An Auto Europe Company
Frequently Asked Questions
New Bookings/Hotel Search
Q: How many rooms can I book on the same reservation?
A: You can book up to 4 rooms per reservation. You may make multiple reservations if more rooms are needed however the combined total guests for the same hotel/nights cannot exceed 9. For reservations of 10 or more guests please contact our group department @ 1-877-444-2222 or email your request to groups@excellenthotels.com. Please be sure to include contact info, number of rooms needed, dates, cities, your IATA if applicable and any other information for the group booking.
Q: What if I need a room to accommodate more than 4 guests per room?
A: If you do not see the room needed please email agencyrequests@excellenthotels.comand we will check with our providers to determine if we have any options for your requested dates/cities.
Q: Can I filter my search by star rating, price or hotel name?
A: Yes, you can filter by all of the above however for best results we suggest waiting for your initial results to return before using our filtering features, which on the results page will also include a “Search by area” option.
Q: What if the property requested by my clients is not listed?
A: Please email agencyrequests@excellenthotels.comor call 1-877-444-2222 and one of our hotel representatives can determine if the property needed can be put on request. Response time for on request properties is generally 24-48 business hours.
Q: Why do I sometimes see the same property listed more than once or have the same room categories listed multiple times?
A: Our booking engine receives rates and availability from 7 major suppliers, often the same property & room types are offered by more than one supplier. Steps are in place to combine the results into one listing whenever possible.
Q: How do I see a specific property’s description, address, amenities or pictures?
A: While in the “Results page” or the “Create Booking” page you can click on the hotel name to view any information that is provided. You can also click on the “show map” underneath the hotel name to see the exact location of the selected hotel.
Q: Can I change my search criteria without going back to the new booking page?
A: Yes, just click on the + symbol on the “modify search criteria” banner.
Q: What do the prices returned include?
A: The price listed under total cost is the total retail for all rooms & nights requested in your search. All rates include your agency commission, vat & service charges unless otherwise noted. At some properties or in some cities, there are local fees that are not included in our totals and in most cases a description of the local fees will be located in the “Special Notes” section on the booking details page. These special notes will also appear on all email confirmations sent from our system.
Q: Can I hold a hotel without applying payment immediately?
A: Yes, as long as the hotel is not at or within the cancellation deadline you can hold without payment for usually 72 hours.
Q: Can I extend the payment due date?
A: Yes, just send a request for a new payment deadline. While in the existing reservation please click on “send email to excellent hotels”, your request will be reviewed by one of our representatives.
Q: What is the discount option?
A: We created a discount feature to allow you to apply a discount to any reservation with a maximum discount of 10%. ***Please keep in mind if you choose to discount a reservation, your commission will be reduced by the discounted %***.
Q: Can I add an agency mark up?
A: Yes, you can add a dollar amount mark up to any reservation. The mark up will not appear as a separate charge as long as it is added prior to payment. ***Please be advised mark ups of over $25 per room will incur a 10% service fee***.
Q: What information is needed to hold a hotel without payment?
A: To hold a reservation you will need the guests’ names, agent phone # and a valid email address.
Q: Can I use my email address for the contact email?
A: Yes, you can use either your email or your clients email address but please keep in mind that automatic email confirmations at time of hold, payment or cancellation will be sent to the email provided on each individual reservation.
Q: What if I find a lower rate for the same property with another company?
A: In most cases Excellent Hotels can beat or match any competitors’ rates. If you find a lower rate please place our reservation on hold (as long as the hotel in not already within the cancel deadline date) and click on “send email to Excellent Hotels”. Please include as much information as possible about the hotel in question. I.E. where the better rate was found, when it was found and any screenshots if possible to help us make sure that the two rooms in question are comparable. All beat rate requests must be made/requested prior to the cancellation deadline of the individual reservation.
Q: How do I make special requests such as non-smoking, bedding preferences, early arrivals or notifications that I would like the hotel to be aware of?
A: Once you have created the reservation please click “Send email to Excellent Hotels” and we will relay your client’s requests to the hotel. Please be advised that requests cannot be guaranteed and your clients will not know if their requests can be accommodated until they check-in.
Q: Why do the cancellation deadline dates differ for each property and time period?
A: The cancellation deadline date is unique to each property. ***Please pay close attention to the cancel deadline date as this is the last date EST that you can cancel the reservation without a minimum of a 1 night penalty***. Many properties are Non Refundable once at time of payment and those properties cannot be cancelled or amended. Please review all information prior to completing your purchase. Properties that are already within the cancel deadline date will require instant purchase and will not have the option to hold without payment.
Q: Will I receive a confirmation email once I complete a booking?
A: Yes, an automatic reservation details email is sent at time of hold, payment or cancellation on every booking unless the option is unselected.
Q: What do I use for reference # once I have completed a booking?
A: Each completed booking is given a unique Excellent Hotels confirmation # (e.g. EH######) that serves as your confirmation code and allows you to retrieve or reference that booking at anytime.
Q: Will my reservation automatically cancel if I miss the payment due date?
A: Not automatically, however your space and price is no longer guaranteed after the payment deadline date and our staff reserves the right to cancel any reservation past the payment due date to release the inventory back to the hotel.
Q: When do I receive the voucher that my clients need to provide to the hotel?
A: Once you have paid for your reservation your clients’ voucher will be attached to the Paid Reservation email. Your clients MUST present this voucher upon check-in at each individual hotel. Once payment has been applied you can resend the voucher or paid confirmation as needed.
Applying payment to existing bookings
Q: How do I apply payment if the booking is already on hold?
A: Select the applicable EH confirmation code and click on “Make Payment” at the bottom of the booking details page.
Q: What information do I need to make a payment?
A: To make a payment you need to provide credit card & Card holder details along with credit card billing information, agency phone # and a valid email address.
Q: Can I make payment using multiple credit cards?
A: Yes, however we currently only have to ability to charge by the room. If you have a reservation that contains 3 rooms and you would like to use 3 different credit cards you can do so by calling 1-877-444-2222 or by clicking on “send email to Excellent hotels” and request an agent to contact you for payment details. Please do not provide credit card details via email.
Q: When will I know if the credit card was charged successfully?
A: You will know right away if your payment was successful as our system obtains an instant approval for the total amounts of each room at time of payment. If payment is unsuccessful you will receive a pop up message alerting you of any problems with the credit card provided (payment pop ups can be but not limited to: address failure, CVC code failure, credit floor, insufficient funds, invalid card, etc). If an error is received please contact your client to verify the information provided and reattempt payment once the client has contacted their bank or resolved the payment issue. Please contact us anytime for assistance on applying payment.
Q: How will the charges appear on my client’s credit card?
A: All charges made in our hotel engine will appear from Destination Europe/Auto Europe Portland Maine and will reference their unique EH#.
Q: Are all of the properties fully prepaid?
A: Yes, all of our properties are fully prepaid in USD
Q: Are there alternate payment methods other than credit cards?
A: Yes, please call our office to make arrangements for alternate payment types such as agency check or wire/bank transfer. Bookings will not reflect paid until payment has been received by our office and all payments must be received by the payment due date.
Q: When will I receive my commission payments?
A: One commission check is sent out monthly for your entire agency. Payments are sent for each individual booking in the middle of each month after the scheduled check-in date and will include all of your agencies applicable car commissions.
Amendments
Q: Can I change the guest’s name on an existing reservation?
A: In most cases the guest’s names can be modified or corrected by sending your request to us using the “send email to Excellent Hotels” option. In some cases the property will not allow name amendments and you will be asked to cancel and rebook. You/your client will be responsible for all applicable penalties if cancellations are made past the cancellation deadline date.
Q: Can I amend the dates of an existing reservation?
A: In many cases the reservation dates can be modified or corrected by sending your request to us using the “send email to Excellent Hotels” option. In some cases the property will not allow date amendments and you will be asked to cancel and rebook. You/your client will be responsible for all applicable penalties if cancellations are made past the cancellation deadline date. If the newly requested dates are available for amendment your booking will be updated with the new dates and pricing for the new dates. If the booking was already paid then the original purchase amount will be credited in full and the new amount charged. Date modifications will be subject to the current rates and availability for the specific property. If we are unable to confirm the new dates the reservation will remain as originally confirmed.
Q: What does “Mirrored” mean and why can’t I access the reservation?
A: A mirrored reservation means that there has been amendment(s) made on that reservation. The original or previous version becomes mirrored and the newest/current version will be accessible. The most current version of a reservation may have a /2 or /3 and so on depending on the # of amendments that have been made.
Booking list page
Q: Under Status, what is the difference between Red & Green?
A: Greenmeans paid and Redmeans unpaid
Q: What are the differences between statuses?
A: Confirmed/UNC= Confirmed but still unpaid
Confirmed= Confirmed & Paid
Cancelled/Unc= Reservation is cancelled and payment was never added
Cancelled= Reservation was cancelled after payment was added
Rejected = Unconfirmed, we were unable to confirm the requested property, dates
Pending New= Unconfirmed and property has been placed on request.
Q: How do I show/retrieve an existing booking?
A: All of your agencies bookings, past or future can be retrieved by entering the EH# including the EH into the booking reference box located on the booking list page. If you want to retrieve and view a past reservation please check the “Show old res” box.
Q: If I don’t know the EH# how can I retrieve an existing booking?
A: You can retrieve existing reservations by client name, hotel name, Check-in date etc. Those options are all located on the booking list page.
Q: What is a Docket Reference?
A: The Docket Reference feature is still in development however it can still be used as is to link all reservations for a specific client/trip together. Once the first booking for an itinerary has been created, you can click on“Create new reservation” on the bottom of the page. This should only be used if you are making multiple reservations for the same client/same trip. When the second, third etc bookings have been created using the “create new reservation” option the system will automatically set a docket reference to the first reservation created. If you look up the EH# of the docket reference it will return all bookings associated with that booking or you can retrieve each booking individually by EH#, name, city or check-in dates.
Cancellations:
Q: How do I cancel an existing booking?
A: To cancel a booking, whether paid or unpaid; first retrieve the booking from the booking list page and then click on “Cancel reservation” while inside the booking details page. You will be shown the current cancellation penalty prior to completing the cancellation. The guest will be responsible for all cancellation penalties that are incurred due to late cancellation (made after the cancel deadline date). If no penalties apply your client will receive a full refund to the original credit card used for payment. If penalties apply your client will see on his credit card a refund of the original purchase amount and then a recharge of the penalties. For Example if the total retail was $500 and the cancellation penalty is $100 then your client will see a credit for $500 and a new charge for $100. If the booking is non refundable at time of cancellation no refunds will be given.
Q: If I cancel a reservation do I need to alert anyone so that my client gets the appropriate refund?
A: No, when a paid reservation is cancelled an automated message is sent to our system to credit/charge the appropriate amounts.
Help
Q: If I need help or have questions where do I go?
A: At any time if you have questions, feedback or need assistance you can call us 24/7 @ 1-877-444-2222 or click on the help tab and send us an email.
Q: If you have a customer service issue with a hotel who do we contact?
A: For Customer service please call us 24/7 @ 1-877-444-2222 or email Customerservice@excellenthotels.com. Please bring any issue with the hotel to the attention of the hotel management directly whilst guests are still at the hotel, to give them the opportunity to resolve the problem. If you/your guest’s have done this and not received a satisfactory resolution to the problem, please contact Excellent Hotels. In the event of any query or issue that has not been resolved locally by the hotel, Excellent Hotels strongly advises the client to immediately contact the Excellent Hotels call center that is open 24/7. This will assist in resolving issues as and when they happen to the satisfaction of the guest. Failure to bring customer service issues to our immediate attention can result in delay or denial of reimbursement or refunds when applicable. A list of toll free #’s when calling from Europe can be found on the clients’ check-in vouchers.
