How to Make the Hotels.com Corporate Office Listen

Hotels.com is supposed to be focused on providing excellent experiences for their customers, but they often prioritize greed instead. Even worse, it can feel like an impossible task to get them to listen to a legitimate complaint or grievance, even if it has to do with your hard-earned money.

What can you do to make Hotels.com’s corporate offices finally listen to your demands?

Use Arbitration to Settle Your Complaint with Hotels.com

Hotels.com, being both a big company and a website, are often far too hard to reach for their own customers, especially when it comes to complaints or grievances. Indeed, if you try to get their attention or make them listen to your demands, they may refuse, knowing that there is nothing you can do to make them hear you.

Even if you try to take Hotels.com to court, you’ll find that the contract you signed with them, or the contract you agreed to upon renting a hotel from them, stipulates that you can’t file a lawsuit because of their activities. This apparently makes it impossible to pursue a real resolution for their behavior… Or does it?

Independent arbitration is a viable and effective alternative. You’ll hire an independent arbitrator that can look at your case impartially and impose a binding legal decision on Hotels.com.

Arbitration is Fair, Just, Reasonable, and Transparent

The American Arbitration Association handles arbitration cases that always comply with the Statement of Principles of Consumer Due Process Protocol. As a result, the following protections will be in place:

• The process of arbitration will be fair to both you and Hotels.com. A qualified, impartial, and competent arbitrator will be hired to oversee the proceedings
• A reasonable standard will be applied throughout the process, meaning costs won’t be too high, the location will be accessible by both parties, and everyone will have access to the same information
• There will also be a transparency standard, ensuring clear arbitration agreements you can understand and allowing both parties to hire whatever representation they desire
• Mediation or small claims court proceedings may be offered as alternatives to arbitration depending on the case
• The overall process will be as just as possible. The arbitrator will be able to award relief or handout penalties as legally binding as any other court decision

Arbitration Gives You, the Customer, Leverage

Hotels.com may be used to having the upper hand, but arbitration takes all of that away. In fact, nothing is more likely to light a fire under Hotels.com’s corporate team than seeing that you are taking them to an arbitration hearing and are committed to getting a resolution for your complaint or grievance.

This is because arbitration is guaranteed to cost Hotels.com something at the end of the day. They’ll have to pay to get a team together and appear at the arbitration proceedings, even if they don’t win. And if you win, they’ll also have to pay whatever the settlement is according to the independent arbitrator. All of these costs can quickly pile up, so the Hotels.com might be a little more open to negotiating upon receiving your arbitration letter.

If they still don’t want to talk, you don’t need to worry about paying for all of this upfront. With FairShake, you can get assistance with filing for arbitration and receive a fair and transparent hearing without paying a penny. In fact, you won’t pay us unless you win your arbitration case!

Just be aware you shouldn’t use arbitration, well, arbitrarily. Frivolous cases concerning mild complaints are often thrown out by the arbitrator, so make sure you only bring out this option for a serious grievance that Hotels.com really deserves to be taken to task for. If your case is serious, you don’t need to worry about it being thrown out.

Leverage Can Lead to Faster Settlements and Real Resolutions

Filing for arbitration immediately puts you and Hotels.com on more equal footing, which makes it much more likely that their corporate offices will send you a speedy and acceptable settlement offer.

To begin the arbitration process, you must first formally raise your complaint against Hotels.com in the form of a letter even if you’ve already up the grievance before. FairShake can help craft that letter.

We’ll send the letter and give Hotels.com 30 days to respond to your grievance before beginning the arbitration process for real. This period is stipulated in your contract and essentially ensures that you won’t be held liable for any breaches of conduct if this case does fully go to arbitration.

But in about half of all cases, corporate offices usually offer settlements to complaining customers to avoid the arbitration process entirely. If, on the other hand, Hotels.com’s corporate office doesn’t offer you an acceptable settlement, you should immediately file your case with the American Arbitration Association after the 30 day period is up. FairShake can help you file the paperwork and move on to the following steps.

Do I Need an Attorney?

Attorneys aren’t a necessity for arbitration cases, and indeed, you have the option to either represent yourself or hire someone to represent you with more expertise.

Attorneys are valuable assistants in large part because it’s easier to get a high settlement or award if your complaint can be identified as falling under a certain law or statute. Since this requires a full understanding of local and corporate law, attorneys may be a great choice if you want to maximize your winnings. The American Arbitration Association’s Pro Se Case Administration Team does have some information available if you want to represent yourself, however.

Certain types of cases are much easier to win with an attorney’s assistance, like robocall cases or improper debt collection cases.

What Can I Do Next?

Want to start? Begin by explaining your complaint against Hotels.com. Then sit back and let FairShake handle the stress and paperwork associated with filing for arbitration and dealing with a big company.

We also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So if you aren’t satisfied or your arbitration case fails, you won’t owe us a penny.