StayForLong.com - avoid at ALL costs!

[GKMCruising]

Traveling this weekend for a race and booked a hotel using StayForLong a couple months back via a referral on Kayak.com. Got here tonight and while they had our reservation in the system, thankfully, the "virtual card" provided by StayForLong wouldn't work. I hunted around on their website, finally found a phone number, and called their customer support line only to be told that they'd have to contact their supplier and would call me back in 15 - 30 minutes. At one point they  called the hotel and spoke with them, but couldn't get it working either. When I still hadn't heard from them, the hotel called them back, got the runaround again, and when they finally called me back, they basically said it was a system error on their end and for me to just pay for tonight (despite the fact that I'd fully paid them months ago) and they'd straighten it out with the hotel in the morning and give me a refund. Their system wouldn't let me just pay for tonight, so I wound up having to pay the full amount for the stay (again) with promises from StayForLong that I'd get refunded by them. I'm not holding my breath, especially after reading some of the other online reviews/horror stories - I'm just lucky they even had my reservation, apparently. Needless to say I'll be calling my bank and disputing charges if I haven't gotten a refund by the time I get home on Sunday evening.

[Steve PF]

Hi there. I am wondering what finally happened. Did you ever get the refund?

[CruiseGus]

A warning for those that use ANY 3rd Party to book a hotel.

[GKMCruising]

On 8/7/2022 at 1:46 PM, Steve PF said:

Hi there. I am wondering what finally happened. Did you ever get the refund?

Yes, thankfully I did get a reimbursement from them without having to escalate, but I was fully expecting to need to get their supervisors and my bank involved.

[mikez2]

I booked a month in Croatia! I showed up at the Hotel I had the reservation with and the hotel said they did not know who these people were(Stayforlong) I showed the hotel the reservation and  where my Amx card was charged they gave me a room and then called the POLICE and made me pay again! The next morning they called me and made me move out of the hotel and go to their inferior lower rated hotel! Of course I was in fear every day that the  Croatian Police would arrive and Kick me out again! I emailed Customer service with Stayforlong every day with no answer! Finally a month later after returning home cause I protested to Amx they reversed the charge Stayforlong legal finally emailed me demanding payment! CAN YOU SAY FRAUD!  Got to love American express! Stay for long is a SCAM!

 

[QShao]

Through a search engine, I found an interesting hotel in Barcelona, Stayforlong listed a rate more competitive, so I made my reservation immediately before checking any reviews about it. It gave an option to pay a minimum fee at the beginning and the full amount would be automatically paid from the same credit card months later. When I started my travel, I received an email that the full payment had failed and my bank even blocked my credit card for the suspicious transaction, I tried to reach Stayforlong, but only on the second day I could get a reply, their chat link only led me to articles and the person answered email never took look the previous communication. I updated the site with my second credit card, but they still were not able to make the transaction, they also refused a bank transfer and direct hotel payment and finally canceled my reservation two days before I arrived at the hotel. The disaster continued when I found a new hotel with the help of a taxi driver and paid for everything with the second card, I asked Stayforlong for a refund of my first payment, but nobody answered me since then. I will deal with the hotel directly only in the future because the 3rd party" rate even did not contain the tourist tax.

[ChessE4]

There are threads with Barcelona hotel recommendations when you visit again.