Musta Been the Wrong Place, Musta Been the Wrong Time
April 1, 2015 7:09 AM Subscribe
Travel error filter: Booked a ticket to the wrong place at the wrong time. Have prepaid hotel room in another location. Seeking solutions and ideas.
Going over to visit my daughter who is studying in Spain. She wanted to go to the Canary Island so I bought tickets Madrid to Tenerife non-refundable. I then booked rooms at the Sheraton La Caleta Resort again non-refundable. Did not know the Tenerife has 2 airports TFN in the north and TFS in the south which is mostly international travel. I booked my flight to TFN .TFN, it turns out, is about 100 Km's from my hotel. The plane gets in at 23:00, all public transportaion has ended and the rental car places seem like they are shut down too. The taxi fare is 120 Euros.
Feel stuck and need creative solutions to this problem, if any are to be found. Thanks in advance.
Going over to visit my daughter who is studying in Spain. She wanted to go to the Canary Island so I bought tickets Madrid to Tenerife non-refundable. I then booked rooms at the Sheraton La Caleta Resort again non-refundable. Did not know the Tenerife has 2 airports TFN in the north and TFS in the south which is mostly international travel. I booked my flight to TFN .TFN, it turns out, is about 100 Km's from my hotel. The plane gets in at 23:00, all public transportaion has ended and the rental car places seem like they are shut down too. The taxi fare is 120 Euros.
Feel stuck and need creative solutions to this problem, if any are to be found. Thanks in advance.
Book a cheap hotel within taxi distance of TFN airport, for that one night, sort yourself out in the morning?
posted by emilyw at 7:42 AM on April 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by emilyw at 7:42 AM on April 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
It's a Sheraton - can they move the booking to a different location? They get the money either way. Call and ask for a transfer.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:12 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:12 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Santa Cruz, the principal city of Tenerife is near TFN. Sheraton has a hotel there, switching one night must be doable but the car rental places must be used to people arriving late and have mechanisms for coping with this. TFN to Costa Adeje is a straightforward, if rather boring, drive along a good road.
posted by epo at 8:37 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by epo at 8:37 AM on April 1, 2015
Are you sure the rental places are closed? Most places at airports are open when there are flights coming in. Working this through the car rental places would be best if you plan to rent a car for your stay. If you just want to get to the resort and back, treat yourself to the cab. (From a quick search, it doesn't look like the public transport options from TFN to the resort are fabulous either, even when it's running.)
posted by zennie at 8:37 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by zennie at 8:37 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
Even if the tickets are non-refundable, they may be changeable with a change fee that could be less than a rental car or taxi.
Rental car companies do indeed have policies in place for late-arrival rentals.
posted by muddgirl at 9:06 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Rental car companies do indeed have policies in place for late-arrival rentals.
posted by muddgirl at 9:06 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
If it was me, I'd book a cheap hotel in Santa Cruz, having first made sure that the Sheraton La Caleta agreed in writing that they wouldn't cancel my reservation if I didn't check-in on the first night.
However, if that's not to your taste and the other suggested options (rental car / hotel swap) don't work out either, then it does seem like you might be able to get there that night without the 120 euro taxi fare. The 111 bus appears to go from the Santa Cruz Intercambiador (13km from TFN) at 2330 and 0015 and will take you to Estación Costa Adeje, which seems to be about 7.5km from the Sheraton La Caleta. So you'd need a taxi at the start and end of your bus journey (the latter you'd want to book in advance), but that should still be cheaper than a taxi for the whole distance.
Please get your daughter or another Spanish-speaker to check the above links, I might have missed something.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 9:24 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
However, if that's not to your taste and the other suggested options (rental car / hotel swap) don't work out either, then it does seem like you might be able to get there that night without the 120 euro taxi fare. The 111 bus appears to go from the Santa Cruz Intercambiador (13km from TFN) at 2330 and 0015 and will take you to Estación Costa Adeje, which seems to be about 7.5km from the Sheraton La Caleta. So you'd need a taxi at the start and end of your bus journey (the latter you'd want to book in advance), but that should still be cheaper than a taxi for the whole distance.
Please get your daughter or another Spanish-speaker to check the above links, I might have missed something.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 9:24 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
You might contact the hotel/resort and see if they can send a driver or arrange transportation. They might be able to assist.
posted by countrymod at 9:57 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by countrymod at 9:57 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you booked your plane ticket less than 24 hours ago, you may be able to cancel it without penalty (the airline won't make this obvious, of course).
Failing that, call the airline and/or hotel and explain your story, be super super nice and beg for them to help you. They might.
Also seconding others' suggestions about getting the Sheraton to move your first night to a closer Sheraton.
posted by sunflower16 at 6:20 PM on April 1, 2015
Failing that, call the airline and/or hotel and explain your story, be super super nice and beg for them to help you. They might.
Also seconding others' suggestions about getting the Sheraton to move your first night to a closer Sheraton.
posted by sunflower16 at 6:20 PM on April 1, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:11 AM on April 1, 2015