When I go places, I usually book through Hostelworld.com. It seems like owners are concerned with reviews to the same degree eBay sellers are with their feedbacks which raises a concern about feedback tampering.
Feedback tampering in the most extreme form involves having friends book for the purpose of creating positive reviews. Somewhat concerning to the customer is, whom and to what extent can they see in feedbacks we leave? Can they only see what we see (age group, solo/grop, and country) or can owners see booking reference and name of the guest? This is not made clear on HostelWorld.
Another one is duplicate profiles using similar address and variant of city name to make them look like unique businesses.
I raised concerns a while ago to HW and it went unanswered and this is what concerns me.
These two places are actually identical. The true and correct address is only one with 4200 in Inglewood. 4229 is across the street, and there is nothing matching description there and I sure didn't see it when I was there.
One uses 4200 Inglewood with omitted zip
Alias uses 4229 and LAX + zip
They've got a few more aliases on other review sites.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Adventurer-Hostel/Los-Angeles/27609
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Los-Angeles-Backpackers-Paradise-Hostel/Los-Angeles/1810
At surface level, they look like two separate properties that just happen to be close together. They occupy two spaces as two separate entries on web site. Someone keeps messing with the Google Maps marker position though, apparently so they look sufficiently far apart. Once you locate the proper location one, you'll find that the other one(which's on the opposite side of street as per street numbering), there is nothing remotely similar directly across the street.
How common is it to see something like this? Perhaps they're trying to pad up reviews, or to increase visibility on the page.
Another thing is the inconsistency in price. We hostel travelers are value conscience. Since taxes vary with each place, what I find frustrating is that there is no uniform policy on presentation of pricing.
Some advertise what I prefer. If its $30 rm x 2 nights and deposit is 10%, I am charged $6 upfront, $54 even due by whatever payment methods they advertise.
Some do whatever is necessary to get their price to look low as possible. If it says $60 total, the $6 upfront might mean... for 15% tax state, $54 due at check in could mean...
$6.00 paid front
54 x 1.15 = $62.10 due
or worse
(60 x 1.15) - 6.00 = $63 due, oh by the way you paying the same method you paid deposit in (VISA), that's going to be $63 x 1.05 =$66.15. Where I was expecting to pay $54 at check in quickly changes to $66.15
How do I know what the price is in booking engine without a uniform tax/pretax policy and no surcharge rule? (card policies do not allow surcharging except in Australia).
As a customer, this frustrates me a bunch.
How are these issues seen from operators' side?
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