Beware of kayak.com hotel bookings
 

:td:Yesterday while enroute north on I-95 we booked a room at Hampton Inn Brunswick in Brunswick, Georgia. Upon arrival at the property, we found it was now called Brunswick Park Hotel and was no longer a Hampton property. Kayak refuses any responsibility by saying they had no information on the change, but in reading the small print under cancellations it calls the hotel by the new name. I spoke with a normal operator yesterday and a supervisor today with no responsibility accepted on behalf of Kayak.com. By the way, the booking was at about $65 per night and the hotel received about $45 from kayak.com to give you an idea of the margins they work on with the hotels. The hotel could not initially find the booking and then found the paper in their fax machine. They still have the hotel listed under the old name and brand. I just checked Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity and all have the information corrected. Beware of Kayak.com on hotel bookings.

None of what you encountered with Kayak is really abnormal. Hotels change names all the time, and the 2nd and 3rd party booking sites are slow to keep up.

By fax is how hotels receive your reservations, and it does take a while for the 2nd and 3rd parties to send them, and then it takes a while for the hotel to notice the fax, and get them entered.

The mark up should never have been shown to you. The mark up is high, because it basically is free advertising for the hotel. Expedia mark up is mind numbing.

I dont understand what the problem is, as you were booked into the same hotel you thought you were booking, it just had a different name. Maybe you thought you were going to get points?

Agree w tatter. What's the problem?

Not sure what the issue is.

So what if the hotel changed it's name? You would not have gotten credit for it if it was still a Hampton since it was a third party booking.

Also, with any third party booking, no matter who it's with, you should always check with the hotel to make sure the reservation went through.

Not at all clear what the complaint actually is.

Surely, if the hotel couldn't find the booking and it was in their fax machine it was their fault and not Kayak's that they weren't aware of it?

The booking went through, you got the room at the agreed price, and booked very late... $65 isn't bad for a Hampton type product.

Don't see the problem, either.

Changed standards
 

It is clear that the hotel should not have shown me the sheet with what they would receive from kayak.com, but they did. That is a training issue. A hotel can change names but when you decide on using a hotel because of characteristics of a brand that is fairly consistent such as Hampton, you are also purchasing a standard of quality. I have stayed in a number of Hamptons and it was clear that the hotel had changed from some of the key items such as the breakfasts that are the standards for that chain since being removed from the chain. The name change was due to being unwilling to make the necessary changes and do the necessary remodelling required by Hampton (according to the night clerk).

It changed names less than a month ago.... Would you have been happier last month when it was called "Hampton"? I doubt it has gone downhill THAT much in the last month, or changed a lot in quality.

Just my own 2cents, but I still am not sure what the complaint is? Seems you booked a run down hotel, and are not happy. It happens, and is definately not the fault of Kayak. More the fault of the hotel. Did the hotel notify Kayak that they changed names?

Happier!
 

Here is a cut-and-paste from three parts of the reservation:

Your KAYAK booking receipt for Hampton Inn Brunswick
Hampton Inn Brunswick
230 Warren Mason Boulevard
Brunswick, GA, US 31520
+1 912 261 0002
See details
Check-in: Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Check-out: Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Duration: 1 night

(The small print)

Cancellation
We understand that sometimes plans fall through. We do not charge a change or cancel fee. However, this property (Brunswick Park Hotel) imposes the following penalty to its customers that we are required to pass on: Cancellations or changes made after 6:00 PM ((GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)) on Dec 27, 2011 are subject to a 1 Night Room & Tax penalty. The property makes no refunds for no shows or early checkouts.

It makes it clear that www.kayak.com had the information and did not complete their task of changing over the name information,while Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz had already made the change. I have often booked a certain brand on one of the above sites or hotels.com knowing I will not receive points but I am booking for an area of the world were I want to be very careful about credit card information such as certain areas I visit in Africa or eastern Europe, or because I am looking for certain known characterics of a brand such as free WiFi or the type of breakfast served.

Part of the responsibility of selling travel online is accurate information. I fly on/between five continents in a year and made decisions in some cases based on the codeshare partner used when the flight is booked thru another airline. The metal matters in some cases!

You should sue them. The hotel, Hilton, and Kayak. Maybe the highway department too if they did not change the names on the highway signs yet.

Not sure why you stayed there once you realized it was not a Hampton, when there is one a couple miles up the road that would certainly have the high Hampton standards you are looking for.

Also not sure why if you were insisting on a Hampton because of their brand standards, why you were even looking on Kayak.

Kayak does not sell hotel rooms directly, they partner with Travelocity. When you book a hotel room on Kayak, you are actually booking with Travelocity, only you see the Kayak logo on the page. So if Travelocity made the change, it would have been reflected on your reservation page.

I agree with the others that this is a completely trivial and inconsequential matter, and if it bothers you, then you are being far too picky.

Case resolved
 

The hotel was booked thru kayak.com. The confirmation was thru kayak.com. The customer service number was actually from hotels.com. The problem was resolved thru expedia.com. The association between web sites is interesting.

The majority of the cost was refunded. The hotel had changed standards after changing the name.

Here is the quote from their reply:

In order to thank you for bringing this information to our attention, which allowed us to investigate and update the hotel records, we were planning on forwarding you a ..... Gift Card.

I have not made a habit of this and have been in many different hotels in my travels to and on five continents a year. An initial runaround in response to misleading information is not the kayak.com or any of those companies want to establish their reputation.

I never book a hotel unless it's through the actual hotel website. No hassle that way.

Just can't please everyone !
 

I'm having a hard time understanding the problem here . Is it that the guy wanted to stay at a Hampton Inn ? I mean he still got the lower rate , so what if kayak makes money , that's why their in business and he still got a deal ! You can't please everybody ...

only used it once, but by than had no problem at all.