Qantas hotel price promise

[oztraveller]

I have tried using Qantas hotels but always I can get a better price thru trivago. For me, the points don’t compensate a room rate sometimes $25 more per night.

 

[Jo145]

Haven’t used Qantas Hotels does anyone have any experience with cancelling a flexible booking?

Made a booking with them that couldn't be cancelled/changed. Then I realised I'd booked the wrong day. Called to see what could be done. Not only did they make the change but refunded $37 as the second date (the correct one) was cheaper than my initial booking date ... go figure!!

 

[CaptJCool]

I have tried using Qantas hotels but always I can get a better price thru trivago. For me, the points don’t compensate a room rate sometimes $25 more per night.

Agreed
I think there's a couple of important issues to point out.

Most of the comparison sites are brands owned by the same corps (Expedia own a string of brands including Trivago) and in effect operate like Code shares. Of course they then work out your price point. All roads lead to Rome....

On that note;
Qantas hotels 'appears' to be a shop-front fro the Expedia booking site. On a search sometime back, on my mobile phone, Expedia appeared in the URL link during the processing of the qantas request.... and I'd on limited searching never found a cheaper price on QF than Expedia or the actual hotel booking site...

Either way, price promise isn't designed to be broadly taken up. It's more like insurance It's a classic negotiation tactic, offer something of no value to yourself that's considered high value to the buyer, which will be rarely utilised, and in any event, you still get the sale either way.

free cancellations operates in a similar way. With how Expedia Handle them, I've no faith. The simple part was cancelling online. From there, what a nightmare because Expedia send the hotel a token givIng them a short time window to bill you, days before the end of the cancellation period so despite their offer to not bill me until I arrived, they did. On their website, they basically push the refund problem to the hotel (and don't allow formal complaints unless you've rung them up (no 1-800 number) and you can't informally complain by email),

The hotel push it back to Expedia (they Expedia didn't advise us you canceled..). And worse, in this last case, I was Charged more than the advertised price - looked like s 2% credit charge surcharge of which I was completely unaware.

The run-around is annoying. And the ACCC probably have an interest in the mess that was.

Solution a debit credit card like qantas cash with $5 on it, to make a reservation to avoid incorrect billing

So price promise or cancellation promise, I got no faith in em. And I'm not chasing every last point seeing it's hard to actually use what I've already accumulated !

 

[cwd]

Agreed
On that note;
Qantas hotels 'appears' to be a shop-front fro the Expedia booking site. On a search sometime back, on my mobile phone, Expedia appeared in the URL link during the processing of the qantas request.... and I'd on limited searching never found a cheaper price on QF than Expedia or the actual hotel booking site...

Ah, that explains why a few hotels have mentioned something about the booking being already paid for on Expedia (when I booked on the Qantas Hotels website).

I only book when the price is basically the same as the other sites, and I get to use an AMEX and pay immediately in AUD, which suits me. Often I have to use Incognito mode to get the prepaid rates (or any availability even) to show up though...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

... is grabbing a hotel that meets the Qantas standards, I mean they're not going to recommend a place with paper thin walls on the third floor without a lift are they? Well I didn't think so, but their hotel recommendation in Troyes France fitted that scenario ...

I can pretty much guarantee you that Qantas have not personally checked each hotel they offer to see if it meets any 'Qantas' standard. As other have said, whatever the back-end is (Expedia or other), QF is just the shop front. It's like QF code sharing or allowing airlines to be part of OneWorld. Being part of an alliance with QF does nothing to guarantee safety or comfort. (And safety in the air is far more important than an hotel!)

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Hooroo is the provider of the QF hotel program partnership, Google says.
And they do not vet or check hotel rooms, neither does Hooroo.
I have stayed at hotels where the booking was via QF hotels, and had read Trip Advisor, and the reviews are best read on Trip Advistor, re thin walls, road and people screaming noise, etc, ...
Hotels always try to sound good, and upsell, best to read Trip Advisor and the other hotel review websites to see how "bad" a place can be.
I will never stay at the Adelaide Paringa again, Qantas Hotels didn't give a very bad rap, but Trip Advisor did, and while I read the reviews, I didn't take much note of "stay away" but in the end, "stay away" on Trip Advisor was right, very noisy place, no double glazed windows, quite warm room, no ducted aircond, it was cheap, but not good for sleep quality.

 

[cwd]

Hooroo is the provider of the QF hotel program partnership, Google says.

Hooroo basically IS Qantas Hotels.

As the Qantas Hotels website says:

Hooroo Pty Ltd is an associated entity of Qantas, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas Airways Limited. Hooroo Pty Ltd provides access for customers to book accommodation through the Qantas website.

Also, they have a website at Hooroo | Powering hotels for Qantas and Jetstar

 

[cmon0005]

Not quite price promise, but a year ago i booked with qantas hotels with free cancellation.
I randomly checked the rate on qantas hotels again closer top the actual stay all up they were advertising it cheaper at $150~ for the stay.

So i called thern and gave thern 2 options either they refund me the difference (easier for me and them) or if they wanted to play hard ball cancel booking and i will rebook at the lower price.

Without hesitation they amended my booking and refunded me $150~. Pays to check your rates up until check in of you're booked on a refundable rate.

 

[annier]

I'm interested in this post. I regularly book travel for team members in our small business. Exclusively QF wherever possible but I never never book accommodation through the airlines as the price is always higher than other providers. I've settled on hotels.com as the prices are almost always the best and rewards come in the form of free nights. The more you book, the more you are valued - I'm a Gold Member now, with access to super support when needed - eg: I've needed to change dates when the conditions of booking say it can't be done ... and they've advocated with the property on my behalf and made it happen ... they always answer the phone quickly and are really helpful. I've had nightmare experiences with other online accommodation services but with almost 3 years of exclusively using hotels.com I can honestly say I've never had a negative experience! Not sure how many QFF points we've missed out on but to my mind it's worth it.

 

[Carlton3]

Hi all, I had the same negative experience in June last year when I requested Qantas Hotels to price match a Queensland hotel. The booking was $1200 on the hotel website & available to everyone. Qantas Hotels price was $1320. ($120 more.) I gave up after 3 emails & felt as a long standing Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qantas Hotels were being unfair. Now I understand that Qantas Hotels will do everything they can to NOT price match. This situation is an embarrassment to Qantas. Hooroo.com who run the Qantas Hotels website came back to me 3 times with a different excuse each time. 1. The website doesn’t allow payment. 2. The public cannot access the price mentioned. 3. You have to be registered or sign up to access that price on their website. All of which were untrue, if anyone had taken the time to actually look at the hotel’s website.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I personally search everywhere but almost always find that Orbitz/Cheaptickets will get me the best deal with a % off coupon.

However they don't work with most chain hotels, so it doesn't work every time, if chains are your thing (which you're probably best advised to book direct with said chain anyway for status building & benefits..)

 

[joelsoo]

Just did Qantas hotel price match 2 weeks ago. Basically stay in Warnambool VIC at $59 per day overpriced compared to other agency such as Booking / Wotif etc. I have also checked the service apartment website and was not doing any specials, so decided to book and make a claim.

Claim was successful within a day and got refunded plus 1000 points after the stay.

If hotel or other agencies having specials, I would have probably go ahead with them and give them my business.

 

[Ambo]

I have never had a successful claim with flights or hotels, so I just don't bother anymore. Too complicated to argue with them when you do meet the conditions. In my case the gave me a once off but the pain is not worth it. I have better luck with hotels. I will just find flights through Skyscanner and book there and use hotels/trivago to price match my stay at the hotel direct.

 

[JohnK]

I've made around 30+ hotel bookings via Qantas last year, I like to book with Qantas to get QFF points on the deal.

Just out of interest do you find Qantas/Jetstar hotels reasonably priced? I'm sure it depends on the hotel.

 

[Phil_vic]

Just out of interest do you find Qantas/Jetstar hotels reasonably priced? I'm sure it depends on the hotel.

I find the prices are good as I usually check the direct hotel price on the chance that I might score the 1000 QFF price match bonus.

 

[perthjay85]

Slightly off topic but applicable.

I recently made a booking with Qantas hotels that's going to earn mem11,000 points, now I have just seen that Qantas have doubled points for international hotels.

This would bump my points up to nearly 23,000 points.

If I cancel my booking how long do refunds take? Making a second booking without a refund of the first booking will Max out my Amex.

 

[Phil_vic]

23,000 points - nice work!
On the last Qantas booking that I had to cancel; I sent them an email to cancel at 10:30 PM on a Wednesday, the following day they emailed back to confirm the cancellation saying that "it can take 2-3 business days" for it to appear in my bank. My credit card statement shows the credited amount on the next day (Friday).

 

[perthjay85]

Thanks phil,

I'll give them a tomorrow and see if we sort something out.

Cheers.

 

[Phil_vic]

I've just tried the price promise again: $135 for a one night motel room on Qantas and found it is $6 cheaper on the motels own website...should be a good candidate for a bonus 1000 QFF points.

I put in the claim - received an email from Hooroo stating that that "According to the terms and conditions of Qantas' Price Promise claim, only prices on websites that end in .au or on a website operated in Australia by an Australian company are qualified. Thebookingbutton.com does not qualify."

Yet the screenshot that I had sent to them shows the website does end in ".au", so I emailed them back to advise, will see if they can find another excuse......

 

[Mattg]

I've just tried the price promise again: $135 for a one night motel room on Qantas and found it is $6 cheaper on the motels own website...should be a good candidate for a bonus 1000 QFF points.

I put in the claim - received an email from Hooroo stating that that "According to the terms and conditions of Qantas' Price Promise claim, only prices on websites that end in .au or on a website operated in Australia by an Australian company are qualified. Thebookingbutton.com does not qualify."

Yet the screenshot that I had sent to them shows the website does end in ".au", so I emailed them back to advise, will see if they can find another excuse......

They'll probably reply saying that their T&Cs state that the first decision is final and there is no appeal process!

The lengths they go to to get out of honouring the price promise are quite ridiculous.