www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I am still fighting with Holiday Inn over reservations made and cancelled around christmas.

My credit card was billed the moment I reserved. 2 days later I cancelled, well within the cancellation period. My statement shows up and I'm hit for $250.00

The reservations were booked through a 3rd party, International Vacations in Texas.

The Priority Club website make no mention of this or that this is going to be a pre-pay reservation.

I am slowly making progress on getting my money back.

I just want to give everyone a heads up.

What H Inn was it ?, the down town inn?

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so many women, so little time

Is there any other

Acatman keep us posted how they resolve this.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Rebadc: Put it into protest with your credit card company. I had a problem with a hotel at Jaco last year. American Express suspended payment and negotiated on my behalf until they relented and saw things my way. Also, put in a protest with Holiday Inns' US Headquarters.

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

I can say with certainty that booking thru a third party has a lot of risk of this sort.
I reserved with a Choice Inn in the USA. Upon arrival I notice a sign at registration that says if you reserved thru any third party, your prepayment is not good and you must pay again here. Lucky I reserved directly with the website of Choice Inn.
Your credit card charge back rights do not exist for charges outside of your home country. In other words if you buy a leather jacket from a merchant outside your home country and he overcharges you on your credit card by 1000 percent you are screwed unless you have his signed receipt to prove it is a fraud. (This actually happened to a Delta flight attendant visiting Spain).

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PacoLoco: "You pay for it one way or another."
Ace: "Rent everything, do not buy in Costa Rica"

I'm a bit confused. Did you book directly through the ICHotelgroup which I believe is the holding company that manages HI's on-line reservation (the Priority club is their "frequent flyer" program) or did you use some third party outfit called International Vacations of Texas. If the latter is the case, why are you looking up HI's refund policy. You need to go to the International Vacation website or check the e-mails you probably got when you made the purchase.

Ace's comment is most definitely true. Especially if one is getting a huge discount over the standard rates, one should always ask themselves "What's the catch?". I'm not sure about who International Vacations of Texas is but when I did a quick web search I got an air consolidator and their cancellation policies for HOTELS weren't listed. I'm not sure if this was the same outfit though I do know this that consolidators often have much more restrictive cancellation policies than booking directly with the airline or hotel. Similar restriction apply when using auctions sites like priceline, which is why I usually avoid them.

I CAN relate an experience that I had with Costa Rica Travel of Miami. I used them once for a discounted car rental in Costa Rica. In the case of the car they informed me that I would be receiving a nonrefundable pre-paid voucher and I went along and assumed the risk in order to get the lower rate. As it turned out the rates were not much different from other quotes I got after making my reservation but I did get a free upgrade to a full-sized SUV once I got to CR. But that is another story.

I always ask questions when making any purchase over the web. When will my card be charged? In the case of merchandise, is it at the time the order is placed or, in the event of back-order, when the goods are actually shipped. In the case of a hotel or car rental is the cc used just to hold the reservation with charges never actually placed unless there is a no-show without proper cancellation or are all charges prepaid.

The point is if you were getting a prepaid voucher your situation is greatly complicated. Did your agency ever actually pay HI? If not your beef is with them not HI. If they did pay HI, under what name? Some places buy blocks of rooms to get the special rates. If this was the case, HI policy may be to only refund back the agency and you are stuck with whatever is the agency's refund policy.

Ace is only partially correct about the protection offered by your cc company. Fraud protection when making purchases in some other countries may be weaker, but most cc companies do everything they can to help their customers regardlessly and in this case the third party involved was a Texas company so you'll probably be okay in the end.

One more thing. If you were dealing with a major hotel chain like HI your odds would be much better, after all they have a reputation to maintain. Its for this reason I prefer to deal with affiliates of US car rental outfits when renting a car in CR. Their association with the US parent is often somewhat muddled but at least you have a US company that can use its influence in the event there is a dispute.

Great Post Prolijo; I am glad you DID acknowledge that your option of going back to your CC company is STILL an option and possible your BEST OPTION. I have had mostly good luck when I have purchased thru a consolidator....but, agree that it limits your options if there is a problem.

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

Come on guys, I'm no MENSA member, but I can use the internet good enough to plan my own trips, do my own thing using the internet without using 3rd parties. How hard is it?

Going to Vegas (from Houston), I just wait until Southwest air has one of their bi-annual coast to coast from $139 specials, then jump on it. Takes care of the airfare. Then I surf several websites until I settle on a hotel, usually Imperial Palace. I get my own car at the airport, usually Dollar rent a car. All of this is done online.

Same for Costa Rica. I have a airfare watcher through AOL. When any fares go down by $25, I receive an instant email. For example if TACA goes down, no biggie, but if Continental or American goes down, then the wheels start turning. I usually pick a date late in the special rate window, pick my seats and flights.....then pm Maria or whoever at the Presidente for our special rate, and my planning is done.

In this date and time all one needs is a computer, phone line, and knowledge about your destination to plan your own trip and save a lot of money. You guys, especially the guys who go to Costa Rica or other destinations several times a year, don't need any help to save money.

Now if I were to take a crusie ship............that would be something else.

Travelocity also has a low-fare alert ('FareWatcher'). You can choose a list of departure/arrival cities, and when the fares go down they notify you via email. I have noticed a problem though on several occasions. They usually send out the notices around 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning, and
by that time the seats are all taken. Apparently the airlines release
their new special fares shortly after midnight, and the seats are usually
gone in a few hours.

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"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

A similar thought went through my mind. The title of this thread should have been "Beware 3rd Party Agents" since they seem to be the ones at fault here and not the HI. The rates at the HI that can be booked directly on their website start at $72. I'd be curious to know if the rate offered by this International vacations was any less and if so how much and whether it was worth the added risks and restrictions.

However, I would not go as far as you to say that there is never a place for going through a consolidator or a travel agency. Consolidators can get rates that you as an individual consumer would never be able to get. You just have to be aware of the potential trade-offs and restrictions that might be involved. If you are absolutely certain you won't need to cancel, this may be the best way to go. Similar arguments apply to booking through Priceline, which can get you very low rates at the cost of having to be flexible what time of day you leave, etc.

As for travel agencies, while it is true they generally won't do any better than you could do in hunting low fares, they can save you the work of doing it yourself if that is your bent and they may actually be able to offer you MORE protection in the event of a cancellation, especially if you're a regular client. Because of their regular working relationships with the various airlines they have a little more clout than the average consumer and may be able to get them to bend on their restrictions or swap flights with other clients in their network. And they can often do this with very little if any added cost to you since their commissions come out of the airlines and are already built into the airfares.

My advice is not to restrict yourself to any one avenue. Personally, I don't mind doing the research work myself and at this point know where to look. I always check around first, usually starting with the travel search sites (like travelocity, orbitz, expedia, hotwire), then check directly with the airlines that the search sites have come up with (usually TACA, Martinair and AA for MIA>SJO) or which aren't listed with the search engines (e.g. Southwest, Jet Blue etc. for the US), then knowing the lowest current regular rates and specials check with a consolidator. Usually I end up booking directly with the airline. A similar process applies for car rental and hotel reservations. I rarely if ever use a travel agent or other third party unless I already KNOW the deal is at least as good if not better then what I've been able to find on my own and then I always make doubly sure I read the fine print.

Speaking of 3rd party nightmares-
my amigo left for overseas the other day and was quite pissed. He booked the flight through Cheaptickets .com a couple weeks ago but Delta never got the info or booked his tickets for one leg of his trip. He had to go those dates and ended up paying 3 times what it should have cost, he said all he gets is an answering service when trying to call Cheaptickets and they've given him the runaround by email as far as who's responsible...

I use sites such as Travelocity, etc. to find the cheapest fares, but always book directly through the airline site.

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

My friend had a simaler experience through expedia, they booked her on a flight that didnt exist then said they wernt responsible. Took her all day to get it cleared up but it was a pain in the ass. I usually book through Orbitz or directly through the airline.

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Good example to bring up Pacolo. I have learn to always reconfirmed my booking/reservation whether through a third or first party. I have been using intratours, a consolidated travel agency, to book a cheaper fare to Rio. Usually one week after intratours booked my flight, I would double check my reservation with AA to make sure the reservation exist. I'g log on to AA.com and punched in the confirmation code that intratours gave me to see if my reservation has been put into AA system. My whole itinerary pops up and confirms the reservation. If not, I would have call intratours to see what happened with the reservation. So far, so good.

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Live today as it was your last day, for tomorrow may never come.

OK,

Perhaps I was not clear.

The reservation were made through the priority club website.

There was no mention that the actual reservation would be handled through a 3rd party and be pre-paid.

I mean I used my priority club number and everything at the priority club website.

There was no page re-direct or anything. I completed my reservation and BAM I get a confirmation from International Vacations.

My best guess is that ICHotels , Priority Club have contracted out the reservations to this company.

Rebadc..... Having dealt with the HI here in San Jose prior to moving here,I can only say that you are lucky they didn't try to add on chica fees of $25/chica to your $250 bill. They are clearly the worst assholes to deal with.