Easyclicktravel.com

[IBDP]

Hi Thereuare,

I have just recently discovered this website and was in the process of accessing the Forum to ask if your forum supports, i.e. follows it as you do Hotwire and Priceline and, if not, will you in the future?

I'm sure we all could use some help identifying their "off the record" hotels. But meanwhile I found the EasyClickTravel topic whrein man y people were very dissatisfied with the site. what do you think? and will you be following it?

Thank you,

Donna

[IBDP]

OOOPS

Just after I posted the previous post, looked further down the page to see that Thereuare has already responded to this inquiry. If you can add anything else, Thereuare, please do.

I have been trying to access "Off the record" through your link, but when I press "control" prior to "search" on my Mac , I only access a drop down Mac Menu. Would I use a different key on the Mac?

Regards,

Donna

NOTE by Thereuare: are you using Safari Browser? If so, do you have Internet Explorer for Mac on that computer where you could copy/paste the search tool address into the Explorer URL to see if that works? Also, just to clarify, the CTRL key is the bottom left most key on your keyboard (i think it's the same for Mac)... next to that on an IBM compatible computer is a Windows key and that key on IBM machines brings up a Windows dropdown menu. The CTRL key credit goes to Travelguy for making us aware of it <thanks again>... maybe he knows something about Mac?

[thereuare]

Our EasyClickTravel Easy Search identifies many of the hotels (3* and above) in the most popular cities by using the dropdown menu on the left.

As far as EasyClickTravel's 'problems', here is my take:

1) 'on request' reservations are supposed to take 48 hours to hear back, but expect them to take longer (3-4 days is more like it). This is an issue that they're trying to figure out how to work thru, 'on request' deals are a manual process so when they get swamped it can take longer than the stipulated timeframe. My guess is that a solution is not necessarily going to be to reply faster, but rather promise a reply in a longer time period. Bottom line is expect it to take a few days to hear back and don't wait until the last minute to put in a status for an 'on request' reservation

2) there have been two major issues that i am aware of... one was a customer being 'walked' to a lesser property, the other a user received a confirmation for a same day reservation and then was called 30 minutes later and told that they hotel wouldn't honor the reservation (and alternatives offered were not suitable). For those who really want to more know than is necessary continue reading :) ...

-the first issue was the hotel's fault and unfortunately EasyClickTravel wasn't able to resolve the issue with them while the guest was at the hotel. Although booked thru EasyClickTravel, the hotel was the one that messed up. Unfortunatley the hotel didn't offer the customer any suitable alterantives or compensation, and as a result, right or wrong, ECT had to take the heat (wrongfully as it wasn't their fault, but rightfully from the standpoint that the guest was an ECT customer and they weren't able to resolve the issue while the customer was at the hotel). A bigger issue i believe is that 'walking' is standard procedure in the hotel industry... but that's an entirely different discussion

-the second issue that i'm aware of is with the above cancelling of a same day reservation shortly after it was confirmed. This was an ECT problem and although it took a week to resolve, they have offered (what i believe to be) fair compensation to the user for their error (if the user who had the issue wants to publicly discuss their own take on the issue and whether they feel 'compensated' they are encouraged to do so). I will note that there can still be a problem with same day reservations made after 6pm, so i would be cautious using them under such circumstances without a follow-up phone call to make sure everything is 'all set'.

As far as 'covering' them, we should be releasing a new tool (in addition to the EasyClickTravel Search Tool) within the next few days <never before mentioned until now i believe... so those who read this get a 'sneak peak' of what's to come> which will further assist in the "Off the Record Deals". We've internally been testing it the last few weeks and are quite pleased with it, but we wanted to make sure that any company we promote stands behind their customers, so we were waiting for the second issue above to be resolved before launching it. Stay tuned.... :)

PS- in the meantime if you have a specific "Off the Record" hotel you need help with please feel free to PM me the details and i'll try to help as best i can

[dahammer]

-the second issue that i'm aware of is with the above cancelling of a same day reservation shortly after it was confirmed. This was an ECT problem and although it took a week to resolve, they have offered (what i believe to be) fair compensation to the user for their error (if the user who had the issue wants to publicly discuss their own take on the issue and whether they feel 'compensated' they are encouraged to do so).

Yup, this was me :) .... I was contacted by EasyClickTravel and they offered me fair compensation for cancelling my reservation. Note that I made a same day reservation at the Crowne Plaza LaGuardia Airport Hotel and it was past 6:00 PM. They confirmed the reservation and called back 30 minutes later to tell me that the hotel was oversold. That evening, all NYC airports were reporting delays of up to 4 hours with many flights cancelled due to snow and ice. Roads were ice covered and there were numerous accidents on the NJ Turnpike, wind gusts were up to 50 mph. I understand that there were many problems with airport hotels unsure of room inventory due to cancelled and delayed flights. Guests holding reservations were not cancelling their rooms just in case their flight made it into LGA. So, given all of the circumstances, I was upset that my reservation was cancelled, but EasyClickTravel Travel made amends for the mistake.

I also booked a room in Las Vegas for one night using EasyClickTravel at the Monte Carlo and saved about $50 or so compared to booking directly with the hotel's website. No mention of ECT by the clerk, he just mentioned that "your room was prepaid". This was an off the record booking and I was able to get a better room in a nicer 4* property at a lower price. Isn't that what we all want??? :)

I will use ECT in the future because there are times when I really want to identify the property before I make a reservation, rather than use an "opaque" site like Hotwire or Priceline. Using the "pinned" list of HW and PL hotels on this site I can guess which property I may get when I bid or a HW buy, but in the case of Las Vegas or even NYC, EasyClickTravel Travel can be useful to ID the property before you buy.

[thereuare]

So here is a sneak peak at the new EasyClickTravel Reverse Look-up Tool.

While our EasyClickTravel Search Tool was great for searching for a hotels, it didn't help when you found an Off The Record deal through a 'traditional' search. With the new tool, you can now copy/paste the URL into the text box and be given our opinion of the hotel's identification.

This currently works for the major cities already covered by our existing tool and we will expand coverage in the near future.

We'll officially 'announce' this tomorrow morning, i'm posting here for anyone that sees it and encorage PM's with comments to know that it works for others as well as any additional comments/suggestions.

[IBDP]

Hi Thereuare,

I have just now experimented with your new Tool for Easyclicktravel.com, and wish to report that it is working well. I went through Internet Explorer as well as Safari. There was one unidentified and, as asked, I sent the URL to [email protected].

Thank you for all the great information!

Kind regards,

IBDP (Donna) :)

[thereuare]

Thanks for the comments about Safari... as i don't have access to a Mac, one can never be sure how it will perform in that environment.

I sent you an email that we have identified the hotel you inquired about and added it to the tool's database.