I made an IHG hotel reservation through a third party who call themselves “Guest Reservations” for dates 6/26 - 6/30. When I booked, I chose the ‘pre-pay’ option because it was slightly lower cost. I did not realize, nor did they make it clear until after booking, that it was 'nonrefundable'. Additionally, Guest Reservations clearly intend to deceive customers by appearing to be the hotel website, which is what I thought when I booked.Fast forward a couple months and my travel plans changed. The email confirmation said to call x number if I need to make any modifications. But when I called and explained that I will only be staying for two nights instead of the original four, they told me that they cannot make any modifications and that my only option was to cancel my reservation WITHOUT a refund, and then rebook with the correct dates. What?? They told me there was nothing else they could do for me, and that I’d have to reach out to the hotel to change my reservation and to get a refund because Guest reservations had “already sent the money to the hotel” - that is a QUOTE from the person I spoke to.I called IHG, and the person I spoke to was was able to resolve the issue, so I thought at first, by calling Guest Reservations and asking them to cancel my original reservation and refund me the full amount. They agreed to do this (according to the IHG person I was speaking to). IHG rebooked me for the correct dates. in the meantime, 6/28–6/30.The issue is that Guest Reservations never actually cancelled my original reservation, nor did they refund me the $1600+ that was promised. When I called IHG they told me Guest Reservations is the only one who can refund me the money. So Guest Reservations lied to me, saying the hotel would have to refund me. Then they lied to IHG, saying they would cancel and refund me.This is a terrible business model and they make their money by deceiving customers, and then lying to them when any changes are needed.
