1800hotels today put up a message on their irish site saying “1800Hotels has been forced by two suppliers into bankruptcy proceedings to restructure its debt…. we will work diligently to resolve this matter as soon as possible and will provide more information as it becomes available.”
Nice of them. The word ‘forced’ immediately shifts the blame on to other parties and this statement also shows you how they view their customers…. no apology or hint of an apology to customers. Disgraceful. Here’s some quotes from angry customers over on boards.ie which gives you a better idea of the situation;
“My wife and her sisters have used this company to book a hotel in Venice, they arrived at their destination today, no booking for them.”
“People with more tales of woe! Bride & Groom called in from Malta. Wedding guests all booked with 1800hotels and now bookings not being honored. Also family stranded in london, same story. No word from 1800.”
“We’ve had some people walk into the hotel with confirmation from 1800hotels, and while we’ve been able to accommodate them, we’ve had to get them to pay directly to us, as nothing gas come through from the company. It’s been like that for the last month.”
“We have found out that our hotel booking for Lanzarote was made but they have not recieved payment. We have paid in full using Laser for 6 people for 2 weeks so it is a fair amount we are out.”
“Booked a hotel in Barcelona with these shyster’s two weeks ago, rang the hotel today and no sign of the booking at all.”
“Me and the wife went to Cala Bona, Malorca in june and booked with this crowd. When we arrived we were told there was no booking because Sol hotels didn’t receive payment so I had to pay with my Laser card. For 5 days we were in touch with the Irish ofice trying to get it sorted. They then sent a payment to the hotel and we got a refund from the hotel. When we got back I sent them an email complaining and they said it was all a misunderstanding and sent us a voucher for $400. Thats not worth a w@nk now.”
“I booked two hotels one in Vegas and one in Mammoth Lakes with them for August..rang both hotels today and while reservations are there.. they cannot confirm payments so rang the third party listed…one was hotelbeds the other mark travel international.. Mark travel have no listing for us..”
“I booked my hotel with 1800 hotels when I got in touch with the hotel this morning, they told me that my reservation was still there and that it had been pre-paid. However, something made me continue to check it out and when I got in touch with GTA, they informed me that my reservation had been cancelled.”
“Well I heard from my hotel, the booking was cancelled by the company (mine was for next november so never really had a chance).”
“i got through to them today on the phone and they have cancelled all our bookings. they never got paid (the hotels)”
“I have booked for Dubai for the 29th August was due payment on Sunday heard Joe Duffy today(thankfully) so rang hotel and my booking is cancelled, Im one of the very lucky ones iv only lost €200, my deposit.”
“I have just discovers that I have also been shafted bu this shower of A**holes.”
“I made a booking last SEPTEMBER, yes 10 months ago for a stay this October. All was paid in September of last year. When I contacted the hotel they have now told me that there is no reservation and they are totally booked out.”
“Just got onto the portuguese company (like youtravel) who told me that they’re in the middle of cancelling all the holidays 1800hotel had booked because they weren’t paid a penny.”
1800hotels also took down their facebook page yesterday and haven’t updated their twitter account in over a week. So much for keeping people informed and providing information ‘as soon as it becomes available’.
Meanwhile 1800hotels.com (US version) is running as normal, no mention of any problems anywhere on their website. Their reputation will be destroyed though. It won’t be long before the negative publicity and real reviews and stories start creeping their way in to the first page of search results.
Gohop.ie, another irish travel company, were quick to poke fun at the situation by placing adsense ads in google search results for the search term ’1800hotels’… one man’s loss is another man’s gain, as they say.
Anyway, i’ve never used 1800hotels myself. I just thought the way they handled their customers deserved to be highlighted. The reality is they knew they were in trouble and couldn’t afford to pay hotels, yet they still took people’s money and said nothing. They’re still not acknowledging any wrongdoing on their part and not helping customers.
AVOID 1800hotels.ie & 1800hotels.com. Whether they come out of this still trading or not, they’ve show their true colours when the chips have been down.
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