So I signed up for Raleigh last September and booked a hotel. I get a call this past Friday that my reservation was no longer valid as they had to bump me due to someone who booked through the Ironman site. Wtf??? Now there is nothing available within 20 miles.
I emailed and called athlete services and asked if I could defer to another race. This is the response I got back.
"Erin Erickson, May 27 04:46 PM:
Hi!
Thanks for reaching out regarding this. I am sorry your hotel arrangements did not work out! Unfortunately, we are not able to transfer your entry to another race. The withdrawal policy can be found at http://www.ironman.com/...r.aspx#axzz32vWBQQm1 and the deadline to receive a partial refund has passed. We also have a direct contact for Travel Arrangements at http://www.ironman.com/...l.aspx#axzz32vWBQQm1. I would suggest calling Jane on that website during business hours to see if she is able to assist in any way with last minute accommodations!
Please let me know if you have further questions.
Best wishes,
Erin Erickson
Coordinator, Athlete Services
World Triathlon Corporation"
Seems like there must be more to the story, as others have posted. If the hotel over booked, they are the issue. No different than airlines have over booked, but they seem to offer some money to customers.
No, apparently from others I talked too, WTC wasn’t happy with people not being able to book hotels and I guess put pressure on the hotels to make room, so anyone doing the race that didn’t book through ironman.com was to be bumped so those who did have a place to stay.
And yeah, I have a huge problem with WTC having the crappiest customer service of any business I’ve ever seen. How hard would it be to let some of us in this situation defer to another race? I even told them I’d defer to Louisville which would get another 300.00 dollars out of me.
The same thing happened with IMChoo-Choo. From IMChooChoo FB: “It has been brought to our attention that the Sheraton Read House overbooked the hotel during IRONMAN Chattanooga race week and subsequently cancelled some reservations. We have been made aware that the hotel is working with those affected to find a resolution. We urge you to contact Bret Bishop, Business Transient Sales Manager at the Sheraton, directly at 423.643.1395 or via email at bret.bishop@sheratonreadhouse.com.”
You booked with hotel, hotel bumps you, so WTC is to blame? The hotel didn’t “have to” do anything, they chose to. I fail to see how this is a WTC issue but since they are everybody’s favorite whipping boy…
BTW you don’t book travel through Ironman.com. Each event is handled by a variety of travel companies, in the case of Raleigh 70.3 it is Partners In Team Travel LLC. If you look at their page for the event you will see they still have some hotels with rooms.
It would be interesting to see if the people who booked through WTC were before or after those who booked directly. It looks like WTC is trying to make everyone racing to book through them, which obviously gives them a kickback. I doubt anyone booking through them got bumped, but try to get that info…
No, apparently from others I talked too, WTC wasn’t happy with people not being able to book hotels and I guess put pressure on the hotels to make room, so anyone doing the race that didn’t book through ironman.com was to be bumped so those who did have a place to stay.
So again, it sounds like your issue is with the hotel, not WTC. They did not have to bow to the “pressure” from WTC. “Hey, we are booked this weekend regardless. I don’t need to bump my customers for yours only to reach the same max occupancy AND give you your cut.” Pretty simple.
And yeah, I have a huge problem with WTC having the crappiest customer service of any business I’ve ever seen. How hard would it be to let some of us in this situation defer to another race? I even told them I’d defer to Louisville which would get another 300.00 dollars out of me.
I’m no fan of the policy either, ut where do they start making exceptions? A buddy of mine came down with appendicitis 1 week before Racine 2 years ago. Clearly he had a valid reason to not participate…sorry, no go. They have their policy and I will at least give them credit for sticking to it 100%. You know the policy when you sign up. Caveat Emptor and all that…
Exactly!! That’s exactly what’s going on here. I booked my reservation last SEPTEMBER and the hotel calls me 9 days before the race? You’re the 1st person to post who sees what I’m seeing. I guess the others above are fanboys and can never see any wrongdoing on behalf of WTC.
And those availabilites that are close are suites and or twice the price of what I paid at the Galt house for IM Louisville the last 3 years. I’d have to drive 20 miles from the race to get any decent rates this close to the event. I don’t feel I should have to do that. Call me what you want.
It would be interesting to see if the people who booked through WTC were before or after those who booked directly. It looks like WTC is trying to make everyone racing to book through them, which obviously gives them a kickback. I doubt anyone booking through them got bumped, but try to get that info…
WTC does not book anything, you do not book through WTC, they have a number of travel companies they partner with who manage all the bookings and are the booking agents. Do the travel companies pay to be the travel company for race X? Probably but that is no different that product X being the official product of Ironman.
This is still an issue between the hotel, the booking agent (if one was used) and the person(s) who had/have reservations.
Yea, I am surprised that others aren’t seeing that. Sad to see WTC booked people getting in, and WTC not offering any help to you. They’re sending a message, and it’s not very customer friendly of them. sad, sad, sad…
It would be interesting to see if the people who booked through WTC were before or after those who booked directly. It looks like WTC is trying to make everyone racing to book through them, which obviously gives them a kickback. I doubt anyone booking through them got bumped, but try to get that info…
WTC does not book anything, you do not book through WTC, they have a number of travel companies they partner with who manage all the bookings and are the booking agents. Do the travel companies pay to be the travel company for race X? Probably but that is no different that product X being the official product of Ironman.
This is still an issue between the hotel, the booking agent (if one was used) and the person(s) who had/have reservations.
Ummmm Yes, that is what we are saying. Just a smokescreen to make them not the bad guy…
If what you say is true, then why was I told I was bumped for someone who did book through Ironman.com? Obviously WTC is getting something out of it. Again, there are quite a few of us.