Qantas hotel price promise

[Phil_vic]

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

Yes, I wonder if they just pull out a standard "unsuccessful" reply. In my case they clearly had not looked at the screenshot that I'd sent them. Despite their email saying "After careful consideration and investigation, we regret to inform you..."

 

[Phil_vic]

latest reply from Hooroo (they must be working late):

The offer you found on the competitor’s website for the Deluxe Queen Room comes with a different payment term - "Standard Bookings - <Motel Name> Motel will not charge you any reservation fees for making standard bookings, nor charge your credit card. Your credit card details will be held as security for your booking - you can choose to use your credit card, or pay by other means when you arrive at the motel." compared to the booking you made with Qantas Hotels which is a prepaid booking.

Most motels/hotels that I've booked directly do not charge the card at the time of booking, they hold your card details and give you a bill to pay when you leave - so Hooroo would not have to honor a price match to pretty-much any hotel.

Has anyone ever taken them to consumer affairs over their misleading "Price Promise" offer

 

[Must...Fly!]

That one is not so misleading, it is a requirement that the room is identical. That includes the payment terms.

 

[Phil_vic]

That one is not so misleading, it is a requirement that the room is identical. That includes the payment terms.

I'm not convinced that is the case; the Hooroo price promise conditions do not mention anything about “payment conditions”, if they did it would make it impossible to claim a price promise as they offer payment with Qantas points which no other hotel can do. Also most hotels will accept payment via cash which Hoodoo does not. So, yes the payment conditions are different, however this should not invalidate my claim. (and the room is identical..)

 

[odysseus]

I'm not convinced that is the case; the Hooroo price promise conditions do not mention anything about “payment conditions”, if they did it would make it impossible to claim a price promise as they offer payment with Qantas points which no other hotel can do. Also most hotels will accept payment via cash which Hoodoo does not. So, yes the payment conditions are different, however this should not invalidate my claim. (and the room is identical..)

They do say to qualify it needs to have the "same booking and cancellation conditions" and I agree that these are different - though of course being prepaid normally results in a cheaper price, not a dearer one!

Also, for at least some hotels I've looked at, they do offer non-prepaid rates as well, so it would be possible to find matches on that criterion in some circumstances. Not sure if that was available with yours.

 

[JohnK]

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......

I had similar with a price promise claim they rejected. Something to do with Wifi in the description.

I find Expedia/Qantas/Jetstar hotels more expensive for the hotels I want to book. I don't chase the points but book the rooms with the $30/$25 vouchers they send with flight bookings but it's not always the full saving.

 

[Phil_vic]

oh the irony... the google ad on the bottom of my post here on The Australian Frequent Flyer shows a Qantas Hotels ad which says "Enjoy our price promise" - I'M TRYING TO!

 

[pauly7]

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.

One watch out for hotels.com is that they are equally painful to extract a price match promise out of. I have done it three times with them and each time involved several emails over weeks, as they missed key information every time which makes me think their claims are processed by some poor minimum wagers in a third world country. But yes the stay 10 get a free night is great especially when you are paying the cheapest rate anyway and have bounced to them through a cash back site as well!

I only book through publically available engines for personal trips, (Corp locked down sites for work) and I’ve never found Expedia direct or QF / JQ to have had the lowest price, even in a sale - so have never booked them. The points on offer aren’t enough to interest me either to pay a premium.

Another good one to check out though is Hotel Quickly, not as well used here in AU but big in Asia and can pop up with killer deals I saved a fortune on a recent trip to Asia and their customer service is top notch with great live chat as well.

 

[Phil_vic]

I ended up staying two nights at this same motel, and each time found the motels own website had a cheaper price for the same room; so went for the price match...
The 1st claim - is where they'd said my screenshot was not .au - which it was, then they said they'd need 48 hrs to check it out - 1 week later they honoured the price match.
The 2nd claim (some motel, same room, etc) is the one they've said has different payment terms - which I've told them this is not one of their stated conditions for price match. Their reply was:
Upon checking, we have provided the information where it says "products on qantas.com and the licensed online travel agent website must be identical in all regards, and all details must be visible on the screenshot of their website". Please find attached screenshot of this information from our website. Additionally, the competitor's website which do not have the capability to confirm the booking and accept payments after carefully investigating your claim.
(yes the last sentence doesn't quite read right..)
I've emailed them to ask how the "product" is not the same - waiting to hear back

I've also lodged an entry to the ACCC - might do this each time I get one of their unsubstantiated knock-backs, to let the ACCC see how shady their practices are.

 

[akjlee88]

Me too. Price promised refused.

My suggestion is to cancel and book with the new price found as they seems to have all the reasons to decline it.

Just making sure no cancellation fees incurred.

Thanks