1800hotels.ie - what's happening?

SmarterEgg · 13-07-2010 6:24pm

noonespecial wrote: »

phone up GTA and ask, tell them you booked with 1800hotels

anyone who has a booking phone up the supplier directly and check the booking

Turns out our booking is confirmed with the hotel. I guess we're one of the lucky few.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:25pm

steve-o wrote: »

Careful now! You are only covered by travel agent bonding if you buy a package. Hotel only or flight only is not covered. Always book by credit card wherever possible.

If confirmed, it's sad to see them go and terrible for anyone with immediate plans or anyone who has lost money.

good advice always use a Credit Card, not a Debit Card or bank transfer, you will not be covered the same as you would if you pay by Credit Card

Eppie25 · 13-07-2010 6:27pm

SmarterEgg wrote: »

Turns out our booking is confirmed with the hotel. I guess we're one of the lucky few.

Did you check if they had received the full payment?? this was the case with my hotels today.. they had my name and reservation but no money as of yet!

Stepherunie · 13-07-2010 6:28pm

Does anyone have a contact for Tourico? I've been searching their website to no avail. Seems to only have business contacts.

aidanodr · 13-07-2010 6:28pm

noonespecial wrote: »

Its more likely that the US office will open first if any do, you can get the number from 1800hotels.com which is still running.

noonespecial,

Are you able to access 1800hotels.com here in Ireland? Just curious because via EIRCOM I CANNOT, just hangs. However if I use a Proxy Service to annonymise I can access it ok.

Aidan

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:28pm

aidanodr wrote: »

Apparently they based out of Florida USA also at:

http://www.1800hotels.com/

Gone also Im afraid ..

Aidan

www.1800hotels.com has not gone

www.1800hotels.ie has gone

www.1800hotels.com im not sure how long it will remain.

jenniferb · 13-07-2010 6:29pm

SmarterEgg wrote: »

Turns out our booking is confirmed with the hotel. I guess we're one of the lucky few.

Make sure that the hotel has also received payment. I have also received confirmation from the hotel that the booking is confirmed but am awaiting confirmation on receipt of the payment.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:31pm

sp_en_ny wrote: »

Trust me they have gone, if you paid by credit card contact your banks and get your money back asap. If you travel your hotel will most likely have been cancelled and if you travel you will have to pay direct (assuming they have availability) at a higher rate. Call the hotels in advance and see if they will honour the original price you paid 1800 but be warned they dont have to. All staff were sent home yesterday and i gather a rescue package was being worked on but i think this will be very unlikely. All their suppliers are cancelling all of their bookings. This is as much as i can say i am afraid.

not all bookings will be canceled, only the ones that 1800hotels haven't paid for yet will be so check your booking it may be OK.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:36pm

sp_en_ny wrote: »

Hi Katcali,

I know hotelbeds and they have offices around the world but their main one is in Spain. Hotelbeds i think were involved in a rescue package that looks as though it wont materialise and if so i am certain they will be cancelling all bookings that have not arrived. Only suppliers where 1800 had to prepay wont or should not be cancelled. However, very much doubt there were many suppliers where prepayment was required.

that rescue package hasn't happened, it failed, i have this info from an employee of 1800

Stepherunie · 13-07-2010 6:36pm

Does anyone have a contact for Tourico? I've been searching their website to no avail. Seems to only have business contacts.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:39pm

aidanodr wrote: »

Hi guys,

Very interesting. I for one cannot get at www.1800hotels.com through normal browsing. BUT if you use a proxy server to browse annonymously - that is to make it look like you are browsing from outside Ireland - IT WORKS. I tried this as a few people in the states have said they can get at the .COM site no problem.

Here is a proxy service:

http://www.zend2.com/

Just pop in www.1800hotels.com into the ENTER URL field further down the page AND GO, wait for 30 seconds or so ... tadaa!

So are they somehow blocking Irish customers and trying to sustain the US business??

Aidan

that makes sense, they have blocked Irish IP addresses which is why i can see it as I'm not in Ireland, they use geo location to change currency's on the sites so it would be easy to block off one area.

to get to the .com site use a proxy to get round it, see my previous post for phone numbers.

24hrhotels · 13-07-2010 6:42pm

noonespecial wrote: »

very true, i'm always going to make sure any company i use in the future is bonded, i had a booking with them too.

just so you know not even the staff saw this coming.

Just to let you know companies that have been bonded in the past and have gone bust, their customers have found that it is more difficult to get a refund.

I know from experience that when a large Irish Travel company went bust last year a disagreement arouse between the credit card companies and the bond insurers as to who was liable for the refund. As far as I am aware many of these individuals have not yet been refunded because of this wrangle. So bonded companies are not the answer either and in many cases a bonded company would not cover any hotel reservations as it generally only cover package holidays.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:42pm

wcarey1975 wrote: »

Have rang CC company and they have said until they recieve official confirmation that 1800 have gone into liquidation then theres nothing we can do. Once they get the confirmation then we can send in a letter for a payment refund chargeback. They have been advised to ask all customers to to check with the hotel directly and confirm the reservation is valid. I have rang our hotel which is in Florida and the reservation is still there. I didnt ask them however if the payment has been recieved for the reservation. I hope all is okay but I highly doubt it. Well heres to finding a new hotel.

unfortunately this is the case until 1800 are officially bankrupt the card providers cant do anything as from there eyes the company still exists

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:44pm

aidanodr wrote: »

PPC - PAY PER CLICK maybe - where you advertise on likes of GOOGLE down right hand side of search list, someone clicks through to your site, YOU the advert owner, PAY a fee per click, not the clicker ...

Look up Google Adwords

Aidan

it wasn't just PPC, there was a lot more to it I'm told but i don't know any details

SmarterEgg · 13-07-2010 6:46pm

Eppie25 wrote: »

Did you check if they had received the full payment?? this was the case with my hotels today.. they had my name and reservation but no money as of yet!

They said that it was paid for.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:46pm

Newbee09 wrote: »

we have booked a holiday for my mums 60th in august. The voucher says payable through TRANSFAR AGENCIA DE VIAGENS E TURISMO ? Anyone know who these are?

that is not a 1800 hotels supplier, translated that is "TRANSFER AGENCY, TRAVEL AND TOURISM"

chris85 · 13-07-2010 6:51pm

I booked last night with them. The sneaky feckers taking my booking knowing this was going to happen. The hotels dont have my booking yet so have to check with them tomorrow if they do but not hopeful. the credit card company advised not much can do at moment and they have had a good few calls about it today by the sounds of it. Also no answer obviously on the 1800hotels phone number.

I think i will book another hotels and ensure it allows me to cancel with all my money back if my 1800hotels booking goes through ok.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:55pm

SmarterEgg wrote: »

Turns out our booking is confirmed with the hotel. I guess we're one of the lucky few.

i'm glad to hear it, its defiantly worth checking with the supplier, i would also recheck shortly before you are due to stay there to be doubly sure

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:57pm

Stepherunie wrote: »

Does anyone have a contact for Tourico? I've been searching their website to no avail. Seems to only have business contacts.

E-mail: info@touricoholidays.com

E-mail: fit@touricoholidays.com

E-mail: salesdept@touricoholidays.com

any of these can help you

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 6:58pm

aidanodr wrote: »

noonespecial,

Are you able to access 1800hotels.com here in Ireland? Just curious because via EIRCOM I CANNOT, just hangs. However if I use a Proxy Service to annonymise I can access it ok.

Aidan

yes i can access it but i'm not in Ireland, they have blocked Irish IP addresses which is why if you use an annonymiser it will work

okidoki987 · 13-07-2010 6:59pm

I tried booking a hotel with 1800hotels.ie at lunchtime today and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get in.
Now makes sense.

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 7:01pm

okidoki987 wrote: »

I tried booking a hotel with 1800hotels.ie at lunchtime today and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get in.
Now makes sense.

1800hotels.ie has been shut down at the servers

SuperFrankyL · 13-07-2010 7:02pm

has anyone got through to hotelbeds??
i just contacted my hotel in tenerife and they have no record of our booking and said its through hotelbeds that has our money and our booking information...

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 7:12pm

SuperFrankyL wrote: »

has anyone got through to hotelbeds??
i just contacted my hotel in tenerife and they have no record of our booking and said its through hotelbeds that has our money and our booking information...

HotelBeds are a funny company they have offices in each destination country and you have to contact the office in the country where you booking is made.

homerdog · 13-07-2010 7:14pm

The demise of 1800 Hotels is another example of the 'double standards' in the Irish Travel Trade.

Dozens of these hotel brokers sprung up during the boom years without any regulation, bonding or licencing. Many of them have gone the way of 1800 Hotels leaving many disgruntled customers many of whom have paid in full only to find the bookings were cancelled because that money never reached the hotel.

Whats the answer ?. Book through a travel agent. They have to be licenced and are bonded, so any money paid is protected, And because TA's are impartial, they source hotels from many different suppliers .

Don't always believe that internet bookings are always cheaper. Whats the good of that if your money is gone up the Swanee ?

sunrise13 · 13-07-2010 7:16pm

Newbee09 wrote: »

we have booked a holiday for my mums 60th in august. The voucher says payable through TRANSFAR AGENCIA DE VIAGENS E TURISMO ? Anyone know who these are?

This is Hotelbeds, it's one of their local handling agents

new2it · 13-07-2010 7:26pm

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. When I emailled the hotel again, they told me that when they checked against GTA, they then saw that it had been cancelled. I'd advise anyone not to take the word of your hotel if you have been in contact with then, that to get in touch with the agent who it had been made payable to

flamegrill · 13-07-2010 7:29pm

It sucks to see them go, been using them for years. Thankfully I booked our holiday via booking.com so I didn't have an "eh wtf" moment when we landed in malta a wee while back.

Hopefully the court case in the US will block their providers from canceling bookings and a lot of you will be ok. Then a rescue package can be mounted.

Paul

jack presley · 13-07-2010 7:57pm

new2it wrote: »

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. When I emailled the hotel again, they told me that when they checked against GTA, they then saw that it had been cancelled. I'd advise anyone not to take the word of your hotel if you have been in contact with then, that to get in touch with the agent who it had been made payable to

How do you contact GTA? Do they have an email address?

13-07-2010 8:00pm

noonespecial wrote: »

yes i can access it but i'm not in Ireland, they have blocked Irish IP addresses which is why if you use an annonymiser it will work

Can access 1800hotels.com from Ireland (Vodafone)

But 1800hotels.ie is unavailable (as per noonespecial comment re servers being shutdown)

Skid · 13-07-2010 8:22pm

The 1800hotels Facebook page has been removed. It was working until a few hours ago.

giveth · 13-07-2010 8:38pm

Does anyone have the number for GTA?
Looking on their site (at least I think its their site), the europe toll free number doesnt seem to work for me:
http://www.gtahotels.com/memberlogin.php?reqpage=1

Thanks

Stepherunie · 13-07-2010 8:41pm

Well I heard from my hotel, the booking was cancelled by the company (mine was for next november so never really had a chance).

At least it means I now have all my paperwork in order for the cc company to try and sort out a chargeback.

Abrean · 13-07-2010 8:43pm

Can anyone find a number/email for hotelbeds spain? Cant find any contact info for them and my bookings through them

dumplander · 13-07-2010 8:49pm

giveth wrote: »

Does anyone have the number for GTA?
Looking on their site (at least I think its their site), the europe toll free number doesnt seem to work for me:
http://www.gtahotels.com/memberlogin.php?reqpage=1

Thanks

I got this contact number from my hotel who had been in touch with GTA. I haven't rung it myself but here it is - 0044-20-7716-2400

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 8:51pm

giveth wrote: »

Does anyone have the number for GTA?
Looking on their site (at least I think its their site), the europe toll free number doesnt seem to work for me:
http://www.gtahotels.com/memberlogin.php?reqpage=1

Thanks

that's because that's not the correct site

http://www.gta-travel.com/

lensman · 13-07-2010 8:55pm

Stepherunie wrote: »

Does anyone have a contact for Tourico? I've been searching their website to no avail. Seems to only have business contacts.

my booking printout from 1800hotels.ie says "payment through Tourico" 2 triple rooms at a new york hotel next Oct,...can't find a phone No for Tourico but have emailed the hotel with booking confirmation No,...awaiting a reply.

Blaithin29 · 13-07-2010 9:00pm

Did anyone manage to make contact with Travco? I have a hotel booking for later in the month. Rang the hotel and they confirmed the booking. However they said to contact Travco as regards payment. I'm just wondering when the hotel receives payment from Travco...is it before, during or after the stay??? I'm thinking that if the booking still stands, then Travco mustn't have cancelled it and that they have received payment from 1800hotels???? Unless Travco can still cancel it. It's all very uncertain...

Stepherunie · 13-07-2010 9:02pm

lensman wrote: »

my booking printout from 1800hotels.ie says "payment through Tourico" 2 triple rooms at a new york hotel next Oct,...can't find a phone No for Tourico but have emailed the hotel with booking confirmation No,...awaiting a reply.

I emailed my hotel and they've confirmed my booking has been cancelled. My payment for it was also to go through Tourico.

Someone earlier gave these three email address for them (I can't remember who, apologies):
info@touricoholidays.com
fit@touricoholidays.com
salesdept@touricoholidays.com

aoifemangan · 13-07-2010 9:16pm

my booking was through tourico and i got through to them in the US, they have said they cancelled all 1800 bookings last week, and the only thing to do is to contact 1800directly. little chance of getting anything from them. I had three booking for the same holiday all paid for with 1800, rang the 3 hotels today, one had no record, one had my booking but it wwas cancelled on the 7th July and the third hotel assured me that my booking was still there and paid for.
After talking to the man in tourico i rang back the third hotel and they said the booking was still there but that mayb they just hadnt received the order to cancel it yet.
The hotels cannot let me keep the reservations because they are with tourico or 1800 and i am a third party. So I must rebook all my accomodation.
It cost 1800 euro to book all of it 3 months ago, just repriced it and it is now 2500 for the same, so our accomodation will now cost over 4000- probably will have to cancel the whole thing. im gutted.

dids6457 · 13-07-2010 9:25pm

Does anyone know when the hotel usually receive the payment from the 2nd party i.e. You Travel in our case? Is it long before arrival or after as I have read somewhere? We are due to travel Saturday week, I have called the hotel twice and they have the booking but no payment! As it hasn't been cancelled by You Travel yet I'm hoping they have the money! I can't get through to them now as they as closed for the day but I have emailed and am going to call first thing!
What a mess this is for everyone, we booked last January and only for Liveline today we would have gone to be told there was either no booking or it needed to be paid for!

aoifemangan · 13-07-2010 9:36pm

i got through to them today on the phone and they have cancelled all our bookings. they never got paid

Stepherunie · 13-07-2010 9:42pm

dids6457 wrote: »

Does anyone know when the hotel usually receive the payment from the 2nd party i.e. You Travel in our case? Is it long before arrival or after as I have read somewhere? We are due to travel Saturday week, I have called the hotel twice and they have the booking but no payment! As it hasn't been cancelled by You Travel yet I'm hoping they have the money! I can't get through to them now as they as closed for the day but I have emailed and am going to call first thing!
What a mess this is for everyone, we booked last January and only for Liveline today we would have gone to be told there was either no booking or it needed to be paid for!

See below quote:

Xraylady wrote:

Just spoke to YouTravel (in Athens) they say that 1800 have paid up until end of month, so any bookings would be ok until then. (again, "dont worry!") If any problem they will let us know. Waiting for more info from 1800. Problem is, our booking runs into Aug (2nd) so STILL no wiser really.

so it looks like you could be okay, still best to ring and check your own booking personally though.

new2it · 13-07-2010 9:44pm

I got the number for GTA on http://www.gta-travel.com/

I know you have to ring the office in the city where your hotel has been booked.

xraylady · 13-07-2010 9:44pm

dids6457 wrote: »

Does anyone know when the hotel usually receive the payment from the 2nd party i.e. You Travel in our case? Is it long before arrival or after as I have read somewhere? We are due to travel Saturday week, I have called the hotel twice and they have the booking but no payment! As it hasn't been cancelled by You Travel yet I'm hoping they have the money! I can't get through to them now as they as closed for the day but I have emailed and am going to call first thing!
What a mess this is for everyone, we booked last January and only for Liveline today we would have gone to be told there was either no booking or it needed to be paid for!

Could you let us know please if you hear anything from Youtravel tomorrow? I'm in same boat. Hotel say booking is there and seems secure but really its all down to youtravel.. I phoned youtravel earlier but they could only say that "Should" they be cancelling, they will let me know. I really would like to know either way for sure. Thanks..

dids6457 · 13-07-2010 9:46pm

Stepherunie wrote: »

See below quote:

so it looks like you could be okay, still best to ring and check your own booking personally though.

Thanks a million. Don't want to take anything for granted so going to call everyone in the morning! I gather if you travel have received the money then we are ok otherwise we will have to pay again

.
To any of us who do have to pay again I know credit card companies are good like this, my boyfriend had a problem with tickets for soccer before and he was refunded the money very quickly!

meteor27 · 13-07-2010 9:47pm

I booked part of our honeymoon last night, it took me nearly 2 days to get website to have prices on it, so when it seemed back to normal last night, we booked it straight away. I rang mbna my cc company and they advised me to ring back 2mro. I seem to be under Mark International Travel, has anyone else tried to contact them?

dids6457 · 13-07-2010 9:47pm

xraylady wrote: »

Could you let us know please if you hear anything from Youtravel tomorrow? I'm in same boat. Hotel say booking is there and seems secure but really its all down to youtravel.. I phoned youtravel earlier but they could only say that "Should" they be cancelling, they will let me know. I really would like to know either way for sure. Thanks..

No problem. I couldn't get through to them as I was too late this evening. Were they able to tell you that they received the money and would be paying the hotel? If they have received the money e will be ok.

Stepherunie · 13-07-2010 9:53pm

OH I really think the joke is on us.

Sent an email to info@1800hotels.ie just there to ask for refund (need to attempt contact them for CC chargeback) - an auto reply email arrived 2 minutes later from 1800hotels. The subject line? 'Want to cancel? Now you can, online!'

Ironic or what?

noonespecial · 13-07-2010 9:54pm

dids6457 wrote: »

Does anyone know when the hotel usually receive the payment from the 2nd party i.e. You Travel in our case? Is it long before arrival or after as I have read somewhere? We are due to travel Saturday week, I have called the hotel twice and they have the booking but no payment! As it hasn't been cancelled by You Travel yet I'm hoping they have the money! I can't get through to them now as they as closed for the day but I have emailed and am going to call first thing!
What a mess this is for everyone, we booked last January and only for Liveline today we would have gone to be told there was either no booking or it needed to be paid for!

these kind of things normally are set up so the client e.g. 1800hotels would have to settle the booking X number of days before check in. which means if you booked in Jan last year they still don't have to pay the supplier until its X number of days before your booking.

1800hotels.ie - what's happening?

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