Christopher Elliott writes the Travel Troubleshooter column for The Miami Herald; he also writes about the travel industry for MSNBC.com and for National Geographic Traveler.
If you don't find the information you need here in his past columns, you can reach Elliott via his website at www.elliott.org.
Q: I recently stayed at the Howard Johnson Oceanfront Plaza Hotel in Ocean City, Md. When we arrived at the hotel early Friday morning, the room was not cleaned, the bed was not made from the previous occupants.
Q: My travel insurance claim has been denied, and so have my appeals. I hope you can help us. My husband and I were scheduled to visit India last Thanksgiving, the day after the horrific terrorist event began. British and Americans were being singled out and murdered, hotels were being burned, and threats were made of hijacking and attacks on airports and train stations in the country.
Q: I am having a tough time getting my money back from Best Western. My husband and I stayed at the Best Western Northtown Inn in Wichita Falls, Texas recently. He's a truck driver and was stuck in Wichita Falls for one night waiting for his delivery spot to open. It was a spur-of-the-moment, one-night stay -- or so we thought.
Q: My car rental company has more than tripled the rate it charged me, and I don't know what to do. I had prepaid $390 for the car through Alamo's website. When my flight was canceled, I called Alamo to tell it I could not get the car until the next day. I was told that my reservation would be held for 24 hours.
Q: My father and I were supposed to meet in San Antonio. But that was the same weekend Hurricane Ike plowed through Texas. After experiencing Gustav just two weeks prior, I was not very keen on going for round two. My flight was canceled, anyway.
Q: Last summer, my husband and I booked a trip to Las Vegas through Travelocity. In late August, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which had metastasized to the liver. Travelocity refunded $314 but kept $737 as a ''cancellation penalty.''
Q: I'm trying to get a refund from United Vacations, but nothing seems to be working. I booked a car-and-air package from Denver to Lihue, Hawaii, through United Vacations recently. I registered my airfare through Yapta.com, which alerts you when the price of your flight drops.
Q: I need your help getting a refund for a single supplement that I don't think I should have to pay. With a friend, I recently booked an Africa trip through Overseas Adventure Travel. We're both in our mid-60s, so I bought trip insurance.
Q: We bought two first-class airline tickets to Peru on TACA through Cheaptickets.com. But we soon found out they were economy-class seats. We've asked the airline for a $1,100 refund -- the price difference between first-class and economy-class tickets -- but it won't budge. Cheaptickets.com sent a $400 voucher that we don't want.
Q: I have been a loyal Hilton customer for the past three years, staying about 200 nights a year in its hotels. I have always been happy with the service that I received from Hilton -- until recently.
Q: I've been trying to get this issue resolved with Travelocity for more than six months, with no luck. We booked our honeymoon flight to Hawaii on ATA Airlines, but 10 days before our trip we got a call saying that the airline had gone out of business.
Q: I recently booked a room at a Holiday Inn in New Orleans through its central reservations phone number. When I arrived, the New Orleans Police Department had the entire block closed off. I immediately called the hotel and told a manager I couldn't access the hotel. He said he did not know when the blockade would be lifted and couldn't help get my car or luggage to the hotel.
Q: I recently bought seven plane tickets on Icelandair's website. The airline charged me $6,897 and my credit card company authorized the transaction.
Q: We recently rented a car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y. When we picked up the car, we pointed out some nicks and scratches to a representative. She assured us we had nothing to worry about.
Q: I need your help getting my money back for a plane ticket I had to pay for twice.
Here's my sto- ry: I bought tickets online through Cheapoair.com from Philadelphia to Tapachula, Mexico. When we arrived in Mexico City, Aviacsa Airlines representatives told us that Cheapoair hadn't paid for the last leg of our trip. So I had to buy new tickets. Two members of our group also had to pay again.Q: I'm writing to you on behalf of my roommate, who is serving overseas in the Navy. She recently paid $1,767 for tickets from Bahrain to Atlan- ta for two weeks of R&R. Her online travel agency, Travelocity, had to issue a paper ticket because the two airlines she's flying -- Gulf Air and Delta Air Lines -- don't have a ticketing agreement.
Q: I'm having trouble with a double billing on a rental car, and need your help undoing one of the charges. I prepaid $336 for a car in Paris from AutoEurope for my honeymoon. I received a voucher from AutoEurope that said the balance due was $0.
Q: I am frustrated over how Orbitz misled me and now will not even admit to its obvious mistake. I recently booked a vacation through Orbitz at Barcelo Maya Palace in Cancun . When we arrived, we were told that we didn't have reservations. After much confusion, they told us we were supposed to be at the Barcelo Maya Beach Hotel, the oldest and lowest-rated hotel in this complex.
Q: I'm trying to get a refund for lost train tickets, and I need your help. I bought two Amtrak tickets for my sister and me to travel from Osceola, Iowa, to Denver, recently. Then I discovered that my husband, thinking that the envelope contained old information from a recent Amtrak trip I'd taken to Colorado, threw the tickets away.
Q: My daughter and I had reservations at the Ramada St. Cloud last spring. We had a blizzard and no unnecessary travel was advised. The roads were almost impassable.
Q: I recently bought tickets to Italy by calling Expedia. I spelled my wife's first name to the agent. That afternoon we left town for a trip. When we returned the tickets were at the front door and a confirmation e-mail was waiting. My wife's first name was spelled Crista instead of Christa.
Q: I've been having some problems with an airline reservation, and was wondering if you could help me. I recently had to cancel a reservation I had made through Travelocity. I spent eight hours on the phone with their incompetent customer service agents trying to use the credit I received to reschedule another flight on the same airline.
Q: I hope you can help me persuade Marriott to live up to its commitment. My wife and I are being relocated to the Washington area for her work. I found a room at the Residence Inn at Dulles Airport with a two-bedroom unit for $149 per night.
Q: I just returned from London, where I had a reservation at the Park Hotel. I had booked the room through Hotwire.com, and was very disappointed with the way things turned out.
Q: I'm having a problem with a travel insurance claim. We went on a Celebrity cruise to the Mediterranean more than a year ago. Luckily, we all paid premiums for hospitalization insurance, because I became deathly ill with bronchitis requiring trips to sick bay to see the doctors, who administered breathing treatments, antibiotics and a chest X-ray.
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