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I booked a hotel at Hotels.com for one night in Austin because I didn't want to drive the two hours back to Houston. I arrived at the hotel and the owner told me my card was declined on Hotels.com. I said "Okay, I can give you another card" to which he responded that they no longer had any rooms. So I left the hotel and drove home.

When I received my credit card statement the hotel had charged my card! I immediately contacted Hotels.com who said the hotel told them that I had stayed there and they had no way to dispute it!

I submitted a dispute with my credit card company. I want this hotel punished for fraudulently charging my card for a stay that they clearly did not even offer! :(

What can I do if the credit card company doesn't refund me my money?

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    Seems to me this is much more likely to be an error than fraud. I'd wait to hear what your credit card company says before getting all excited. Anyway, it's probably a better question for Money.SE than here.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jan 26, 2017 at 21:53
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    1). If you arrive at hotel with a confirmed reservation, and the reception claims there are problems with the reservation, call the booking agency right away. Even if you travel internationally, most hotels have free WiFi in lobby, and Google Hangout can call numbers in the US for free. Every single booking site I've used had a screwup once in a while - Agoda seem to be on top of my screwup list - so it may be their error. In this case you may ask them to find you a suitable hotel nearby, and you also ensure you won't be charged for this one.
    – George Y.
    Jan 27, 2017 at 1:19
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    2). The hotel usually confirms your stay to the booking agency by making a copy of your ID/passport. Without it I don't see how the hotel can claim you stayed with them.
    – George Y.
    Jan 27, 2017 at 1:23
  • @george not necessarily. The hotel i used yesterday had just my name and credit card number from booking.com in Helsinki. They never asked me to show ID, gave me key when I quoted my booking.com reference number.
    – DavChana
    Jan 31, 2017 at 12:38

1 Answer 1

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When you check in, most hotels make you sign an agreement when they take a deposit. That piece of paper would have been dated and signed. If the hotel can't furnish that, then they have no basis of saying that you stayed with them. Your credit card company will most likely ask you for a detailed letter stating what happened. I would recommend that you request a copy of the deposit agreement and if they can't furnish that, then clearly, you did not stay there. If in the event that doesn't work, you can file a police report and request the security tapes (assuming they have them set up). The tapes would show you left the hotel. If you have proof that you were in Houston that night after you drove home (maybe you bought a pizza and have the receipt, or stopped to get gas), all those will help you.

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    In the past two months, I have stayed in 8 hotels - only one of them required me to sign anything before handing me my keys. All of them were booked online. Not one of them took ID either, just needed the booking code for the reservation to hand me my key.
    – user29788
    Jan 31, 2017 at 10:48

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