M B.

I can no longer recommend Trivago. Their advertising got to me and I used the site based on their ads. However, my recent experience was a total dud.

I booked a hotel and it turned out the booking agency (Hotel Power, which I definitely do not recommend) was a place that automatically enrolls you in a "free trial."

While not an outright scam, the free trial means that you, the customer who absolutely never asked for this, are enrolled in some VIP concierge service that you have to pay for after 90 days. So I then had to waste my time cancelling this "VIP service" I never asked for. Trivago did not warn me it was sending me to a "members only" booking site. I hate having to waste my time and I hate it even more because I felt that the booking site that Trivago led me to was totally misleading.

Also, in case you are wondering, there is nothing VIP about the Hotel Power experience. Nothing was wrong with our reservation on Hotel Power, but if they actually want a customer they could have done something to show why they matter, like get a kickback from the hotel for free water in the room, or a free drink at the bar, or free early check in or something. Nothing special, not a service I'd pay for.

Like other reviewers, I was enrolled in Hotel Power because I booked a hotel through Trivago. Unbeknownst to me, booking the hotel through Hotel Power automatically enrolls you in their trial membership. You have to pay a fee if you do not cancel within 90 days.

I cannot recommend the service because I feel it is very sneaky to automatically enroll someone in a trial that converts to a paid membership without their knowledge. I also cannot recommend the service because they make it difficult to cancel:

1) You cannot cancel online
2) You must call to cancel, but the business is not open 24/7
3) When you call to cancel, the menu you listen to (if they are open) is lengthy before you get to the cancellation option
4) They do not include their customer service phone number on emails so you can't easily find it, you have to visit their website.

2 stars because once I finally called during business hours, the gentleman who answered only asked me one question (whether I understood the benefits of the membership) before agreeing to cancel me. So at least he didn't try to do the hard sell at that point.

I will also be leaving a bad review for Trivago. I won't be using their service again to book hotels because of this nonsense. Kayak will have to do.