Nothing "deluxe" or "king" about it.

June 1, 2006 9:53 AM

I prepaid for a "Deluxe King Room" but got a standard double. The hotel claimed no DKRs were available, and gave me three days of free valet parking instead. Should I make a stink about this after the fact?

The Gory Details: My traveling companion and I were looking forward to spending Memorial Day weekend in a luxury hotel's Deluxe King Room that we prepaid for using one of the big online travel sites.

I immediately returned to the front desk when we saw the double room they assigned us, and was politely told the room we paid for wasn't available. Sorry. No way. We're all booked up. It's really the fault of the travel site anyway, but would three days of free valet parking help?

I accepted the valet parking (which may have been foolish, since street parking was plentiful and free during the holiday weekend). And my companion and I spent the next three nights in separate beds.

During our stay we didn't see too many other guests, and no one but a cleaning lady on our floor. When we returned I called the travel site and they said the hotel should have given us the room we paid for -- that our receipt was a "guarantee" -- and if this ever happens again, call us immediately. Here's a $25 travel voucher for your next trip.

My questions: Did the hotel bump us for someone who paid more for the same room? Was something else going on? Is this worth writing the hotel company -- who makes a big deal about their customer service and satisfaction -- to complain about? Or did I make my bed by accepting the valet parking? Would a $20 tip have greased the wheels?

I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Otherwise the staff was very courteous and attentive. But the whole thing still irks me. Am I going into righteous consumer advocacy mode over nothing? (And yeah, I realize this is a "good" problem to have.)

posted by CMichaelCook to travel & transportation (18 comments total)

Seems to me if you accepted the offer of valet parking, you tacitly (or not so tacitly) accepted the hotel's terms, and it would be inappropriate for you to raise a fuss. Had you not accepted their offer, you'd have a leg to stand on, but you don't, now, really.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:56 AM on June 1, 2006

yeah, you should never have accepted that. hotels are usually all about service, and live and die on reviews; if you had made even a minor stink about it at the time, i bet you could have got upgraded to whatever suite was available. but as above - you took their offer, i don't think it'd be ethical to complain now. write a letter if you like, and maybe get another voucher or two, but what do you want at this point? you've already checked out.
posted by luriete at 9:58 AM on June 1, 2006

It doesn't hurt to write a polite letter to the President/CEO of the hotel company expressing your situation. You might be surprised by his/her response.
posted by ericb at 10:00 AM on June 1, 2006

I've been reading more and more about this sort of thing happening when people pre-book using Travelocity, Orbitz, or other big sites. It might be worth making a stink about it as a means of letting the hotel know that future pre-booked folks won't accept it, if that makes any sense.

That is, I think you're out of luck and shouldn't try to get anything more, but it might be worth writing to the booking site, the hotel management, and maybe consumer rights groups or sites to raise awareness that this is unacceptable.
posted by occhiblu at 10:02 AM on June 1, 2006

Trash them on tripadvisor.com.
posted by StarForce5 at 10:07 AM on June 1, 2006

This happened to me as well. Who cares if you took the voucher? They put you in a bad spot and created difficulties for you. Raise a holy stink. I booked a hotel in Paris for a rendezvous with the lady, and they gave us a room with 2 single beds when I asked for a queen! Of course, they claimed there was no guarantee that I'd get a double bed, but a quick call to the website took care of that nonsense. They do it because they think they can get away with it. They want the best of both worlds, but they shouldn't sign on to these travel websites if they can't honor their reservations.
posted by lovejones at 10:13 AM on June 1, 2006

Ooh, yeah, never accept their first offer. They'll do whatever's cheapest to try and make you happy, and valet parking really costs them nothing.

Your response at the time should have been:
"I think that's unacceptable. I booked here specifically for that room and because of the service that you advertise. I'm receiving neither, and you're ruining my vacation. Please find me a room at or above the level I booked, or find me a room equivalent to your Deluxe King at your nearest competitor."

We were staying at Beaches in Santa Monica once, and when they didn't have a room available for us they booked us down the street at a five-star hotel and paid for a limo to transport us down the block. That's the kind of service you should expect from a luxury hotel.
posted by SpecialK at 10:25 AM on June 1, 2006

It's very important that you figure out whose fault this was. Did the hotel guarantee you a room and not fulfill it, or did the third-party site goof up and offer you a room that the hotel didn't have? Working in customer service, there's few things more irritating than someone complaining to me about something that wasn't our fault and we couldn't have possibly prevented.

If the fault does lie with the hotel, I don't think you'd be right to complain to them further. They tried to remedy the solution, and you accepted. I hate when people complain to me after the fact, because there's nothing I can do to actually fix the problem. I do agree with ericb, though: a polite letter to the management of the hotel chain might be in order, explaining that your trip really wasn't that enjoyable due to the screw-up.

If the fault lies with the site you booked at, however, you should raise a stink until they can make it right. (If it is the fault of the site, a polite letter to the hotel is also in order, this time thanking them for helping to remedy a problem that wasn't theirs.)

I don't think it's right to complain to people like the BBB or to post negative reviews at this point.
posted by fogster at 10:25 AM on June 1, 2006

I think you should still politely complain. 3 days of valet parking is really only worth the inconvenience of initially having to get into a double when you booked deluxe, and having to go downstairs to sort things out when you should have started having a nice vacay right away. The truth of the matter is, you probably won't vacation with them again, and they should have the chance to change your mind.
posted by visual mechanic at 10:31 AM on June 1, 2006

We're all booked up. It's really the fault of the travel site anyway

wrong ... the travel site or agency still has to confirm the reservations with the hotel ... they weren't telling you the truth

Did the hotel bump us for someone who paid more for the same room?

doubt it ... one of three things happened ... they overbooked that kind of room ... some motels and hotels are notorious for overbooking their rooms ... or there was a guest who had been staying there for a few days, or even weeks and they didn't want to move him ... or the room could have been trashed

Would a $20 tip have greased the wheels?

not at most places ... that's something that happens in the movies, not real life ... if they said they didn't have a room available, they probably didn't

they probably don't have that many deluxe king rooms, but quite a few other cheaper rooms

my suggestions ... eliminate the middleman and make the reservations directly ... that way someone at the hotel is directly responsible

you could have had the clerk call around to see if other hotels in the area had equivalent accomodations ... if the hotel had been thoroughly booked, they would have been obligated to do that for you

and by all means, write the company
posted by pyramid termite at 10:35 AM on June 1, 2006

Back in January, my bride-to-be and I checked into a 5-star resort on one of the Caribbean islands. The room we booked had been given up to someone attending a conference at the same resort. In exchange for not honoring our original reservation they upgraded us to a nicer room, but the hitch was the room had two queen sized beds in it, not one king-sized bed. They did this even though they knew we were having our wedding there at their resort and spending the first night of our marriage there before flying to a different island for our honeymoon.

Of course, I threw a fit and demanded they give us the best room they had with a king-sized bed. They were not abe to accommodate and we were forced to accept the room with two queen beds. The only reason I did not complain further was because we got a much nicer room with an amazing view for the price of a cheaper room. The fact there was 2 beds instead of one was just a major annoyance, but one I felt they should never have put us through. It's these kinds of mistakes a 5-star resort should never make when you are paying upwards of $400/night for a deluxe room.
posted by camworld at 12:08 PM on June 1, 2006

I've worked on an online reservation system for a major hotel chain and they specifically told us that they do absolutely nothing with the bed preference information except store it as just that: a preference. Same goes for smoking/non-smoking. This particular chain, at least, did not validate that availability against the actual property at all.

Their reasoning is that most reservations are not locked in and can be cancelled before or on the actual start date. They take the risk that they might overbook, knowing that most people will happily accept an overall room upgrade over a bed preference. You should always negotiate for whatever compensation seems fair to you, but to answer the original poster: nothing weird was going on, they just overbooked.
posted by nev at 12:24 PM on June 1, 2006

I booked our honeymoon well in advance through expedia. We picked a hotel offering a free honeymoon room upgrade to the nicest ocean view if you bought the next lowest package. I waited and received the reservation and package confirmation. All was well.

We arrived at the hotel to be told they would not honor the reservation upgrade due to overbooking -- ignore that this was completely offseason, that we booked months in advance, and had a confirmation -- and would we please shut up and go to our room with a "partial view" -- which really barely qualified, once we saw it.

The terrible thing is I would've gladly paid the upgrade (and was prepared to do so EARLIER if I hadn't gotten a confirmation), it was reasonable, but they had nothing available at the time. I had assumed the reservation confirmation guaranteed the upgrade package and was left angry at both Expedia and the hotel.
posted by empyrean at 12:29 PM on June 1, 2006

Speaking as a former Front Desk Clerk:

I worked at a Fine Hotel in the days before the rise of Internet Travel sites, and it was that hotel's policy (I believe industry standard) that bed size/number was only a stated preference of the guest and was in no way a guarantee.
That said, if the Travel website you booked through DID guarantee a king bed, it was up to THEM to deliver - you should have called the website CSR line.

Also, in three years of working the front desk, NO ONE ever attempted to actually bribe me for special treatment/upgrades. I found this very disappointing. I had a good deal of de facto latitude on upgrading guests, and if you had discretely slipped ME a 20, you would certainly have been upgraded into whatever King-bed suites were available. YMMV.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 1:05 PM on June 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

Nev and BLB are right. I worked at a front desk for quite a while, and many times had to explain to people why their "guaranteed non-smoking first-floor poolside handicapped access king bed" or some such thing wasn't available. It was occupied, or out of service. Simple enough. From the infantile tantrums that adult-appearing people threw in the lobby, you'd think we were expected to have a construction crew on standby to build whatever they wanted on the spot.

The only thing a hotel can attempt to manage is the total number of rooms and guests, and due to many variables *that* often fails. People overstay their reservations, and incoming guests expect staff to kick them out. Which is worse customer service; redirecting or reassigning an incoming guest, or booting someone who has already settled in and whose travel plans have changed?

Staff will make every attempt to fulfill requests and preferences such as bed type, smoking, etc., but many travelers could avoid unneccessary aneurysms if they just understood that there is no such thing as a particular reserved & guaranteed room. At the end of the night, when some reservations are no-shows, walk-ins are lined up, and some guests have stayed over, just be nice to the staff and they'll get you the best compromise they can.
posted by Tubes at 3:05 PM on June 1, 2006

Another veteran of the hotel business here. I worked in reservations for two chains and the only rooms we would ever guarantee is a handicap room. Everything else was on a request basis. I supervised reservations staff and we instructed people that any requests are just that requests. That was pre-web, but the hotels I stay in usually have language to that effect. Sites like Expedia and Travelocity need to better message that -- especially on their pre-paid deals. Most of those reservations come across as ROH [run of house] so you get what they have left.

I worked in a major hotel in Las Vegas and there were rooms in the towers and the old 50s motel style that had a nice moldy funk to them. The only way for a non-casino guest to get a room in the towers was to pay the highest rate. He still could get a room in the motel section. It depended on inventory and attitude.

Oh, the memories I have of people wanting me to guarantee adjoining rooms [where they share a wall], connecting rooms [where there's a door between] or adjacent [nearby]. I could make the request in the system. The front desk read those requests when blocking rooms that day and would try to accommodate them all.

The front desk clerk has a lot of latitude in determining your fate. You can pay the lowest rate and get the best room. Or pay full price and get the shittiest room in the dump.

If they had given all of the "deluxe" (whatever that means) king rooms away, then you're stuck with what they give you. If it is a multiple night stay, sometimes you can change rooms the next day. The hotel hates that, but will comply to keep you happy.

When assigning rooms the desk clerk will look at the rate as a factor in assigning the room. The saps that pay full rack rate will get the better rooms from inventory. The people that are on the cheapest rate will get something less. The people traveling on pre-paid reservations from wholesalers [like from expedia or other travel sites] might get better rooms depending on the deal they have with the hotel.

In your case, you should raise a stink with the reservations site since it contracted with the hotel. You paid the reservations site so if there's a refund of the price between the standard and deluxe rooms it will come from them. If you do write to the hotel directly, you can expect nothing more than a mea culpa, sorry that happened, we promise it won't happen again when you come back. They'll probably offer a discounted rate as a carrot to get you back. If you don't plan on staying there again, it isn't worth much. The reservation you make will probably be handled through the GM's office and as such you will get what you want. The "VIP" code in the computer means your room is blocked early and they'll hold it all night.

My advice for hotels is to heed the advice of others above -- realize that everything in the room is on a request basis and expect that. Many hotels will offer the same room at various rates and use silly descriptors like "deluxe" or "superior" which don't mean much. It is marketing and yield management. If the higher priced room doesn't have specifics like ocean front or minisuite, always take the lowest price room.

Join the frequent stay programs if you travel a lot [worthless if you book through aggregators and wholesalers]. It takes forever to get points for rewards, but you are treated slightly better than the riffraff off the street. And if things go wrong, they can give you points to make you feel better.

If it is an important occasion, call the hotel ahead and speak to the manager about accommodating your requests. I'll email hotels in advance about things like wireless internet and am surprised there's a fruit basket in my room when I check in.

Many people in the hospitality industry really do enjoy providing a great service and helping you enjoy your stay but it takes a little work to reach those people. And when you're at the front desk be kind and the person will help you get the best room they have. I've stayed in some amazing suites and paid the standard room rate just because of how the interaction at the front desk went.
posted by birdherder at 4:12 PM on June 1, 2006

Don't book hotel rooms through a web site if the details of the booking are important to you. You'll be at the bottom of the class hierarchy when management is deciding who they have to screw because they overbooked. Once you're in a situation where you're not going to get the room type you wanted negotiate for something else that you want. Be polite and reasonable. The front desk person wants to make you happy but isn't going to change their minds about giving you the room type you reserved. Free meals should be easy. Free parking is useless since you're going to have to tip anyway. A iron clad promise to upgrade you the next day is might be useful if you're lucky.

Tips are grease for future problems but not very useful for getting the wheels moving on a problem you're already in.
posted by rdr at 11:58 PM on June 1, 2006

perhaps the business has changed since i was in it in the 80s ... the budget motel i worked at was very good at seeing that people who reserved for a room with 2 beds got a room with 2 beds ... i can't tell you how many times people who had reservations at other motels ended up at mine because they'd been overbooked ... it's an industry wide problem

things like connecting rooms, ground floor rooms, smoking/non smoking are a lot harder to guarantee although it should be possible if circumstances permit and the manager or desk clerk knows what he's doing ... if we had them free, we would hold them ... but at least, if we didn't have them free, we could tell people that

there are chains that treat their customers honestly and chains that don't ... it's been 15 years since i was a desk clerk and can't tell you which ones, but you definitely want to do business with the honest ones

always call the hotel or motel directly so you can talk to those who are actually going to be assigning the rooms ... at the least, if they can't do something for you, they'll let you know over the phone and not when you get there
posted by pyramid termite at 1:34 AM on June 2, 2006