Medan Hotel Information - No Spam

This hotel site is different from what you see elsewhere. You cannot book a hotel through us. We just provide honest and accurate information, and we have no benefit whatsoever from you booking a room at any of the hotels we list, or, for that matter, from your coming to Medan.

When it comes to hotel information, the Internet is a terrible heap of spam.

Just to give you one, albeit typical, example (which we tried on January 10, 2002). Read on, so you know when you are fed shit.

Assume you use msn.com to search for "Medan". The results page has two sections, first "Web Directory Sites" and then "Web Pages". Under "Web Directory Sites", the first sentence is: Top 6 Most Popular Sites for "Medan".

Sounds great, so you click on the link. This takes you to a page supplied by the search engine DirectHit. They claim they have a system at work that is capable to measure the popularity of web sites. It's flawed, but it is mathematical, based on access numbers.

However, the DirectHit ranking according to popularity is not what you have on your screen after following the link from msn.com. What you see is a list of "Partner Search Results" ... computer-generated link texts, for which businesses have paid money so they can mislead you for their own gain. Look at this list:

"Places to Stay in Medan Reserve hotel rooms online with up to 70% off everyday prices! Find the best selection of Medan hotels with descriptions, pictures, real-time rates and instant confirmations."

You may think that this is a Medan site, but it isn't. It's a page from placestostay.com. They list 2 Medan hotels, and add some properties that are more than 1000 kilometers away. That's how you are fooled.

"Hotels in Medan, Indonesia Hotels in Medan, Indonesia by Hotel Helpline. Click here to check availability, find discount rates and make instant reservations. Lodging.com affiliate."

By hotel-helpline.com. They list 1 hotel for Medan. Medan is a city of more than 2 million inhabitants. There are more than 100 hotels that would have sufficient standard for most tourists.

"Hotels in Medan, Indonesia Hotels in Medan, Indonesia by Lodging.com. Click here to check availability, find discount rates and make instant reservations. We bargain with the hotels so you don't have to."

By lodging.com; the same as with hotel-helpline.com. 1 hotel.

"TravelHero: Medan Hotel Reservations Find the largest selection of hotels in the Medan area. View hotel info and secure a reservation at the best rates. TravelHero.com for hotels, airlines and car rentals."

I have to laugh. That "largest selection" from travelhero.com lists 3 hotels.

"Medan Hotels & Inns Medan hotels & inns provided by BestLodging.com - see pictures, then make online reservations. Plus plane tickets, car rentals and more. Exclusive discount section."

By www.bestlodging.com; also just three hotels.

"Medan Indonesia Hotels and Tours SH Tours Medan hotels tours travel reservation - over 150 hotels in Indonesia at up to 60% off. Includes travel/visa/shopping information."

By Singapore-based www.asiatours.com.sg; no hotels in Medan are listed, just a number in Jakarta, Bali, and Bintan. Bali is several thousand kilometers from Medan. And our test search was for Medan, not Jakarta.

I'd be surprised if any of the editors responsible for the above-listed spam pages ever has personally visited any of the listed hotels, or has ever even been in Medan.

And how about truth in advertising? Everybody promises a great selection and best rates. It's not for no reason that for travel reservation sites, merchant accounts are among the most difficult to obtain. The reason is that people making reservations are often not just taken for a trip, but also for a ride. Once at the location, they become aware that they have been cheated with false promises, and then file for a chargeback through their credit card companies. Serves the spammers right.

The problem is in the system. The travel industry (in which I have worked for more than a decade) is so terribly based on everybody paying everybody commissions that it's hard not to become afflicted with that disease if your income for any activity depends on travel businesses (hotels, airlines, car rentals, etc).

We don't operate this way. Our web site on Medan hotels contains no facility to book rooms, and not a single link to a hotel site. We do list email addresses and web site URLs, but to visit a hotel site, you will have to type the URL yourself in a browser window. We do not accept commissions, and not even payments per clicks that lead from our site to the one of a hotel.