Changing a non refundable hotel bookings. (experiences/tips/ect..)

[Dusk911]

So I thought I'd start this to share my experience give others a place to share.

 

NOTES: 

I understand I made a mistake and that I forfeit the money for the booking but as I've already lost the money why not try.

 

Goal: Try and change my booking

 

Finding out my leave had been approved I started booking my upcoming holiday. Finding a nice discounted rate, I booked a hotel for a one week stay in Bangkok via "Hotelopia Mid July" but during the booking I made a mistake with the dates and ending up book one week earlier then I needed too. So when I discovered my mistake (the next day) I immediately tried to contact Hotelopia, through their only messaging system and via the phone numbers they provided only to find all local ones didn't work. A quick google search didn't give fill me with much confidence as customer service is always rated "non-existent"  but a few contacted them via facebook and I did the same. After about 2 days to my facebook message the gave me a Spanish call center number that I called (I used skype cost me like $1us for the 30min call) Seemingly helpful the person on the phone attempted to contact the hotel and told me that the the reservation department was closed and they would email them and get in touch with me via email/ phone. 

 

Two days later (so four days after me initial email) I get a response from my original email request stating:

 

"The booking is under special terms and conditions, therefore no amendments are allowed and there is no possibility to cancel free of charge.

 

We are sorry to inform you that it is not possible to agree with your request."

 

So as last hail Mary I've emailed the hotel to see if there is anything I can do to change my booking, and that where I am, waiting to hear what they have to say. Im not that optimistic but its worth a try 

Edited May 16, 2018 by Dusk911

[mrfreeze]

Hopefully they come through and change it for you the week later.

 

Last year I mistakenly booked a night on a pre-paid rate and as soon as I realized contacted the Hotel who allowed it to be cancelled without penalty.

[null]

Booking via Agoda or Expedia can give you an option to cancel.

[briguy]

I recently wanted to change an Airbnb reservation I made a day before and discovered they have a policy where you can't cancel once you reach 30 days before the stay. I contacted my credit card company and cancelled the charge with no problem. They just asked if I knew there was a no cancellation policy, which I didn't. Don't know if doing this would hurt your credit, but it worked out for me.  In fairness, afterward I contacted Airbnb and they did cancel the reservation.

 

I'll add hotels.com as a booking website where you can cancel up until the day before.

[HarleyRider]

I use Agoda a lot because they offer "no fee" change and cancellation rates.  This works out well when I'm not 100% sure on my trip dates.   The only time I've had a problem with an Agoda booking is when I had to leave a day early.  The hotel said they couldn't do a refund because it was booked through Agoda.  Agoda said they already paid the hotel and there wasn't anything they could do.  

[Dusk911]

Yeah i was just trying to save a little money think it worked out $100 cheaper then using Agoda or booking.com, found the site on hotel hotelscombined. Hotel just got back to me and said they would try and work it out with the "travel agent" Funny enough they now list free cancellation for the same price just it wasn't there when I booked the first time.

 

Regardless of the outcome I gonna still book this hotel they have atleast attempted to help me out even though they have no obligation to do so

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Edited May 17, 2018 by Dusk911

[Dusk911]

Just got a reply from the hotel that said they are ok changing the booking they just have confirmed the booking with Hotelopia. I reacon I've got a 50/50 chance of it happening. 

[Dusk911]

No message for the last two days and its now the weekend guess thats a loss

[jlo]

It happened to me with hotel.com (non refundable); I called them immediately and it wasn't a problem and changed the dates. 

[Dusk911]

Hotelopia doesn't reply to messages from the hotel either. They have now canceled my booking with no communication or notification (only found out when I went to check the status of my booking online) likely as a response to the hotels request on my behalf.

 

Personally I'll never use Hotelopia ever again in quite a few cases they offer the cheapest price but usually by only a few dollars but the customer service is practically none existent, (phone numbers not working taking over four days to replay to emails) lesson learned.