Travelocity Hotel Cancellation Rip Off, Beware!!!! Internet

Several rebuttals have defended Travelocity on the grounds that Gary did not read the conditions. I think these just may be doing him a disservice.

The pertinent Travelocity terms and conditions (as emailed post-reservation) are stated (and note, formatted) as follows :

Any changes to or cancellation of a GoodBuy reservation will result in cancellation or change fees ranging from a minimum of USD 25.00 to the total amount of your stay.
All cancellations or changes will incur a USD 25.00 fee.
Cancellations or changes occurring within 72 hours of 12:01 am (Central Time) on the day of check-in are subject to a 1 night Room + Tax charge in addition to the USD 25.00 fee.
Cancellations or changes made after check-in are subject to a 100% charge.

The formatting is important. Note the first bullet point. Either it is meant to summarise the subsequent 3 points OR it is deliberately phrased to override the following points("ranging from a minimum of USD25 to the total amount"). In my dispute with Travelocity I interpreted it as the former, ie the last 3 points are (a) the sum total of the terms and (b) they are mutually exclusive.

Imagine my horror when Travelocity interpreted this as meaning they could charge a full night's rate for a cancellation done 3 WEEKS IN ADVANCE.

Anybody here read English ?

There are often times that a court can rule against a company because they did business according to the "letter" of the law but not the "spirit" of the law. You have to do business the way it was implied you would do business. Many companies spend millions of dollars on advertising for a service or product and millions of dollars on a team of lawyers to make sure they can say one thing and legally do another.

For them it's business as usual. That's why as consumers we have choices we can make as to who we do business with. Travelocity uses a "bait and switch" tactic which is unethical.

By posting their "rules" saying that you may get screwed also makes it legal. We are not stupid. We know what's going on. I personally will never use travelocity again.

There are often times that a court can rule against a company because they did business according to the "letter" of the law but not the "spirit" of the law. You have to do business the way it was implied you would do business. Many companies spend millions of dollars on advertising for a service or product and millions of dollars on a team of lawyers to make sure they can say one thing and legally do another.

For them it's business as usual. That's why as consumers we have choices we can make as to who we do business with. Travelocity uses a "bait and switch" tactic which is unethical.

By posting their "rules" saying that you may get screwed also makes it legal. We are not stupid. We know what's going on. I personally will never use travelocity again.

There are often times that a court can rule against a company because they did business according to the "letter" of the law but not the "spirit" of the law. You have to do business the way it was implied you would do business. Many companies spend millions of dollars on advertising for a service or product and millions of dollars on a team of lawyers to make sure they can say one thing and legally do another.

For them it's business as usual. That's why as consumers we have choices we can make as to who we do business with. Travelocity uses a "bait and switch" tactic which is unethical.

By posting their "rules" saying that you may get screwed also makes it legal. We are not stupid. We know what's going on. I personally will never use travelocity again.

There are often times that a court can rule against a company because they did business according to the "letter" of the law but not the "spirit" of the law. You have to do business the way it was implied you would do business. Many companies spend millions of dollars on advertising for a service or product and millions of dollars on a team of lawyers to make sure they can say one thing and legally do another.

For them it's business as usual. That's why as consumers we have choices we can make as to who we do business with. Travelocity uses a "bait and switch" tactic which is unethical.

By posting their "rules" saying that you may get screwed also makes it legal. We are not stupid. We know what's going on. I personally will never use travelocity again.

To be dishonest, a company has to lie, conceal, or in someway not tell you something.

Travelocity posts it's rules right as you are booking the reservation. You click one link, and the Terms and Conditions are presented to you in normal everday speach, no legal mumbo jumbo.

Ignorance of the law, is not an excuse. If you are buying anything online, there are things that agree to, rules that you are to have read.

Read them or not...yer bound by them. And you clicked the button, saying you agree.

The 100% fee is all the proof you need. It is unique to Travelocity, and they are dishonest in their role as intermediary between the consumer and service provider. I've said this before but it is worth repeating and is all you need to know regarding Travelocity:

"Any company that allows such a dishonest design in a system to persist like theirs doesn't deserve your business."

BOYCOTT TRAVELOCITY - demand better.

Travelocity is using a "bait and switch" con to get you to buy airline tickets. After you "reserve" a ticket for one price,they raise it and say it was the airlines fault.They caused me a great deal of trouble when I needed to go out of town quickly for a funeral. When I called to speak to a supervisor, they were rude,refused to let me speak to anyone else and hung up on me. They are a scam and I want the world to know.

Perhaps a little insight into how companies like Travelocity, Orbitz et al works might help you.

The hotel sells a block of rooms to Company "x"
Company "x" then resells the rooms to the general public through websites or special promotions.

The company has a cut-off date (contracted through and with the hotel) that gives a specific date that the reservation must be made by, cancelled by, or changed. ONLY the company can change the reservations. NOT the hotel, Not the front desk clerk etc.

If the guest doesnt show up for the reservation, the hotel charges a "No-Show" for the contracted rate with the company.

This is done to prevent people from making reservations, not showing up, and the hotel losing revenue due to an unused room.

It also prevents a hotel from being "sold out" when a person walks in off the street to get a room.

So....If you didnt cancel within the contracted time, the hotel DID get part of your money for a no-show, and the company got the remainder.

Hope this helps your insight into cut off dates and cancellations.

Do I know everything? Heck no. But I've been traveling around for a while (41 countries so far) and the worst I've ever seen on a hotel penalty is a 1-night charge if you don't cancel at least 24-hours in advance. I've never seen a charge for nights after the first night if the customer has canceled.

Maybe resorts and/or Holiday Inns are different - but I know what I've experienced. If Travelocity puts so many 'ifs', 'ands', or 'buts' in a simple thing like making a hotel reservation I shall not use them and I get a strong impression that Gary won't be using them either.

Yes, yes, yes - Gary should have read the conditions. But the only reason Travelocity would put in so many conditions is to RIPOFF the consumer. Where is all that money Gary paid? I bet the hotel doesn't have it.

Kim hit the nail on the head. Travelocity has a cancelation policy that states that if you cancel prior to date x, you will have 'that' penalty. After that date you have 'this' penalty. In fact most travel organizations, have a form of penalties that are dependent on the date of your trip. If you booked the reservation online, then you were required to select that you read & agreed to the terms & conditions. If you did it over the phone, the agents are required to read them to you, and you receive them through email.

If you had a 'family situation,' and you had purchased a package reservation, then insurance would have been offered. Don't say "you didn't know the situation was going to happen" because that's the reason insurance is there for packages and flights. If this was a hotel only, there is no insurance on Travelocity that i've found, but the rules are very clear.

Don't blame Travelocity because you don't want to play by the rules you agreed to.

If you did, then you would have noticed that there is a certain point in time with relation to yor booking when there cannot be a refund. I saw this happen before, even with my own clients to whom I was required to read aloud these cancellation penalties to. I haven't worked in that industry in a few years, so unless they have changed something, I assume that is what is going on with you.