HostelWorld: An awful experience - Price Scam & Room Scam
Reference Number: *** *** Hostel Art Gallery
A*** *** ** ** *** *** * *** *** Mexico City 06500, Mexico
I booked a "Basic Single Private Shared Bathroom" using hostel worldTotal Cost: US$paid deposit Total Paid: US$for two nights. ??When arrived they were asking 19% more for TaxesNotice that Hostelworld usually displays final price and have been using many timesSo basically they were asking 10USD moreThis is a scam because unless you read a fine print you don't know it and hence cannot compare with other websites. ???The "Basic Single Private Shared Bathroom" turned out to be a Pod! That means only a bed in a wardrobe - much worse than Japanese Capsule Hostel (no amenities at all). ??Hostelworld is also responsible for the misleading ad (no mention to the pod) and also the Tax(See photos attached)??Notice 53.72$ minus deposit = !!!! according to their arithmetic
I had an awful experience at smart holiday hostel in Venice which I booked through hostel worldI gave an honest review including notifying hostel world that they charged city tax and city tax is only required if breakfast is provided so that are being fraudulentAlso, the hostel did not provide lockers as was advertised and we were taken to a different location upon arrival and location was our main determining factor when bookingWe were not given a proper refund (especially given the advertising.) hostel world contacted me regarding my complaint and ultimately took it down as I chose not to stay at the locationIt is disappointing I pay more to use hostel worlds services only to find there are no reviews of people's worst experience when they choose to leave due to advertising and safety concernsFurthermore they didn't ask or offer pursuing a refund and didn't reassure me that the hostel posting would be altered to accurately represent the accommodationsI no longer trust booking through hostel worldIt was surprisingly hard to inform people of this absurd reviewing policy, most of what I have now found is angry blogs...perhaps that should be addressedA business that would rather not provide good services to their customers but rather keep affiliation with an awful business to increase revenue is shameful at least
We booked a reservation through hostel worldWe paid a deposit and got the confirmation codeWe arrived at the hotel and were told that the room already had people in itThe staff spoke almost no English, besides telling us that the room was full, and could not explain how it was possible that we paid money to reserve a room and the room has been filledWe continued to challenge them mainly because we had no other choice or place to goWe called about half a dozen places and they were full as wellAfter an hour and a half they told us a place nearby had a bed and a couchIt was already almost one in the morningWe walked almost two kilometers with our massive bags to the place they told us was close and were forced to pay euros for what they had availableOur friend slept in the small bedAnd I slept with my wife on the pull out sofaMy wife eventually moved to the patio because there was so much noiseShe slept on the concrete
Two of us woke up with bites all over our bodiesThe two of us that slept facing the street must not have gotten more than minutes of sleep last night
I am utterly shocked at the Hostel World policy and response to this issue
Based on my understanding of your policy, the ultimate responsibility and blame rests with the individual property and they must deal with resolving any issues if they come up
After this experience, it is clear to me that a reservation with Hostel World is not secureIn fact, it is meaningless because it may still be unavailable upon arrivalAnd if an alternative accommodation is not found, the only remedy is a refund of the depositIt is also clear that customer service will quickly absolve itself of any liability if anything goes wrong, blame the property for "administrative errors" and refer me to the terms and conditions agreement
Just to give Hostel World an idea about how your competitors are handling similar issues, I would like to share a similar situation that happened to me with AirBnb one year agoAfter the property was double booked, not only was AirBnb genuinely apologetic, but they showed it by taking it upon themselves to find me another place, paid for my night and credited me euros for the trouble
It is much more advantageous and secure to deal directly with the hotel or hostelIf I had called the hostel directly instead of using Hostel World this entire situation could have been avoided because I would have known that they did not have the beds available
They refunded me a full $11!! Nice!!
HostelWorld: An awful experience - Price Scam & Room Scam
Reference Number: *** *** Hostel Art Gallery
A*** *** ** ** *** *** * *** *** Mexico City 06500, Mexico
I booked a "Basic Single Private Shared Bathroom" using hostel worldTotal Cost: US$paid deposit Total Paid: US$for two nights. ??When arrived they were asking 19% more for TaxesNotice that Hostelworld usually displays final price and have been using many timesSo basically they were asking 10USD moreThis is a scam because unless you read a fine print you don't know it and hence cannot compare with other websites. ???The "Basic Single Private Shared Bathroom" turned out to be a Pod! That means only a bed in a wardrobe - much worse than Japanese Capsule Hostel (no amenities at all). ??Hostelworld is also responsible for the misleading ad (no mention to the pod) and also the Tax(See photos attached)??Notice 53.72$ minus deposit = !!!! according to their arithmetic
I had an awful experience at smart holiday hostel in Venice which I booked through hostel worldI gave an honest review including notifying hostel world that they charged city tax and city tax is only required if breakfast is provided so that are being fraudulentAlso, the hostel did not provide lockers as was advertised and we were taken to a different location upon arrival and location was our main determining factor when bookingWe were not given a proper refund (especially given the advertising.) hostel world contacted me regarding my complaint and ultimately took it down as I chose not to stay at the locationIt is disappointing I pay more to use hostel worlds services only to find there are no reviews of people's worst experience when they choose to leave due to advertising and safety concernsFurthermore they didn't ask or offer pursuing a refund and didn't reassure me that the hostel posting would be altered to accurately represent the accommodationsI no longer trust booking through hostel worldIt was surprisingly hard to inform people of this absurd reviewing policy, most of what I have now found is angry blogs...perhaps that should be addressedA business that would rather not provide good services to their customers but rather keep affiliation with an awful business to increase revenue is shameful at least
We booked a reservation through hostel worldWe paid a deposit and got the confirmation codeWe arrived at the hotel and were told that the room already had people in itThe staff spoke almost no English, besides telling us that the room was full, and could not explain how it was possible that we paid money to reserve a room and the room has been filledWe continued to challenge them mainly because we had no other choice or place to goWe called about half a dozen places and they were full as wellAfter an hour and a half they told us a place nearby had a bed and a couchIt was already almost one in the morningWe walked almost two kilometers with our massive bags to the place they told us was close and were forced to pay euros for what they had availableOur friend slept in the small bedAnd I slept with my wife on the pull out sofaMy wife eventually moved to the patio because there was so much noiseShe slept on the concrete
Two of us woke up with bites all over our bodiesThe two of us that slept facing the street must not have gotten more than minutes of sleep last night
I am utterly shocked at the Hostel World policy and response to this issue
Based on my understanding of your policy, the ultimate responsibility and blame rests with the individual property and they must deal with resolving any issues if they come up
After this experience, it is clear to me that a reservation with Hostel World is not secureIn fact, it is meaningless because it may still be unavailable upon arrivalAnd if an alternative accommodation is not found, the only remedy is a refund of the depositIt is also clear that customer service will quickly absolve itself of any liability if anything goes wrong, blame the property for "administrative errors" and refer me to the terms and conditions agreement
Just to give Hostel World an idea about how your competitors are handling similar issues, I would like to share a similar situation that happened to me with AirBnb one year agoAfter the property was double booked, not only was AirBnb genuinely apologetic, but they showed it by taking it upon themselves to find me another place, paid for my night and credited me euros for the trouble
It is much more advantageous and secure to deal directly with the hotel or hostelIf I had called the hostel directly instead of using Hostel World this entire situation could have been avoided because I would have known that they did not have the beds available
They refunded me a full $11!! Nice!!
Bought a hotel stay thru this company and they charged me deposit fee +insurance but when I called the hotel they didnt have my reservations