Booking for this hotel has been the biggest hassle of my entire life. So frustrated I will never give them my business again. After researching what hotel My Aunt & I would be staying at while in London we chose The Holiday Inn Express- Earls Court. The website does not explain whether the credit card will be charged @ the time of booking or @ arrival. I called the Holiday Inn Express's number to ask about the charge. The agent I spoke w/ explained to me how the charge works. He offered me a discount on a 21-day super saver sale the hotel was having and they would offer a discount if I paid in full in advance with no option to cancel w/ a refund. I said ok. He asked me whether I would prefer my quote to be in US Dollars or British Pounds. I said dollars. He stated the nightly room rate with the discount would be $112.00/night with a 5 night total of $560.00 US dollars. I said that's a great rate I would be happy to book now but I need to confirm flights & discuss booking a non-refundable hotel with my aunt. The agent stated he could offer me a 24 hour courtesy hold reservation until I could get a confirm to book the hotel from my aunt. I agreed, and gave the agent all of my info. He emailed me a confirm #, & explained I would need to call back w/ in 24 hours to confirm my reservation with a CC. I got the OK to book from my aunt, while she would go ahead & book flights. I called the Holiday Inn Express' # back, gave the new agent my confirmation # and told her I would like to confirm the booking with my CC #. She said Ok ur total applied to your CC will be $862.00 dollars total. I explained to her that the last agent had already given me a quote at a rate of $560.00 dollars total. She placed me on hold, she came back & explained that the original quote the previous agent had given me was in British Pounds not in US Dollars. I explained to her that he explicitly said that those rates were in Dollars. I remember him correctly saying US dollars at the end of every rate quoted. She apologized for the confusion & put me on hold & transferred me to a supervisor; named Addison. Addison came on the line and said he saw that I had a courtesy held reservation for 5 nights at the Holiday Inn Express- Earls Court in London. I said "yes". He told me OK great I can confirm this reservation, your total is $1090.00 dollars. I said Excuse me, ur last agent did not explain to you why I was transferred? Addision said "no". That he saw I had a held reservation for 5 nights & that I needed to pay with my CC & that the total was $1090.00 dollars. I told him the confusion that was happening. That I was originally quoted a price of $560.00 dollars, then when calling back to confirm my reservation I was quoted $862.00 dollars, and now 15 minutes later I am getting quoted $1090.00 dollars, and that either every agent that works for this company is completely clueless or I'm getting played with. He placed me on hold & came back and said that he was incorrect and it was $862.00 dollars. I explained everything to him that had happened with the previous agents. He said to me that it was a major error in the rate quote from the first agent and that after finally figuring out the math that the second agents rate of $862.00 was actually correct, that the first agent was quoting me in pounds and not dollars. I told him that this was not my fault nor my error, that THEIR agent had offered me to be quoted in either pounds or dollars and I requested dollars, It was his mistake in the quote. I requested the hotel should honor the rate due to my inconvenience, & for the fact that I had already explained the quote to my aunt and had her go ahead with booking our flights.
He put me back on hold for 20 more minutes and came back on the line stating that they were unable to contact the hotel direct to get a confirmation on whether they could honor the original rate or not, & that he would be passing all of this info on to another manager; who would contact the hotel directly in the morning & call me first thing at 7AM. I gave all my info to him & let him know I would be anticipating his call. Well as you can guess I never got a call the next morning. I finally had to call the next afternoon, to hear that my reservation was CXLD due to no CC. I got transferred around, I finally spoke w/ another supervisor AMY who was pretty rude, made me feel like a criminal, she told me she would book me now at $950.00. I asked why it went up. She said the rates had changed & she couldn't honor the 1st quote of $560.00. She put me on hold, came back and said that even though the rates had changed she would honor the $862.00 rate. I said fine, gave her my CC, she said she would email me. She never did. I clld back to get an email, & she actually booked me at the $950.00 rate!! So now I have to call back when there is another manager on duty to get them to fix my rate. This is just such a hassle! I'm guessing this is why she never sent the email in the first place! read more