Description

A now defunct (at least by that name) third party site, hotelvalues.com, charged me fees totaling $547.43 for a hotel booking, which amounted to 40% of the total reservation cost. Moreover, these fees were not disclosed to me until after the booking was made. This site has all of the markings of a scam: professional photos of the hotel, the rooms, the amenities, etc. The confirmation email was from guestreservations.com, which admitted to being being a booking partner of hotelvalues.com. Also connected to hotelvalues.com is bookaroom.com. and getaroom.com. The following phone numbers are associated with this reservation hub: (800) 327-1200; (888) 784-0416; (855) 470-1527; (800) 327-1200; (877) 477-7441. The websites for hotelvalues.com and bookaroom.com have been taken down. Fees charged to me include a resort fee $101.70 and tax recovery charges & services $445.73. The latter charge is explained as "... the estimated amount we pay the hotel for occupancy related taxes owed by the hotel and any amounts charged to us for resort fees, cleaning fees, and and other fees. The balance of the charge is a fee we, the hotel supplier and/or the website you booked on, retain as part of the compensation for our and/or their services which varies based on such factors as location, the amount, and how you booked." Additionally, a cancellation/change fee of $968.58 would be charged. Neither hotelvalues.com nor bookaroom.com have active/accessible websites, and the phone numbers cited above appear to ring to a call center in south asia. For example, the person I spoke with at hotelreservations.com knew that I had called hotelvalues.com earlier and repeated the same message to me. This is definitely a scam, but if it isn't fraud, it should be.