I had booked a Deluxe Air-conditioned Double-Room at the Trivandrum Hotel vide Cleartrip booking ID 1305240834. On arrival at 2:30pm on the day of booking—a Sunday the 26th May 2013, I learnt that I was allotted an Attic-room, on the topmost second floor of the Hotel. The room no 202 allotted, was an L-shaped affair with hardly any space inside. There are only two rooms in the topmost floor, and both are similar-about the size of a large single room.
The tiny Bathroom, en-suite, was a hole in the wall. The faucets lacked water –pressure, the flush was not working, the shower-stall had its acrylic walls hanging loose, and the bidet was leaking. There were mosquitoes in the room, and we swatted eight. The allotted room was vastly different from the images posted on CLEARTRIP’s website for the Deluxe room-type of this hotel. I complained to the Hotel reception, who initially tried to explain away that all rooms were similar, when their Hotel website lists four different categories, with Deluxe double being the best they have!
On specific questioning, they revealed that better rooms were already sold out! As I had booked their highest category, I immediately lodged a complaint with CLEARTRIP’s customer service telephone number at 3 pm the same day. Despite a promise to resolve the issue, the response from CLEARTRIP’s customer service came only after 7:56 pm ---5 hours later. The Hotel then informed me that they were willing to shift me to a first-floor room-- seemingly an actual Deluxe room-- but only at 12 pm the next day, which means after 24 Hrs!
So, either the Hotel management does this on purpose until a complaint is registered by the guest , or Clear trip management arranges for discounted prices by knowingly booking a lower standard room with the Hotel management first- before the customer checks-in.
I have been severely inconvenienced and out-of-pocket, with a room far below the order value placed on CLEARTRIP, and correction being applied only for a duration that is half of what I had paid for.
I then compared the rates with MAKEMYTRIP, YATRA and AGODA for the same hotel, over the same period, Result I have been ripped off by a couple of hundred bucks, for a poorer standard room than what I had wanted my family to enjoy, in addition to the inconvenience of shifting midway through the stay.
Stay CLEAR of CLEARTRIP.COM! Absolute rip-off!!