SYDNEY, 20 December 2018: For thousands of holidaymakers the Christmas break will be a colossal disappointment.
Having booked holidays through the online travel agency, HotelQuickly, they discovered all their reservations were cancelled and the chances of a refund remote.
According to webpage information HotelQuickly is based in Bangkok, Thailand, but claims to have more than 5 million customers booking hotels worldwide.
News.com. au, in a report, Wednesday, claimed thousands holidaymakers had their trips ruined and were left out of pocket after their bookings were washed out.
Many of them contacted the hotels directly and were told the rooms were cancelled 6 December. Some rebooked and paid for their holiday directly after it became clear the hotel booking site was offering credit vouchers for future stays rather than refunds.
According to News.com, HotelQuickly is a popular booking option listed on TripAdvisor and Trivago. It claims to have connections with more than 265,000 hotels, worldwide.
But it apparently reneged on thousands of bookings and despite customers already having paid in full, it is now refusing refunds except in the form of credit vouchers.
Thousands of customers were told of the sudden cancellation of their trips via email, while HotelQuickly posted a statement on its Facebook page.
It read:
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused with the bookings you’ve made with us.
“Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen issue with our main hotel supplier many reservations have been cancelled.
“We fully understand how disappointing this situation is and we are working very hard to come up with a manageable solution.
“However, at the moment and until a solution is in place, we can only offer you a refund in the form of a credit voucher for the value of your original booking that you can use for a future reservation,”
HotelQuickly Customer Support Team.
Irate customers vented their anger at the booking site on its Facebook page with a few choice swear words and demands for cash refunds.
HotelQuickly is a hotel booking website and smartphone app for Android and iOS devices, offering discounted room rates worldwide.
According to Wikipedia the parent company is Rising Sun Merchant Services Pte Ltd, founded in December 2012 and headquartered in Bangkok.
Wikipedia identifies the founders as Tomas Laboutka, Michal Juhas, Mario Peng, Christian Mischler, Raphael Cohen. However, the list of directors, or owners, has most likely changed since that post.
It has business locations in Austin, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney
What to do if you are a victim?
TripAdvisor told News.com there were a number of things customers should do if they were impacted by HotelQuickly.
“We are very concerned to hear about the difficulties some HotelQuickly customers are experiencing with their bookings,” the spokesperson said.
“We advise anyone who has been impacted by this matter caused by HotelQuickly to do the following:
“Locate your confirmation email and HotelQuickly booking reference number.
“If a payment was already processed on your booking, please contact your Credit Card provider to dispute the charge from HotelQuickly letting the credit card company know you believe the booking has not or will not be fulfilled.
“If a payment has not yet been charged to your account, please contact your Bank or Credit Card provider to ensure any future payment is blocked.
“Check your travel insurance documentation to see if you may be eligible for compensation.
Look for alternative accommodation as soon as possible.”
(Sources: News.com.au, Wikipedia, Facebook)
HotelQuickly Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/HotelQuickly/
News.Com.au full report
