Steve Krueger

Apparently Listel Whistler Best Western doesn't know how to do their accounting properly. About a month ago, a couple of my friends and I started planning for our winter vacation. Considering all the recent snowfall, we settled for Whistler this year. Searching frantically for an available condo to stay at, we finally settled for Listel Whistler which conveniently resides in the central village of Whistler.

I quickly went over to Best Western's website and booked 2 rooms for the group. All went smoothly and received a confirmation email within minutes. Cool! Now I can just sit back and wait for the snow... or so I thought.

In October I was charged 3 separate occasions for my reservations. 2 on October 15th with a charge of $312.04 and another of $330.31. On the 19th I was charged an additional $312.04. Being curious as to why I was charged in October for my December 21st reservations, as well as an additional charge of $330.31, I phoned up the hotel in Whistler. To much of my dismay, the person who I was speaking to had no idea what was going on but assured me to phone me back as soon as he found out. Great.

3 days later, no reply.

I called them up again, a bit more concerned this time I must admit, and was greeted by a very polite lad who seemed genuinely concerned about my situation. He let me know that the two charges for $312.04 were down-payments for the first night of stay, but was concerned about the additional charge of $330.31. He assured me that he would look into the situation and get back to me within the day. Sure enough, he called back within the hour and told me that they had charged me for an additional room. They would retract the charge and I'd see a refund to my card within a couple of days. Awesome.

Sure enough, I saw the charge refunded. All is good! not yet....

On November 21st I was charged two payments of $625.04. Whoa.. full payment before I even stay at the hotel?? I checked my confirmation email and looked at the terms and conditions. Nothing in there stated that I should have been charged the full deal. Great.... phoned up Listel again.

Round 2

So, I speak to another nice representative, lets me know that there's a 30 day cancellation policy (even though the email states that it's only 10 day policy) and that you are charged in full after your cancellation grace period. Alright, all's good.. not like I'm going to cancel. Ok, never going to hear from these guys again.... right?

not!

Round 3

December 6th I'm charged two additional charges of $990.96. That's a total of $1981.92! So you're telling me I have to pay $3856.08 for 2 rooms for 3 nights at a Best Western in Whistler??? unbelievable.

so.. round 3, just got off the phone with them again. Supposedly they have no clue about the previous 4 charges that I've already paid and that all that comes up on their screen are these 2 recent charges. They told me to call back tomorrow to speak to their accountants. I'll keep this updated.

So if you're not looking for a financial headache this holiday season (or next), and don't want to pay out of your ass for a hotel in Whistler, DON'T EVER stay at the Listel Whistler Best Western in the Whistler Village.