The Tough Woman (Cheri Hotel Series Book 4)

You might be interested to know that a couple of years ago I experience a similar issue with Hostelworld. My friends and I got to Rome and were sent on a somewhat wild goose chase to a new hostel, including literally getting into a windowless van with a strange man. The hostel we stayed in was fine, but the kicker was that we had paid 40 euros each for the night while our roommates, who had picked that hostel directly, had paid at least 10 euros less. I think I might have stayed in the same hostel in Rome but the problem was the hostel itself, not hostelworld.

Sorry to hear about this dreadful treatment from Expedia. I wish I used Expedia so I could quit on your behalf! Just thought — wonder how someone could get 60 Minutes on this? Interesting information and thank you for sharing about your experience. However, I have really good experiences with expedia as a customer.

When I had a family emergency I was able to get a full refund on booked hotel and flight to return home — even though I already stayed for two nights at that hotel. In addition, I have always found bookings via expedia cheaper than contacting airlines, hotels, etc. Reblogged this on Scott's Creative Matrix and commented: No offer to get us another hotel room, no attempt to help, not even when I spoke with a manager there. When I contacted Hotels. This went on for weeks. At last I realized they were drawing out the deadline to either make me forget about the refund, or to run out the timetables for a chargeback.

They never replied; I filed the chargeback and my credit card issuing bank recovered my money for me. I went online and found a lot of similar complaints. Seems it extends down from the parent company, Expedia. I shared this on my Facebook page as well as my Twitter account.

Thank you for sharing this, for I believe the days for big business are numbered. God Bless You guys, and make sure to keep the fire burning. When I book Mexico, I will book with you. Please read, repost, reblog, Tweet, and spread this in every way you can. Reblogged this on Free Thinker Journal and commented: This is why I always design my own holiday, rather than being dictate what to do for my vacations by some strange middle man travel agents. Hi there, I work in online review business and I certainly know how unfair it is for small businesses to be pictured wrongly by a giant like Expedia.

I was absolutely stunned to read about the way you were treated by Expedia. Speaking as someone who goes on holiday from time to time, I do prefer to stay at small, independent places. For that reason alone, I try to avoid the bigger chains as much as possible…no matter what the reason. Wow, I had no idea these middleman sites used such shady practices! How naive of me to assume they are honest. I am so glad you shared your experiences. I think the more that people share about Expedia the better. I have to fly home from our Winter trip on Expedia.

I hope we have more pleasant travels back than here and that the airlines that Expedia put us on stop cancelling due to them having not enought flight crews! Thank you for sharing your Expedia experience with us. I encourage everyone to read this and help the protest by sending the emails requested at the end of the post! Tony and Cheri, thanks for this. I contacted the Expedia folks listed above and shared this blog post with friends. I hope to see a positive update in the future. And this is why I never book anything through any of the large travel sites—Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, or any of them.

I do look at them to see what current discounts seem to be for flights—not hotels—and I do look at the customer-review oriented sites. And then I book directly through the hotel or airline I want to use. As a poor twenty something, I have never used Expedia to book flights or hotels. My father has used them a few times but when I travel on my own, I usually book through hostelworld. After reading this story, this only reinforces my opinion to take my business elsewhere. The best is always to find hour hotel in one of these big Goliaths, and after this, reserve directly in the hotel website or calling them.

Do you know that the Luna Blue Hotel does not show up on Expedia. While I did receive 7 results, none were the Luna Blue Hotel or anything very similar. Have you stopped doing business with Expedia altogether now? Did they eventually just remove your listing? Thanks for the feedback, Brian. However our pages are still active on Expedia in all languages. It can be accessed through googling Expedia Luna Blue or going to http: Of course Venere shows we have no availability ever.

By the way, TripAdvisor and Expedia. And twice in the past month people have written TripAdvisor reviews about our hotel pointing out the scam being carried out by Expedia. Both of those reviews were removed by TripAdvisor. But we still continue to show up via direct access to the Luna Blue page and throughout the internet through their affiliate pages…all saying we have no availability. We still several receive several emails a day from people saying they want to book with us but see that we have no availability. No, we are not doing business with Expedia. But they continue to list us throughout the world as having no availability ever.

This is why we are so angry. I was able to find your Expedia and Yahoo! Travel pages via a Google search. Both stated you had no availability, as you described. Thanks for the very specific reply. You may want to somehow augment your blog post with the above in order to assuage the concerns of people like me that might be confused with the facts presented. Have you been able to find other small businesses in the hospitality industry that have had similar experiences as Expedia partners?

Of course, it would take a lot of work, and may not be feasible, but it might be beneficial in the long term. Anyway, good luck with your business. As a small business owner myself, I empathize with your plight. Have a good New Year. This is an interesting insight!.. They sure have some crazy and intelligent brains to fool even the intelligent people on earth. I feel much more educated about the way they work. Thank you for revealing this side of Expedia.

I cannot imagine how frustrating this must be for you. Best of luck to you for a profitable, wonderful, ! I have not found links within the article to your profiles on these sites. I believe, you forgot to provide the information to third-party verification. Can you provide this information? Internet is an unreliable source of information, however.

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I will definitely rethink my use of expedia!! I have to note, though, that the silly snowflakes are distracting. Reblogged this on Chirimoya Tours Peru Reiseveranstalter. Expedia has their hotel with pictures and very positive reviews but every date plugged in to check availability — even single nights up to May !!

Makes you go hmmm. Good luck breaking up with Expedia, I hope it works out for you guys!!! We will not be using Expedia in the future. Since they are publicly traded, it is probably a good idea to sell their stock and tell all your friends to sell theirs as well. This company is in for a thrashing…. HI I work aboard a cruise ship which docks in Cozumel every two weeks. But I feel like your story needs to be shared. If you need any thing in that vein let me know. We have been swamped the past few weeks with the holiday season rush, but hopefully when things calm down a bit we can find some time to meet up.

Thank you for this. As a travel agent in Canada this is extremly useful. I myself have had many people ask why use a travel agent rather than book on expedia and other simlular websites. I have many stories I refer to but this is such a great example of why personal experience and insight helps make great decisions when booking a holiday. I wish you all the best and next time I am in Playa del Carmen we will be sure to check out your resort. My parents and I always do hotel research and bookings independent of the aggregators.

I am so disgusted to hear about this, and so sorry that this has affected you so negatively. My family and I are frequent travelers and know the many pitfalls of booking through these sites, but normally we put up with them. Good luck to you and I hope that all this is turned into a good story with a happy ending.

Following you guys on FB and helping spread the word. This is indeed outrageous… We all know that big corporations all want to make money at the end of the day but the way in which Expedia runs its business and deals with its partners — in this case you, it goes to show that the company has no ethics or morals. I am from India and an avid traveler myself — normally all we do is book hotels directly and look up sites like Expedia for hotel reviews and cost comparison.

Anyways, your entire story surely has put Expedia in a spot and hopefully soon they do make honest attempts to change the way they do business! Wish you the very best in your endeavor and hopefully, one day, when I save enough money I will visit both of you as a guest at Luna Blue! Reblogged this on Insane Black Swan and commented: Well, the post linked below represents a perfectly screwed up management. Reminds me of a story with the crux that if your boss has decided to screw you, there is hardly anything you can do. More on that story later, for now, read on the post linked below.

Link to reblogged post: Reblogged this on anushkadaydreamer and commented: This is truly awful of Expedia. Thank you for sharing your story to us and I admire the fact that you are standing up to them. My support is with you! And kudos for the FP, you deserve it! So I read this story with jaded eyes and was really horrified at the way you were treated. Good on you for speaking out! More power to you! I suggest that you at least talk to a few lawyers to see if any of them would be willing to take your case for a contingency fee, meaning that they will only get paid if they win a case.

Thank you for the information! Getting ready to vacation in Nassau in one week. If there was any way to undo that, I would! Lisa, you can always cancel with Expedia and book direct. They generally have a rather permissive cancellation policy, since they pretty much force the hotels to offer such. Thank you for your support. A while back I thought about buying a property and renting it all year.

Although I never did that, I did discover a great blog that helps people market and book their own property. And then you can kick Expedia to the curb. Next time I am in the Mayan, I will definately book a room at your Hotel. I am absolutely appalled to learn how you have treated the owners of Luna Blue in Playa del Carmen! I realize my choosing not to conduct business with Expedia will have little effect but I cannot justify giving your company one more single dollar of our hard-earned money knowing now how the company operates.

Reblogged this on goldenmario7. Reblogged this on cftc Hopefully the sharing of your experience will alert people like yourselves and gain the support you deserve. I have had nightmare experiences with Expedia and their Hindi sweatshop call center approach to things. So very sorry to hear of your travails.

What a terrible story! I just retweeted it. I would think he would find your story very interesting. Its coming full circle — Expedia is also screwing travel customers. Tell you on the fone that there will be no charge to make simple change, re-bill your credit card and promise a refund from initial vacation and only give partial credit — the practice of the dishonest, do not put in writing an email that can be thrown back at them and say whatever you need to hear on a fone call. I tell everyone — even those that do not ask. You are also not listed with http: Jim, simply google Luna Blue Hotel and you will see all of the Expedia links to our website.

This is what potential guests see. ALL of these sites show us as having no availability, ever. A very nice woman sent us an email today suggesting we use a company she deals with, Rovia.

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When she said that our hotel was listed there as showing no availability, we dug a little deeper. Turns out that Rovia sells rooms directly from Expedia! The nice woman had no idea. This is the power and reach of Expedia, and this is what hurts small hotels such as ours. We have been trying to get that TripAdvisor tick box removed to no avial.

Remember that Little David took down the giant Goliath whom everyone thought was invincible. You are doing a great job at exposing the despicable tactics used by a giant to crush small business owners, and whose objective is to monopolize an entire industry. Sign up your property today. I always hated Expedia as a person who travels frequently. I hope your business thrives and does even better than you ever expected.

Certainly withdraw from subscription, refuse to pay them, get them to take you to Court to save money maybe. This claim is a complete lie as the action described is illegal in the United States. This article is just another form of advertising. A couple of points to remember: Expedia has been found by several European countries to have broken the law on this and several other issues of how they market and conduct their services.

But we appreciate your feedback. Expedia stinks in other ways as well. When I was 56 I applied for a job there. Thanks for the heads up! I travel so often that I have a travel photography blog! I have never booked through expedia or any other big site because I found their prices unreasonable as there were often better deals with airlines or hotels directly and it always seemed the good deals and small owner operated hotels were never available. I only use their sites for research, then contact the hotels directly.

Good luck, Tony and Cheri! Saw this on twitter just now. Sent the emails as outlined. Have had a problem recently with lastminute. I resorted to twitter to complain it seems to be the fastest route to getting an reply from these type of companies. I hope you win. My husband , two children and myself used Expedia to book a hotel. We will never use them again! When we got to our destination they informed us that our reservations had been cancelled by Expedia. They showed me the email cancelation. It was late and I had two very tired young children.

We were able to get another room at an up charge. When I turned home I contacted Expedia to lodge my complaint. They never responses to any of my calls. I kept calling and was assured that the supervisor would contact me in 24 hours. That was years ago and no one ever called me back. S please pass this on. Hey guys, just wanted you to know that I am appalled by this story. I have shared via my social networks, and referenced this blog post with a link in my own blog, which i will continue to share http: I will also be making sure none of our clients list with them.

Reblogged this on Stream of consciousness SEO and commented: I use these big sites to look for hotels but never book through them as I have always got much better deals and prices by booking directly with the hotel I like. Hope your business recovers. Aw, this was an incredibly nice post. My wife and I are planning a trip to your neck of the woods and rest assured we will be seeking you guys out!

Be well and take care. Reblogged this on littleflowersinthedesert and commented: Know where your money is going. I will never use Expedia to book anything, companies like this should be taken down. I am reblogging this for my clients! I always tell them that the incremental savings you may get by booking with a travel mega-site is not worth the headache of actually having to deal with them should you encounter a problem.

I love the additional insight you have provided and hope it will encourage my clients and potential clients to book with a reputable travel agent. Thank you for the reblog.

And we love that you specialize in Disney travel. Disneyland is one of our favorite places in the world. I will never use Expedia and am so sorry for the nightmare you and most likely countless other small businesses have had to endure from a company you thought would help you. I will express my digusit to the powers that be. It looks like your hotel has been taken down from Expedia, and all thier links when googling you go to dead ends, which at the very least should be a start.

I wish you success and hope the web support, sharing and response brings you lots of new business! It is definitely worth the time, and will hopefully offer some insight into the real world of online travel mega-sites. I love staying at small family owned places, so many good times had at them, and you really get a feel for the area.

So sorry you facing this. What can we, I, the backpackers, the off the beaten trail, the we want something different travelers of the world do to end this? See, I am also a hotelier who actually had similar issues with Expedia. My district manager made me eat thousands of dollars in costs due to an error they had in their system which overbooked my hotel.

At that point, Expedia would not hone up to the loss and their mistake so I decided to cancel contract with them. I also decided to quit my job at eBay and build a platform to help hoteliers like us to sell their rooms. I am launching INNsight. Check out our marketing pages at http: We actually already have one of our core products out—we can take your hotel website and power it with our technology. Email me at raj. Best of luck to you. We always book directly with the airlines. There are certain tips to know when to look for the best fares.

Travel editor Peter Greenberg, http: When you book an airline direct, as with a hotel, you have ONE point of contact for any problems, instead of two. Our two cents worth. I use Expedia all the time and I will definitely think twice about doing so in the future! I will re-blog and help spread the word! Reblogged this on Life as a Butterfly and commented: After using Expedia many, many times, I will think twice before doing so in the future!

Thank you so much for reblogging, Hayley. We really appreciate the support, and we know that small hotels and travel providers around the world would agree. I will recommend your place to my travel-loving famembers: Your beautiful story turned into a nightmare, but I hope you get the happy ending you deserve.

I will never, ever use expedia again and will spread the word. What an awful story and I hope you find resolution somehow. Reblogged this on JavaGirl's Life and commented: With different countries from all over the world looking at my blog, I want to reblog this for my global readers. I want every person in every country and continent to reblog this blog.

Thank you so much, Java Girl. We really appreciate you doing that. Glad I can help. What a despicable company! I own a small business too and am outraged at what they are knowingly doing to you. I will never use their site again and will write an email to them telling them so. Good luck to you!! I work for an airline. Codesharing is something that airlines have been doing for years, and the operating carrier is required to be advised to the passenger.

However, the bookings made on Expedia do not disclose the operating carrier. Myself, and all of my co-workers know that when the passenger says the operating carrier is not on their itinerary, we know that they booked Expedia. I guess at least Expedia is consistent with inaccurate information. Everything at Expedia seems to be a secret. When a hotel receives an Expedia booking, the hotel is told nothing at all about the person except his or her name, length of stay, and the room type requested.

We were told by our market manager that Expedia was not allowed to divulge that information due to privacy laws.

Angela Carter · Colette · LRB 2 October

We certainly find it out when the person gets to the hotel, so why the secrecy beforehand? Oftentimes guests would put in special requests with Expedia which we do see which we know we would not be able to accommodate, but of course we had no way of letting the guest know that ahead of time. This makes for an upset guest, and upset guests make for upset hotel owners. All that matters is that their cash machine continues to run strong. I am sorry to hear about your experience with Expedia but not surprised because we had problems with our city break booked on their website.

The search was made for 3 nights and the confirmation of the booking came back for 1 night only. Their website was malfunctioning and we were unable to cancel our booking straight away. COuldnt get through on the phone because there was a technical fault and were forced to pay extra for the break due to their fault. I have documentary evidence that the error was theirs but never got a sensible response or refund and have taken it up with the Office of Fair Trading.

Needless to say I will never use them again. Unethical, fraudulent company with non existent customer service skills, robots could do better! I am a big fan of the smaller family owned hotels and book them whenever I can. I have such a booking through bookings. I hope you are managing to get plenty of bookings without them now. Your place sounds lovely and well worth a visit. Checking stats whichever way you cut it you should be much higher.

Not sure if its related or not. Wow…I had no idea about the goings on behind the scenes! I hope that you are able to keep your business afloat…from the photo of your property, it looks like a lovely place…more personal than the big resorts. It is a challenge…as a personal totally addicted to travel, I am always interested in finding interesting properties in far off places, but at the same time…they can be tough to find.

As such, I often use the big search engines. I generally cross reference with TripAdvisor to see what people say, although I also take that with a grain of salt! I like concrete reasons as to why people like or dislike a property or service…. Good luck — I hope you are able to continue to operate your piece of heaven….

This sounds incredibly familiar. Complete lack of organization and infuriatingly rude customer service. I waited between 25 and 60 minutes on the phone every day for weeks with no result whatsoever getting disconnected, or transferred to a voicemail where we never got a return call , until finally we got in touch with the right person, who was absolutely nasty, and made it clear it was us against them; there would be no working together. She told me it was MY fault I was missing that page on my itinerary that day.

Good luck in your fight! We have heard SO many stories like yours, that it is amazing to us that this company can still be in business.

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Very sorry to hear this…. I have had positive experiences with Hotwire, though and I will continue to use them. These third-party services inconvenience everyone. Any positive travel experience is a good one. However keep in mind that Hotwire is part of the Expedia group: BTW, we looked at your page. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed. Hoping to get that one day. I think that I may be able to help you improve you brand image, I am a web designer and programmer and I could offer you a very low rate to design you a new website to help you compete better, does this sound like a proposition you are interested in?

Thanks so much for your offer, Ben. But we will definitely keep you in mind if we decide to revamp. Most hotels, in addition to room rate, you are charged taxes which are based on the amount paid. Expedia and other similar are having lawsuits in Florida and lobbying against laws related to taxes. We also work with booking. This makes sense to us. Even after paying lawyers to fight all those lawsuits, it seems they are still coming out way ahead.

I thought they had no relation with Expedia yrs. I have this small business also, even though it not travel.. Hotwire is part of Expedia. See their full list here: Yes, you probably DO have more competition. I wish you the best of luck in getting this resolved. Reblogged this on Kate Ming-Sun Online and commented: A warning for anyone thinking of using Expedia:.

So awful to hear about your story! You should try posting a link to this out on more social media to get more people talking about it. All the best in the future, it looks like a lovely place to stay! That is horrible but for some reason I expect this from these big companies. I support you and will spread the word for sure!! Thanks for passing out the information. I tend to stay in hostels — is it the same with hostel booking sites? The last update said that Expedia had finally deleted the entry. Keep your haed up high. I personally will avoid Expedia and book directly. Just so you know though, they might be big but the Internet is bigger.

Use the social media Twitter, Facebook etc wisely to gain their attention. I guarantee you that nobody likes a bully like Expedia. Do you know if they are connected in any way? Well I sure got educated today! Thank you very much! I travel frequently but have never used expedia. So glad I never did. As one or a few of the commenters mentioned, I have used booking.

Please let me know if you hear something differently. I really hate that something like this is happening to you. I hope things get better in Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! Might it be an idea to write to Tripadvisor too? Horrible — a startling example of Corporatism again.

I am a small business owner, and find your story heartbreaking. Will put a post about this shortly on my blog. We need to think and dream big. I will write to the emails — they are bulllies. Repeated posts need to go out from twitter and facebook with those key words — bullies, fraud, cheats. If I were you, I would sue Expedia since they are purposely hurting your business. Think of all the money you could have made if Expedia was truthful in the first place? I just checked Expedia and Hotels. If you have the funds, I would investigate doing an ad campaign on YouTube and on Facebook and Google adwords.

Screw these places like expedia, priceline, etc. They will only screw you over, obviously. They may have finally listened — I just looked for your hotel on Expedia and did not find it at all. Saw this on Twitter. Expedia used to get my business for air travel once or twice a year. After reading this and the Verge article, that dropped to zero. Good luck to the both of you. I am a small Independent Travel Agent, been in business since We had a store front agency for over 20 years, and recently moved our business home in We are still independent.

I have always cautioned my clients against booking with Expedia and the like, and this is just ONE more example of why people should stay away. Book with your local Travel Agent!! We have our own wonderful suppliers, and would never subject our clients to experiences like the ones described here, and from so many of the people commenting here. Are there other Tour Operators that rep your property? Many years ago, when Classic Vacations was bought by Expedia, I stopped booking with them, just for the mere fact that they were owned by our competition! I do not regret doing so.

There are a myriad of other options for us, and I have not missed them a bit! Good luck to you, I will do my best to spread the word for you…. I never actually BOOK travel on Expedia, but sometimes use them to find hotels that are willing to negotiate on price. But my experiences in actually USING Expedia are almost always bad — bait and switch, screwed up reservations, actual lies, etc. Hi Tony and Sheri. As a home based travel agent I often get to compete with Expedia, Travelocity and the other online travel sites.

So I have some empathy with your situation. Perhaps people should be aware that the price they pay on these sites is often the same or close to what they pay booking through a home based travel agent but with a personal service. Appreciate it if you would message me through Facebook so I can get more info. PS I can be found at http: Thank you, Robert, and thank you for letting us know where so many of our Facebook shares are coming from.

I wanted to let you know that I contacted Expedia via Twitter expedia and let them know that I am an Expedia customer and Expedia Rewards Member who will no longer use any of their affiliated sites until this situation is rectified. Best of luck to you and your business. Conversely, if this is a rampant issue as you claim, you could also take a class lead position and file a class action against Expedia — again, no costs involved. I am disgusted by what Expedia has done here! The situation seems very common practice for them. I recommend everyone to visit this hotel and truly enjoy your stay in Mexico!!

I wish you the best of luck in your battle with Expedia, and I hope that you are able to resolve your issues to your satisfaction. In the mean time, the more of us that share your story, then hopefully, the more Expedia will be affected. I teach workshops and shoot fashion internationally and often am involved in making travel recommendations. From this date forward Expedia and its associated businesses will play no part in either my own plans or what I suggest to others.

Might I suggest that you do a tight little video delineating and illustrating what has been done to you and then get it up on youtube. The reach of a viral video can be astonishing. Reblogged this on Views From The Bullpen and commented: As a General Manager of a franchised IHG property, let me assure you that Expedia rarely gets it right even for corporate hotels. Guests do not understand how 3rd party intermediaries function and often take out their frustration on the staff and by calling our corporate office to complain about our incompetence.

Much luck with your endeavor and following your dream. Your property looks beautiful and I wish you much success! I had no idea that Expedia did such shady business and that they took such a huge portion of the money from the hotels. I am never booking through them again! Thank you so much for sharing this information with the general public.

I had to make a simple change on a booking…well that was a lot to ask! I was on the phone for over 2 hours!! My sister in law had to make the change, too, but was on hold for 4 hours!! Thanks for the enlightening article on your experiences. Have you tried contacting Rick Steves? We have used them four times this year and got terrific places to stay at reasonable prices, all with individuals and small businesses.

Reblogged this on Wlane36's Blog and commented: How childish and ridiculous for any company that even remotely supposed to be professional. It makes me angry to hear it when any larger corporation takes advantage of the little Guy. Reblogged this on thepoliblog and commented: The corporate behavior described here goes beyond unethical. It is immoral, and since it deliberately misleads the public, it is probably illegal.

It certainly deserves to be investigated by the FTC, by the Better Business Bureau, by Consumer Reports, and by the travel writers for major newspapers. A negative story in the New York Times, for example, would reach a lot of people and give Expedia a very big black eye. Sent emails to all… Absolutely disgusting how they ave treated you! Will no longer use Expedia or affiliates to search for hotel or travel bookings! The piece as well as the original blog post and the comments are well worth the read. The piece offers an eye-opening glimpse into the modern […].

My family owns four small hotel properties in Greece. We are considered to be a medium business and unfortunately we also face these kind of problems more or less. Not only with Expedia but with almost all major Tour Operators acting as a medium. Misleading guests by using their tricks is a common practice. They are so many including affiliates that we have lost control and i believe that thousands of businesses are in this party.

What we do is to find ways offline and online to gain trust from our guests, get to know them better and use some kind of a pull practice with good customer service. No matter how small or big you are, you can do this. Then you see that the number of direct guests increases and the repeaters percentage grows. So, we keep going with this old but strong recipe. What it takes is a good website for your business and see where your guests hung out and be there to listen and talk to them.

Luna Blue needs to spend time talking with their guests now and stop dealing with Expedia in any way because it does not worth it. The smaller business you are the better control you have. That is my advice to the Luna Blue owners. I agree with you, I had been to Expedia many times, with my parents , and have felt the pain too. Our server has been experiencing some problems. Our site has been going down sporadically. It seems OK now.

I and some of my friends have shared it on Facebook. I actually caught Expedia doing this to me one time when I tried to book a cheap flight to somewhere. I have never used Expedia since. Reblogged this on mulled thoughts…and cider and commented: I will be boycotting Expedia for sure. Even if it did cost more I would do anything but book through them. Bad for the Traveler, Bad for the Hotel. Please stop blocking their reservations. We think it is grossly unfair for Expedia to treat small businesses in such manner. You should be ashamed of your actions against the Luna Blue Hotel and all other small properties who are being treated the same way.

I have just written everyone on that list and email to let them know that no one I know will ever be booking through Expedia again. This will also hold true for any large online business the same as Expedia because now who knows where this corruption ends. I have sent the email to all listed addresses, I wish you the best of luck in this fight. Thanks for sharing your story, I will definitely remember this for my next travels. Thanks to wordpress for Freshly Pressing you. Certainly, booking direct is always a better option.

I have experienced problems when using online travel services, such as the rooms not being as described, etc. When you book your own hotel, cars, flights, etc.. I just shared this via the twitter button. If everyone does their part to spread the word, maybe it will help other independent small hotels! Well done by telling consumers the truth.

And I will share with everyone I know. We will be sharing this story across all our websites Expedia needs to be taken down a peg or two. Playa de Carmen , i loved that once tiny beach , def will try Luna if i am back again. Will reblog this on my blog, with your permission of course. What a horrible story. I feel for you, and you have my vote!!! And thank you for sharing… Will definitely email the contacts at expedia…. Hi Tony and Cheri, I have yet to travel in your part of the world but I am sending much prayers to you on your fight against a corporate bully. I hope things will get better it will!

Never using Expedia again. To be honest I have always booked through them, assuming they were fair and customer oriented. However, this is a complete different story. I am so sorry to hear this! Sending my prayers and light to you! Reblogged this on Oyia Brown. This is so unfortunate. I will definitely be thinking twice about this in the future. Reblogged this on All our World Views and commented: I never knew about this. I recently did a search for a trip we planned to take to Prince Edward Island and was surprised when 6 out of 8 of the hotels came up with as sold out. Thanks so much for sharing your story!!

I am so glad I came across your story!! I am planning a Cancun trip this quarter and would be thrilled to stay at your resort and of course will book directly through your site. I am sorry this has happened and am glad that you are responding constructively and in the best interest of the travelers! Thank you for sharing your horrible experience!

Reblogged this on Bon Voyage by Barbour: The Travel Blog and commented: We were jumping back and forth between all the biggies Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels. One caught our eye immediately. Le Secret de Paris was a beautiful, boutique hotel with Parisien themed rooms, centrally located and, although more expensive than we were initially looking, we thought it would be perfect for a once in a lifetime celebration.

Then the booking process began. The price differences between the websites kept changing, and when attempting to finalize, we were told that although there was availability, we would have to change rooms every night of our three night stay. There was availabilty for all nights we requested, and their exceptional customer service and replies to questions made us reserve directly with them. The price remained close to what Expedia was charging, yet when we got to the hotel they welcomed us with free drinks at the bar while the bellboy took our suitcases up to our room. While we enjoyed our cocktails, the front desk staff asked us what we would be looking to do while staying in Paris.

We accepted their recommendation for a local restaurant and enjoyed one of the best meals of our lives there. When I asked about this, we were told it was complimentary and a thank you for booking on their website. She also laughed when she heard we were told we would have to change rooms every night of our stay. On a final note, we had an amazing time exploring Paris. Our hotel was perfect, and, when all was said and done, we decided that with such amazing themed decor in all the rooms, we would change rooms every night after all.

We did nothing but leave our suitcases packed, and every day when we returned the front desk would give us a key card to another fabulous room. The last one being on the first floor, with double windows that opened right up to allow us to sit on the window sill for hours, watching Paris go by. One that would not have happened had we believed everything Expedia was saying.

Unfortunately it is a bit of a catch 22 situation here, as I never would have found Le Secret de Paris without the big guys advertising it, but by going straight to their website, our honeymoon turned out exactly as planned. Reblogged this on The Re-blog Blog. Wishing you the best of luck as you repair your brand and your business. I do not, and will not, use a booking engine like Expedia. What a terrible story — I am guilty of using Expedia in the past and have experienced many occasions where hotels are fully booked far into the future, now I know why.

Have sent off the emails and will send this story to others. Christian Dodd is an excellent writer. I had just finished reading a not-that-great chick lit book before picking up this book, so the writing in this was a nice change. The book kind of stalled a bit towards the middle, but picked up tremendously towards the end.

There was a lot of action in the last 70 pages. The book does end in a slight cliffhanger, so I am interested in reading the next book. Overall, this was a well written thriller, but it did have its flaws. This was my first experience from Christina Dodd. I'm not usually a fan of romance and I felt that this would have been a stronger book if some of the romance was taken out. It was an enjoyable read for the most part but I felt like there were some aspects that were very unrealistic to me.

The way that some of the information was presented in the book was a tad bit like reading cliff notes or like a police report. There also was a TON of information presented in the novel and it left me confused with the information at times and was hard to follow. Thank you to Harlequin and Netgalley for the advanced arc. Overall 3 stars for me on this one. View all 9 comments. This is my first CD book. Anita recommended it to me and I loved it! The story does go back and forth from one part of the h's life to another, but with good reason. I never guessed who the main villain was nor did I expect the big reveal at the end.

Leaving us with a cliffhanger and anxious to read the next in this series. View all 6 comments. Apr 25, Caz rated it it was ok Shelves: The book turned out to contain a myriad of hackneyed tropes and plot points and plot holes that made it seem as though the author had too many ideas and, instead of undertaking some judicious pruning and concentrating on the one or two strongest ones, decided to throw everything at the wall and see what stuck. Kellen Adams was a captain in the army and served in Afghanistan before returning to the US. She has recently taken up a position as assistant manager at the Cape Charade resort in coastal Washington state and is determined to make it her home.

When the resort owners — the elderly Leo and Annie di Luca - decide to take a holiday for the first time in ages, they leave Kellen in charge, confident in her ability to keep things running smoothly.

Wicked Cowboy Charm

That is, until some decomposing human remains are discovered on the grounds, which are identified as belonging to the previous assistant manager, Priscilla Carter, who disappeared without explanation less than six months earlier. In short, Dead Girl Running is deader than a dead duck dead in the water. View all 5 comments. Very compelling with lots of mystery going on.

She moves to hide away and starts a new job as an asst. While trying to stay hidden she discovers a woman's mutilated body and she then begins investigating first one murder and then another. Oct 20, Anita rated it it was amazing Shelves: I have read a lot of Christina Dodd's books, she is an auto read for me and I love her stuff.

This is a spin-off of the Bella Terra and Virtue Falls series, sort of. She is one of those authors that I don't read the blurb. I wanted to be surprised as I read the book and I was absolutely blown away by this book. Unique, inventive, captivating - this plot is all that and part Gothic, part assumed identity, part amnesia victim, part who done it and totally fascinating.

The heroine is a survivor and the plot is slow to give up her full story, which makes you just want to know all the more.

Tough Luck Hero

Kellen Adams has been the assistant manager of Yearning Sands, a high end destination resort on the Washington coast for a few months. She has been many things in her life and lived many places and all she wants now is a place to call home. At Yearning Sands she has been hiring her friends, Army vets, to try and do that.

It is January and the slow season so the owners, Annie and Leo De Luca, are taking their vacation to visit relations in California. They leave Kellen in charge and the remaining staff, some of whom really resent her, have few guests to care for. When the head of security takes off on vacation too, Kellen is concerned to be in charge of that area also. But, as a former Army Captain, she rises to the task until a body washes up on shore and a dark and deadly side of Yearning Sands is revealed.

The De Lucas' decide to send their nephew, Maximilian De Luca, to aid with security and something about Max has Kellen's memories of her past resurfacing. Kellen knows someone at the resort is a smuggler and a sadistic killer and with few people she can trust, Kellen will have to discover who that person is. View all 4 comments. Apr 26, BleuBelle rated it did not like it Shelves: I'm in a reading slump right now.

This one was another fail for me. I already didn't care for the prologue. And that's a bad sign. I did no like Kellen. She, the former Cecilia, was responsible for the death of her causing the real Kellen. How he would never let her go. And then she leaves Kellen to deal with such a dangerous man. And then h I'm in a reading slump right now. And then her husband kills Kellen. But no Cecilia needed photographs. I found her to be a doormat and uninspiring and a coward. The story takes place in a luxury resort, catering to the wealthy.

They have a reputation to uphold. The staff behaved very inappropriate. Chatting and discussing private things while on the clock and with guests nearby. Gossiping, being rude, always talking to each other and open hostility towards other staff members. Even if it's off season, some things don't have to happen. It read like a group of children doing everything but what they're supposed to do.

It also got on my nerves that there were no capable staff anywhere. Every department needed more capable workers, but nothing was done about it. I found the writing style to be very unique. And not in a good way. I hated the "reports" on all the characters that appear in the book. And they are so many. Everyone was described in a military fashion, with skin color and heigh and how Kellen viewed them. It was efficient, but lacked any personal connections. It was really boring to read. And I really don't need to know about every little worker bee on the vast property.

Kellen was once again a doormat. Kellen didn't like the woman very much, but what does she do? She agrees and lets herself be pushed around. How hard is it to say no? Then there is the problem with the corpse. No one is afraid. They are just curious how she died and who did it. But no one thinks the killer will kill again. No one fears for their safety.

The investigation isn't going forward. All is very unprofessional. Taking pics with the mobile and then moving the corpse around. The police chief is really incompetent. Don't like reading about such things. That never happened before. Sep 28, Chris Mara rated it it was ok. I had my high hopes up that this was going to be a great book,but it fell short in so many ways. They were just so uninteresting! The name of the resort was Yearning Sands in Cape Charade. There was way too much going on and it could not be corralled cohesively, so as the book went on, it got even more of a loosey goosey all over the place tale.

It was as if the author was trying way too hard to produce her story and was pulling ideas and names out of a bag, left and right, trying to using them all. The setting an Oceanside resort was promising but the owners of the resort who went away for vacation and left Kellen in charge; their communications between each other were vague and distant and false, and honestly, I felt it was just filler material.

The book would not have lived or died with it or without it. It would have been best for everyone if Kellen was not able to get in touch with the owners at all, until they returned instead of reading this drivel. At least it would have been a little exciting for them and us not knowing what all was going on at the resort in their absence until they returned.

There was a brief cameo appearance of our beloved Sheriff Kateri Kwinault,but again, pretty much filler. Her presence in the book could have been expanded to create way more excitement in the story. Ok, who does that? We know she was shot in the head once and had a big memory gap, but the concept was lacking. The archaeological statues and other descriptions of old history artifacts were interesting, though not a lot of it.

I was able to figure a lot of the unraveling on my own. However, I did not see the surprise ending coming. That was kinda thrown out there, out of the blue, to make the ending impactful. The story had some promising leads but soon it unraveled into a shambles. The narrative style didn't click with me because I'm not a fan of forced dialogues as a device to feed information and the author laid it thick throughout, conspicuously producing a tale that never moves on its own.

Add to the mix many two-d The story had some promising leads but soon it unraveled into a shambles. Reading this novel felt like being in the passenger seat of a learner's car, sometimes too fast or too slow and more often all stomps on the brake, engine revs and jerks.

This impossibility to engage translated into a growing frustration and unfortunately progressing with the pages my hopes for some saving grace evaporated. I still wonder how this book failed so spectacularly on all fronts barred none. Their behavior has no credibility at all. She and I together. It was hard going. They had just met; it was completely out of the blue: Halfway I seriously started to rethink my decision but then I thought I was probably better off finishing than keep stopping to write this review, because what was not working was piling up and it was useless to remark any further.

And I'm complimenting here. Plot what plot indeed. Too many plot ideas contributed to the chaos, sure, but even the main storyline was messy. The final twist was too much. A nice blurb unsupported by storytelling, planning and characters cannot ever make a good novel. At least there weren't any typos that I could detect and the cover is nice, but sadly this about sums up what I liked about this novel. Apr 06, Zoe rated it really liked it. Perilous, twisty, and sophisticated!

Dead Girl Running is the first novel in a new series by Dodd that introduces us to Kellen Adams, a skilled, determined young woman with a past rife with secrets, violence, and memory loss and a present filled with stolen artifacts, ruthless smugglers, and dead bodies. The writing style is intricate and intense. The characters, including the hardworking, scarred heroine are multi-layered and mysterious. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and inter Perilous, twisty, and sophisticated!

And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine into a compelling tale filled with mixed emotions, red herrings, deception, abuse, manipulation, romance, friendship, and murder. Thank you to Harlequin Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. All my reviews can be found on my blog at https: Apr 28, Chris Conley rated it it was amazing. Christina Dodd did it again. Created a woman character who is complex, smart, strong, weak, amazing. I loved the characters in this book actually I like the characters in most of Ms.

She creates unique and authentic characters and seldom relies on stereotypes. The plot was really good and I had a hard time putting it down to go to sleep. Will definitely be continuing this series. Jun 07, Gerry Bartlett rated it it was amazing Shelves: I've always been a Christina Dodd fan and loved the Virtue Falls series. Now we are at another resort on the gloomy Pacific Coast. Kellen has a wound on her forehead and is missing a year of her life. We also know an employee of the resort witnessed smuggling in the cove and finds a severed hand. When she goes missing, we hope she managed to get away.

Kellen arrives at the resort to train as the new manager. She has a military background but is not who she seems. There are a lot of questions here and it takes a while to get answers. Add in two hunky guys and we have romance as well. Written with Dodd's usual flair, you won't be disappointed in this new series. Apr 25, Carolyn rated it it was amazing Shelves: There was a LOT going on here; however, it was excellent.

I never saw the big reveal coming! Great beginning to a new series. Looking forward to the next book. Mar 01, Bea Charmed rated it it was ok Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hero's magical peen cures heroine's infertility. I have a theory why but the author chose not to address it. The romance was slow burn, which I enjoyed, but then we got a surprise which, for me, killed the development of the romance. There was a happy ending of sorts but also kind of a cliffhanger. With the revelation of the hero, Kellen being hired by her current employers is both sweet and creepy, just a bit stalkeris Gah!

With the revelation of the hero, Kellen being hired by her current employers is both sweet and creepy, just a bit stalkerish. I figured out one of the bad guys early on. Other bad guys were simply over the top and unbelievable. The story was compelling and twisty. I kept reading to see what would happen. I liked Kellen, for the most part. Some of her behavior was iffy but I could mostly understand why she did it. It had Gothic elements as well as weather bound and trapped.

Good representation of PoC although that was mostly the secondary characters. The heroine Kellen is a mix of Caucasian and American Indian but can apparently pass for white and was raised white. It's unclear how recent or far back the Native American part of her family is and frankly seemed to be nothing more than a plot device, eg her late husband's family was horrified she wasn't pure. But the secondary characters were a good mix different ethnicities and we have one character with a prosthesis.

There is one lesbian but her sexual identity is quickly erased which was disappointing. Okay, I guess this was a mixed bag of good and bad representation. On the whole, it was more diverse than a lot of contemporary romances but it could have been better. Overall, I enjoyed the story and stayed up most of the night reading it. But it had problems and the magical, infertility-curing peen pissed me off big time.

I'll try Dodd again, but with lower expectations. Nov 18, Tellulah Darling rated it really liked it. A solid thriller with some really enjoyable twists and an ending that I didn't see coming. An engrossing, fast-paced, page turner of a read. Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title. Jun 03, Lisa Morrow rated it it was amazing Shelves: I subscribed to "My Book Box," a monthly subscription which sends me two books a month.

I received "Dead Girl Running" this month. I might not have read it, otherwise. This was a superb thriller, which kept me biting my nails! The book wraps up with a poignant ending. Jun 10, Jacqueline Lam rated it really liked it Shelves: Already anticipating the next book!

Jul 16, Michelle rated it really liked it. It was pretty amazing. Quite a few different ideas and plots which made it a bit more original than most. I love the underlying theme which to me seems to be that there still are good people in this world who will help others. Mar 09, Steena Holmes rated it it was amazing. I was immediately drawn into Dead Girl Running and enjoyed every page from start to finish. The cover and the blurb are fabulous! Since I'm a travelholic, the way the hotel and location were described had me wishing to visit that resort even if a dead body was found on the beach.

The characters were believable and leaves me hoping that this will be a series so I can get to know more about them.