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how not to get a hotel in Key West
We went to Key West and had a blast, but also
learned a lesson...
Because we decided last minute to go to Key
West we relied on Orbitz.com to get us a hotel, namely the Best Western
"Hibiscus." It had good reviews online so we placed the order for three rooms on
my credit card, received a confirmation email and though that was
that.
Two hours later I received a phone call. Best Western was on the other end telling me that there was a problem but they did not know what it was. All they wanted to do was confirm that I was who I said I was and get me the room. I gave them all my information again and they told me everything would be fine.
I asked the lady on the phone three times if everything was going to be ok. She said yes. I told her that I did not want to drive 500 miles and find out I did not have a room to sleep in. She told me everything is fine.
I received another confirmation email. All systems were go.
We got in the car three days later, drove close to 500 miles, and things weren't ok when we got there: We did not have a room.
The people at the Best Western "Hibiscus" did not have a room for us and could not explain why. Mumbling something about credit cards not being cleared, not listening to me esplaining that I had received confirmations about 5 times, they did however offer us a room in their sister hotel across the street, which was the last one they had. Because it was Thursday night, around ten already and we were dead tired, we took it.
The lesson I learned out of this is two fold: Never trust hotel reservations. Call the hotel itself and make sure that they know who you are, when you're coming and how long you're staying.
The other part to it is that I am sick and tired of paying a premium for something that sucks just because it bears a franchise name as backing. Next time I will do as I used to and book a non-chain hotel. Even if it sucks at least I did not throw money down the throat of a big corporation.
At least smaller hotels care about their customers and want them to come back, which usually makes their service better anyway.
And besides, what is they point in going to a different place if the place your staying at looks just like a motel that you could have had a mile down the road in you're home city?
Two hours later I received a phone call. Best Western was on the other end telling me that there was a problem but they did not know what it was. All they wanted to do was confirm that I was who I said I was and get me the room. I gave them all my information again and they told me everything would be fine.
I asked the lady on the phone three times if everything was going to be ok. She said yes. I told her that I did not want to drive 500 miles and find out I did not have a room to sleep in. She told me everything is fine.
I received another confirmation email. All systems were go.
We got in the car three days later, drove close to 500 miles, and things weren't ok when we got there: We did not have a room.
The people at the Best Western "Hibiscus" did not have a room for us and could not explain why. Mumbling something about credit cards not being cleared, not listening to me esplaining that I had received confirmations about 5 times, they did however offer us a room in their sister hotel across the street, which was the last one they had. Because it was Thursday night, around ten already and we were dead tired, we took it.
The lesson I learned out of this is two fold: Never trust hotel reservations. Call the hotel itself and make sure that they know who you are, when you're coming and how long you're staying.
The other part to it is that I am sick and tired of paying a premium for something that sucks just because it bears a franchise name as backing. Next time I will do as I used to and book a non-chain hotel. Even if it sucks at least I did not throw money down the throat of a big corporation.
At least smaller hotels care about their customers and want them to come back, which usually makes their service better anyway.
And besides, what is they point in going to a different place if the place your staying at looks just like a motel that you could have had a mile down the road in you're home city?
Posted at 01:31 EST Filed under:
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Total entries in this category: 112
Published On: Sep 20, 2003 02:06
Total entries in this category: 112
Published On: Sep 20, 2003 02:06