Guest House Vlado is Split, Croatia is a Scam...Hotels.com Could Care Less!

AUGUST 2010 - Split, Croatia

Guest House Vlado in Split, Croatia is a RIP-OFF!  Do not book a room with this “so-called” guest house. Do not fall for the lies they tell in their description on Hotels.com and don’t expect any help from Hotels.com if you have any problems with a reservation.

I made a reservation from Dubrovnik the day before we left for Split.  Here’s the description Guest House Vlado gives on Hotels.com:

“Enjoying a beautiful Mediterranean climate, crystal clear seas and warm sands, this fascinating area of Croatia is also home to the Guest House Vlado, Split , where guests can take advantage of affordable 3 star accommodation .”

This is no 3-star accommodation and it is not a guest house.  The room we were eventually shown was on the 3^rd floor (no elevator) of an old building with a 2-star “Sobe” sign on the front (a Sobe is a private residence in Slavic countries and anything below 3-stars has minimum essentials).

 “A warm welcome awaits you at this attractive property, and you are assured all the benefits you would expect to find in an upscale hotel. Located close to the Diocletian Palace and the beautiful Bacvice beach, visitors have no excuse not to relax and soak up the sun and the culture. Do not hesitate to ask the experienced staff for local tips and advice. Please Note: This guest house only accepts payment made by cash. “

The Hotels.com map locating Guest House Vlado near the bus/train station and Split’s Old City is a total lie.  I booked the room the day prior (and agreed to pay 80 Euros - $103) because we were only staying in Split for one night and needed to catch a train the following evening, so I was willing to pay extra so we didn’t have to drag our bags all over town.  We followed the map as shown on Hotels.com (with all of our baggage in tow), but Guest House Vlado was nowhere to be found.  When I asked several people where 86a Matice Hrvatske (the address listed on hotels.com) was, we were sent on a wild goose chase around Split for the next 1½ hours, finally locating the address about a mile from the station where we had arrived.  In fact, Diocletian's Palace was 1.06 miles from Guest House Vlado, not 400 yards as advertised on Hotels.com.  The “warm welcome” was an old hag (woman I believe) with a beard sitting in front of a worn out apartment building in a very seedy area.  She was extremely rude and condescending, even when I pointed out all of the inaccuracies of her description and the amenities listed on Hotels.com:

Amenities (all rooms include)

·         Air conditioning

·         Balcony

·         Cable television service

·         Ceiling fan

·         Kitchen

·         Non-smoking only

·         Television

·         Air-conditioned public areas

·         Bar/lounge

·         Garden

·         Grocery/convenience store

·         Number of rooms: 15

·         Restaurant(s) in hotel

·         On-site car rental

·         Room service (24 hours)

This is not a hotel, but several (five according to the old hag) sub-standard properties located in some terrible areas.  There was AC in the room we were shown and a very small balcony.  There was a TV on the floor, but we did not stick around long enough to find out if there was cable.  There was no AC in public areas because there were no public areas.  This is a room on the top floor of a building.  There was no ceiling fan, bar/lounge, garden, grocery/convenience store, car rental agency, room service, or restaurant in the “hotel” because THIS IS NOT A HOTEL.

When we finally got to the room (2½ hours after we had arrived by bus from Dubrovnik), the hag said “Everybody always says thank you so much for this beautiful room, is it not a beautiful room?”  I said, “Actually, no it’s not” and proceeded to tell her about all of the beautiful rooms we had stayed in on our journeys, rarely paying more than 50 Euros for rooms directly on the sea.  She became very rude and threatening at this point, so I told her that we were not going to pay 80 Euros for a room which was falsely advertised and misrepresented on Hotels.com in order to trick me into making the reservation.  She showed me a list of about ten names (with prices ranging from 70 to 130 Euros) which she was expecting from Hotels.com bookings, saying “see how much they are paying, you have a very good price”.  I told her that I refused to be swindled or bullied into staying in (and paying for) a room which was misrepresented in the advertisement, so we told her so and left.  She and her friends followed us for a while as we searched for a place to go (it was now around 7:30 PM), but we finally lost them when we got on a bus for the train station. We were very concerned because of her aggressive nature and did not know what their intentions were.

Here's what they said about Split, Croatia's Guest House Vlado on Hotels.com:

CHECK-IN & CHECK-OUT Check-in: the rooms are available at any time up to 10 p.m. Check-out: it is necessary to leave the rooms not later than 10 a.m. 

• Peristil Square - 300 yards
• Papalic Palace - 300 yards
• Split Cathedral - 300 yards
• Gregory of Nin Statue - 300 yards
• Diocletian's Palace - 400 yards
• City Centre Split - 600 yards
• Bacvice Beach - 600 yards

Lies, Lies, and more lies!!!

DO NOT BOOK ROOMS AT:

Guest House Vlado

43.506801, 16.442363 
Matice Hrvatske 86/a, Split, 21000 Croatia 866-539-0036 

I immediately bought an international calling card (which cost me another $10) and called Hotels.com’s 24-hour “emergency” number, knowing that they would be very supportive and help us out of our predicament.  Wrong!  After getting cut off the first time, I finally spoke with Melvin (Employee # 5262899) at the Hotels.com toll-free emergency number where they advertise their “RISK FREE BOOKING”.  After explaining our situation to Melvin, he said he was sorry, BUT “there is nothing we can do because we are merely a booking site, a middle man, between the property and you.  If you have a problem with the property, you need to work it out with them”.  I asked him how Guest House Vlado could be allowed to lie and cheat people out of large sums of money and Hotels.com doing nothing about it.  He said he was sorry again, there was nothing he could do, the property could still charge us even though we did not stay there, and was going to hand me off to somebody else to try to find us a room.  I had had enough by this point, hung up the phone, and called my bank in the U.S. to warn them about a possibly fraudulent charge on my credit card.  We went directly to the train station and booked the first train out of Split, headed for a much more civilized country, Slovenia. I have booked many rooms over the years with Hotels.com and never had a problem until now.  They are apparently unconcerned about their customers and allow fraudulent business practices on their site (Guest House Vlado is still advertizing rooms and tourists are getting ripped-off two days after our complaint to Hotels.com).  I tried to post a review, warning other travelers about Guest House Vlado, but Hotels.com does not allow it, even though I have an account and have been a customer for many years.  They make you wait for an e-mail with a link “a couple days after your stay” to submit a review.  I finally received the email 5 days later (Aug 19th), but when I clicked on the link, the message I received was “Sorry, you are not eligible to submit reviews”.   More and more Hotels.com customers are being ripped-off by Guest Housel Vlado as I write this, even after warning their employee (Melvin) on 8/14/2010.  We will never book a room with Hotels.com again and I urge you to consider doing the same!!! Boycott Hotels.com until they show some concern for their customers and stand behind the “risk-free” booking they so proudly claim! "We never charge a cancellation or change fee because it's just not fair.  At hotels.com, we understand sometimes your plans fall through. Or, perhaps you just decide you'd prefer to spend your vacation lounging on the beach rather than visiting your in-laws.  Hey, it happens. That's why we never charge you hotels.com change or cancel fees. Other travel sites may charge you a fee to change your plans, but with hotels.com just go online or call 800-2-HOTELS (800-246-8357) to change or cancel your plans. Please note, you may still be subject to change and cancellation fees that the property itself may impose and require us to pass on. So go ahead, be free to change your mind. It's all a lie!  Guest House Vlado is still listed on Hotels.com, Expedia, and other travel sites, so they could obviously care less about the consumers...US!  READ ALL REVIEWS BEFORE BOOKING ON THESE SITES!!!

WARNING: HOTELS.COM STILL LISTS GUEST HOUSE VLADO NEARLY 3 YEARS AFTER WE TOLD THEM ABOUT OUR HORROR STORY ... THAT IS HOW MUCH THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMER ... CHECK FOR YOURSELF:

http://www.hotels.com/ho332024/guest-house-vlado-split-croatia/

HERE ARE SOME MORE REVIEWS ON HOTELS.COM:

"Information about this hotel is not accurate!"
09/2012

I booked this hotel as a convenient place to stay on the last night of my holiday as from the information provided it looked as though it was in the centre of Split - it is not! It was approximately a 2km walk from the harbour in Split and not centrally located as it states on the information. Also, the owner of the guest house was rather rude and overbearing - not pleasant at all. The room, while I expected it to be basic, due to the cheap price, was not clean - the bathroom smelled bad and the kitchen had clearly not been cleaned properly. Unfortunately I would not recommend this as a place to stay

 "Guest House Vlado, Split, 21000 Croatia"
04/2011

Bad Hotel : 1) Map not show the right location 2) Photos shows are not the same hotel 3) Bad room facilities : a) No internet Wifi, b) No TV, c) No toilet/shower in room d) Room door lock malfunction

"description / location are wrong"

08/22/10 LizD186414 Salisbury, United Kingdom

We decided to stay at this guesthouse as it looked close to Split centre, However the icon on the map does not correspond with the actual location of the room. The address is also incorrect as we arrived and were taken to a residential area about 25 minutes walk from town centre. The description and photos (on hotels.com) are also incorrect. It looks nothing like the pictures, Probably 1star rather than 3stars! The bed was 2 single beds pushed together and they were extremely uncomfortable. The 'kitchenette' consisted of a fridge and hob, but there were no utensils or cuttlery, making it difficult to cook! The water did not run away in the shower, the toilet seat had fallen off and on the last day we had no hot water at all. The people staying in the room next door told us that they had no hot water or lighting for the whole of their stay. We stayed in other places in Croatia for a similar price which were far better equipped, cleaner, comfortable and with a better location, therefore would not reccomend anyone to stay here. I was unable to leave a review on hotels.com!

"Lying rip off merchants - avoid at all costs"

10/01/09 littleplats London

The description the owners have posted implies a staffed hotel, but it is actually just a dingy ground floor flat in a drab apartment block. Worst of all though is that the arrow on Expedia's map showed the place to be very near the centre of Split and the Palace, which was the only reason I chose to book it. In fact it turns out to be TWO KILOMETRES out of the centre of town in a crappy suburb. We spent ages searching around for it at the location shown on the map, asking for directions, and by the time we found out where it really was it was too late to find somewhere else. Apart from that the bed was also uncomfortable (the sheet was actually corrugated..) and the shower all but unusable. AVOID AT ALL COSTS