Warning against using lastminute.com top secret hotels!!
 

Guys,

Just a word of warning for anyone who is looking to book a hotel with lastminute.com and their "Top Secret Hotels". This is an email Ive sent them followed by pictures of a so called 4 star hotel in Rome, Italy. The name of the hotel is Hotel Champagne Palace.

If this hotel was advertised as a 1 star or 2 star then there would be no problem.


Just for your info;

----------------------------


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing today to explain my experience of using lastminute.com to book a hotel for my girlfriend and I on our recent trip to Rome, Italy.

After some time browsing the internet, it became apparent that for 4 nights in a 4 star hotel we would be paying somewhere between £250 and £350. A friend recommended lastminute.com’s ‘Top Secret’ hotel service, where top hotels could be purchased at a cheaper rate, so we decided to give it a try and were delighted to find a 4 star hotel advertised as “minutes from the colosseum”. For £309.08 I spoke with my girlfriend and, as the hotel’s location was described as close to the Colosseum, we decided to go ahead and book the room; booking reference 9*******. The name of the hotel; Hotel Champagne Palace.

Upon arrival in Rome we took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. On route we passed the Colosseum, and did not arrive at our hotel until 15 minutes after passing it. As we arrived at 23:00 hours there was no traffic. During the day, with the Rome traffic, I would estimate that it would take roughly 25/30 minutes to get to the Colosseum. Our hotel was located next to the main train terminal and the colosseum was 2 stops away on the metro. This is not “minutes from the colosseum”, as stated on your advert. That is my first point.

My second point. When we arrived and entered our ‘4 star’ room, it clearly was not to a 4 star standard. There is a saying that a picture says a thousand words, so I have attached some pictures of our room so that you can clearly see the point I am trying to make in this e-mail.

As it was late at night, and wanting to get up early, I went straight to bed. In the morning we got up and as I walked into the bathroom, I was met by a scene that I can only describe as disgusting. The sink and toilet were adorned with lime Scale (see attached picture), and the shower area was simply laughable – I am approximately 5’9” in height and of medium build, but I had to turn sideways to enter this tiny shower. Even worse, after having the shower on for a minute or so, the water built up so much that I had to turn it off otherwise the water would have over flowed onto the floor. 4 star hotel? Really?

Leaving our room we walked down the stairs past the lift, which did not appear to have been cleaned since some time in the 1950s. Again, the picture says it all.

After a long day walking around exploring Rome, it was interesting to come back to the room and see the different type of yellow paint colours on the wall - bad painter or just a new style, I’ll let you decide. It would also have been nice to come back to the room and watch a little bit of TV or catch up on some news but our TV was small to say the least and only 3 channels worked. Not one was in English, which is strange, as I thought that most 4 star hotels would at least have CNN or BBC World News.

So, is this hotel a 4 star? I don’t think so. In the past year alone I have stayed in 4 star hotels in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Perth, and Singapore, to name a few. These hotels were all to the same level, so I have trouble seeing how a 4 star in Rome should be any different. I also seriously doubt that the other 4 star hotels in Rome are to the poor level of this hotel. This hotel is not a 4 star. It is more like a 1 or 2 star – which would not be a problem if that is what it was advertised as. You have completely mis-sold this hotel and it is wrong that you are advertising it as a 4 star.

On Sunday night we stayed at a 4 star hotel at Heathrow Airport. I have taken some pictures of this room to give you an example of the difference.
I am requesting a full refund as we have been mis-sold. I will not be recommending lastminute.com and will, in fact, advise my friends and colleagues against using it. As well as telling everyone on the social networking website I use, I have also put my thoughts about this hotel and lastminute.com on www.flyertalk.com under the “hotels” section. Flyertalk is one of the largest online travel communitys in the world. I have also copied in Lonely Planet as their readers also need to be aware not only of your false advertising but also of this hotel.

I await your reply.

SgtRyan

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star6.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star5.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star4.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star8.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star7.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star3.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star2.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Rome4star1.jpg

I'd love to read their reply, if they do reply.

BTW, I think it might be good to tell them how this hotel is rated by other booking engines.

I hate to break this to you, but 4 Star, does not necessarily mean top of th class. Most hotel designations set by the state or municipality get increasing star designations if they have certain items on offer -- the condition of those items is another matter entirely.

If you follow the link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...ECK_RATES_CONT

one can read mixed reviews of this place.

If you input dates and select all the booking engines you will see that almost all of them classify the hotel as 4 star property -- again, not that it is top shelf, rather that it has various amenities that classify it as such.

Interstingly, the only one that terms it a 2 star is Priceline.

Hard lesson learned -- one must investigate what actually is meant by a certain classifiaction, and perhaps if you are going to go with an opque provider, then choose Priceline or Hotwire, where one can make an educated guess of an expected hotel in a given area thru bulletin boards such as bidding for travel and better bidding.

Cheers,

NJ

It's quite often possible to tell what the Lastminute top secret hotels are by googling key phrases in the description, and also observing details like the number of rooms.

However, I can imagine you were quite disappointed, and that you reasonably expected a good-quality hotel. I hope it didn't spoil Rome for you.

the hotel does look like a dump.
thanks for letting us know

sorry this happened to you but

all I can say is you pay for what you get.:(

Sorry this happened to you. Hope you enjoyed Rome despite a dumpy hotel. When doing an opaque hotel room, I tend to stick ONLY with Priceline and use the various resources out there that give a good idea of the properties in the area. Let us know the response from your e-mail!


Halothane

I don't think the OP got what he paid for, even for Rome.

I've used priceline and hotwire many times and have never been disappointed by the star rating. Based on what I'm reading here, I'll stick to those and avoid lastminutetravel in the future.

At 310 Euro/night, I'd say that he paid for far more than he got.

I've stayed at nicer hotels in Rome, in a nicer area (Piazza Novona), for 1/2 that price. I think he's got a legitimate gripe, and hope he has a way to get a partial refund.

Keep us updated on the reply!

I think your best bet is to concentrate on parts of the description being false and try to find some explanation either from lm.com or if there is an official star guide and compare it to what you received. As others have said, 4 star does (depending on country) not guarantee any specific quality, rather it usually guarantees specific amneties like 24h reception or a restaurant on site. In Sweden I heard for example that you can not be rated 3* unless you provide a waste bin in the bathroom and to get 5* you need to have a defillibrator available.

My rule of thumb is that for hotels in European central cities, subtract two stars from the rating and you will have a good comparison to American hotels - in other words, a 4* hotel in Rome will be about the same as a 2* hotel in America. Occasionally, I have a pleasant surprise, but often I find this pretty accurate. Room size is almost always small, heating/air conditioning are often unreliable, the tiny shower stall pictured here is common, elevators are tiny, and cleanliness and maintenance seem to be pretty hit-and-miss. It's all a part of travel, and I don't get too upset about it.

Bidding for Travel does not list this hotel as one that has been reported to them as a winning Priceline bid. I am with the others above who only use Priceline for opaque hotel bids.

Gosh, that sounds like a raw deal. Have had very good experiences in the past with lastminute.com customer services and I hope they do something to put this right, I suspect they will.

Based on the OP's experience with lastminute.com and your mention of lastminutetravel, the similarities are striking. I'm curious if these are different companies?

lastminute.com (TOP SECRET hotels)
lastminutetravel.com (UNDERCOVER hotels)

I don't get this part: You could have bought a 4* hotel through regular channels, i.e. non-opaque, at 250-350 GBP. Yet you decided to go through an opaque channel to pay 310 GBP for a 4* hotel. What was the point of that?

Other than that, it doe slook disgusting, and even considering that 4* in Italy are not the same as 4* somewhere else, is far below what you could have expected.

I've always been too afraid of this happening to try the opaque reservations, I mean I've had this pretty much same thing happen in various places with places where I could see nice pictures etc - then show up and it's total crap.

Good luck with lastminute - would love to hear the follow up on this.

lastminute.com is owned and operated by Travelocity.
lastminutetravel.com is owned by Travel Holdings (who also operate Tourico Holidays, One Minute Booking, Last Minute Travel, Last Minute Cruises and Easy Click Travel)