三个在线预订恐怖故事,显示了一个好的旅行社的价值
byDaniel McCarthy/
Online travel agencies (OTAs) are all over the television and radio, announcing that they are the ones, the only ones, that can save travelers bundles of cash on flights, hotels, and rental cars at destinations around the world.
But, looking at reviews of travelers who were unlucky enough to book through OTAs, you see the full story, one where travelers are left stranded and forced to dig deeper into their pocketbooks and wallets just to get home.
由于OTA无能,这是滞留乘客的三个最糟糕的故事。
‘All about dollars’
An Australian couple, who had booked a 26-night stay in Cambodia through Expedia, arrived at their hotel to find out that it was not in business anymore. It wasn’t even there. It had been demolished.
在附近的一家酒店里,这对夫妇在没有工作手机的情况下通过Facebook与Expedia联系,告诉他们他们的处境(Expedia拥有Facebook Messenger的机器人,该机器人应该帮助旅行者制定计划)。但是Expedia的Facebook机器人告诉他们,唯一解决他们问题的人就是通过电话与他们联系。
“最终,我们找到了一位绅士,让我们使用他的电话。Expedia将我们永远搁置,没有提供任何帮助。每小时,电话都会切断……我们感到非常失望和沮丧,我们只是想回到澳大利亚。”
在打电话给某人帮助他们之后,他们被告知他们可以在第二天更换飞往澳大利亚的航班,但这会花费他们。“我们拒绝了。他们仍然坚持要求我们必须有一个电话号码才能给我们打电话,然后他们才能为我们提供任何帮助。”
因此,他们不得不旅行以获取一张SIM卡来等待手机等待Expedia的电话,最终被重新预订,并说服Expedia来支付额外的费用以更换航班。
当他们终于回到家时,这对夫妇联系了Expedia,要求全额退款,考虑到他们到达了一家已停产的酒店,这似乎是一个合理的要求。但这没有发生。
“ Expedia否认了我们。他们说那是因为他们付了大笔资金来改变航班供我们提早返回家园……他们将您永远搁置而没有任何音乐。就像他们中的一个人说的那样:“这全都与美元有关!”我认为这是Expedia的态度,全都与美元有关,而不是服务。”
运行
The biggest marketing point for OTAs is saving travelers money by advertising a bare-bones price, but a lot of the time, that advertised price isn’t anywhere close to what the charge will end up being. That was the case for one Illinois traveler last summer.
在登机并度过了通过Hotels.com预订的度假租赁物业的第一个晚上,旅行者醒来了一封电子邮件,即由于清洁服务费,价格已从当晚的183美元更改为308美元这是该物业的标准配置 - 但不足以让Hotels.com在预订时显示出来。
“The whole thing seemed ridiculous,” the traveler wrote on a review onConsumer Affairs。“以为我永远无法证明要支付120美元的合理性,只是为了在一个晚上住一个晚上,当我第二天早上离开时让他们躺在床上。”
联系该物业后,该物业告诉她,这是Hotels.com的错,因为他们不让预订者意识到这笔费用,她与Hotels.com联系并获得了完整的运行,这是一个自动化的语音系统,该系统仅允许取消选择没有退款,要等一个多小时,等待与真实的人交谈。
然后,她试图使用Hotels.com的聊天机器人,希望她在那里祝您好运。“我打招呼,他们等待2分钟并回答。我告诉他们,我真的需要一个电话来解释这一点。四分钟过去了,他们问他们如何再次帮助我。真是笑话。我告诉他们,我的情况不是最方便的情况。然后,聊天变成了我无法打字的地方。”
她所获得的只是一条消息,询问她的信息,即聊天甚至开始之前提出的问题。“在某个时候,她告诉我没有退款,她基本上是在说毯子的陈述,所以当我解释发生了什么事时,她只是问我同样的问题,重复了我的第一个陈述。”
她关闭了聊天机器人,并与Hotels.com的母公司Expedia保持联系。她结识了一个真实的人 - “太好了!”- 但仍然没有运气。她告诉他们,他们无能为力。
“Expedia doesn't care how Hotels.com operates, their anti-customer service design, or any of the headaches and hundreds of dollars wasted on account of their system. They do not look at their customers as people.”
欧洲假期
After a lengthy European vacation, and about ready to go home, one couple from Lansing, Michigan, was greeted at the Edinburgh airport at 3:30 a.m. with news that, because Orbitz didn’t confirm their air tickets, and despite having booking reference numbers from the original reservation, they couldn’t board their flight home.
“我问她她建议我们做什么,只不过是耸耸肩,她建议打电话给Orbitz。”
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly so, Orbitz said they couldn’t do anything. No refund or options to get home other than a flight that was three times the amount originally paid. Orbitz blamed them, explaining that they had sent an email months before that would have secured their flights.
In the end, the couple ended up paying $1,150 per person for a flight to Chicago and then another $250 for a flight from there to Lansing, on top of the $800 cost of the original flights. All because Orbitz failed to confirm flights they had already paid for.
“We did absolutely nothing wrong,” the couple said. “Yet, we still are the ones suffering for it with no one willing to take responsibility for help. After an incredibly stressful day of traveling, $1,500 that we were not planning on spending, going over on our phone plan (which was only supposed to be used sparingly for emergencies), and being awake for over 24 hours, we landed.”