Birthday nightmare

October 13, 2008 by ChrisN.

So it was my girlfriend’s birthday and I asked her what she wanted to do, she said “I want a room in a nice hotel overlooking the water in Galveston, TX.  I hopped online and looked around and it seemed Orbitz was the only place that allowed me to choose a room with an OCEAN VIEW so I booked through them at the Hotel Galvez, a pretty nice 5 star hotel.  Everything went through fine and I received an e-mail stating my room with King Size bed and Ocean View had been reserved.  We go down to the Hotel Galvez around 4pm to check in, they give us the room keys and we go up.  The room is a tiny room with two double beds NOT facing the ocean.  I think hmm this must just be a simple mistake and I go down to the lobby.  The clerk says “Orbitz did not specify an Ocean View and we do not allow them to do this.  Also, we do not have any rooms available facing the ocean at this time.  You will need to talk to them regarding this.”  So they give me Orbitz’ number.  I call Orbitz where I proceed to wait on hold for 30 minutes.  I finally get someone that does not have any sort of a command of the English language, from overseas.  I explain the situation to her and she tells me that they can only put Ocean View and King Size Bed as a preference but cannot guarantee the Hotel will offer it.  Funny, they took the $240 for the room and sent a confirmation e-mail stating that we got a room with a King Size bed and an OCEAN VIEW.  In fact, the extra $40 on top of the $200 was because we ADDED king size and Ocean View.  So I get a bit angry and hostile and explain that I just want a refund.  She says they cannot give a refund and we need to request it from the Hotel.  I go back in the Hotel and the lady at the desk says “We cannot give you a refund, we haven’t gotten the money from Orbitz yet.”  So I call Orbitz back and she says “Since you are obviously upset we can give you a $25 gift card towards your next vacation.”  This infuriates me more, I rant and she says “We can offer you $50 gift card on your next vacation”.  I blow up and get off the phone, storm back into the Hotel, the girlfriend puts on the waterworks and makes a scene in front of a big wedding party, and the Manager of the hotel says, “Ooh it looks like a room with an ocean view JUST OPENED UP!” magically, without even checking a computer or asking anybody anything.

So we got our room, but I will never, EVER recommend or use Orbitz, and will discourage any person I meet along the way to do the same.  People in India/South Asia/wherver overseas should not be booking hotels in the U.S., and Orbitz should not mislead people with ‘options’ on their website that they apparently have no control over or do not provide the end-client.   Happy birthday, indeed.

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