I was searching for hotels to stay in Mysore for two nights on Friday 29-Mar-2013 to Sunday 31-Mar-2013. Since it was long weekend I thought of staying away from Bangalore but didn’t want to travel far, so just chose Mysore.
After a fair amount of research I found makemytrip’s cancellation policy to be good (full refund minus 250 rs if cancelled before 24hrs of check-in) so I chose makemytrip coz you never know if you have to cancel the trip at last moment.
So I went ahead and booked Shree Guru Residency as it is near to many places of attraction. I paid Rs 3640/- for two nights for two of us, and even the booking page showed this data correctly. But when I received the Hotel Booking Voucher (Booking ID: NH210332618345) from makemytrip over email, I was shocked to find out that the voucher mentioned only one guest!
I immediately called up their customer care and informed about the error. The cust care exec somebody by name Pooja spoke to me, and she kept me on hold 2 times to check with the hotel. Then she came back and told me I need to pay Rs 950/- plus tax to add one more person to the same booking. I told its the error from your side, why should I pay, moreover hotel charges 950/- plus tax for a single person.
I have paid 3640/- for two nights that itself shows I have booked for 2 people, it’s a mistake from your side, so please send me the updated voucher mentioning two people. She told if you want you can cancel your booking but you will be charged Rs. 250/- for cancellation! When I said why should I lose 250 bucks for none of my mistake, she told she will take a request to check if this is an error from their side, took details like which browser, which OS and how many tabs were open while booking and told she would check and if it is confirmed that it’s a mistake from their side then she would send me a new voucher after 72 hours!
That means she would send me new voucher after I reach the hotel, and if she doesn’t send I have to pay 950/- plus tax to the hotel.
I then raised a written complaint on their website but till next day (27-Mar-2013) morning there was no reply from them. I got frustrated and since I didn’t want to take a chance I booked another hotel through Travelguru and cancelled the booking done through makemytrip. This way makemytrip made 250/- bucks!! Makemytrip looted my hard-earned money and caused mental harassment too. I have vowed to NEVER book anything through makemytrip.
Even the travekguru booking had its own share of problems. Though they immediately sent me booking confirmation, the confirmation mail had a note saying it would take 48hrs for the hotel to receive info about my booking so I should check with hotel only after 48 hrs. I told WTF! When I contacted their cust care they told room has been blocked, it will take 48hrs for the communication to be sent to hotel, so the cust exec asked me to check with hotel next day after 12PM. She also assured there is nothing to worry, booking is confirmed, but I have to wait till tomorrow and see what happens to this booking.
As another safety net I just thought and mailed the hotel and requested them to reserve a room for two for 2 nights on same dates. They responded positively and sent a written confirmation over email that booking is made. This they did without even receiving a single paisa from me.
And the amount I need to pay, as per their email, was less than what Travelguru charged me by 120 rupees! Since I had already paid money to Travelguru I was not able to save this 120 bucks :-( So totally in this ordeal I lost 250+120=360 rupees unnecessarily. :-(
So my suggestion for anyone who wants to book hotels through these online portals is, try calling up the hotel directly or mail them and ask them if they can book the room and you would pay after check-in. Better get a written confirmation too if they agree. This way you can avoid getting looted by online portals!