My Getaroom reservation became nonrefundable — but I want my $3,228 back!

Illustration by Dustin Elliott

William Farrer thought he’d booked two rooms at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans directly through the hotel’s website. Minutes later, he discovered he’d actually paid $3,228 to a third-party booking site — and the reservation was suddenly “nonrefundable.”

What followed was a seven-month battle with Getaroom, Bank of America, and a maze of customer service dead-ends. Finally, he turned to my advocacy team for help.

“Can you help me get a refund?” he asked.

This case raises a few important questions for travelers:

• Can companies change refund policies after charging you?
• Do credit card chargebacks work for nonrefundable hotel rooms?
• What’s wrong with these third-party travel websites?

But let’s start with what went wrong.

“I acted within minutes”

Farrer had heard the horror stories about booking through a third-party travel site, so he wanted to book his room directly with the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. And he thought he was on the Hyatt site when he made his reservation.

“I went online and typed ‘New Orleans Hyatt Regency,” he told me. “I clicked on the first link, believing it…