC in the next few weeks. Until then, no further information will be available.
Luxury Link Management
Effective immediately, Luxury Link LLC aka Luxury Link Travel Group has ceased all operations and entered into a General Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC), following which all of its assets will be sold. As a result, Luxury Link will not be able to honor the travel you have booked through it. We suggest you contact your credit card issuer for your options regarding any charges to your credit card. You may also want to contact the destination property directly to see what arrangement you can make with it. As Luxury Link is no longer operating, it will be unable to assist you in rearranging your travel plans or obtain a refund.
You will be receiving further news regarding the ABC in the next few weeks. Until then, no further information will be available.
Luxury Link Management
So annoying. Hopefully AMEX can get me a refund. Going through bankruptcy proceeding is going to suck.
#3
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 2
Me, too
I received the same email and have tried to contact LL by phone but VM is full. I have emailed the hotels that I booked to see if I am still confirmed. Have you tried that? If we already paid for it, why wouldn't the reservation still be valid?
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
I contacted SPM a few times since booming last year, and again last night. We still have a reservation, however, the $ LL collected from my credit card 10 months ago never made it to SPM
(i had problem with SLH not sending everything to hotel)
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; May 22, 2015 at 5:38 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 45
From what I gathered from the expedia forums, it sounds like Luxury Link pays the hotel a month before the reservation. One couple that went to a Luxury Link hotel this past week were told that there reservation was there, but they hadn't received payment yet. They had to pay again.
I've initiated a chargeback with Amex. Sent emails to the hotel to see if my reservation is still there and whether they'd honor the luxury link price. So annoying.
I've initiated a chargeback with Amex. Sent emails to the hotel to see if my reservation is still there and whether they'd honor the luxury link price. So annoying.
#6
Wow! And to think I was just posting a few weeks ago about what a wonderful experience we had using Luxury Link.
#7
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: AC 50K *G, Honors Gold, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 116
Wow, interesting news. The website is still working but when you try to book it's unable to process.
#8
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 41
I booked a package with them last month for 4 nights in a lux hotel in Pienza Italy in July. Pre-paid and "non refundable".
Today I got an email saying the reservation had been cancelled and my (AMEX) card had been refunded. But no explanation, nothing like the OP's email. They aren't answering the phone or replying to emails.
I didn't figure it out until I went to their Facebook page which is filled with irate posts by people who have been stranded and NOT had their money refunded.
I am hoping the hotel will still honor my reservation and rate.
This is a huge disappointment. I've booked deals with LL for over 10 years and always been very happy with them.
Today I got an email saying the reservation had been cancelled and my (AMEX) card had been refunded. But no explanation, nothing like the OP's email. They aren't answering the phone or replying to emails.
I didn't figure it out until I went to their Facebook page which is filled with irate posts by people who have been stranded and NOT had their money refunded.
I am hoping the hotel will still honor my reservation and rate.
This is a huge disappointment. I've booked deals with LL for over 10 years and always been very happy with them.
#9
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,843
Quite sad. It's been a while but I've done one LL trip in the past and it was fine. I suppose it was killed by the onset of hotel consolidators and multi-site search engines.
#10
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 3,317
1. LL over-promising amenities* and a lower cost.
2. LL eating the difference - hoping bulk would cover it. It never caught on to the point it was cost effective
3. LL didn't have the best relationship with these hotels
*I once asked the DoS at Charleston Place how LL was offering what it was - $150 spa credit, etc, at an under BAR level. The quizzical look on her face was borderline hilarious, and her commentary was even better: "we're still trying to figure that out."
Last edited by pricesquire; May 21, 2015 at 5:55 am
#11
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Presuming that you paid with a CC issued by a US-based issuer, you have 100% protection in bankruptcy. If you paid with other than a CC, you are likely SOL and stand as an unsecured creditor, which means that you likely, although not certainly, will see next to nothing until sometime down the road.
The CC networks track bankruptcies and will have flagged these transactions already. Your chargeback should be sustained relatively immediately.
That leaves you with needing to rebook the deal. Question is whether the property will honor the deal if you do it directly or whether there are other organizers who will step in as a way to build a customer base.
The CC networks track bankruptcies and will have flagged these transactions already. Your chargeback should be sustained relatively immediately.
That leaves you with needing to rebook the deal. Question is whether the property will honor the deal if you do it directly or whether there are other organizers who will step in as a way to build a customer base.
Last edited by Often1; May 21, 2015 at 7:03 am
#12
Join Date: Mar 2004
Programs: DL PM, DL MM, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, SPG
Posts: 804
The best case scenario was to request a refund from your credit card company and furnishing the credit card company a copy of the email received yesterday from the firm handling the LL liquidation……………..along with contacting the resort directly and asking them if they would honor the LL price. In this thread that has now been removed, there were people who had success with this approach.
I've used Luxury Link many times over several years, all over the world, in hotels, villas for large groups, in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Canada, Italy, the US, and I've always had good experiences. It started to go downhill a couple of years ago after new investors came in and installed a new management team. It's sad to see this happen.
It's my understanding that the employees are gone, no one to answer their phones. Yesterday I read a post on twitter that this firm was handling the liquidation:
http://corpmgt.com/about.html
Last edited by cmh flyer; May 21, 2015 at 7:22 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: my heart is on the shores of the north Italian lakes
Programs: LX Senator Lifetime, Relais&Chateaux Club5C, ex ! "Amanjunkie", ex LHW LC, hate chain hotels
Posts: 2,515
This is only the start of a trend
Sorry for those FTalkers concerned.
My theory (which is sometimes contested here on FT, especially by Virtuoso agents). Intermediaries will increasingly become unnecessary due to :
- better direct marketing of properties offering online deals,
- more traveled and educated public and
- more people shopping online and directly with the properties.
This said, many agents may disappear in the future. Perhaps a very small number for the super rich people's travel arrangements will remain.
The latest small stupid example: Swiss Federal Railways will stop all their travel agent activity.
My theory (which is sometimes contested here on FT, especially by Virtuoso agents). Intermediaries will increasingly become unnecessary due to :
- better direct marketing of properties offering online deals,
- more traveled and educated public and
- more people shopping online and directly with the properties.
This said, many agents may disappear in the future. Perhaps a very small number for the super rich people's travel arrangements will remain.
The latest small stupid example: Swiss Federal Railways will stop all their travel agent activity.
#14
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 3,317
Sorry for those FTalkers concerned.
My theory (which is sometimes contested here on FT, especially by Virtuoso agents). Intermediaries will increasingly become unnecessary due to :
- better direct marketing of properties offering online deals,
- more traveled and educated public and
- more people shopping online and directly with the properties.
This said, many agents may disappear in the future. Perhaps a very small number for the super rich people's travel arrangements will remain.
The latest small stupid example: Swiss Federal Railways will stop all their travel agent activity.
My theory (which is sometimes contested here on FT, especially by Virtuoso agents). Intermediaries will increasingly become unnecessary due to :
- better direct marketing of properties offering online deals,
- more traveled and educated public and
- more people shopping online and directly with the properties.
This said, many agents may disappear in the future. Perhaps a very small number for the super rich people's travel arrangements will remain.
The latest small stupid example: Swiss Federal Railways will stop all their travel agent activity.
#15
formerly declinespecificinformatiom
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,140
My theory (which is sometimes contested here on FT, especially by Virtuoso agents). Intermediaries will increasingly become unnecessary due to :
- better direct marketing of properties offering online deals,
- more traveled and educated public and
- more people shopping online and directly with the properties.
That's quite a statement--that third party sales channels will decrease into oblivion. Not sure what your business experience is, but employing sales channels that are commission based, especially in environments of increasing compliance and regulation, is probably going to increase if anything.
These types of trends: outsource, insource, outsource again are usually driven by risk management more so than whether a few of us consumers can click buttons.
And, after all, expedia is a travel agent. You think that they'll disappear because people will book directly through United?
- better direct marketing of properties offering online deals,
- more traveled and educated public and
- more people shopping online and directly with the properties.
That's quite a statement--that third party sales channels will decrease into oblivion. Not sure what your business experience is, but employing sales channels that are commission based, especially in environments of increasing compliance and regulation, is probably going to increase if anything.
These types of trends: outsource, insource, outsource again are usually driven by risk management more so than whether a few of us consumers can click buttons.
And, after all, expedia is a travel agent. You think that they'll disappear because people will book directly through United?