Convention Housing Services

Identity Thieves and false reservations. RUN!!!

First of all, thank you Unilocalers! Your warnings have helped us prepare for and avert what could have been a very disastrous situation. Here’s the story:
For whatever reason, our previous, previous tradeshow coordinator booked and paid for 4 hotel rooms for us through Convention Housing Services. Somehow, about two months before the event, someone on the team googled CHS and found a lot of negative reviews about this company. Concerned that we may have been scammed, we called the hotel and was assured that our reservations were in place. However, because there were too many negative reviews, we kept a vigilant eye out and had contingency plans just in case.
T-​14 days from the event — called hotel. Rooms reserved for us.
T-​13 days — called hotel. Rooms reserved for us.
T-​12 days — called hotel. Rooms still reserved.
T-​10 days — called hotel. Rooms still reserved.
T-​7 days — received this email from Convention Housing Services: (copied verbatim, in case they want to dispute this, I have a copy of the email from them)
Good day,
Unfortunately it has come to our attention that the rooms that were reserved for you are no longer available. We will process a full refund for the unprovided nights, so as to not inconvenience you any further.
Thank you,
Convention Housing Services
866−563−8944
T-​7 days: In panic, contacted hotel. Reservation still in our names.
T-​6 days: contacted hotel. Reservation still in our names.
T-​5 days: contacted hotel. Cannot find our reservation. It was cancelled by CHS.
Because we were vigilant and very paranoid, our coordinator immediately booked through the same hotel directly, and got a rate cheaper that what we paid Convention Housing Services for!
This could have been disastrous for us for a couple of reasons. First, the tradeshow was in Europe. Second, we were 3 days away from boarding a flight to Europe… imagine what would happen if we had not been so vigilant.
By the way, we never did get our money back from these guys. I think we were out $ 10K.
Why did this happen? My theory is that these clowns reserved and booked the rooms for us, they did so at a certain negotiated rate with the hotel. When it came time to pay (months after we paid them), the rate they had with the hotel was probably no longer honored by the hotel. Instead of eating the cost (after sitting on our payment for so long), or contacting us, they just made up some BS excuse about the rooms not being available (when in fact, because we had been calling the hotel almost daily, we knew that the rooms had been available and in our names).
Had we not been so vigilant and paranoid, we would have been screwed. This tradeshow is a big deal for our company, and would have been a major source of new opportunities for us. Imagine if we had arrived and not have any rooms, this would have impacted our company’s future fortunes. This is not something you can just say, «oh the rooms are not available… sorry. here’s your money back!».
As I said earlier, I don’t know why our previous, previous coordinator booked thru a 3^rd party service. Moving forward, we will book directly with the hotels.
That said, all the previous Unilocalers, with the exception of the one who gave it four stars, are correct. If you do business with this company, you do it at your own risk, and it could be more than just inconvenience — if you were like us, the health of your business could be put in jeopardy.
Conclusion — stay away from this company. If it is too late and you’ve already booked a room, do what we did. Contact the hotel directly everyday when the event gets closer, and have contingency plans in place. Then tell everyone about this company.

Make sure you hang up on them. All they do is pretending to call you for the show and sell you an overpriced room. I asked if it was cancelable and refundable and they said yes, within 72 hours. Then I found out it has to be canceled 72 hours from reservation not from your actual staying.

What everyone else said. CHA charged my card and then did not pay the hotel. The hotel then received an authorization from CHA with a credit card that declined while I was at the hotel with 5 other guests that I was paying for! Thankfully, the hotel saved me the embarrassment, let me check into my room (and my guests in to theirs) before calling my room to discuss the issue with me. I ended up paying twice for the rooms. Hopefully, my credit card company will accept my dispute and refund my money. CHA is a joke. I dare them to call me again.

Oh for the love of God make it stop. The phone calls. Constant phone calls. For shows you’re not even attending. For cities they do not operate in. I wish there was a way to make it stop. It’s… It’s painful. They are every trade show coordinators nightmare.

These are the worst people on the planet. They don’t understand what «Do not call» means. Christina Nelson has left me a relentless amount of messages, and constant emails about hotels that I could not care less about. I’ve responded to every email asking to be opted out, following their instructions to do so. I try calling back to tell her to leave me alone, and the number is always busy. If you end up on their list, I’m sorry, because you’re in for a world of annoyance.

Warn all of your registrants about this SCAM. This agency systematically targets large conventions. I had to cancel my credit card and I will now have to file fraud paperwork to be sure my card is not charged.
This agency claims to have an official relationship with the conference you register for, and is assisting registrants with reservations on their behalf. They insist that other area hotels are sold out, and that a room needs to be booked and paid for immediately in order to secure lodging. You are then sent a digital contract which flashes on the screen for a moment, and then a box appears for you to insert your digital signature.
Once you sign the contract, you are agreeing to give this agency a 25% cancellation fee (once you realize you’ve been duped and you try to cancel), and you are also signing up for a «Preferred Client Club» membership which will automatically charge your credit card $ 42 a month.
When I contacted the agency to cancel my «Preferred Client Club» membership, I received an email indicating that my subscription to this membership allowed me to book at the «discounted» rate in the first place (still $ 100 more per night then the other hotels in the area), but not to worry because of the «free 15 day promotion» I will not be charged at the higher rate which would in turn increase my 25% cancellation fee. I’m not sure if this is their way of appeasing those who have fallen victim to the scam, or if they truly believe they are providing a service.
Hopefully, others will not make the same mistake.

How sad.

SCAM. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH.
Contacted CHS for housing services for a Palm Spring convention and booked rooms through them. They started charging my biz card for more than they originally agreed to and on dates they did not agree to. This raised a red flag and I started to investigate them via the web. The horrible reviews on other sights and bottom basement Better Business reviews set the tone for things to come…
Multiple calls to CHS customer service to resolve and get answers went absolutely nowhere. The final straw was being on hold for more than 45 minutes, then they came on the line, rudely stated no one was available and hung up the phone. Never received a callback or reply to any emails about resolving the issues from CHS.
Then I disputed the charges. CHS was however responsive to my credit card company as they attempted to keep the funds. I wasted hours and hours trying to dispute the charges and get these scumbags to stop charging my card.
SHAM of a business. HORRIBLE SERVICE. Ignore Mila who is obviously paid by CHS to write a positive review — or don’t and learn the hard way…

Wish I could give them 0 stars. They are literally the worst company I have ever dealt with. They quote low prices and then add on fee after fee. Prices are not lower, and the service is the worst. They are completely unresponsive. You can’t ever get anyone on the phone. When you do, they say they will call back. No one ever calls back. Once I finally got in touch with someone after being put on hold for HOURS, they told me that they could no longer honor our reservation for the 31 rooms we had already paid in full for. This happened just about 2 weeks prior to our trade show. There was no explanation given. No apology. No empathy for getting stuck without hotels after paying over $ 25k up front. TERRIBLE! They should not be allowed to be in business.

Exhibitors BEWARE. This ‘company’ is not authorized to represent the actual job fairs, trade shows, or events that you are participating in. My phone rings daily telling me to call them back for discounted rates — sounds appealing but it isn’t what you think.
Once you give them your credit card — it’s over.
Forward to voicemail. Avoid. Ignore.

If I can give a 0 star, i will definitely do it! first of all, this is a scam and crime! They are thieves stealing others money! Please, if you think you will need to cancel your reservation or make changes in the future, this is TOTALLY NOT THE RIGHT PLACE FOR YOU!
like other people who had the same experiences as me. they make me to purchase their hotels room on the spot! making it sound very urgent! they don’t let you know their exchange or cancel policy after they process your credit card! over the phone, the sales rep make it sounds really easy «Yeah, just give me a call, or email me, i will make the changes for you!» in realty, when you need to make changes they never responded. only when you said you need to cancel. they reply to you let you know that they need 25% canceling fees, the rest of the credit only applied on their CHS. so pretty much, you don’t get your money back. and still need to using their sucking services.
I am not the type of person who like to brag about other business, or write bad review. But i really can NOT stand this business any more!!! I need to report them to BBB. So please, take my advice, never be easily sold on their over the phone promises, which are all lies.

SCAM!!! It’s a shame you have to give even one star on Unilocal.I am a show organizer and I can tell you this is a complete scam. They call exhibitors and misrepresent themselves and are very unprofessional. Luckily most of my exhibitors see through this unprofessionalism and do no book with them or give them their credit card numbers. There has been one name coming up repeatedly, Adam, who seems to be very aggressive and lying through his teeth about representing my company.
I’m pretty sure the one good review from Mila O. is a fake. Most everyone else has caught on. Buyer beware and do not give them your cc info!

Stay away from this company. If you use them, you will NOT get your money back.

Yup, this is a fraudulent company. the first reviewer, «Mila O» must also work there to tell us this company is a legitimate company.

Don’t rely on what they tell you — it doesn’t match up to what you sign. We were told we could make changes to our reservations if we did so by a certain date. Well, we did then were told we weren’t being refunded because it wasn’t 30 days in advance (it was 27) — even though it was on the date the guy who booked everything told us. Also, they are very difficult to get replies from after you’ve booked.

I am very upset with this company. Wasted $$, promising cancellation no problem within certain timeframe, without warning us there is no money refund, and they took 25% cancellation fee! I called to use our remaining credit, they were not friendly at all and I’m now not even sure if we are able to use the remaining credit! Do not do bussiness with them.

How Convention Housing Services has been in business for 6 years is beyond me. DO NOT be fooled if you receive a call. It seems they troll to find attendees for conventions and then call representing both the convention and the hotel. I fell for their scam and as they say, live and learn. I have lived and learned. Read these reviews and learn while avoiding the living part of their ruse.
I received a call from Sam of CHS on 2÷27÷12 stating it was urgent for me to make the reservations for a convention in Orlando, FL. He stated CHS represented the convention and the hotel. He stated there were very few rooms available and remained on the phone while I filled out the forms as there were only 3 rooms left. He emailed the forms and told me to scan them and immediately email them to CHS.
I received an email from the director of the convention a month later notifying all exhibiting companies to make reservations through the hotel and to disregard any calls or solicitation to make reservations through CHS. I then called the hotel to see if we had our reservations. They told me there were no reservations on file. They said they do not work with any 3^rd party companies. They told me they are aware CHS targets exhibitors for shows and we should not go through them.
They stated we signed a contract and we owe the 25% cancellation fee. This was a complete misrepresentation and renders the contract as garbage.
I reported them to the Better Business Bureau of Nevada.

Like the previous complaint. They too solicited me and held on the phone. I am in the process of trying to cancel and make sure that charges are disputed. Luckily this was done within 35 min and not days later.
The previous comments from Mila and Todd looks fake because he or she only has done 3 – 5 reviews, but all of a sudden they have rave reviews. She or he probably works for Consumer Housing Services. Buyer beware.

I’m pretty surprised to see such a negative review from someone regarding CHS! This is our fourth time using them and I decided to finally write a testimonial. We have always found CHS to be very well organized and attentive! They anticipated our needs on more than one occasion.
Beyond that, the prices were way better than what I could have gotten on my own. I use them for all my bookings. Let the value and service speak for itself.