PointsHound Still Has A Few Fleas To Eradicate
If you’ve been following along, you probably saw my thoughts on PointsHound last week. I was generally pleased with the booking process. I saw a few small glitches and didn’t end up on quite the right page every time but the site seemed pretty robust.
I’ve gone a few more rounds with the PointsHound site and have encountered a few bumps and bruises along the way. Nothing earth shattering, but definitely rose to a level of annoyance that would probably prevent me from continuing to use the site on an ongoing basis.
When I made my initial set of reservations I wasn’t able to get the exact date range I was looking for. Not a PointsHound issue, just a function of a sold-out property. A short while later my preferred property was showing availability for my required dates, so I zipped back over to PointsHound to adjust my reservations.
It took a minute to figure out where my existing reservations were. There’s really only one tab to interact with on the home page. The choices didn’t seem intuitive to me, but a quick click on “My Account” lead me to my list of existing reservations.
There’s a “Bookings” section on that page with all your pending reservations. I’d already made the reservation I needed, which meant I just needed to cancel the old reservation I had for the incomplete set of dates. I found that reservation amongst my list of pending reservations and tried to cancel it. Oddly, it was the only reservation that didn’t have an itinerary number listed. I got an error message asking me to call an 800 number.
I was only on hold for a brief moment before I was connected to someone who tried to help me. At this point I had 4 existing reservations but I only wanted to cancel one. The gentleman I was speaking to tried to cancel all of my reservations. I quickly stopped him from that and tried to give him the details of the one I wanted to cancel. It was a bit difficult since there was no itinerary, but after a few attempts it seemed like we were on the same page. Unfortunately, he told me he couldn’t cancel it and he’d need to connect me to someone else.
A few more minutes on hold and I was connected with a second person who asked me to confirm that I wanted to cancel all of my reservations. It seemed like I was starting at the some point again and needed to unwind the same ball of twine again. After about 5 minutes more she and I agreed on the correct reservation. A minute or so later she had my reservation canceled and had sent an e-mail confirming the cancelation.
As I sit here today, the reservation I canceled still shows as an active booking on PointsHound in “My Bookings”. I think I’m fine because I have an e-mail from the site telling me they canceled my reservation. But, I chewed up about 15 minutes dealing with this. No question that’s more time than I want to commit for the miles PointsHound is offering. I’m going to give it a few more tries before I make an informed decision, but so far I can say that YMMV (at least it has for me).
Yeah, I similarly had glitches on the one reservation I’ve made with them so far. Reservation was booked but didn’t show up. Support case, they fix it. Now I can see it and click on it but I get an error on that page. No biggie since the reservation is way in the future. But another support case and they fix that. Now it seems like its all okay.
I’ve looked through the most recent offerings since they’re now doing double dips in my area at a few hotels. Problem is the rates just aren’t what I could get on my own using our corporate rate. Or when they’re competitive its at hotels I don’t really want to stay at. That Sheraton that’s way outside Silicon Valley. That Westin that was just recently a Holiday Inn. Etc.
I guess as you’d expect hotels that are sold out from now to eternity just aren’t going to offer you extra miles for a booking. Only makes sense. But I’ve wasted a reasonable amount of time trying to use the site and not made many bookings. Probably just going to be an occasional use thing when I happen to stay somewhere outside my normal destinations.
Glenn, I hadn’t considered people with corporate rates. I don’t book on corporate rates, nor do I book prepaid rates. So, I’m in something of a sweet spot for PointsHound Double Dip. I think that PH is a bit of a niche product right now, though Double Dip does expand that niche considerably. It’s perfect for someone like Seth who values price over loyalty benefits. And, if it’s technically sound, it offers value for a traveler like me.
As you say, it’s probably an occasional tool for you. And, on those occasions I’m betting it will provide a solid value in “extra miles”.