When Junewon Lee and his accomplice, Alex, determined to go to Bora Bora for his or her anniversary, that they had their hearts set on staying in an overwater bungalow. Scrolling by means of the Citi journey portal, Lee discovered a spectacular deal on a Presidential Overwater Villa on the Conrad Bora Bora Nui and shortly made a reservation.
It wasn’t till months later — and simply weeks earlier than their journey — that Lee found one thing uncommon about that overwater bungalow when he double-checked his reservation: It was on the seashore, not over the water. Worse, after many unsuccessful makes an attempt to get Citi Journey to right this error, an agent canceled the couple’s reservation altogether.
With time working out and no overwater bungalow or another lodging booked, Lee turned to TPG for assist.
May we save this much-anticipated journey and get this couple the overwater bungalow in paradise they’d been dreaming about?
Utilizing Citi Journey with Reserving.com to plan a particular journey
Again in October 2023, Lee was perusing the Citi Journey portal, which is powered by Reserving.com. He was particularly searching for resorts with overwater bungalows in Bora Bora.
“We instantly noticed the Conrad, and it appeared stunning,” Lee recalled. “The overwater bungalows have been out there for our dates, and we have been ready to make use of the Citi Status fourth-night-free profit.” The couple would basically have the ability to take pleasure in 4 nights on the resort for the price of three, making this a good higher deal.
The data for the Citi Status® Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.
A sidebar for these unfamiliar with the Citi Status fourth-night-free profit:
- Cardholders should e book a minimal four-consecutive-night keep at a taking part lodge by means of ThankYou.com or by calling 1-800-ThankYou.
- The worth you pay throughout reserving consists of that profit, and the financial savings are equal to the common nightly fee of your reservation for one night time, excluding taxes and costs.
- The client can use this profit as much as two occasions per calendar 12 months.
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Together with the Citi Status profit, the ultimate fee for the Presidential Overwater Villa ended up at $852 per night time. That in all probability ought to have been trigger for concern.
It wasn’t only a spectacular deal. For one of many prime room classes on the Conrad Bora Bora Nui, in excessive season, that fee was merely unbelievable.
However Lee says he had no thought the speed ought to have raised his eyebrow since he had neither booked the same journey previously, nor achieved very a lot lodge analysis on the vacation spot.
“We by no means even checked out another properties,” Lee informed me. “As quickly as we noticed the Presidential Overwater Villa on the Conrad was out there and at a fee that was properly inside our value vary, we have been bought.”
When Citi Journey even allowed the couple to make use of their Status profit to save lots of much more on the keep, it appeared just like the anniversary journey was coming collectively completely.
No less than, initially.
Citi Journey confirms: The Presidential Overwater Villa on the Conrad
If Lee and his accomplice had any suspicions in regards to the validity of the worth for the Presidential Overwater Villa, these fully dissipated when the e-mail affirmation arrived from Citi Journey.
“Our card was charged the total value for the 4 nights and Citi Journey despatched our affirmation through e-mail,” Lee defined.
With their Presidential Overwater Villa on the Conrad confirmed, the couple turned their ideas to how they might get to Bora Bora.
“We redeemed 160,000 American Airways miles for 2 business-class seats on Air Tahiti Nui,” Lee informed me. “Then, for our return flight, we have been capable of snag two business-class seats on Air France for 210,000 [Flying Blue] miles. We actually could not consider how completely your entire journey got here collectively.”
Sadly, issues with this good journey lay forward — massive issues.
“The room wasn’t over the water. It was simply behind the seashore dealing with the lagoon,” reported Lee. “As a result of we had booked by means of Citi Journey, the lodge simply referred us again to our reserving agent.”
Lee was then trapped in a round battle between the lodge and Citi Journey, with neither keen nor capable of right the reserving mistake.
“It was irritating,” Lee recalled. “Even with my confirmed reservation from Citi Journey, I used to be getting nowhere quick.”
We will not repair it, so we’re canceling it
For the following two weeks, Lee tried to repair his reservation on his personal. The Citi Journey brokers have been well mannered however noncommittal. Every e-mail from Citi Journey supplied an apology for the issue with the reservation however no answer.
As Lee continued to e-mail and name every day, the angle of the customer support brokers started to shift.
“They [Citi Travel representatives] weren’t being pleasant anymore. One supervisor informed me on the cellphone to take it or depart it. He mentioned we have been now confirmed in a backyard room and that he could not attain anybody on the lodge who would put us within the overwater bungalow. He informed us to hope for the very best, and we could get upgraded after we arrive. I informed him our affirmation from Citi Journey says a Presidential Overwater Villa, so why would we settle for a backyard room on land? We do not wish to do this.”
Lee says the consultant then knowledgeable him that the couple’s reservation was nonrefundable. Subsequently, the Citi Journey agent suggested, the practically $3,000 pay as you go deposit could be forfeited in the event that they canceled.
Not sure what to do subsequent, Lee and his accomplice mulled over their choices. One of many major causes that they had chosen Bora Bora was to expertise an overwater bungalow. Now, the Citi Journey agent had given them an ultimatum: settle for the garden-view room or cancel and lose their cash.
Neither selection was interesting to the couple, but it surely seems they did not must resolve. That Citi Journey agent selected to handle the error by canceling your entire reservation and refunding their deposit regardless of the earlier point out of its nonrefundable standing.
“We didn’t ask him to cancel the reservation,” Lee clarified. “We have been nonetheless interested by what to do when the cancellation got here by means of.”
This anniversary journey was beginning to seem like a whole bust.
Nonetheless, Lee wasn’t keen to surrender simply but. He had another thought: to ask TPG for assist.
Can TPG assist these troubled vacationers?
When Lee’s request for assist landed on my desk, he was determined. The couple had their airline tickets to French Polynesia and nonetheless held on to some hope that an overwater bungalow was within the playing cards.
However with lower than three weeks earlier than departure, their hope was dwindling.
“Do you suppose you possibly can assist us?” Lee requested me. “Citi Journey says there are not any overwater bungalows to e book. I referred to as the lodge, and there are [overwater bungalows], so I do not know why Citi Journey cannot simply right its mistake. Costs are skyrocketing as we get nearer to the vacations.”
I actually hoped we may assist. However as quickly as I began trying on the particulars of the case, I had my issues. All of the traditional hallmarks of a “fats finger” deal have been there — that is when a fee is a results of a human information entry error.
After I checked charges for overwater bungalows for a similar dates throughout Bora Bora, it was instantly clear to me that Lee’s authentic reservation was the results of an enormous pricing error.
The nightly fee throughout the atoll for an entry-level overwater bungalow didn’t dip under $1,400 at any of the resorts that I may see.
Lee had booked the Presidential Overwater Villa for $852 per night time — not together with tax — with the Citi Status fourth night time free, bringing the ultimate value all the way down to a mere $714 per night time. That specific room kind can go for greater than $6,000 per night time through the vacation season, although. Undoubtedly, somebody goofed once they loaded that fee into the Citi Journey system.
When the Conrad Bora Bora Nui acquired the reservation from Citi Journey with the bargain-basement fee of $852 per night time, the lodge merely positioned the couple in a room that corresponded most intently to that fee: a garden-view room on the seashore.
Lee requested the lodge to honor his authentic reservation and make sure the Presidential Overwater Villa, however the Conrad referred him again to Citi Journey, the reserving agent that had supplied the mistaken fee for that room class.
That is not a shock. If a reserving agent or journey portal makes a pricing error and the lodge will not be keen to honor the mistaken fee, the traveler has three selections:
- Cancel for a refund: The reserving agent should let the traveler cancel for a full refund if the speed will not be legitimate for a similar room class on the reservation. That is true even when the speed that’s on the affirmation says “nonrefundable.” Ultimately, that is why Citi Journey refunded Lee’s pay as you go reserving for the Presidential Overwater Villa that it couldn’t present for the worth he paid.
- Settle for a “downgrade”: On this case, the Conrad looked for a room that extra intently aligned with the speed the couple paid. One of these downgrade may be an appropriate decision for vacationers who’ve booked a mistaken fee.
- Pay the worth distinction: The reserving agent could try to barter one thing affordable with the property for the shopper — and there could also be a price concerned.
However Lee says he was introduced solely with a take-it-or-leave-it choice … after which an involuntary cancellation. Nonetheless, canceling wasn’t the decision the couple needed, nor would it not have been a good final result.
Can Reserving.com discover this couple an overwater bungalow?
Though a third-party reserving agent will not be required to honor a pricing mistake, typically a traveler will get fortunate if the error is not too outrageous and the shopper made the reserving in good religion. That is to say, the traveler wasn’t making an attempt to recreation the system and benefit from an simply identifiable pricing error.
Based mostly on my conversations with Lee, I used to be satisfied that he had made the unique reservation in good religion. So I hoped Citi Journey with Reserving.com may right this drawback by discovering some class of overwater bungalow for the couple, albeit not essentially a $6,000-per-night Presidential Overwater Villa.
I despatched Lee’s request to our govt contact at Reserving.com and requested for a fast assessment because the clock was ticking. This isn’t a customer-facing consultant, however somebody I’ve entry to as a client advocate and member of the media.
Here is an excerpt of what I wrote:
As they checked their reservations a couple of days in the past with [the Conrad], they came upon that their reservation with Reserving/Citi Journey does not match what the lodge has them confirmed in. They particularly booked the lodge for the over-the-water bungalows, and it seems like Reserving/Citi confirmed them in a land-side bungalow.
Can your crew take a look and see what may be achieved now? Thanks!
Michelle Sofa-Friedman, Client advocate
After the Reserving.com crew acquired concerned, excellent news finally got here for Lee … in a giant method.
Overwater bungalow confirmed — on the 4 Seasons Bora Bora!
About 10 days after Lee first contacted TPG together with his overwater bungalow reserving drawback, some excellent information arrived.
Citi Journey confirmed the couple in an overwater bungalow on the 4 Seasons Resort Bora Bora as an alternative and absorbed the worth distinction — round $5,000.
Lee wrote me, ecstatic:
Michelle!
Lastly, excellent news!
Earlier than we contacted TPG, we have been about to throw within the towel and quit – particularly after the Citi Journey agent canceled our reservation. I am so grateful we did not.
Thanks a lot to your assist. Junewon Lee
And I am completely happy to report that regardless of the tough begin, the couple had a superb journey to Bora Bora. The overwater bungalow on the 4 Seasons was all the things they hoped for, and the journey was a whole success because of the intervention of TPG.
What to know earlier than reserving a lodge by means of a 3rd social gathering
To cut back your possibilities of ending up in the same fiasco, listed here are some issues to recollect when reserving accommodations, airfare, cruises and automobile leases by means of a third-party website.
Take screenshots
Descriptions and pictures you see on a third-party web site will not be all the time present. It is best to take a screenshot of the main points as you are reserving. That method, ought to there be an issue later, you may have the proof to point out precisely what you booked.
Overview your affirmation instantly
After you obtain your affirmation from the third-party reserving agent, ensure to assessment all the main points totally. Bear in mind, when you do not e book instantly, there’s an additional layer between you and the lodge to work by means of if issues pop up, similar to in case your reservation is for the flawed dates or room class. Will probably be as much as you and the third-party agent, not the lodge, to right these points, so all the time assessment your affirmation as quickly as you obtain it.
Contact the lodge instantly
This subsequent half is essential to efficiently navigate a possible mistake with a reservation booked by means of a 3rd social gathering. After receiving the affirmation from the reserving agent and checking its accuracy, contact the lodge. Since you’re coping with two reservation techniques, ensure the lodge’s affirmation particulars match yours. You may discover, as Lee did, that they do not match. The earlier you discover out you have acquired an issue, the higher your likelihood of correcting that drawback with minimal expense and disappointment.
What if the lodge and the reserving agent affirm a pricing error?
Pricing errors on third-party reserving websites will not be unusual.
Vacationers ought to all the time be cautious of too-good-to-be-true offers supplied on third-party reserving websites for airfares, accommodations, cruises, and automobile leases.
It’s best to know that there are presently no legal guidelines or laws that shield customers and require a reserving agent to honor a data-entry pricing mistake.
If you happen to efficiently e book a deal that seems to be an error, it is going to be topic to cancellation. Sometimes, when these charges are detected, the traveler’s plans are voided, or the next fee is imposed.
So, customers beware.
I reached out to our govt contact at Hilton about Lee’s case and about pricing errors. Right here is the corporate’s official response:
At Hilton, we’re a enterprise of individuals serving folks, and it is our prime precedence to handle our prospects and company all through their complete journey expertise – from reserving to billing – whereas additionally providing them selection and management. We encourage our company to e book direct by means of official Hilton channels, together with Hilton.com and the Hilton Honors app, for the very best out there stock and charges.
If reserving errors happen with third-party distributors, our lodge groups work laborious to search out the very best options with their out there stock, which fluctuates each day.
On this case, the very best answer the Conrad Bora Bora Nui discovered was giving the couple a room regardless of Citi Journey’s mistake, albeit one which was not in the identical class the couple had meant to e book.
What are you able to do if neither the lodge nor the reserving agent will honor the speed?
There are not any legal guidelines that require a journey supplier to honor a pricing error. So what occurs when you e book a fee that seems to be invalid — and you have already invested in different components of the journey?
The secret is flexibility; be open to compromise.
Most journey suppliers do not wish to spoil their prospects’ holidays. However these are for-profit companies. As such, since journey suppliers and reserving brokers aren’t compelled to honor a mistakenly added fee (which could additionally value the corporate hundreds of {dollars}), for essentially the most half, they will not.
As a substitute, a good reserving agent will in all probability give you an affordable compromise that ought to come at little to no value to you. If that does not occur, you possibly can escalate your grievance from the essential customer support degree.
You are in all probability questioning, on this age of synthetic intelligence, learn how to attain a customer-facing govt along with your message. That half is simple.
If you happen to’re having no luck, as Lee was, discovering an actual individual on the firm who has the power to repair your drawback, my advocacy group Client Rescue may also help. You inform us the title of the enterprise you are battling, and we’ll provide the title of somebody there who we all know has a optimistic monitor document serving to prospects. This service is freed from cost to customers.
With that info in hand, you possibly can write a brief, well mannered request for reconsideration.
The place to file a proper grievance
Lastly, in case your finest efforts to come back to an affordable decision are futile, you may need a couple of extra choices. If the info of your case are in your facet, submitting a proper grievance with a client safety company will typically give the corporate concerned the nudge it must do the precise factor.
Listed below are a few of the locations you may begin:
Backside line
Though the spectacular fee that Lee booked on the Conrad Bora Bora Nui was merely the results of a human error, it was not an apparent mistake. Lee had no motive to consider Citi Journey’s affirmation was invalid, regardless that it was. If he hadn’t checked with the lodge a number of weeks beforehand and uncovered the discrepancies, this couple would have been in for a disappointing shock at check-in.
As Lee found, when reserving errors like this occur, the buyer often finally ends up with the quick finish of the stick.
However Lee reached out to TPG, in order that wasn’t this couple’s destiny. As a substitute, they celebrated their anniversary precisely the place they all the time meant — over the water in a tropical bungalow in French Polynesia.
Pleased anniversary, Junewon and Alex!
In case you are in a client battle with a cruise line, lodge, automobile rental firm, airline or trip rental company, ship your request for help to ombudsman@thepointsguy.com, and I will be completely happy that will help you, too.
