[UPDATE July 29 2010: I have closed this thread and the other hotels.com thread to comments. I appreciate all the feedback, but this blog was never intended to be the why hotels.com sucks support group. Also, I'm tired of people searching on google for "hotels.com customer support", finding my blog and posting comments or sending me messages as if *I* am somehow an employee of hotels.com.]
I will never use Hotels.com again, not because I ended up in a terrible hotel due to a misleading listing on their site, but due to the grief related to my attempt to post a review of the hotel so future travelers have some info on the reality of the deteriorating condition of the Midtown Hotel in Boston.
After my first attempt at posting my review failed (I waited a week and it did not show up), I contacted hotels.com to ask why my review had been rejected.
I got an email reply that suggested I post my review again, as they had experienced some technical problems with their review system. Strange that I can find dozens of reviews posted the same day I posted mine.
So, I go back and post my review again. 3 days later, other reviews have been posted but not mine.
So, in the hopes that some executive from hotels.com or the Midtown Hotel will find this complaint via a search engine I'm posting this rant here. There are plenty of websites that can be used for reserving hotels, I suggest that you use hotels.com only as a last resort, they don't care about providing honest listings or dealing with customer complaints.
That said, here is my review of the Midtown Hotel in Boston that hotels.com refuses to print.
The hotel is clearly in need of renovation and a more honest listing.
When I checked in, I opened the window in my room only to find that it was broken and could not be closed.
When I told the manager, he offered to have someone come up in a few hours and close it.
When I pointed out to him that I intended to open and close the window a number of times and that I would like to be moved to a room with a working window he said "it's an old hotel, All the windows are broken" and he was right.
The mechanism that cranked the window open and closed, on every window in the 5 other rooms they showed me was damaged, the window would open, but closing it was nearly impossible. In all but one, the bathroom vent was also broken.
I was also a bit surprised as the thumbnail photo of the hotel on the hotels.com listing does not actually show the hotel. The images imply a large building, not the old, poorly maintained two story structure that is the hotel.
The hotel summary says One block from Copley Place, when in fact it is two full stops on mass transit away.
I felt totally lied to and ripped off by my experience.
I have no idea why my review did not make it past the censors, as you can see it does not contain any vulgar language or make mention of a hotel's competitors (the rules forbid such content in a review). What interest of hotels.com could be served by refusing to print my review?
The lesson learned is to be more careful before making a reservation. Look carefully at the maps, do a search or two.
Here is the photo used on hotels.com with the listing that made me think the hotel was one of those tall buildings in the image
I was a bit surprised when I saw the hotel is not a tall building, but rather an old, badly maintained 2 story structure 
Here is the list from the hotels.com site describing the distance from the hotel to various locations
Now... had I been careful and looked at the map I'd have seen that the info in the listing is a bit distorted.
The hotel is the red dot/pin. Copley Place is at the flag with the number 33, that's one hell of a long block, eh? The Hynes Convention Center is flag #6, at 4 blocks it is a bit more honest, but not totally. You can see that the Prudential Center and Northeastern U. are also further away than stated in the listing.
shrug... now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's time to get back to work
Sandals Regency Resort in Saint Lucia
this was a letter recently sent to the Sandals resort after my wife and I spent a week there in which was to be our 25th anniversary celebration. Their answer was very short and dismissive, you can see attached.
Is there anything we can do about this situation, it was a very uncomfortable and miserable vacation.
Thank you.
SANDALS REGENCY HOTEL/ST. LUCIA
My wife and I spent our 25th anniversary at Sandals Resort (Regency) in St. Lucia, and it was a disaster!~!
They failed to let us know their rooms were in apparent need of renovation, their furniture was old and chipped, the sofa was very faded old, dirty and ready to be thrown out, my wife would not sit on it unless we covered it up with large towels first.
Which still would not been bad, excerpt that their very old and torn mattress had FLEAS, YES, FLEAS! My wife and I were bitten so bad we went to the hotel nurse, while she had the room sprayed it did little. We felt so uncomfortable in this room, we had to have it sprayed the next day, and the day after. We made our situation known to our butlers, but there was little she could do about the situation. We came home and after a few days had to fogged and sprayed our entire bedroom and closets apparently we somehow managed to bring them back with us in our suitcases.
We would like to see them be more honest with their customers, and to let them decide for themselves if they want to spend this kind of money on a hotel which is in dire need of renovation and a flea bag: Especially since is so far from home and once you are there you are trapped. I will assure you that I travel a lot with my business, and I have never been in a hotel where I felt more uncomfortable and unkempt as theirs.
While this was supposed to have been a memorable vacation for my wife and I, which we saved a very long time fork we spent an entire week being miserable and scratching, and not wanting to spend time in the room.
Please do not recommend this hotel, they advertise it as a great deal, is not until you get there that you realize the deplorable conditions of the rooms, and since most of these are young honey moon couples, they just accept it, DON'T ACCEPT IT , FIGHT BACK!
Thank you
Harry & Martha
North Carolina
Hotels.com sucks They double
Hotels.com sucks
They double booked me at a buzy place. Hotel cancelled reservation and I was left with no place to staty with 10 other people travelling with me.
On top of everything they charged me with cancellation fee!!!!!!!!
Reports on mattresses would be nice
One of the big problems I experience with hotels is poor mattress quality. Sites like hotels.com need to focus more on mattress quality of the rooms. If I can sleep well, I enjoy my visit much more, and would likely return.
thanks for the comment, I've deleted your link
another thinly veiled attempt at spam. make a semi-relevant comment in order to place a link to your mattress protector store. I'll tell everyone I can to never shop at protectabed dot com
Choice hotels
Have you ever used choice hotels? What are your thoughts on their service compared to other online hotel booking services like hotels.com?
Hotel.com and Comfort Inn
On 6/24/10 I made a reservation at the Comfort Inn at Chesapeake VA for two Adults and a small puppy (5lb yorkie),for the next night 6/25/10 for one night. The total was 101.49. When we finally got to the motel they refused to honor the reservation and attempted to charge us more money! Without going into all the nasty details of these robbers AND Hotel.com I will say that we did not stay and refused to pay the extra amount. They told me I had to cancel 48 hours in advance! I asked them that if I only made the reservation 17 hours ago how could I possibly cancel 48 hours in advance! They had no answere for that.
I will NEVER use hotel.com again and will NEVER stay at a comfort inn. no matter what!!! As well I will do my best to get the word out to as many people as possible to not use this site or service.
It is a shame that true service for the paying customer is on the wane.
To the corporate offices of comfort inn, You are SCREWING UP!!!
Fraud by Hotels.com
I paid Dollars 750 US $ by my credit card to Hotels.com and booked Rooms in Guatemala 27th April 2010 to 3rd May 2010 - 7 Nights. The Hotels.com official booking agents in India told me, the credit card is only for a guarantee and I have to pay while, I check out of the Hotel. While I checked out the Hotel Charged me 600 US $. I did not understand why 600 US $ instead of 750 $. The communication with the Hotel reception people was difficult for me as they spoke only Spanish and a little bit of broken english. I returned home India and there was a credit card charge of 750 US $ I call the Hotels.com people and they say they will investigte the issue and gave me a complaint number. Thats it and from there on there was no answer from them. I came to Guatemala again on my business trip and asked the hotel people about the money they charged. The Hotel Pan American people say there was no booking from the Hotels.com so we charged you, as got a translator with me and argued with them. The rerult is they do not want to return the money and no response from Hotels.com since two months. So all this made me so frustrated that I will neveruse hotels.com and ask people not to get into their trap and get swindled of your hard earned money. As I was charged double.