Sorry to hear about your bad experience. It shows that it is always best to stick to well known booking agencies.

For benefit of other travellers, can you elaborate on the problems?

I believe they are based in the United Kingdom but they book hotels all over the world.

My understanding from friends in the UK is that Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a reputable website. When I booked the hotel, which was 6 months before my scheduled arrival, the website rep told me that I had to reserve my stay with a one-night deposit, and that the balance wouldn't be charged to my credit card until one month before my arrival, when I could no longer cancel the reservation and get a refund. However, the website charged my credit card in full about one week after I booked the reservation. Given the amount of money involved, I was extremely unhappy with having to pay in full so far in advance given that the rep had told me otherwise. The bigger issue was the website's lack of real responsiveness when my husband and I had a significant enough problem with our room that we left before the end of our scheduled stay. We provided a detailed complaint to the website rep who in turn contacted the hotel to get its side of the story. The rep then emailed me with the resolution of our complaint - that the website could not help us obtain a partial refund - based on the completely inaccurate statement (presumably given by the hotel) of events which she relayed to me in her email. I then responded to the website rep's email and corrected the inaccuracies in her account. However, neither the rep nor her supervisor (whom she had copied on her original email to me, and whom I copied with my response to the hotel's version of events) have responded to my email challenging the version of events given by the hotel. The website did a perfunctory investigation and accepted the hotel's fabricated story, notwithstanding my detailed response to that story and the fact that I am the website's client. My conclusion from this experience is that I will book my subsequent hotel stays through a travel agent who represents me and is willing to work on my behalf.

Just out of curiosity, I tried this website. It seems that the property you stayed at, is the only property in Croatia they have on their books.

As you found out on the Aussie forum, they have less than 1000 world wide. I don't know how they can be reputable with so few properties on their books.

I would stay away from any agency with such a small number of properties.

I like booking.com, for a number of reasons. I had an issue with a establishment in Canada last year. They just wouldn't budge on the refund. I rang booking.com office in UK and it was sorted out in 10 minutes.

It is a terrible experience, but I am afraid that you will just have to write it to bad experience.

Involve your credit card company right away if possible. It appears they broke an oral contract re payment. This should interest your CC.Where can I get a look at your problem in the hotel?

Mr and Mrs Smith are a well-known company in the UK. I haven't used them, as I hire cottages rather than stay in hotels, but I know lots of people that have used them and been pleased with their service. I have heard no bad reports about them. Some Inknow have had issues with booking.com, so it's pot luck. Just because a company only has less than 1,000 properties doesn't necessarily make them bad!

I agree with the last posting, contact your credit card company.

"Just because a company only has less than 1,000 properties doesn't necessarily make them bad" Totally agree with this statement. If you are referring to my statement, I said that I wouldn't use them, not because I think they are bad, but because I wouldn't know if they are good or bad. Not enough information available to me to make an informed decision. They may be well known in the UK and they might have a good reputation there, but I never even heard of them until today. In Croatia they seem to have 1 property on their books. They will need a lot more before they can establish a reputation there.

BTW, there was a post on an Aussie forum as well saying that they used them once and would never use them again.

I am also sure that some people have had bad experiences with booking.com. I have been using them for a number of years and never had a bad experience.

I totally agree with @IBJ, I am not surprised they only have two Croatian Hotel if you look at their very "niche" portfolio.The rates for these hotels start at £346 per night.

Risa A, this site is governed in the uk by some pretty good laws about web page misrepresentation, if you feel that is the case contact Globals local Trading standards office. But first try to get your CC to "dispute" the payment.

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