WTF (ASX Code) Wotif - International Processing Fee for Domestic Hotel Booking

Lsjfhsueh on 08/04/2015 - 22:49

Hi everyone, please reallocate this topic if it is a duplicate. My friend has recently booked a mystery hotel deal on Wotif and he found out that he got stung by International Processing Fee on his credit card statement. The hotel is in Melbourne and the invoice clearly states AUD.

I thought it was because he booked through wotif.com instead of wotif.com.au, but we found out that wotif.com.au does not exist anymore. It will just redirect you to wotif.com.

I know that Wotif was brought out by the US Expedia in November last year. If this is the way it is I am not returning to Wotif anymore. I do miss their daily rates table because it is handy to know which hotel is the cheapest on which particular day. Now it is just a listing of hotels with total amount for the number of nights you stay.

Does anyone else have similar thoughts on Wotif?

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Comments

  • GnarlyKnuckles on 09/04/2015 - 01:10
    +1

    No experience with Wotif, but 'Expedia' has been the subject of some pretty scathing rants in the past… maybe not surprising that Wotif has gone downhill then?

  • djmatt24 on 09/04/2015 - 04:06

    That's really strange…they are an Aussie based company still, their HQ is in Brisbane. From memory their website was always wotif.com, I think. I booked a room with them only last month, no international fees applied.
    I would agree that in the last couple of years their rates have become very uncompetitive. I used to always use wotif as you knew you had a good rate but now they seem very middle of the pack.

  • tomleonhart on 09/04/2015 - 08:24

    Was it a NAB Credit card?

    • sjfhsueh on 09/04/2015 - 09:06

      Yes I just checked with him, it is.

      Must be the one he applied for 20k Qantas FFP last year.

  • PissLUR on 09/04/2015 - 09:51

    Its not wotif's fault. It's your bank's.

    Wotif does not charge your international processing fee.

    • sjfhsueh on 09/04/2015 - 21:03

      I know. But if Wotif no longer takes AUD then it's not really the bank's fault, is it?

  • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2015 - 15:35

    I had a very unpleasant experience when I needed to change a wotif booking. Got stung $35 to change the dates. The hotel told me that if I booked directly through them there would have been no fee. So now I use wotif to find the hotels (in addition to google) and then book directly with the hotel. This way I safe the $5 or whatever it is booking fee as well. The only reason to book through wotif is for the Mystery deals. As a result it has been ages since I have booked a hotel through them.

    I once booked a hotel through lastminute.com.au and arrived to discover it was being 'renovated'. It was a hole in the ground. Lastminute did refund my fee without an argument, and the even gave me back my booking fee, but they made me feel like they were doing me a favour.

  • davedave on 16/04/2015 - 08:57

    I actually had a good experience some years ago with wotif - probably doing better than had I booked directly with the hotel.

    The hotel rang me a week before we were due to stay there - they had overbooked and were bumping us into another hotel some miles away - in another town. This was in Tasmania at peak holiday season (end Dec). I didn't want to stay in the different town, and insisted they honour my booking in their hotel. They said sorry they couldn't. There simply was no space. Nothing they could do about it. We could turn up but they wouldn't have a room for us …

    I rang wotif. They said 'no way'. You booked through us. You paid through us. We will ensure they honour your booking. They can bump someone else who didn't book through wotif. Leave it with us - we will sort it with the hotel.

    Soon after - another call from the hotel - they will honour my booking. There will be space for me in the hotel.

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