What if Wotif isn’t such a good deal?

Regular TravelMole reader Jon Hewson, managing partner, special projects with VirtuallyThere, responds to this week’s newswire item on Wotif.com in which the company announced a 33 percent increase in sales, calling the results “exceptional outcomes in the current economic climate”.

Robbie Cooke, CEO and managing director of Wotif.com said the acquisition of travel.com.au and Asia Web Direct (HK) in the 2008 financial year had paid off even beyond expectations.

Jon Hewson writes:

I have just checked Wotif.com against my company’s Vietnam hotel database which contains almost every room that can be rented in the country from home-stay through 5-star and sadly there are many glaring errors or exaggerations.

Clearly Wotif.com has either not audited the hotels or has relied upon self-description which is an unreliable strategy. It is hardly alone in this as other websites have this weakness, too.

The web site ‘double dips’ charging customers and hotels transaction fees which makes Wotif significantly more expensive than other reservation web sites.

The question: “How does the hotel get my booking?” on their About Us web page is not answered.

The paragraph following the question includes the statement: “It only takes a few minutes for us to confirm your booking. As soon as you have your confirmation, the hotel has access to your booking details.”

This is NOT a confirmation from the hotel rather it depends on the Wotif database being current and updated by hotels.

I know some of their hotel clients do not accept reservations overnight. It means a hotel would not know of a reservation for up to 6-8 hours.

Errors I noticed included non-existent towns, location and spelling errors all of which should not exist and only serve to confuse customers. Their ‘low prices’ are higher than some current prices – likely because their database needs updating.

Asia Web DIRECT introduces even more risk as it uses two third party web sites to arrange hotel reservations and their inaccuracies are greater than Wotif. Hardly direct, either.

Bottom line: Travel agents should know that Wotif is little better than many other res systems PLUS their combined commissions undoubtedly force total costs higher.

If you must use a res system try Hotels.com, book a single night and when you get the confirmation with an email address contact the hotel directly for the balance of a stay booking. They will appreciate the extra money.

Remember, accommodation in Vietnam is sold by the room, not the number of people.