I think that for hotels travel agencies are still better than the Internet.

They have better deals and such things happen less often when you have
someone to yell at in front of you.

A friend of mine had a similar nightmare with Expedia. He had reserved
and hotel in New York and paid it in advance with Credit Card trough the
Internet.

Unfortunately, on the day he was supposed to fly from Rome, there was
the blackout in New York, so all flight were switched to the next day.

He called Expedia to tell them that he would not be able to be in NY,
but their call center told him to send an email, which he could not do
being away from his Computer. He asked them the phone number of the
Hotel, but they would not give him.

Well when he finally got to New York, then room he had paid for a week
had been sold to someone else and no money was ever given back to him as
refund.