1800hotels today put up a message on their irish site saying “1800Hotels has been forced by two suppliers into bankruptcy proceedings to restructure its debt…. we will work diligently to resolve this matter as soon as possible and will provide more information as it becomes available.”
Nice of them. The word ‘forced’ immediately shifts the blame on to other parties and this statement also shows you how they view their customers…. no apology or hint of an apology to customers. Disgraceful. Here’s some quotes from angry customers over on boards.ie which gives you a better idea of the situation;
“My wife and her sisters have used this company to book a hotel in Venice, they arrived at their destination today, no booking for them.”
“People with more tales of woe! Bride & Groom called in from Malta. Wedding guests all booked with 1800hotels and now bookings not being honored. Also family stranded in london, same story. No word from 1800.”
“We’ve had some people walk into the hotel with confirmation from 1800hotels, and while we’ve been able to accommodate them, we’ve had to get them to pay directly to us, as nothing gas come through from the company. It’s been like that for the last month.”
“We have found out that our hotel booking for Lanzarote was made but they have not recieved payment. We have paid in full using Laser for 6 people for 2 weeks so it is a fair amount we are out.”
“Booked a hotel in Barcelona with these shyster’s two weeks ago, rang the hotel today and no sign of the booking at all.”
“Me and the wife went to Cala Bona, Malorca in june and booked with this crowd. When we arrived we were told there was no booking because Sol hotels didn’t receive payment so I had to pay with my Laser card. For 5 days we were in touch with the Irish ofice trying to get it sorted. They then sent a payment to the hotel and we got a refund from the hotel. When we got back I sent them an email complaining and they said it was all a misunderstanding and sent us a voucher for $400. Thats not worth a w@nk now.”
“I booked two hotels one in Vegas and one in Mammoth Lakes with them for August..rang both hotels today and while reservations are there.. they cannot confirm payments so rang the third party listed…one was hotelbeds the other mark travel international.. Mark travel have no listing for us..”
“I booked my hotel with 1800 hotels when I got in touch with the hotel this morning, they told me that my reservation was still there and that it had been pre-paid. However, something made me continue to check it out and when I got in touch with GTA, they informed me that my reservation had been cancelled.”
“Well I heard from my hotel, the booking was cancelled by the company (mine was for next november so never really had a chance).”
“i got through to them today on the phone and they have cancelled all our bookings. they never got paid (the hotels)”
“I have booked for Dubai for the 29th August was due payment on Sunday heard Joe Duffy today(thankfully) so rang hotel and my booking is cancelled, Im one of the very lucky ones iv only lost €200, my deposit.”
“I have just discovers that I have also been shafted bu this shower of A**holes.”
“I made a booking last SEPTEMBER, yes 10 months ago for a stay this October. All was paid in September of last year. When I contacted the hotel they have now told me that there is no reservation and they are totally booked out.”
“Just got onto the portuguese company (like youtravel) who told me that they’re in the middle of cancelling all the holidays 1800hotel had booked because they weren’t paid a penny.”
1800hotels also took down their facebook page yesterday and haven’t updated their twitter account in over a week. So much for keeping people informed and providing information ‘as soon as it becomes available’.
Meanwhile 1800hotels.com (US version) is running as normal, no mention of any problems anywhere on their website. Their reputation will be destroyed though. It won’t be long before the negative publicity and real reviews and stories start creeping their way in to the first page of search results.
Gohop.ie, another irish travel company, were quick to poke fun at the situation by placing adsense ads in google search results for the search term ‘1800hotels’… one man’s loss is another man’s gain, as they say.
Anyway, i’ve never used 1800hotels myself. I just thought the way they handled their customers deserved to be highlighted. The reality is they knew they were in trouble and couldn’t afford to pay hotels, yet they still took people’s money and said nothing. They’re still not acknowledging any wrongdoing on their part and not helping customers.
AVOID 1800hotels.ie & 1800hotels.com. Whether they come out of this still trading or not, they’ve show their true colours when the chips have been down.
This dodgy bunch took a double payment for a holiday booking to Italy from my credit card of £1088.00 !! In may 2010, after phone calling the UK and USA office almost daily, we finally, 2 week ago got our money back, can not believe reading the above just how lucky we were.
Well it did affect me as well. But hell it wouldn't be the first time for me. Before it was Zoom airlines an flight was to Canada. At least i got money from my CC company.
I booked with 1800 Hotels for party of 7 for Hotel in Portugal first week in June. Arrived at Hotel to find out booking was cancelled. Rooms were available at the Hotel but we had to pay the bill again. It took us 2 days before we got through to 1800 Hotels and they refunded my credit card for the full amount and when I explained to them that the Hotel rate being charged was 270 cheaper than waht they had been charging, believe it or not, they refunded that also. I guess I was one of the extremely lucky ones.
I booked a hotel in Paris for a week using 1800hotels.com. They stole over $1900 from me. I've reported them to VISA, also to the Federal Agency dealing with online fraud. I cannot explain the frustration this caused me and my girlfriend when we arrived to find out our reservation was cancelled and I was never debited for the total amount charged. PLEASE NEVER USE 1800HOTELS.COM!!!!!! I would hate for anyone to experience what I have had to on what was supposed to be a good vacation 🙁
All of those who got their money back are extremely lucky to say the least.
I have used 1800 hotels many times, never had a problem with them, they always have great prices and the accommodation has always been good. Very sad to see they are filing for bankruptcy!
i booked a hotel in new york for 5 nights in september. cost me 960 euro. I called the hotel and they dont have any reservation for me even though i booked it over a month ago with 1800hotels. does anyone know if it will eventually be booked or if i will be refunded. i do not know what to do. i cannot get through by phone or get a reply by email from 1800hotels
i'd imagine nothing will be done unless you chase up the credit card company demanding a refund… most of them will require proof that (a) you've paid 1800hotels (b) your hotel has no record of you or hasn't received that money…
good luck and let us know how you get on!
thanks for your reply but why would the credit card company refund me when it 1800hotels fault.
your contract is with the credit card company, you've basically paid them for a service you're not going to receive so they must refund you and then chase up 1800hotels themselves…
that's my understanding of it anyway but check out the thread here to see what other people are doing (many are in the same position as yoursefl).. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=205…
1800 hotels cashed a chq belonging to me for 2000 last Friday, knowing that they had ceased trading and that they had not paid utravel for my booking, my 450 deposit was paid by credit card so i can claim this back but my 2000 is gone, the third party utravel will honor the booking, but no discount, big deal, i know have to find 2450 as not willing to waste the flight money of 1300, disaster.
It's the lowest of the low… going bankrupt is one thing, but going bankrupt and deliberately taking customers down with you is disgraceful. There'll always be losers in bankruptcy but so many of you have booked over the last couple of weeks and even days – a stage at which 1800hotels KNEW they wouldn't be able to deliver. I sincerely hope they don't survive beyond this, they don't deserve to.
1800hotels have stolen money for me also – totalling £1300stg… we booked our accommodation in Portugal and now we are told that our booking is cancelled as they never received payment…….. this is so unfair – how can they get away with it???? we booked with a debit card so dont even have the protection of a credit card..
I totally agree Mairead that they should not get away with it, ok they are saying they are trying to honor peoples bookings but that does not help the unfortunates who have paid out, they still have to pay again.
“Booked a hotel in Barcelona with these con artists two weeks ago, rang the hotel today and no sign of the booking at all. We have used 1800 hotels in the past and have had no trouble with them, Pity really!! This surely amounts to fraud!
We booked Salou on May 26th for Aug 15th. 2 adults and 2 children, one beoing 10 months old. We paid 1000 euro by laser so will never see that again. Only found out yesterday and rang the hotel directly to be told our booking is cancelled. Absolutely fuming….. Emailed and rang 1800 hotels and will keep ringing till I get to speak to someone….
We booked with 1800 hotels for 3 rooms in hotel in turkey, when we got there, no reservation so we had to pay again £360, we were told by 1800 hotels we would be refunded when we got home, been trying to get in touch by phone, email and fax for 4 weeks now, its absolutely disgusting……..
They left me stranded in London – had to pay up for a night to the tune of £140 and Kip on a mates sofa. Originally paid by laser . So no recompense for me.sods stole from me too
And a the websites are down. Any way of contacting these scam artists?
do you have the phone numbers for the UK and USA office please?
in a similar suitation booked barcelona as a 21st present had to rebook through a local travel agent who is bonded but i also paid by laser money gone rang 1800 left messages sent 20 emails no replies
See below, wont hold my breath, but being out of pocket of 2000 i am hopeful that maybe tomorrow some of these hotels reservation co's have to honor our contracts and if we have paid surely our contract is for a paid hotel room, tuesday 20th is decision day.
IRISH TIMES
“in court documents, it accepts that several of the companies cancelled the reservations because of “alleged debts†1800Hotels had accumulated.
It is seeking a temporary injunction against Gullivers Travel Associates of London; Youtravel.com of Athens, Greece; HotelConnect Ltd of London; the Mark Travel Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US; Travco LLP of London; Hotelbeds of Majorca, Spain, and Tourico Holidays of Altamonte Springs, Florida.
1800 wants all of them to honour their contracts. It alleges that the companies have either breached contracts or have interfered in 1800’s business relationship with its customers.
The companies have yet to reply but are expected to deny the allegations at Tuesday’s hearings.
In its complaint, 1800Hotels alleges that, beginning on Friday, July 2nd, Tourico began cancelling 1800Hotels customer reservations “as a result of the alleged outstanding debt due to Tourico from 1800Hotelsâ€.
This “unilateral cancellation†left approximately 200 of 1800Hotels.com’s customers without accommodation. To mitigate any harm caused, 1800 began rebooking its customers through Gullivers Travel Associates, also known as GTA.
However, from July 9th, “as a result of alleged outstanding debt due to GTA from 1800Hotelsâ€, GTA also began cancelling 1800 Hotel’s reservations. This affected about 1,800 customers.
Hotelbeds also threatened to cancel booked future travel arrangements of customers of 1800 Hotels.com, as did other travel companies.
To illustrate the company’s difficulties, a lawyer for 1800Hotels submitted a long list of irate customer e-mails to the bankruptcy court.
1800’s submissions included an affidavit from one of its senior technical staff, showing how the online bookings were cancelled.
Both sides will take depositions from witnesses on Monday and on Tuesday morning and must disclose documents to each other by Monday morning”
I, too, arrived at a hotel (in Boston) and found no reservation. The US website http://www.1800hotels.com is now posting the same bankruptcy notice.
I had the same experience in Boston. What did VISA have to say?
Check your travel insurance. I'm in the same situation. Paid 1800hotels 950 by debit card and when I checked my insurance, I'm covered for 3rd party insolvency. However, as of today, the travel insurance says 1800hotels are still officially trading as they have taken out an injunction against 2 companies so I can't claim until they are officially declared bankrupt and a liquidator is appointed.
hi.. did you hear any outcome?
Got voucher from 1800hotels in May when NY trip cancelled due to volcanic ash. Visa say they don't cover it because of this.
Just found this article – We were / are booked for Las Vegas in October for a joint my 40th birthday and 10th wedding anniversary, booked by credit card so should be OK fingers crossed.
PS. US site 1800hotels.com isnt letting you book anything or coming up with any searches – looks like the owners have been taking all the monies paid by thier customers and not paying the hotel room suppliers – lock these theives up and throw away the key
Arrived in Amsterdam for 4 nights to find the booking had been cancelled. 1800hotels had taken the money out of our account in May.
Had to pay hotel for a really cruddy room in place of the neat one we'd paid for.
1800hotels.com is not running normally it just says the web site is having problems,these have gone bust too,payed £1100 in june for 4 weeks in florida,rang hotel on 21st of july to confirm my booking and my booking was cancelled on 14th of july along with all other 1800hotels.com and 1800hotels.ie bookings.lost the £1100 and cost me £1200 to book the same apatment for the same dates through another agent.
anybody know when and how we can get refund from 1800hotel
Update – checked with hotel and they have confirmed that our payment taken in April has been paid to the hotel and our reservations are still valid.
Hope it works out for some of others
hi everyone,
I cannot believe our holiday was ruined, i HATE 1800 HOTELS .IE, they deserve everything they get. We arrived in bodrum 2 weeks ago, with a baby, roastin weather, had an early rise, and was looking forward to a relaxing holiday couldnt wait to get into our hotel. We found out when we got there that our reservation had been cancelled, we had paid 2K. The princess bodrum hotel manager was a disgrace, he ran from the situation totally and didnt want to deal with us. He didnt even explain why it was cancelled, after hours of phone conversations from bodrum to dublin to everyone i found out that they are bust. I was crying all day. We had to ask family member to tranfer over another 2k, and we were prepared to pay again just to stay but the hotel manager was a real prick the way they dealt with the situation in the hotel was a awful never again. So i really hope 1800 hotels.ie go to jail they robbed our money and got away with it. sorry for anyone that is in the same situation. we paid for laser.
Just returned having been potentially left stranded in Paris for the Tour de France weekend with no accomodation thanks to this disreputable bunch. I did fortunately manage to get an alternative on arrival but at significant extra cost. No attempt to warn us that our accomodation was cancelled had been made by 1800hotels.com but based on previous postings I suppose I should not be suprised. I sincerely hope the scoundrels in charge at 1800hotels are punished for this.
ei this people from 1800 are real thieves and dont have face.i called their company in usa and they asked us to leave message.come on? where is my money back??
I booked for Paris for 18-19th July 2010, after reaching to the destination I found that hotel is not reserved anymore bcz of the payment not made from 1800hotels to them. they cancelled my booking and I found another hotel there and stayed . It ruined the charm of the holiday.
I tried my bank to get the money back from them, they refused it.. I want to recover the money, any hope guys? any suggestion?
I GOT A REFUND! i had booked a hotel using 1800hotels for august 2010. i contacted the hotel directly just to check that the booking had been confirmed. the hotel told me they received the confirmation but a day later were told to cancel it by 1800hotels due to going bankrupt. 1800hotels never contacted me to tell me this. they also took the money from my account the day they went bankrupt! i was gutted and thought there is no way to get my money back as i paid using a visa/debit card and not a credit card. also, when i emailed and rang 1800hotels, i was getting no reply. i contacted my bank anyway, told them what happened and the bank refunded the money back into my account as in their words, i had 'paid for a service that wasn't provided' to me. i think i've been really lucky and i dont know if others will be lucky enough to get their money back but its worth a shot so contact your bank ASAP. also, the 1800hotels website is still running! unbelievable – please warn everyone u know, they shouldnt be allowed to do this.
http://www.1800hotels.com/
I am in Rome with not room! Same story…..I hope the credit card I used will help to get the money back. I found a B&B for last night.
I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you. I too paid by Laser for hotel in Sorrento. Luckily, the hotel have been really helpful and offered us the booking at slightly reduced rate so we paid them directly. However, I'm still trying to get back my original 950. My insurance covers third party insolvency so hopefully I'm covered. I did ring the bank who said there was no chargeback with Laser but I could call into branch and fill in dispute form and take it from there. Maybe you should contact your bank and see what they say. The guy who set up 1800hotels is an Irish guy called Graham Peakin but as of today, nobody appears to know where the shithead is. I presume he has family still in Dublin and if anyone knows them, please urge them to contact him and ask him to make a statement of some sort – if even to say sorry to everyone he has ripped off. I hope wherever he is that he never has a minutes luck again..
thanks cora, i do have travel insurance so will call them up tomororw to check to see if they will cover me, the bank i think is a no joy. thanks for the guys name i'll find him and when i do i'll send you his address. all the best.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/each-y…
I'm due to go to Paris in one week's time, and only found out today that my room is cancelled. It's bad enough as it is, but if they filed for bankruptcy on 14 July, they should have at least had the decency to let people know straight away, rather than wait a couple of weeks until they send them an email. That way I might have still been able to make another reservation cheaper than it will be now.
Travelers who booked hotel rooms prior to July 14th should expect their reservation to be cancelled by one of our suppliers. If that is the case they may download and submit the form(link below) to the bankruptcy court here in Florida so that they may be added to our list of creditors. When seeking a refund travelers should submit the attached form to: The Federal Bankruptcy Court for the 11th Circuit 801 N. Florida Avenue Tampa, Florida 33602 with Name of Debtor: 1800hotels4U, LLC and Case Number: 10-bk-16648-CED
Download Form
Travelers who have booked hotel rooms on our website after July 28th WILL NOT be affected since we have entered into an agreement with a new supplier to offer their inventory of rooms via our website.
Sincerely,
1800hotels4U, LLC
Received above email from 1800hotels on Monday 2nd August and again yesterday 3rd August. Don't think I'll bother with bankruptcy court. From what I've been reading, GTA are owed 4 million dollars so I reckon I'd be very bottom of the creditors list….
why the fuck did they only tell me now (TODAY) that my reservation is canceled, when it when bust over 2 weeks ago?!?!?
Incase you still havnt got the phone numbers you require here they are
UK 0800 169 0309 USA 1800 4683573 & Dublin 1800 468 357, best of luck Kate you will need it
In june I took my grandaughter & her 3 young children to an aqua park hotel in egypt, the rooms I booked & paid for were superior double rooms overlooking gardens, what we got was 1 bedroom 1 bathroom & a room that was like a students squat with 2 very very old put u ups, no balcony, and the small windows over looked 2 all night cafes and a busy all night all day main road, the accomodation would have to be seen to be believed. I took pics and sent them to 1800, with a letter of complaint, didnt hear from them so sent an E-mail still nothing,on aug 2nd I sent a stronger worded E-mail & surprise surprise I rec an e-mail back on Aug 3rd just with the usa bankruptcy court form,thats the first I knew about them being bankrupt, I just thought the hotel manager was being an arsehole putting 2 woman & 3 small children in thier worst rooms,not having a man with us, I most likely was wrong, they probably hadnt recieved all the monies I had paid, in one respect I suppose Im lucky
I v booked hotel throuth 1800hotels, got an e-mail abaout the bankropt. I contacted the hotel i was supose to stay, no sighn of my reservation.. I v lost 700eur.
F****rs!!!!!!!
These people are nothing but filthy, disgusting CRIMINALS. This is nothing more than stealing. I do NOT like to be victimized. Wait till the fraud indictments come down. I booked almost $1000 worth of hotel rooms in Sydney, Australia for next February and they have no qualms about leaving me flapping in the wind. These bastards deserve to be drawn and quartered at a public viewing. I'd be in the front row. This is the LAST time I use ANY third party to book anything.
Try to contact your credit card company and see if they can help you.
We arrived in Newyork last Thursday the 29th of July to be told that our booking was cancelled by 1800 hotels.ie I paid for our hotel last may and this was July and they 1800 never paid the hotel, [days hotel] Newyork. I tried to ring but not nothing not ever now have we recived any information on what happend,
Our group who were travelling to Germany have lost about £5,000 because of these crooks. We will never get the money back. We have had to pay again for our hotel because we can't cancel the trip because of commitments in Germany. I'm a single mum and am struggling to find further money. What are the American and Irish authorities doing about this? David Peake and his inlaws Ramon and Tania Moranto should be arrested for fraud. They have been stealing people's money for months and months with no intention of paying suppliers (ie hotels).
Everyone should also note that Expedia have gone into partnership with them and this allowed the US site to recommence immediate trading. Its an absolute disgrace and I would urge everyone to boycott Expedia who are effectively condoning this fraud.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of these criminals please post it on this site as I for one would love to track them down.
I had two pre-paid hotel reservations cancelled on my Hawaii honeymoon just in the last two weeks by 1800hotels.com. I received no warning by 1800hotels.com or the hotel. As of now, I am out $3000 dollars, which I paid in Feb. 2010, and have no idea if I will ever see that money again. 1800hotels.com has not returned any of my repeated phone calls. Their number leads to an answering machine. They do not return phone calls with detailed messages.
Luckily, I have a good friend who is a lawyer, and he helped me to convince the hotels that the “voucher†from 1800hotels.com (which is part of the hotels supply chain) was a legal contract and the hotels begrudgingly honored the reservation and the room rate, but both hotels forced me to pay twice and spend a night on my honeymoon in “limbo†not sure if we would be “on the street†the next night with almost every hotel on Kauai fully booked.
How hard is it to take a persons money and use it to pay for a hotel room? This sounds like another “Madoffâ€. Trust this company at your peril.
I had a confirmation at my hotel in Kauai from the hotel manager, one week before we arrived. However 1800hotels.com was able to cancel the reservation two days after I called the hotel manager.
Just because it is paid now, doesn't mean it will be when you get there. Trust this company at your peril.
So, I just found a site where people who were working there during this fiasco are venting:
http://1800hotels.pissedconsumer.com/-1800hotel…
My husband and I booked with 1800hotels for our honeymoon the last two weeks in July. When we arrived at our first destination in Portugal, we had no reservation and the hotel was totally booked. After an hour of insane stress, we found a replacement hotel, and spent several hours over the next few days securing our hotel in Venice. We are out $2300, which we are contesting to our CC company, but will likely not recover. Every horrible thing I can say about these despicable people, may they rot in hell forever, has already been said. We had a wonderful honeymoon despite the bastards, but will be feeling the effects of this black scar for a long time. There's nothing worse than that aching feeling in the pit of your stomach you feel because someone swindled you out of $2300 during the happiest time in your life.
See above. We had almost the exact same thing happen. We're filing suit. Have you tried to contest the charges with your CC company?
I also had booked through 1800hotels in January for reservations in Cancun for September -our 30th anniversary. I received an email on 8/4/10 that they had filed for bankruptcy and I needed to check with the resort to see if my reservations had been cancelled. Sure enough the resort no longer had my reservations. I was able to get through to 1800Hotels but only did this by choosing options to book a new reservations. Was told there was nothing they could do but would send me form to file. This was the message I received per email: Travelers who booked hotel rooms prior to July 14th should expect their reservation to be cancelled by one of our suppliers.Please check with your hotel to confirm. Reservations may be canceled even after receiving confirmation. Travelers who find their reservations are canceled may seek a refund by submitting this form (also linked below) to the bankruptcy court in Florida. Please send the attached form to:
The Federal Bankruptcy Court for the 11th Circuit
801 N. FloridaAvenue Tampa, Florida 33602
Name of Debtor: 1800hotels4U, LLC
Travelers who have booked hotel rooms on our website after July 28th WILL NOT be affected since we have entered into an agreement with a new supplier to offer their inventory of rooms via our website.
July 28, 2010 – 1800Hotels.com has resumed operations on its North American website by partnering with Expedia® Affiliate Network (EAN), a business unit of the world's largest online travel company Expedia, Inc. Under the agreement, EAN will power travel bookings on 1800 Hotels.com, providing direct access to the broadest selection of travel products and services, and enabling 1800Hotels.com to streamline its business model. Hard to believe they can claim bankruptcy and 2-3 weeks later start back up as same company. Where the justice?
Jamie
Do you know were can I complain about this. I paid my hotel booking with laser card and I didn't know what happend until the hotel told after 3 days and had to pay again and obviusly wasn't the same rate it was expensive !!!!!
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flew from gatwick to las vegas, arrived at my hotel on august the 3rd and they told me that the booking was cancelled in january, yet, no word from anyone why this was, only to find an email when i got back!
Wipe out their debts by filing a chapter 11 bankruptcy and doing business again a couple of days later. Easy money – A bunch of swindlers!!!! I’ve learned a valuable lessons: never do business with this 1800hotels again and go directly to the suppliers. 1800hotels = 1800Moneygone !!!!!
Only found out 3 weeks ago that our reservation with a hotel in Nashville does not exist. We go next week, so thank goodness my friend had the forsight to ring the hotel & check, as we had heard nothing from the 1800 lot about paying the balance. Thank goodness we only paid the deposit.
I had to send people out they promised they would repay me as they never had sent the reservation, I am still waiting for the money. losers