I had booked 3 nights/4 days stay (Check-in: 24th/Check-out: 27th) at Wind Flower Spa and Resort, Mysore through MakeMyTrip.com on December 15th 2010. I immediately got a confirmation email/booking voucher from them stating that my booking is confirmed and I need not re-confirm the booking by calling the hotel.
We (I, my wife and my son) left Mangalore at 7am and reached Mysore at around 2.30pm (around 300 Kms). As soon as we entered the resort, we were very impressed with it. My son was too ecstatic and I was happy for him. However, all this euphoria was short lived. When I presented the booking voucher to the receptionist, she told there was no booking in my name through Make My Trip.com. I just cannot describe how I felt at moment. I felt like an Idiot. My wife chided at me for not confirming the booking, for which I told that it’s clearly written on the booking voucher that I need not confirm the booking by calling the hotel. My son was just too happy playing around totally unaware of all this. I just couldn’t figure how to break this news to him that we will not be staying in that resort.
When I talked to the resort manager regarding what could be done, he told me that this is the 10th such case in this week. All my hopes went down the drain then. Being holiday season, the resort was running full and my only option was to call them back and request a refund. That’s OK, but then where to go now? Being a holiday season, chances of getting a room in a good resort/hotel was pretty bleak and if at all I would get one, the rates would be sky high. The hotel manager was a nice guy and may be pitying me, he suggested a newly opened similar resort (Silent Shores) where I could get a room. GREAT I thought! He immediately called the resort and found I could get a Suite. I figured it wouldn’t be less that Rs. 10,000 a day but at that moment, I just wanted to keep my family happy. I just didn’t want to take them back.
Now getting the refund back and the blasting part. I called the MakeMyTrip.com call center, entered my booking ID, and kept waiting for more than 5 minutes. Nobody took my call. I called again. Still no reply. The manager told me that they will not take my call and I write directly to them. Again I felt like an Idiot. I then called them again and choose the “New booking” option. I got through them and blasted them for making me go through this and asked for a refund.
The manager later talked to the person in charge of taking reservations from Make My Trip for their resort and told me that Make My Trip guys had called in at 12.00 noon today to confirm my reservation! Can you believe it? I book the rooms on Dec 15 and they call the hotel on the day of my check-in to confirm the booking!
Later in the evening, I checked mouthshut.com and was surprised to find that I was not the only one to have gone through such an ordeal. There were hundreds others with similar experiences. And this was making no difference to them, simply because the reviews were not showing up in the search results. That’s when I decided to create a dedicated website documenting my experience and allowing others to share theirs so nobody will have to go through the horrifying ordeal I and others have been through.
What really irked me most was the totally cool attitude of Make My Trip.com. It’s like this is no big deal at all – “We are really sorry and you’ll get a refund within 7 days”. That’s it! What about the ordeal we have been through? Travel 300 kms with family and make a fool of yourself! Can money compensate for it? This is not pardonable at any cost.
I sincerely request you that if you have been through a similar experience with MakeMyTrip.com, please share your experience. Please refrain from using defamatory words and try to include as much proof (booking ID, etc.) as possible.
Regarding the Silent Shores resort, it was very good and I thank god for keeping the Suite for me. Everything happens for good!
Why it makes sense to book your stay by calling the hotel directly
Here’s how travel sites work… When you book a hotel through a travel site, a copy of the voucher (not payment) is sent to the hotel. Depending on the relationship and reputation of the travel site in remitting payments to the hotel, the hotel people then may decide whether to confirm the reservation or keep it pending till they receive the payment. If the travel site repeatedly delays making payment to the hotel, then the hotel people may not make the reservation at all until they receive the payment. It may take anywhere from 2-3 days or never (like in my case) for the travel site to transfer the payment to the hotel. And then, only if rooms are available, your reservation is confirmed, else you’ll be refunded. So in reality you are basically trying your luck.
This entire process may take anywhere from 2-7 days. If it’s a peak season, and you don’t get a room through the travel site (and you are lucky enough to know it before you reach your destination), you must have already lost several days and until then room rents must have already hiked by then.
However, if you contact the hotel directly, not only your booking will be confirmed immediately, you also stand a high chance of getting a more discounted rate than what you see on the travel site, if you negotiate a bit. Think about this, for every booking through the travel site, the hotel has to give some commission to the travel site. Now if they could bypass the middleman, don’t you think they won’t or shouldn’t have any problems in giving back the same commission as discount to the customer?
So it makes lot of sense to use travel sites to read reviews and check fares, but make the booking by calling the hotel directly. If there’s no contact info of the hotel available on the travel site listings, just put the name and location of the hotel in Google and in majority of the cases, you’ll stumble upon their official website.
Useful links
- MakeMyTrip.com Reviews on MouthShut.com
- MakeMyTrip.com Complaints on Consumer Complaints
- MakeMyTrip.com Reviews on Review Center
I had a similar experience with make my trip. I have booked a hotel in thirupati for a one night stay and had instantly received a confirmation. But I did the wise thing. I called the hotel to check if the booking is confirmed and Not to my surprise the booking was never there.
I had called the call center of MMT and had a difficult time getting them on line. But after I got through MMT people have ensured that they accomodated me in a different hotel of the same category
R u paying for this domain, just for ruined trip experiences? Well thats funny….
I work in an IT Co. and being a tech savvy person myself,I wd like to tell u all….
1. Whenever I make a booking I always confirm by calling the hotel before reaching there. I hv booked with makemytrip many times and once for a hotel in Chennai the hotel hadn’t received the confirmation….So I called the call centre no. then and there and they instantly confirmed it.
2.If u r booking thru a website for the 1st time,make sure u read reviews beforehand.
3.As far as I know,holiday packages never live upto the expectation. I hv read reviews,even the famous travel agents like SOTC and Thomas Cook also might not give u what they promised…u might end up getting a std room instead of a dlx room,3star hotel instead of 4star and so on….So whenever I go for holiday,I book the tickets and hotel separately and plan the itinerary after reaching the place.
4.Go for cashback offers,only if it is a reliable site(check the reviews)….The cash may not come back for some sites.
5.If u r taking any discounted flight deal coupon,call the helpline before buying to:
1.Check if support wl be available if the coupon doesnt work
2.Ask where the coupon code is to be entered,how much time it wl take for the coupon to come to you.
6.For amending flight schedule,call the airline directly,all airline do rescheduling directly…you can directly pay the amt in the airline website under manage booking.
7.If at all u hv a problem that is not being solved(e.g. refund not coming),post it in facebook..many companies are taking facebook posts seriously as everyone can view it.Find in the facebook page,the email or facebook id of manager level people. Sometimes,call centre executives dont approach higher authorities immdtly when they r unable to solve the problem themselves.
I dont want to give advice but If u keep these things in mind,there is little chance of ur trip being RUINED !!
N.B. : I found the title “ruinedmytrip.com ” really hilarious,so I went on to write this long story!
Well, do you think anybody else would be sponsoring my experiences?
Mr. Vishal
I really appreciate your effort. You are doing a great job. This is not only about travelling, but we common people suffer from so many other problems like this. This is an effort against all those sufferings.
Coming to the comment by Mr. Rohit, you will find millions of people who will come and give advice even if they are not asked to do. I request you not to get discouraged by such”FREE KA GYAN people”.
The step which you have taken is worth spending a few thousand rupees every year. We spend thousands of rupees when we go for shopping, movies, travelling. Spending some money on something good like this is really appreciable, every one (like those who criticize) can’t do it. So keep up………….
And thanks for the help which you have provided to common people.
Regards
Thank you so much for your words of appreciation Vijay! It’s much appreciated
Hi,
My name is Sachin K from Mumbai, I booked a honeymoon package in December 2011 for my tour from 15Feb – 21st Feb for Nanital -Kausani – Corbett. As soon as my package started, troubles followed us. We reached Nanital on the 15th Feb, as per our brochure we had candle light dinner and cake on arrival at Nanital, candle light dinner and flower decoration at Kausani. However we were horrified when we were told that the hotel does not have any instructions nor has makemytrip.com paid them for the services and the hotel stay. By the way the hotels we stayed were from the chain Suman Resorts in all 3 places we went.
When we contacted makemytrip.com, we told them about the arrangements and also that the hotel has not been paid for our stay, it took them 5 calls and various transfer to understand my concern while I was on roaming network as I am from Mumbai. Finally the reply I got and it was a shocking one, they asked me to pay for the services and they would refund the money, which I did as I did not wish to spoil my honeymoon for them.
The scariest part begins, we spoke to the resort in Kausani from our Nanital hotel, if our bookings were confirmed, we are told it is confirmed, so we drove to Kausani which is almost 5-6 hours and when we reached we were made to wait in the lobby as no rooms were booked for us and the Manager simply denied as MMT had not paid them as well. After speaking with MMT Executive and their finance head in Delhi, the hotel allowed us to stay, by now my patients had given up as they had spoiled my honeymoon. Upon reaching Mumbai I send MMT the vouchers and my phone bill which they promptly paid.
I shall never ever in my life book anything from MMT and would also request everyone, not to fall for their false and lucrative offers.
Feels sad to know about your honeymoon experience. I had a similar bad experience sometime back and have been fighting for my refund. Am curious about one thing were you get your phone bills and vouchers immediately paid by makemytrip?
Yes, MMT paid me in 10 days after I submitted the scan documents. I felt like there is only one executive “Pallavi Patil” from Mumbai office, who is doing her job well, the rest are just trying their best to fool people and make money.
I booked online my Ticket and Hotel over Make My trip.com. My Booking ID: NP2523717547168. I had booked a early morning departure to Nagpur for 21st April and I was not in the position to take the flight due to some business meeting. I called Customer services to amend my booking to afternoon flight. What I went through was not very professional and very untrained “Customer Care” from Make My Trip.
On 14th April 2012 21:17 got my confirmation of my Flight & Hotel Booking
On 15th April Got message that I had to attend a business meeting on my scheduled day of flight.
On 15th April called the “Customer Care” 1st attempt at 20:29, got through, I had to give my Booking Number and verify my name. After the verification, I told the gentleman about my Change Of Plans and I had to postpone my flight to take a afternoon flight. The phone gets cut off and no one bothers to call me back.
On 15 April, 2nd attempt: Called Customer Care at 20:36 get connected to other team member. Verify my Booking Number and my personal details. Well the team member informs me that he can not do anything as I have a Flight and hotel Booking. I get passed onto another team member after being put on hold. Verify my Credentials again. I had to explain again the whole story and I wanted to get my early morning flight postponed to afternoon flight. I am then told to call the airline directly to change the flight. I explained to him that my early morning flight was by Spice jet and afternoon flight would be by Indigo, i can not call spice jet to cancel their flight and book me a indigo flight.
I have booked the whole arrangement over Make My Trip and there are still 6 days left to fly. I insisted that Make My Trip should change my flight and I am ready to pay for any cancellation fees. he put me on hold again. Then I was told that there was a problem with the server, he will make sure that someone will get to me in the morning of 16th April. I requested him for a Call Reference Number. he could not provide me with one as he said that he has entered all the details on the system.
I did not get any call from Customer Care on 16th April throughout the day, I decided to call them once more at 21:12 hours. A gentleman picked up the phone, went through the same procedure of verification. Team member would not believe that my reservation number started with NP and not with NF, till the time he realized that it was Flight + Hotel booking. Well I was told to wait again and I was forwarded to another team member. She was very professional as compared to the team member before. She listened to my requirements and I informed her about my request from yesterday and I have not received any call today from Customer Care. She apologized about it. I requested her to change my early morning flight to afternoon flight. I was put on hold again.
I was then told the same story that they had a problem with the system and some is going to call me back in next 24 hours. I was not ready to accept that as I had waited over 24 hours already. If I had to wait for other 24 hours the ticket rates would take a hike again.
I told her to cancel my flights as I would rather book my flights and hotel arrangement though yatra or any other online travel agent. To my surprise, my ticket was cancelled without any problem. How is that possible if the systems were down?
She could have cancelled one way ticket and booked afternoon ticket for me!!!!!!!
One thing is for sure, I have got unlimited memories, as advertised by Make My trip and I would prefer to have a dementia about the whole experience.
I will bring them more customers, if they could spend more money in Customer Care training than wasting it on expensive TV ads.
Dear Gurpal Singh,
Thanks for posting your experience here!
Dear Vishalji,
It is your great work for the travelers.
I have read all client’s review here.
My questions is for these low quality services the clients are same responsible as the travel agents. Reason now a days clients are asking for “DEAL” they not read in that prices what are the services are included in that prices and they only want to see the DISCOUNT in Percentage never calculate the nett amount to be paid.
Recently you can see a advertisement in TV by salman Khan that “If you book air ticket from yatra you can avail up to 50% discount”. Why they do not tell the nett amount to be paid? The reason if they tell the nett amount yo can easily catch them.
Another guest has wrote in your forum that he has paid twice the original amount that also wrong though i do not know who was his agent? But it is fact that if any client booked directly the hotels and transporters etc definitely he will get problem unless he do not book well in advance. Hotel booking in advance is ok but what about the other services????
1. Being a admin of this website you should forward the client’s complain to the respective travel agent for his clarifications. Because sometimes client’s are creating problems for us. as a example recently one of our client has send a booking request for 2 rooms for kashmir package as they are 4 adults and 3 small child less than 5 yrs. We never mate face to face. But when the client arrive to hotel, hotel were claiming all 3 childrens are more than 12 yrs!!!!! And client was trying to convince the hotels that they have paid for all to us??? When one of our local representative has produce the print out of the confirmation where we written 3 childrens are les than 5 yrs then only he agreed to pay extra. Now the question is if this client is putting some complain over Internet what is the validity of the complain???
2. Being a travel agent we practice to confirm the hotels after receiving the 50% advance and then only we send the confirmation of the hotels along with their confirmation number (after making some advance payment) so that anyone can check from the Hotel directly at any time.
3. Being a travel agent what rate we offer that you cannot avail directly from the service providers.
I hope all these are ok.
Feel free to contact us as apart from our Travel portal we do also promote some hotels and resorts under the brand of “Ankush Group of Hotels & Resorts”
Regards
Kanak
1. Being a admin of this website you should forward the client’s complain to the respective travel agent for his clarifications. Because sometimes client’s are creating problems for us. as a example recently one of our client has send a booking request for 2 rooms for kashmir package as they are 4 adults and 3 small child less than 5 yrs. We never mate face to face. But when the client arrive to hotel, hotel were claiming all 3 childrens are more than 12 yrs!!!!! And client was trying to convince the hotels that they have paid for all to us??? When one of our local representative has produce the print out of the confirmation where we written 3 childrens are les than 5 yrs then only he agreed to pay extra.
Forwarding the complaints to respective companies will involve a lot of time and energy for me and it’s really not feasible. However, the respective companies can always come here and clarify their stand here.
Now the question is if this client is putting some complain over Internet what is the validity of the complain???
I totally agree with you Mr. Kanak, that’s why I insist people on putting full details like booking ID, etc. while posting here so that complaints are genuine.