Abysmal Customer Service -- Southwest has taken my money, potential scam.

[jarudd]

I'd like to begin by saying until this trip, I've been a major of Southwest's services. I've been flying with them every year to see my family in Florida, and have made bookings for accommodations through Southwest Hotels in the past with no issues. This time, however, is a very different story.

I booked a room in Orlando for April 30th, and on the date of arrival I called to have my guest added to the reservation so he could check in--he'd be arriving ahead of my flight getting in. Upon doing so, I discovered that although I'd paid for the reservation two days prior, the hotel had no record of my booking. As you can imagine, I was not super thrilled about this as I'd need somewhere to stay upon getting off the plane that afternoon.

I spent three hours on the phone with Southwest Hotels' customer support on Wednesday to get this sorted out. I was informed by the individual I spoke with that while my payment was successful, the hotel was never sent a confirmation voucher for my stay. They offered a refund, but I requested that instead of refunding me they use the funds already processed to book another room of equal value. The agent I spoke with assured me they did exactly that, and apologized for the inconvenience. Again, this process took three hours to complete.

Upon checking out of the hotel, I was required to pay for the booking in full, despite being under the impression Southwest had taken care of the mixup. When I inquired about this with the hotel manager, they informed me Southwest never sent a confirmation of payment, and to take up any further issues with them. As of leaving the hotel, I'd paid for my reservation twice over--first to Southwest Hotels, then again to the destination hotel. I have not received a refund for the initial charge from Southwest.

Thus far today I have been on the phone with Southwest Hotels for over two hours. The agent I'm speaking with essentially has said they don't understand why I'm requesting a refund when they rebooked the room--I'm simply requesting a refund for what I paid online given I had to pay for the reservation in full in person. The agent claims she has attempted to call the hotel several times but has not received an answer. I called the hotel from a second phone and received an answer immediately. When the agent was able to get through to the hotel, she claims the hotel manager hung up on her once being provided the information regarding my booking.

As you can imagine, this has all been very tiring. I requested the agent connect me with a supervisor who can better address my issue, but she claims "there are no supervisors available today" and that I would receive a call tomorrow. I am visiting with family and lack the availability to wait by my phone all day for a call. The money I paid initially is not an inconsequential amount of funds to me, and the lack thereof will impact my ability to enjoy this time with my family.

After years of flying and booking through Southwest, after this situation, I'm uncertain if I will be motivated to do so any more in the future. While up until this point my experiences have been largely hassle-free and straight forward, I'm exceedingly disappointed by the responsiveness of Southwest Hotels' customer service team.

[dfwskier]

Two points

1 Southwest hotels is a totally different company than Southwest Airlines.

2 dispute the SW Hotels charge with your credit card company. The reason: the firm did not provide the product  it said it would provide.

[jarudd]

Hey dfwskier,

I understand that Southwest Airlines and Southwest Hotels are separate entities, however when a company chooses to associate their name across multiple verticals it's hardly unfair to expect a quality standard. If they didn't get a kickback (or some net positive in general) from Booking.com for pointing people in their direction they wouldn't do it. Endorsing someone's services carries significant weight and it's, in my opinion, very anti-consumer to write off poor services when part of having "Southwest" in "Southwest Hotels" is to capitalize on the familiarity and service quality standard one might expect from their experiences flying with Southwest.

Thanks for the advice on opening a fraud claim with my bank, it will be a step I'll consider contingent on the results Southwest Hotels presents following their investigation.

[dfwskier]

I expect Booking.com's arrangement is similiar to the one that Chase has with the airline.

The companies buy RR points from SW. The companies tell the airline how  many points to distribute and to whom.

In return, the firms are allowed to advertise on the SW website.

[jksobonya]

This is definitely an anomaly, and not the fault of Southwest, but of Booking.com which operates Southwest Hotels. Your real issue is with them.

Whenever I book on Southwest Hotels (which is often), I never choose the nonrefundable / prepay option, I instead choose the "no prepayment needed - pay at the property" option - they don't charge me until I arrive and stay there.

--Jessica

[jarudd]

Hey Jessica,

Thanks for the tip on never using the prepaid/non-refundable option. That makes a lot of sense for avoiding situations like this. I'll certainly keep that in mind for the future in the event I book through Southwest Hotels again.

While I understand the point you're making about it being an affiliate's issue and not necessarily Southwest, I think it's disingenuous to ignore that Southwest chose to affiliate themselves with Booking.com and associate their name with the services Booking.com provides. If they were unwilling to accept culpability for issues that may arise, one would assume they wouldn't be putting their name alongside those services and directing their customers to utilize them. These days this type of thing would be called a brand risk at the very least. I would be seriously doubtful there's no compensation involved with this affiliation between the two, so in my eyes if Booking.com screws me and I arrived to them via Southwest's recommendation, Southwest is partially complicit. They don't hand out points for free--one can be assured they see a return for that promotion on their end.

Thanks again for your input.

[ffflyer]

Never book third party! Bood directly with the hotel and directly with the airline. Otherwise you are just asking for truoble. Not worth the few bucks you might save.

[jarudd]

It seems you're certainly right on that, and it's something I'll keep in mind for the future. Thanks!

[05bardic]

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@ffflyer wrote:

Never book third party! Bood directly with the hotel and directly with the airline. Otherwise you are just asking for truoble. Not worth the few bucks you might save.

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While I absolutely agree with this, booking Points Plus hotels through SW Hotels is one of the fastest ways to earn and keep your Companion Pass each year. For that reason I roll the dice on the third-party bookings, and once I have reached the required points for CP for the next year, I go back to booking direct. Luckily I have never had an issue with SW Hotels, but I willingly accept the risk in exchange for CP.