[ytadesse]

I recently bought a round-trip ticket to Malaysia from the US, at the Qatar Airways website. My travel dates are in five months: December and January.
On my way to Malaysia, I only wait in DOHA for a few hours to change planes, no problem there. But on my way back I have a 19-hour stop over (from 1pm to 8am the next day). When booking the flights, I wasn’t enamored with the idea of spending 48 hours to get back to the US, but then I taught: “since a 19-hour stopover gets me a complimentary hotel room, I will at least get to sleep well and not be as tired or jetlagged when I get back home". Looking at the information on their website, I read that if my stop over is over 8 hours, I will be provided a complimentary hotel accommodation. You can check it out on their terms and conditions page, that is what I still read today in clear English. They actually have all kinds of other valuable detailed information such as: if you are a first class you get a 5-star hotel room; otherwise you will get a 3-star one, or about visa requirements for transit passengers, and so on.
To my surprise, when I bought the ticket online, there was no ‘print your hotel voucher’ step as I expected, after I completed the ‘choose your meal’ and ‘select your seats’ steps. When I called the airline’s 800-number, the person I talked to wanted to sell me a hotel room for $125/night. When I declined, she didn’t want to hear anymore, she abruptly interrupted me (not the way you treat somebody who has just shelled out $2,200 mere minutes before the call) and directed me to send my complaints to their ecommerce support email address that she provided me with. At this point I had several strikes against the airline. First the deceptive manner they treated the entire hotel accommodations subject. Leading people to believe one thing and then switching on them after they have made the purchase. I have a firm suspicion that there is no ‘print your hotel voucher’ step on their website for all online customers. They only have arrangement for hotel vouchers if customers buy through a travel agent. That should have been stated in clear on their website. Secondly, the manner the CSR kept interrupting me, gave me a clue on lowering my expectation with this company. Forget the TV ads and the 5-start treatement stuff.
I was therefore positively surprised when a couple of days later I received an e-mail from a Customer Relations Officer, with a real person’s name. Unfortunately the content of the email did not please me. It basically said: “After reviewing your ticket I am afraid that your fare does not qualify for free of charge STPC. However you can choose to purchase this product for USD125 per adult when traveling in Economy Class. “. And it ended with the conspicuous “World's 5-star airline” under her name and title.
What a snobbish response! Because what I am REALLY being told here is that the fare I paid is so cheap, that it does not entitle me to expect basic, equal and reasonable treatment as a human passenger. First of all, I don’t consider my $2,200 that cheap! How dare they as a company take my money, and then treat me like my money stinks. My response is: If you truly are a “5-star” airline, act like it; because right now you are the one who should be ashamed. You deceive your customers into expecting they are buying a service; and when they request that service then you turn around and try to shame them that the ticket you sold them is actually the one for cheapos. You are knowingly misleading people to sell more tickets. Maybe you are not impressed with my ticket price, that’s your right, but you should have been upfront with the services included. This is not even a case of fine prints, it’s out right deception. What should I expect next? Will you tell me at the airport that actually I am not allowed to checked-in 2 bags FOR THIS FARE, or no meals served FOR THIS FARE, or give up my seat if overbooked FOR THIS FARE, etc … There is something called consumer protection in this country if want you to continue doing here. Somebody with legal background should look into this.
What is more important to me here in this forum is that the truth be out there in the court of public opinion. People have a pretty good sense of what’s fair and not, and I want them to consider my experience and judge for themselves.
In the end I will have to get a hotel room, I will compare for good value between the one offered for $125 by the airline and others I can get myself online; I have four months to decide. It’s not the end of the world.
Thank you all that have read my somewhat lengthy complaint about a small squabble over a hotel room. But I beleive we do have to name and shame these companies that do transgress ethical/legal rules we live by in our communities. We have to keep in line those corporations (or some of their leaders) that only look after fattening their bottom line by any means necessary, and we should also want to indirectly reward the good guys: the companies that do act with ethics and whose name is not posted on complaint borads such as this one.