Hotel Hospitality?

This past weekend my family went out of town to Kerrville, TX to help celebrate the golden anniversary of good friends and mentors to my husband. Roughly one month prior we made a hotel reservation and placed the charge on a credit card. This is our experience...

Our philosophy with hotels has always been to forgo comfort for price. On any trip my husband and I have ever made out of town, the room we stayed in has only been used at night. We never hung out at a hotel. We were always out visiting friends, sightseeing, shopping, eating, celebrating, etc. and never had the need for resort living while on vacation. That being said, we still have standards. The room must be clean, smoke free and private. I want to be able to shut my curtains and be certain that no Peeping Toms are spying on me while I'm dressing. That's my husband's job.

My Take:

My husband found America's Best Value Inn online. The pictures portrayed the motel as being clean and modest. They had an outstanding score on their own website. Of course, it was America's Best Value Inn rating America's Best Value Inn. The room we looked at had two queen sized beds. A tight squeeze for two adults and three kids, but again, we would only be sleeping there for two nights. Plus, we had plans for the two days that we would be in town and had no need for a large room where everyone would need their space. According to the photos, it would a nice enough experience for my kids' first hotel stay. Not too fancy so as not to spoil them and not a dump either.

We left our home late in the evening on Friday and didn't arrive at our destination until nearly midnight. My husband was buzzed into the locked lobby with our confirmation sheet in hand. He was greeted by Gita, the front desk lady, and proceeded to find out that we didn't have a room. The reason given? The reservation line didn't send her the confirmation fax. It didn't matter that our name was in the system. It didn't matter that we had reserved the room nearly one month prior. It didn't matter that the company had my credit card information. It didn't matter that according the reservation agreement if we didn't accept the room, we owed the full price of the room. We didn't have a room. Unless we wanted a single bed. For five people. She didn't offer us two rooms to make up for the mistake. She didn't offer a future discount on a future stay. What we got instead was the opportunity to find another place to stay for the weekend at midnight on a Friday night.

In a situation like this, who do you blame? The business is blaming corporate for not sending them a faxed confirmation. What was the point of making the reservation online if the location you are going to doesn't get the confirmation? However, it was confirmed that our name was in the system. It seems to me that the reservation was made but somebody somewhere dropped the ball and no one wanted to take the blame. The result is a bad review from me. (And don't worry, I called the credit card company and so far, we have not been charged.)

Our next stop was Best Western which was right up the road. By now it was after midnight, the girls have to pee and my youngest is almost in tears because she is so tired. We took the advantage of the open lobby and all went inside. I took the girls to the bathroom while my husband inquired about a room. Again, only single rooms available. As we were walking out I asked the lady at the desk if there were any events going on this weekend. I thought it was a reasonable question considering no rooms were available. I have only one word for her. Manners. I realize that it was late and we came trooping in to use your restroom and (heaven forbid) ask for a room in your hotel, but when a person politely asks a question, respond in kind. Instead, without ever making eye contact, she very snootily, as if I were interrupting her life somehow, responded, "It's summer". Because those two words were supposed to mean something to us when we were not there as tourists, not that you would know that because you clearly could have cared less about us. Needless to say, I was happy not to give her my business either. Rudeness never prospers.

Our next stop was Holiday Inn Express and Suites. We let dad go in and handle the business again. Finally, some luck! Again, they only had single rooms available but we were able to get a suite at a slightly discounted rate because they were doing renovations. In the suite, we had two queen sized beds and one pull out couch. There are 28 reviews of this particular Holiday Inn on the website giving it an average rating of 4.1/5 stars. For our purposes, it was much better. The staff was friendly and accommodating. They even came back to give us fresh towels and change our sheets when we requested after house keeping had left for the day. The continental breakfast was pretty good, too. Fresh eggs, pancakes, pastries, juice, milk, coffee, cereal, oatmeal, sausage and biscuits were enough to impress the kids. Plus we had two tv's in the room, so no fighting over programs to watch. I think I may be converted to a higher standard when it comes to my hotel stays. I think I was spoiled and, sadly, my standards were never very high to begin with. I guess they will be now.

And so are my kids'. So much for not spoiling them.

The Verdict

America's Best Value Inn: 0/5 for losing our reservation and not trying to come up with a way to compensate us for the mistake. Instead they played a game of "Pass the Buck".

Best Western: 1/5 because even though I didn't have a reservation with them, I could have been swayed to book two singles rooms if the front desk clerk had been at all interested in our business.

Holiday Inn: 5/5 for being accommodating, fast and friendly. The room was beautiful and the renovations didn't interfere with our stay at all. In hindsight, a suite was a much better idea than a single room for my family. We all had a little space of our own and the girls didn't have to share a bed with their brother. A definite plus if you ask them.