Thursday, January 26, 2012

Reserve -

the act of keeping back, withholding, or setting apart.

After leaving work one recent Friday afternoon I picked up a colleague and drove to Dallas.  We made fairly decent time, pulling into the Hyatt (Downtown Dallas) a little after 9:00 p.m.  It had been a long day and the next day promised to be longer, kicking off with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by an all-day conference, finished up with the four+ hour drive back to Houston.

Suffice it to say, we were tired and very much looking forward to good night's sleep.  I'd called the hotel the night before to confirm our reservation for two double beds, explaining that I was traveling with a colleague, arriving late and really needed two doubles, NOT a single king.

I was assured by the very friendly customer service representative that I didn't need to worry that my reservation was for a double and the room would be ready for us, regardless of how late we arrived. Just to be safe, I checked in online first thing in the morning.

(I'll bet you can see where this is going.)

However, when I checked in we were given a king.  At first we protested and were told that room type was a preference and they did not reserve specific room types.

(Yes, we were living a Seinfeld episode)

Apparently, all they could do for us was a roll-away.  When pressed the front desk associate explained that all she had available were Kings. So we decided to bite the bullet and take a second room.  Wait, no, they had no other rooms available, they were completely sold out.  At this point we were incredibly frustrated because she'd just said they had kings.  Fine, we'll take the roll-away.  (What else could we do.)

As we turned away from the desk, we ran into two fellow Houstonians attending the same conference.  While we regaled one of them with our tale of woe the other proceeded to check in and we heard her ask if she could switch her double for a king because her roommate had cancelled. Sure, the very helpful young man responded, no problem.  WAIT A MINUTE!  I thought there was  nothing available but Kings?  Sure enough, she was getting a double.  The gentleman helping her (actually helping her) quickly assess the rather volatile situation unfolding in front of him and had the rooms switched and new keys in our hands before we really knew what happened.

When confronted by this new set of facts the girl who swore there wasn't a double in the hotel just looked at us and then walked away.  Not that I blame her for that, what could she say. She'd just been caught flat out lying to us.

But, I will never set foot in that hotel again.  EVER. (Despite the fact that the management offered us a free upgrade for our next stay after we complained. A free night might have bought you another shot, but a free upgrade?  Hardly.)

2 comments:

Trix in the Stix said...

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... That would've pissed me off too!!

Rhonda Sloan said...

What hotel?? You should name them, repeatedly!