Tripadvisor - willing to accept I somehow made a mistake, but is this a thing?

[MargoLovebutter]

Totally unable to find anything to book in the UK in August, I took the plunge and decided to go to Corfu. Had a look on Tripadvisor and found a lovely looking hotel, thought that'll do and clicked to book it. The link took me to Hotels.com and I completed my booking. I was sent an email booking confirmation and all looked fine.

Due to head off next week, so I'm busy printing all the documents we will need and logged into the hotel booking and it took me to a page with photos of the hotel on it and I don't recognise the photos!

I can't quite get my head around what has happened. When I made the original booking through Tripadvisor, I clicked on a link to book "Beautiful beach hotel Corfu" (made up name) and I thought that is what I had booked. On close inspection, I somehow booked "Beautiful beach hotel yani Corfu". This is yards away from the hotel I had thought I was booking, so the address is the same but it most definitely isn't the same place at all.

I spoke to Tripadvisor who said that because I booked through a third party, its nothing to do with them and the third party, hotels.com, obviously couldn't give less of a monkeys!!! I know this because after waiting in a call centre queue for a million years, that is what they very politely told me.

Soooooooooooo, I'm fed up and feel like a massive twit, but I also wondered has this happened to anyone else? Have you thought you were booking one place and ended up somewhere completely different that sounds incredibly similar - or am I the only nitwit this has happened to?

I still can't understand how the link to book one place took me to a whole other place............

[ThisIsStartingToBoreMe]

God thats really annoying. Obviously you still have to go otherwise you'll lose your money but If it wasn't absolutely amazing then i'd be giving them a really shit review on Tripadviser when I got back and I'd explain how they essentially trick you into booking.

[SquirryTheSquirrel]

i'd be giving them a really shit review on Tripadviser when I got back

That's not really fair (unless the hotel genuinely is shit) because it's hotels.com that's at fault, not the hotel which will have signed up to the booking agents in good faith.

[MoonlightWanderer]

Did you click on an advert by mistake? They are often designed to look like the place you should click.

[MargoLovebutter]

Definitely didn't click on an ad. I thought I'd followed the link from the hotel I was actually looking at. I'd never even seen the other one, which is why it took me by surprise that I'd somehow booked it!!!!

[TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross]

What’s the hotel you’ve booked like? Do you think it’ll be nice even though it’s not what you thought?

[LIZS]

It may show alternative hotels and restaurants nearby on same page, especially if the one you were looking at was fully booked for those dates

[MargoLovebutter]

It's ok. It definitely isn't as nice as the one I thought I'd booked. The one I thought I'd booked was newly refurbished and was a bit 'boho chic'. The one we are actually staying in has a very spartan and basic vibe going on!!!!

@LIZS, I don't remember seeing alternatives. I honestly don't remember seeing the one I'm booked into at all. I got such a surprise when I followed the booking link, as it obviously bears no resemblance to the place I thought I'd booked, other than having an incredibly similar name.

[PercyWercy]

Could the credit card company (if you paid by that method?) have some recourse in this?

[StarryStarrySocks]

Could they be sister hotels? So maybe you did book the one you thought but it was full so your room is actually in the annexe down the road? I'm probably clutching at straws though. It is very weird!

[MargoLovebutter]

Sadly, I think it is a case of "buyer beware" as I have no way of proving that the link I followed took me to a different hotel to the one I intended to book. I was starting to doubt my own mind, but I know that I haven't gone mad because I sent the family the link to the hotel that I thought I'd booked on the day I booked it.

It isn't a sister hotel either, it is an entirely different place, just with a remarkably similar name and a few doors up the road. I would never have come across it on TripAdvisor either, as it doesn't have any TA reviews yet and I always go for the highly reviewed options. I've booked through TA so many times and never had anything like this happen. That said I've never used hotels.com and I wonder if something went wrong with the link from TA to hotels.com - but I have no way of proving that. Sigh.

[BertieBotts]

Maybe you can look through your browser history from that day? But I don't know if it would really help.

[Geamhradh]

Don't suppose you booked with a free cancellation option?
Is there a 24h cooling off period like with airlines?

[MargoLovebutter]

Sadly not. I booked about 4 weeks ago and it is non-returnable, non-refundable, non-changeable etc! I did try. I was even willing to pay more, but hotel.com said I would have to forgo the entire booking if I rebooked.

[Charley50]

That's weird! Corfu is lovely btw. Well most of it!

[Elbie79]

Hotel Palma Nova and Hotel Palma Nova Palace. Or something similarly sounding. Didn't realise til I got there. Next door to each other and mine considerably shitter. It was about 20 years ago, but I can still remember how cross I was with Nicola from Going Places in Nottingham whose booking mistake I believed it was!