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CAUTION! Multiple "holds" on credit card with error #111


mc2
By mc2,
in

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Hello,

I was thrilled to find this board last night, as it helped me to narrow down a property I was hoping to find in Downtown Toronto West (4* Toronto West, customer favorite, 11.8 miles from YYZ, etc...). According to what I have read on the board, I believe it is possibly the Sheraton Toronto Centre?

I found a room last night for a great rate, so I tried to book it. After entering all information (including my payment information), I clicked on "continue", and was given error #111. The message stated that there was an error, and that I would not be charged. I waited a little while, found the room again, and tried again with a different credit card (thinking there was a system error with the first one). The same thing happened, and I got the same error code. At this point, I called Hotwire and the agent offered to try it for me. Same thing happened to her. Her advice to me was to wait an hour or so, and to try again. Same thing happened (although this time I may have had error #405?). When I checked this morning, the room rate was a bit higher, but the hotel was still there. Tried again - same thing happened. I called Hotwire again (I'm new to this, so I had no idea what was going on), and this agent told me to try again in about 10 minutes. So I did - same thing happened. To make a long story short, on the advice of the hotwire agents, I have been trying multiple times throughout the day - and then found out that there is an error either with the hotel or with hotwire, and the error code was coming AFTER the hotel put the hold on the funds from the bank - so the money is being held, but they aren't giving a room. My stay is for 4 nights, so with all of these attempts, I am looking at a few thousand dollars of funds "on hold" for rooms that they aren't releasing (even though they are listed on the site, and they take the banking info). I'm on hold with hotwire as we speak, as the agent is trying to call the banks directly to have it cleared up immediately (as it might take up to the middle of next week for it all to get cleared up without her intervening). I just thought I would post this as a bit of a heads up in the hopes that others won't get caught with funds tied up on their cards when they shouldn't be. The agent seems to think that the problem is with this hotel, and that it isn't necessarily a problem with other hotels when you get that error code? She is actually reporting it as a bug in the system so that they will pull the hotel listing until they correct the problem? Lesson learned - check with your visa if you get code #111 before trying to book again - funds might be held even though you don't get a room!

Thank you (lots of great info on this site!)!

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  • 2 weeks later...

It probably won't console you, but I had a similar situation about a year ago -- also with a Hotwire hotel.

Just a question: Was the rate really great for the Toronto hotel?? That was my experience with my San Francisco pricing. It really was too great. Turned out that the hotel had probably caught the mistake -- just in time for them. I also went through the motions of buying about 3 or 4 times, before calling Hotwire and letting them try. Same results as you experienced. Although they did not call the bank for me, the hold was cancelled within about 3 business days.

Hope it all works out and that you are able to find a great bargain for your stay :)

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