warning for anyone who plan to use roomstay.com for booking hotel for comp

Standarddancer

Standarddancer

Well-Known Member
Anyone had tried book hotel room from this site? Roomstay.com. When I booked Capital Dancesport hotel rooms, I booked wrong date – instead of Fri night, I booked Saturday night by mistake, after cancellation, I saw fine printing on cancellation confirm email “nonrefundable, you will not be refunded money even you cancel the reservation”. I read their terms of service before purchase. http://www.roomstays.com/terms, no where says nonrefundable, this one says normal reasonable cancellation period usually 24-72 hours before 1st arrival date.

I called their customer service, was really rude service, was told this reservation was nonrefundable because rate is very cheap only $141per night after tax, and they lied to me that they are not the ones to charge me, the hotel is the merchant who will be charging me on my credit card and this is hotel’s policy, not theirs. That was yesterday, after long time holding for their rep to trying to talk to hotel to exchange for the correct night, they notified me “sorry, you have to pay Friday night separately, Saturday night is not refundable even though you do not want it”. They even suggested me to contact hotel directly today between 9-5:30 their business hour for a possible exchange of correct date. So I called, hotel reservation manager told me they are lying, roomstay is giving me misleading information, they are the merchant who will charge me, hotel has nothing to do with this charge. Hotel manager also told me many customer have trouble with this site and filed complaintsL( although they are cheaper, but customer service does not exist which is very true, now I tried to call roomstay.com back, phone keep ringing, but no one to answering the call.

Hotel manager apologized for not able to help me, suggested me for the future, book room with their site (the Hilton site) directly since although the rate is slightly more expensive, but I can cancel or exchange dates anytime I want, and I can use my Hilton Hhoner # to earn points, and I would not be experience such hassle for not able to refund or exchange.

So now what I did was booked correct dates for both us & DP’s pro-am lady DIRECLTY from the hotel. Just to make sure we have hotel room before rooms all sold out.

I will definitely dispute this charge with roomstay, just would like to ask if any fellow dancers had used this site and disputed with them? I’m trying to evaluate the chances that I could win this dispute case. Really terrible experience with this website and rude customer service; Really don’t need this charge added to my already huge dance expenses!!!

Well, I learned my lessons, just to notify fellow Dfers to not to use this site! Really doesn’t pay to experience such hassle for saving little bit moneyL((
 
Not to make you even more annoyed, but that's not even such a great rate. Another DFer posted on here when there was a $99 rate available directly from Hilton for the Capital Dancesport hotel, and I went ahead and booked that rate for Fri and Sat. (That's $99 before tax, but even with tax I'm only paying $111.38/night.) And that rate can be cancelled all the way up until one day before.
 
Period, parentheses: if the lowest rate is not as important to you as cancelation flexibility.
 
YIKES, that is a giant lesson learned Standard Dancer!! Poor you. I have a crazy job in real life that causes me at times, to leave or change plans on a moments notice - I always book from the actual hotel site. However, I've found that Hotels dot com is also a pretty good vendor for rooms. And if I'm done during the day-time while booking through a hotel reservation number - I always ask if they have "day rates" as many times I do not spend the night.
 
I agree completely ... deal direct with the hotel, so you have maximum flexibility and control. As with most things, when you try to save money, you lose something along the way.
 
I just put in a dispute on my credit card, let’s see what’s gonna to happen, I have long term good relationship with citi card, hopefully they could help me better since no result reasoning with roomstay.com. Yesterday the whole day the customer site is unreachable because some type of technical difficulties.

I understand the concept Larinda explained, this kind of site is middleman, hotel won’t refund money to middleman for the block of rooms they purchased. however, the night I booked was end of August, and I’m cancelling one month in advance. Roomstay has ample time to find another customer to put in the room, I totally agree if I call very last minute or just no show, I should be charged, but not calling to cancel one entire month in advance and still be charged. They don’t appreciate customers, if they do, they would have been willing to accommodate my request to exchange a room for a different night. I would NEVER EVER do business with them again!!!

3wishes, how do you get “day rate”? thru hotel.com? or just ask the hotel when check in? that’s very smart. Because sometimes is really annoying that check out time is noon, and our session does not start until late night, so we have no where to go between noon and our session. We do not want to spend the night since we drive home immediately after our event. Would be cool to have a day rate.

Ccm, that’s such fantastic rate you’ve got!!! But I guess that’s a while ago, right? Because right now at Hilton site, the best rate is $139, and $159 if include breakfast.
 
heres a little $ tip to help save. Check rates online first, then call the hotel, get a price (do not mention you are part of a group, sometimes they price gouge groups) then mention you are part of a group and get that rate. Mention you are part of whatever rewards program they have if you are a member, sometimes they offer deals. And lastly if you want to be real frugal, make friends with someone who works for that chain of hotels or their hotel is part of the rewards program, usually they offer a 'friends and family' special price (which is VERY VERY VERY good). They can book the room for you, give you a voucher for the stay, and bam super duper low rate! I once stayed at a hotel that was 99.00 a night, and paid 35.00(uhhh hello!!!!!) instead with the friends and family discount. just some little tips on saving money.
 
If you dispute the charge with the cc company they will not make you pay until it is resolved. As a merchant it is very difficult to win a dispute with a customer especially if your terms are not very very clear. The onus is on the merchant to justify their policy is legal. Disclaimers on agreements are not necessarily legal or enforceable. Most merchants will just end up issuing a credit rather than devote the time to try to fight it.
 
Hey there standard dancer. Call the hotel directly - for a day rate. Various hotels, even in the same chain will have different available hours. For example, and ONLY AS AN EXAMPLE, The Sheraton in Cerritos California - day rate applies to morning check-in and you need to be out by 5 p.m. It doesn't matter WHEN IN THE MORNING you check in - as long as your out by 5p.m. as they are an Airline Crew hotel and many of the crews landing at Santa Ana Airport are coming in by then. I always check with the hotel for a day rate. Especially when my rounds are morning/mid-morning/afternoon.
 
OH! And call the hotel, BEFORE you get there - as it still acts as a reservation. Also, many of the hotels will now hold your bags, if your out of your room and no where to go while you wait to finish your competition.
 
dancerman said:
If you dispute the charge with the cc company they will not make you pay until it is resolved. As a merchant it is very difficult to win a dispute with a customer especially if your terms are not very very clear. The onus is on the merchant to justify their policy is legal. Disclaimers on agreements are not necessarily legal or enforceable. Most merchants will just end up issuing a credit rather than devote the time to try to fight it.
Click to expand...

This is good info to know. Thanks for sharing. Hope this works for SD to get situation resolved.
 
I agree with dancerman ... the credit card companies are your best ally when dealing with your dissatisfaction with the website & hotel. They are very one-sided towards the card holder, when it comes to all issues of customer service.

Once, I purchased tickets for a Las Vegas show (with CASH), and then was unable to attend, because of an illness. I called the hotel, in an attempt to work out a solution, but found them completely uncooperative. Their representative even told me, that if I had used a credit card, then I could have merely stopped "payment" ... but with my cash payment, I was out of luck.
 
Yep, Amex was very helpful when the hotel from Windy City tried to double-charge us for the room--they put a hold on the transaction until we got it sorted out. (They charged both of us the full price for all nights.)
 
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