Cruises

Book a hotel and you expect the price to be the same no matter if you found the hotel booking site through Google, or another channel, right? So, I was surprised to find out that booking a hotel with Vivastay through an affiliate link, the consumer receives a higher price than booking direct.

Here are the screenshots of the pricing via an affiliate link and a search direct on their website.

Vivastay’s response to my query

Tonight I contacted Vivastay for their response.

“The reasons for doing this were not due to a dishonest attempt to mislead any affiliates as we are very new to the arena of affiliate marketing (6 months) and were never advised by networks that price variations via different channels were inappropriate or against any network policy.

Due to the overwhelming response by affiliates to the matter we are actively working on rectifying this and expect to have this fixed in the next few days.”

Issue to be fixed soon

To be fair to Vivastay, the response I received was quick and apologetic and they did go on to apologise to consumers, but I am left wondering how many customers have been wrongly charged for their hotel in the last six months. Hopefully the issue will be fixed soon, I’ll update this post.

Thoughts on affiliate programs and incorrect pricing

A wider question is why aren’t the affiliate networks not informing companies that this is against their terms of service, if it isn’t then how many other travel companies are doing the same? Please add your thoughts about this issue in the comments section below.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Consumers pay more due to hotel pricing affiliate issue

The ‘Ask Mr Rants’ is proving to be useful for consumers. Every month I will be writing about the types of travel issues sent from consumers. Then, hopefully consumers can learn from other’s experiences and the industry, if it wants to really improve the consumer experience, can add their input.

Here’s a selection of travel issues sent to me in February.

Agents booking DIY holidays

Consumer booked with a travel agent. They assumed it was a package holiday, after all, it was a travel agent, but no, this agent had booked them a flight with a low cost airline and a hotel with a third party. The t&c’s mention a cancellation policy, but this didn’t apply because of how the holiday was booked.

The customer had to cancel, received the hotel cost back, but not the flight.

Inaccurate hotel information

Another customer booked a hotel, the location information was inaccurate, but the consumer only found out after booking. The travel company blamed the hotel; the hotel blamed the travel company. Neither of wanted to help. It is worrying that they cannot even get the location of the hotel right.

Damaged holiday car hire

Holidaymaker jumps off the plane in Spain, heads to pick up their car hire and then enjoys their holiday. The customer returns to the airport a week later to be told that the car is scratched all the way down the driver’s door and that the damage has to be paid for. This holidaymaker was smart and had taken photograph evidence.

Yes, this car hire company tried to get their damaged car paid for by a customer.

No flying on this airline

The passenger checked-in to the airport; both the passport and ticket name was correct. Time for boarding, they give the boarding card and passport to the airline staff, to be told that they couldn’t fly because the boarding card name was different to the passport. After a stressful 30 minutes it realises the mistake was made by the airline at check-in.

Lesson to learn here, check your boarding pass before you leave the check-in desk.

The deal that never existed

Not just one consumer but a number contacted me about one particular company that is selling cheap holidays on their website but, after booking online, the company contacts the consumer to say that deal sold out. I wish I could name and shame but I don’t fancy another libel claim.

The last travel issue I have mentioned about before, but, I feel this type of selling trick is on the increase.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Five travel issues sent from consumers

Regular readers will know I love a rant at the travel industry but today I am going to start by ranting at travel consumers! I love receiving emails from you, in fact I am really happy when I have helped you deal with a complaint, but it’s time to take some responsibility when you are booking your holiday.

Consumer’s not purchasing insurance

If you are booking your holiday with 10 months to go before you depart, there’s a high chance that something could go wrong; you also need to protect the £5,000 you’ve spent on the family holiday. So why would you not purchase travel insurance?

I am concerned how many of you who are not purchasing insurance. It’s worrying, it really is. It costs £10-20 per person, it’s worth it, believe me.

You’re responsible when booking online

You have two options; you pay a travel agent to book the fight for you, or if you book the flight online then you are responsible for making sure that the passport details match the passenger details. I am amazed how many emails I have received where consumers have not taken care when entering passenger details online.

I cannot stress this enough. Check and double check the passenger information to passports before booking.

Airlines are money grabbers

The airlines are not completely free from blame; they make millions from consumer mistakes. One disgruntled passenger entered his surname, three letters, typed the wrong way around; a silly mistake I know, but within minutes of noticing the mistake he called the airline to be told that he had to pay £100 to make the change.

Consumers or agents responsibility

One travel agency who shall remain nameless booked a holiday, the consumer thought it was a package, but the flight was booked with a low cost airline, and the accommodation with a third party. One member of the party had to cancel, but the airline will not refund their money.

Had it been booked as a package holiday then surely they could have received a good chunk of their money back? Who is at fault – the travel agent for not telling them it wasn’t a package or the consumer for not asking? Welcome to the murky waters of booking a holiday in 2010.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Frustrations with travel consumers rant

The union representing British Airways cabin crew has confirmed that its members will go on strike for three days from 20 March and for four days from 27 March. Thankfully, common sense has prevailed and strikes won’t take place over Easter, even so, these strikes will cause disruption.

British Airways (BA) have said that they have planned for the strikes and would do everything it could to operate as many flights as possible during any disruption. According to BA, flights from London City Airport would not be affected, 70% of flights from Gatwick, including all long-haul flights, should be operational.

If you have any questions add them in the comments form below and I’ll post more information soon.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

BA strikes announced – British Airways strike advice

This blog has highlighted its fair share of travel consumer issues and in the background I have helped a lot of consumers resolve their complaints with companies. I receive 30-50 emails a week from consumers asking for advice and that’s from a one-man run blog that reaches out to only 2,000 people daily.

Big issues that need resolving

There are some huge issues like the complexity of holiday protection and increase in air passenger duty and I wonder if these types of issues could be fought with more weight behind, if the industry and consumers came together.

Creation of an authority group on travel

What about a group made up of a mixture of consumers, industry people from tour ops, independent agents, travel media, and PR etc? Am I being realistic here? I do wonder if my head is in the clouds, when I get ideas like this hit me.

Would the government and travel associations sit down with such a group and discuss issues.

So much confusion in travel

There is so much confusion about what is a package and DIY holiday nowadays, especially when travel agents are selling both. I know by the emails that I receive that booking a holiday is no longer as simplistic as it used to be.

Your thoughts appreciated

I am not suggesting that the group discusses every single issue that consumers have; I also know a lot of the issues are down to government changes. I read a lot of news feeds that tell me that companies want to simplify protection and abolish air passenger duty, but how serious are they, or is just PR talk.

So, I thought I would open this up to consumers and the industry folk to discuss.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

UK travel industry needs a travel consumer group

As a solo traveller myself I get very annoyed, very quickly, when a fellow solo traveller has to pay a single person supplement and then is put into a single room, it’s should be stopped. I am sure they think because we are travelling alone we will put up with the lowest standard of accommodation.

Single room, but charged single supplement

When I travelled on my own for the first time on a package holiday to Benidorm, the same happened to me. I paid a single person supplement and then was thrown in a hotel room that you could not swing a cat in, not that I suggest you do that.

Why do tour operators think that they can get away with this? They also don’t like to call it a single person supplement anymore, it’s under occupancy. It’s the same, and like that makes it fair. I understand charging this if you are in a room for two people, but not in a single room.

Share your experiences

I was only 19 when it happened to me, and if it happened again I would demand that I was put into a standard sized room. Have you paid a single person supplement and then found yourself in a single room? Please share your solo traveller experiences in the comments.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Charged under occupancy but put into single room

The ‘ask Mr Rants’ feature has been incredibly popular and in the last couple of months I have published a number of travel consumer guides based on the number of emails that I receive from consumers. I wanted to share a few of those guides with you so you can bookmark for future use.

Here are five of the popular guides published.

» Driving abroad advice and car hire tips
» How to protect your holiday
» How to make a travel complaint
» Travel tips for solo travellers
» Skiing holiday tips and ski safety advice

You can rate each guide so I know which ones have to be improved, and of course please leave any suggestions for other consumer’s guides that you would like me to feature. My frequently asked travel questions page includes solutions to a lot of the questions that I receive.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Bookmark my travel consumer guides

Today I decided I would get my act together and start to research the prices for my flight to New York in June, so I fired up the browser and started to use a number of comparison sites including Kayak, Travel Supermarket and newcomer Zugu to see what my options are.

No unique flight comparison site

What I realised as I was using these sites is that all of them use the same partners and the experience of searching for a flight is the same. Prices were different, some differences were extreme, and so it felt like I needed a comparison site to compare the comparison sites.

Book direct with the airline

This got me wondering if we have too many flight comparison sites and are consumers just best to go to the airline that they know flies from their preferred airport. I suspect most consumers start off with a search on Google and then they may come across tons of comparison sites.

Another growing problem is that the low cost airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet do not want their prices to be compared on these sites. You only have to look at insurance company Direct Line that is using the fact that they aren’t on comparison sites as a unique selling point.

As one consumer said to me today, many of the comparison sites are just baffling.

Need to take into consideration airline extras

Another thought is that these sites aren’t really comparing the exact price of a flight because they do not take into consideration the additional extras like payment and check-in fee’s that airlines now charge consumers, and for me, a site that includes this information, will get my search every time.

Your opinion on flight comparison websites

I would love to read your opinion on comparison sites, do you use them, and are they useful to you when searching for the best priced flight. Do you think that there are now too many of them or do you just stick to using one particular comparison site or book direct with the airline?

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Thoughts on flight comparison and how useful for consumers

The airlines are having a laugh at our expense. Last week I booked a flight from Leeds & Bradford airport to Paris and was charged by the airline, Jet2, a rip off free of £2.00 to check-in online. My other alternative was to pay £6.00 to check-in at the airport.

Travel light to reduce airline charges

I always travel light with just my hand luggage, but if I had decided to take one suitcase the check-in fee increased to £6.00 online and £12.00 at the airport. How can any airline justify charging passengers for check-in, it’s not like you have any alternative.

Online check-in fees are a rip off

Yes, I can understand them charging for those that want to check-in at the airport, £6.00 or £12.00 is very expensive though but why charge me to use my electricity and my internet connection to check-in online, especially when I am not checking in any bags. It’s a rip off.

Comparison with other low cost airlines

Ryanair charge £5 each way, per person to check-in online. BMI baby do not charge you if you check-in online, no matter how many bags you are taking but, if you check-in at the airport you are charged a whopping £39.98 for one bag.

EasyJet do not appear to charge for check-in and I have to say the booking experience is much more pleasant on this site than any of the others I have mentioned in this post. I just wish they flew from my local airport in Leeds.

Your opinion on check-in fees

What is annoying is that these fee’s are not included as part of their advertised rates. What is your opinion on check-in fees? Are the low cost airlines just getting greedy and are there any other airline fees which drive you nuts.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Low cost airline check-in fees are a rip off

Over the weekend online travel agency, Expedia received some rather negative attention by one of the writers on high profile technology site, TechCrunch. To cut a long story short, the hotel he had booked had not received his reservation from Expedia and was fully booked up.

Check with the hotel after booking

It isn’t the first time that I have heard about this type of issue and it’s the reason why when I book a hotel on a third party website, I leave it 72 hours and then contact the hotel to make sure that they have received my reservation.

I would hate to arrive in an unknown destination to have to search around for an alternative hotel.

No trust in hotel and travel agency systems

One of the writer’s criticisms is that Expedia sent the reservation by fax, which is crazy considering it’s the 2010 and it’s time hotels caught up with technology. As consumers we have to check the booking, but I do not put a great deal of trust on systems used by hotels or travel agencies.

Keep calm, don’t get abusive

Another point that I want to make is that shouting and being abusive to the person at the other end of the telephone isn’t going to get your complaint dealt with any quicker. Keep calm, state the facts and make sure that the company deal with your complaint to your satisfaction.

I know that piece of advice seems laughable when I have a ranting man on the phone in my branding.

Companies need to monitor their brands

A number of high profile complaints have been brought to people’s attention using social media recently and I think this does prove that travel companies need to wake up and monitor their brand online. No longer can they hide behind their corporate desks and hope that it all goes away.

What I wouldn’t want to see though is these high profile complaints getting more attention than complaints from the general public. No matter who the rant is from, it should receive the same level of attention. I wrote a post on the best way to deal with a travel complaint so have a read for more tips.

Share your lost hotel booking experiences

So, have you come across a similar problem where the hotel hasn’t received your reservation through a third party and did it get resolved to your satisfaction? Have a read of the post in question on TechCrunch and let me know, would you have handled the complaint differently.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Time for hotels to catch up with booking technology