Jun 26, 2015 02:51 PM
14155 Views
I booked the OYO room hotel on June 5th, 2015 through their website and promptly got a email confirmation. I chose to pay at the hotel. I was on my way to Masinagudi- Bandipur and wanted to stay over in Bangalore in the night. I called them in the day and told them I would be checking in around 9.00 PM that night and will check out early in the morning.
The web team is very active- I got 2 more phone calls in the after noon asking about my itinerary and when I would be checking in. All the time they stressed that my room was confirmed.
I reached the hotel at around 8.45 PM. At the reception I was informed that there was no room available and the hotel people had informed the OYO room service of this fact at 6.00 AM in the morning.
I now realized 2 things -
OYO rooms are unlikely to actually own any of the properties they advertise as their own- most are franchises
There is no two way communication between the hotels and the central office. In fact the chap at the reception told me that there is no way the hotel reception can contact the booking office. I would have to call them.
All the communication between the hotel and the OYO rooms booking office is through a tablet and the software probably does not allow for real time update on the room status.
I called up the number they had provided during booking. They again told me my room was confirmed and waiting for me - talk about absence of communication.
After I told them of my situation, I was transferred to another section and told that they would try to adjust me in another of their properties, I needed to wait for " 2 minutes". I received no phone call even after 20 minutes. I called them again- the same reply- we will call back in 5 minutes. Each time I was redirected to the same team who kept telling me to wait 2 minutes or 5 minutes depending on their mood. Over the next 2 hours I called them for a total talk time of 38 minutes. Yes 38 out of 120 minutes, I call them to find out about the status. Standing with my family( with 2 small kids) on the sidewalk of a Bangalore street is not funny.
Not once did they call back. Each time I was told, they are going to offer me a solution.
It would have been fine, if I was told no room was available right at the beginning, I would have then looked for another hotel( it is not easy getting a hotel room at 10.30 PM in the night).
OYO rooms is a fly by night operator without ethics or standard operating procedures - it is to be avoided.
