I'll pretty much only book at name brand hotels since there is usually a standard they're held to. I've had issues with name brand hotels but they're usually resolved rather quickly. The only time I ever had a real shady situation was a hotel that was "part of hilton" but it was a franchise owned hotel rather than corporate. I wound up complaining to corporate and got a voucher for a free night at any of their locations.
When I book a hotel, I make a concerted effort to do it directly from the hotel's website and not through one of the many intermediary sites that book for you for a big upcharge which dominate search engine results.
Last time I did that however, I slipped up somewhere along the way and ended up booking through hotels.com or something and ended up paying an extra $50 for the room. I realized this too late; so out of curiosity I looked up their reviews. Lots of people complaining they got tricked like me or they couldn't change their reservations or even get refunds. I then considered myself lucky that I even got the room at all.
Hotels.com tried to sell me a breakfast add-on, but the hotel I booked offers breakfast as part of the booking regardless. I ended up going directly through the hotel itself. I payed less that way anyway.
I work at a hotel. Always book direct. I can't even begin to tell you the number of horror stories I have with "guest thought they had a reservation through Expedia..."
What we'll need is verified reviewers with a reputation, but then those elite reviewers will gain too much power and become corrupt, then those corrupt elites will be overturned and the masses will take hold, but then masses are filled with infiltrators and fakes, and that's where we are now.
There's also counter bots to this. Someone threatens bad reviews unless they get what they want.
I'll pretty much only book at name brand hotels since there is usually a standard they're held to. I've had issues with name brand hotels but they're usually resolved rather quickly. The only time I ever had a real shady situation was a hotel that was "part of hilton" but it was a franchise owned hotel rather than corporate. I wound up complaining to corporate and got a voucher for a free night at any of their locations.
When I book a hotel, I make a concerted effort to do it directly from the hotel's website and not through one of the many intermediary sites that book for you for a big upcharge which dominate search engine results.
Last time I did that however, I slipped up somewhere along the way and ended up booking through hotels.com or something and ended up paying an extra $50 for the room. I realized this too late; so out of curiosity I looked up their reviews. Lots of people complaining they got tricked like me or they couldn't change their reservations or even get refunds. I then considered myself lucky that I even got the room at all.
Hotels.com tried to sell me a breakfast add-on, but the hotel I booked offers breakfast as part of the booking regardless. I ended up going directly through the hotel itself. I payed less that way anyway.
I work at a hotel. Always book direct. I can't even begin to tell you the number of horror stories I have with "guest thought they had a reservation through Expedia..."
What we'll need is verified reviewers with a reputation, but then those elite reviewers will gain too much power and become corrupt, then those corrupt elites will be overturned and the masses will take hold, but then masses are filled with infiltrators and fakes, and that's where we are now.