Right hotel, wrong room

Question: My family and I visited New York City last week. I prepaid for a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Manhattan for four guests. When I checked in, I was shocked to find that I not only had a smoking room, but also a king-size bed. Four people and one king-size bed! Also, I requested a non-smoking room, since I am allergic to smoke.

The hotel would not change our room nor would they put us in a different hotel. We were forced to stay there or we would have to pay for a three-day stay, as well as a $250 penalty for an early departure.

I called the corporate Holiday Inn number and they said everything was up to the hotel. I am in shock. Can you help? — Tammy Bowman, Huntsville, Ala.

Answer: If you asked for a non-smoking room for four guests, and the hotel confirmed it, then you should have gotten one.

I asked Holiday Inn to look at your reservation, and it showed that the room was originally booked as a so-called “flow through” room, meaning that no specific room type or smoking preference was assigned. “While the guest did list a total of four people and a king-size bed was originally assigned, it’s possible they may not have had the inventory to work with,” a spokeswoman told me.

When you make a reservation — even when you do it online, you’ve paid for it, and you have a confirmation — it never hurts to contact the hotel directly. A hotel employee can make a notation in your reservation that you’re traveling with four people and that you’re allergic to cigarette smoke, and you can also note the name of the employee you speak with.

If something goes wrong when you check in, you can say, “But I talked with one of your associates and explained the situation.”

The Holiday Inn Express shouldn’t have given you a “take-it-or-leave-it” ultimatum. (Actually, it was worse than that — it threatened to extract a $250 early departure fee.) Not only did they give you a room you didn’t reserve, but they’re also punishing you if you walk away from it.

Once you were at the hotel, you could have appealed to a manager. A brief, polite e-mail to Holiday Inn at the corporate level might have also been useful. Here’s the Web form where you can contact the company.

I’m not sure what happened during your stay, but the lines of communication weren’t exactly open. According to Holiday Inn’s records, the property offered you a different room the following evening, but you turned it down. If you’re allergic to cigarette smoke, why would you stay in a smoking room?

I contacted Holiday Inn on your behalf. In addition to the notations I’ve already mentioned, the hotel said it had no record of you contacting it to resolve this problem. It’s possible that you tried to call the property but a formal complaint never was registered. Try writing next time.

Holiday Inn credited you with 50,000 reward points, which is enough for a two-night stay at one of its hotels.

(Photo: Joisey showaa/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • john

    I know the exact hotel she stayed at, and the exact room she booked, and the hotel did nothing wrong, she booked a assaigned at check in room, and at that hotel, they say that 4 people can be in a king, she should have done a bit of searching on the hotels website before booking the room

  • Question

    We’ve all done these reservations where we don’t know the bed type until we arrive at the hotel. However, since when can four people stay in a room with one king bed? If four people are indicated on the reservation, there is an expectation of two (double) beds. I, personally, would never think to ask a hotel in advance if their rules state that a king bed is adequate for four people.

  • http://www.cutcat.com ChelseaGirl

    In this case, both parties are at fault. The customer didn’t do enough checking to make sure that her room would accommodate four people, which is particularly important when you pay in advance. It must have been a special Internet rate as that is usually the only time you have to prepay for a room at a chain hotel. Saying you reserved “for four guests” doesn’t mean you reserved a room with two beds. Whenever I make a reservation online, it is very clear what type of room I am reserving and how many beds it has; if it showed up as a “flow-through” room, that should have alerted her that she wasn’t guaranteed two beds.

    But the hotel still was at fault for giving her a room that was obviously not designed for four people and refusing to give her a refund, plus saying they would charge a fee. Just because you are technically correct according to the terms of the Website doesn’t mean you are being ethically correct. Whoever was working the front desk was just being an ***hole. I will seriously think twice about staying at a Holiday Inn in the future if a $250 early departure fee is their standard policy; I was not aware of that. I wonder if that is disclosed anywhere on their Website? I wouldn’t bet on it.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Question – “We’ve all done these reservations where we don’t know the bed type until we arrive at the hotel.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
    I don’t. I don’t do “Room selected at Check-In” reservations. I don’t make hotel reservations at an opague site Hotwire, Priceline, etc. because I want to know the hotel so that I can check it out at the review sites before making a reservation. When I make my hotel reservations, I make sure that my smoking\non-smoking preference is guaranteed and usually my my bed type (i.e. king, king with a sofa bed, two queens, etc.). If I need a guaranteed bed type, I will book at a Marriott property since I am guaranteed a bed type given my elite status with them.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ ChelseaGirl – “But the hotel still was at fault for giving her a room that was obviously not designed for four people and refusing to give her a refund, plus saying they would charge a fee.”
    - – - – - – - – - – -
    It wasn’t disclosed but I am assuming that Tammy Bowman was traveling with her husband and two children. It wasn’t disclosed if there was a sofa bed in the room which will handle the two children (or two adults). It seems like the top issue to Mrs. Bowman was that the room was non-smoking.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *
    @ ChelseaGirl – “I will seriously think twice about staying at a Holiday Inn in the future if a $250 early departure fee is their standard policy; I was not aware of that. I wonder if that is disclosed anywhere on their Website? I wouldn’t bet on it.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - -
    Mrs. Bowman had a pay-in-advance non-refundable non-changeable reservation and if she left early, she would have forfeited the nights that she paid for in advance in return for the cheapest rate. The terms for a pay-in-advance non0refundable non-chargeable reservation are fully disclosed on their website and you have to check off a box.

    Personally, I think that the hotel chains should get rid of these pay-in-advance non-refundable non-changeable reservations because there are too many inexperienced travelers out there that don’t read the terms regardless of the disclosures, check boxes; these travelers think that the hotels won’t enforce the terms; etc. These hotels came out with this type of reservations to compete with Hotwire, Hotel.com, Priceline, etc. but I don’t think it is worth dealing with the hassles from these inexperienced travelers.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    It is common for hotels to offer rooms with “Room selected at Check-In” with the rates for these rooms to be lower than specific room (i.e. king, 2 queens, etc.) rates. Sometimes the rates are the same. This week, I booked a room at a Hilton property and the rate difference was $ 8.00 per night between “Room selected at Check-In” and 1 King Bed. I went with the higher rate because I am arriving late. Even if I was arriving early (i.e. 2 PM, 3 PM, etc.), I would have still went with the higher rate because you don’t know if the hotel has small float of new rooms coming available for the day.

    If you travel a lot, it does make sense to join a hotel frequent guest program. As a Platinum Marriott Rewards member, I have a guaranteed room type benefits (bed types and smoking/non-smoking preferences) and reimbursement will be provided if my room type isn’t honored.

    Why stay at hotel where smokers (or smoke residue or smoke haze) could be in the hallways, lobby, restaurant, elevators, etc? There are some hotel chains (i.e. Marriott) that are 100% smoke free. My wife is allergic to smoke; therefore, we stay at 100% smoke free. This can be a challenge when traveling outside of the US.

    Chris made a good point of contacting the hotel. I do this on a regular basis if I have a special request, check to see if their airport shuttle is still running when I arrive at the airport, etc. However, you should contact the hotel BEFORE making your reservation especially if you have a non-refundable reservation like Mrs. Bowman.

    It seems like Mrs. Bowman isn’t an experienced traveler. My recommendation would have been for her to use a brick & mortar travel agent to book her hotel room in NYC. Before all of the anti-travel agents posters post your comments that you don’t need a travel agent to book a hotel room, I agree with you that you don’t need a travel agent to book a hotel room IF you know what you are doing. Just because the room rate is the lowest doesn’t make it the best rate for you.

    There would have been a good chance that the brick & mortar travel agent would have explained the risks (i.e. getting sick before leaving; arriving a day late due to missing your flight; mechanical problem with the car or plane; a terrible hotel; etc.) of having a pay-in-advance non-refundable non-changeable reservation. Also, travel agent probably would have explained the risks of having a ‘room selected at check-in’ reservation.

    Mrs. Bowman probably would have spent more money (a higher room rate for a guaranteed room type and more flexibility, a possible travel agent commission, etc) if she dealt with a travel agent but her experience would have been much better. In addition, she could have considered this extra money as tuition of becoming an independent traveler that won’t need a travel agent in the future.

    On the flip side, there was a possibility that Mrs. Bowman knew the risks of having a pay-in-advance non-refundable non-changeable reservation and a “Room selected at Check-In” reservation but she was taking a gamble but it didn’t pay off.

    “It’s possible they may not have had the inventory to work with,”
    - – - – - – - – – -
    That is a strong possibility given that last week had Memorial Day weekend. Even if inventory had a non-smoking room with two beds but another guest who had a reservation for a non-smoking room with two beds that paid more or there was an elite Priority Club member that paid the same rate for a non-smoking room with two beds, I would have give it to the guest that paid more or the elite Priority Club member over the Bowmans.

    “Not only did they give you a room you didn’t reserve.”
    - – - – - – - – - – – -
    She had a ‘room selected at check-in’ reservation and she was given a room from the available inventory. Did Mrs. Bowman send you a copy of her reservation and it had a confirmation of a non-smoking room with two beds on it? If she did and it confirmed that she had a non-smoking room with two beds then shame on the Holiday Inn! It is my guess that she didn’t and it is my guess that her reservation had a statement of “Room to be assigned at checked”, “Room preferences are not guaranteed” (Rio Casino & Hotel, Las Vegas), “Your room type preferences have been submitted with your reservation, and are subject to hotel availability” (Hilton Hotels) and etc.

    “…it threatened to extract a $250 early departure fee.”
    - – - – - – - – -
    She had a pay-in-advance non-refundable non-changeable reservation and that was the terms. Personally, I think that the hotel chains should get rid of these pay-in-advance non-refundable non-changeable reservations because there are too many inexperienced travelers out there that don’t read the terms regardless of the several check boxes, etc. These hotels came out with this type of reservations to compete with Hotwire, Hotel.com, Priceline, etc. but I don’t think it is worth dealing with the hassles from these inexperience travelers.

    I think that Holiday Inn was very generous with its compensation of 50,000 points (two-night stay). My advice to Holiday Inn is to get rid of its ‘Pay-in-Advance Non-Refundable Non-Changeable Room Selected at Check-In’ reservations.

    Personally, I would have told Mrs. Bowman that we don’t have a non-smoking room with two beds and we will credit your credit card for the amount of her pre-payment.

  • Carver

    I disagree with John and Chelsea. By definiton, certain configurations have limits as to the number of people that it can sleep. No one expects more than 2 adults in a single bed regardless of the size.

    If the hotel permits a booking with “x” people, then one reasonable expects that the room holds “x” people under normal circumstances. No further checking is warranted on the part of the guest.

    @John

    How exactly does a room with only one king bed accomodate 4 people absent addiitonal sleeping areas.

  • Kathyj

    The early departure penalty makes no sense. They’d already paid for the room; if they chose not to use it, why should the motel penalize them?

    Regarding prepaid online reservations: I’ve gotten right to the final “do you really want to commit to this” screen and opted to look for another hotel when I read that the type of room (number of beds) was not guaranteed. I don’t mind sharing a room with my (male) cousin, but I won’t share a bed. Just last month we went to my son’s graduation in Atlanta; I kept checking around online until I found a hotel in the area that would guarantee us two beds (Hotel Midtown Atlanta, if you’re interested).

    It doesn’t seem like it ought to be that big a deal technology-wise for hotels to handle this online. They know in advance how many of each type of room they have, and if someone needs a particular kind and there’s one available, it should be guaranteed for them. Those who don’t care either way can share in the pool of what’s left when they arrive.

  • Carver

    @Arizona

    I agree with most of your comments. I’m not sure though why you assume the OP is an inexperienced traveler. Prepaid rooms don’t necessarily suggest inexperience to me. I agree that I would be very hard pressed to prepay a room except under very unusual circumstances. But many experienced travelers use them, as well as hotwire and priceline.

    And for the record, I wouldn’t advise a travel agent . Mostly because I don’t see what the OP did wrong. Even a room selected at check in should be able to accomodate the listed number of guests.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Kathyj – “It doesn’t seem like it ought to be that big a deal technology-wise for hotels to handle this online.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - -
    I went to the Holiday Inn website and selected each of the four Holiday Inn Express hotels in the Manhattan. I entered two adults and two children as well as four adults…the room search results show only rooms of all reservations types (i.e. AAA, pre-payment non-refundable and non-changeable rate, Discount Rate, Best Flexible Rates, etc.) with two beds only.

    The only time that rooms with one-bed only or ‘Standard Room’ (your room will be assigned at arrival) appeared in my search was when I used my Priority Club profile which is set to ‘King bed’ and one Adult.
    The standard room has the disclosure of “WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE HOTEL WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO MEET YOUR SMOKE FREE BED AND ROOM TYPE PREFERENCE THESE ARE SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED”.

    If you entered the correct numbers of adults and children on the Holiday Inn website, it will return rooms that will sleep that many individuals.

    It is my guess that either the hotel was out of non-smoking rooms with 2 beds (which it will be disclose in red bold type letters in the room search results and show alternative room types) or Mrs. Bowman didn’t entered the correct information for the number of adults and children and a Standard Room appear as one of the room choices.

    I made several hotel reservations last week and one was at a Holiday Inn Express. The confirmation shows the Room Type; Number of Rooms; Number of Nights and Person(s). I would really like to see what was on Mrs. Bowman’s confirmation that will tell where the problem was.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Carver – “I’m not sure though why you assume the OP is an inexperienced traveler. Prepaid rooms don’t necessarily suggest inexperience to me.”
    - – - – - – -
    There are risks with prepaid rooms as well as risks when selecting a ‘Standard Room’ (a room will be assigned at arrival). An experienced traveler will understand these risks and accept the consequences if the bed type and\or smoking\non-smoking preference is\are not available instead of complaining about it.

    An experienced traveler would have contacted the hotel before making the reservation or in advance about the room type if it was available.

    An experienced traveler would have asked to speak with the manager.

    An experienced traveler that is allergic to cigarette\cigar smoke would have made sure that he\she would have a non-smoking room.

    @ Carver – “I agree that I would be very hard pressed to prepay a room except under very unusual circumstances. But many experienced travelers use them, as well as hotwire and priceline.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - –
    The prepay room rates at the Holiday Inn Express hotels that I looked at in my search, the discount was only 5% from the AAA Rate and the Discount Rate. For me, that is too small of a discount for the risks that I will be assuming. If it was 50% discount that will be a different story.

    @ Carver – “And for the record, I wouldn’t advise a travel agent . Mostly because I don’t see what the OP did wrong. “
    - – - – - – - – - – -
    Based upon my testing of the Holiday Inn website, I think that she didn’t entered the correct number of guests or the hotel was out of non-smoking rooms with 2 beds and she didn’t see red bold print of “No rooms exactly matching your preferences were found. The following room types are available:” or understood it or what a Standard Room was. Plus she didn’t do anything that an experienced traveler would have done (i.e. speak with the manager; contact the hotel in advance; etc.)

    @ Carver – “Even a room selected at check in should be able to accommodate the listed number of guests. “
    - – - – - – - – - – -
    I agreed. I have stayed in many rooms where there was a king bed and a sofa bed…it was disclosed in the article if there was a sofa bed in the room. As I commented earlier, I would have told Mrs. Bowman that we don’t have a non-smoking room with two beds and we will credit your credit card for the amount of her pre-payment.

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  • Mary Graham

    I guess I’m simple minded but I see this as purely a customer service opportunity to do the right thing, regardless if the customer is at fault for not checking…and checking…and checking. One little ole “Oh dear, 4 to a king sized bed?! That simple will not do, I’m sure we have a room available with 2 double beds.” That simple. It would have gone a long way with this customer and I’m sure instead of relaying to the world how awful Holiday Inn Express/Manhattan is, the opposite would now be true.

  • Bill

    You know, when I make a reservation and it doesn’t say “non smoking room guaranteed”, I end up staying elsewhere. I make sure that the hotels I stay at do what is important to me.

    That said, I end up paying more money I think. I don’t use those obscure sites and I book directly on the hotel web site.

    I figure if people “do not accept” a reservation that says they will “try” to get you a non smoking room, it will encourage them to smarten up.

    If you’re getting a cheap room at a cheap rate in a cheap chain that does not guarantee non snoking or bed type, you’re taking a risk…

    Sorry to see it got to be a bad experience. I went to New York last fall with my wife and we had a good experience. I bet our hotel bill was a lot higher though.

  • John

    @carver

    I agree with you, but its the hotels policy, not my idea.

  • Steve

    Regarding the comment that “at that hotel, they say that 4 people can be in a king”: surely you realize how ridiculous your logic sounds. Because the hotel states that they’ll allow totally wrong-headed bookings (like 4 people in a king bed room), they’re absolved of all responsibility in situations like these? No reasonable person would expect that 4 people would intentionally book a room with 1 king bed. Period.

    Regarding the $250 early departure fee: that’s totally unconscionable and should be illegal, because that fee would have been ON TOP OF the full price of the 3-night reservation (since it was prepaid). Why on earth should a hotel be allowed to charge an early departure fee if the room has been fully paid for in advance? The hotel *benefits* from an early departure since it can potentially re-rent the room or at the very least save a bit of work in cleaning it. (FYI, that fee must have been the policy of the particular hotel rather than the chain. I just returned from a stay at another property affiliated with the Holiday Inn brand and the early departure fee there would have been only $100 – and my reservation was not prepaid/nonrefundable, so it’s understandable they’d try to recover some money if I left early).

    As to the subject of getting the room you requested, I’ve never considered the disclaimer that room preferences are not guaranteed to give the hotels carte blanche to do something stupid like put four people in a room with one king bed.

  • http://www.allseasonhotels.net discount hotel booking

    Who is now telling the truth? Who is at fault? But for me, Holiday Inn should have delivered an excellent customer service. It should have delighted Mr. Bowman right from the start of the booking.

  • hotel employee

    I do not agree with any of you. I have worked for many hotels 3, 4 and 5 star hotels. All hotels do their best to accommodate all requets. The only thing hotels cannot foresee is the stupidity of people. If you are so cheap as to book ONE hotel room for 4 ADULTS, book a run of the house, because it was probably cheaper than actually booking a specific room type, and then arrive at the hotel expecting the hotel to bump people who actually had the common sense to book the actual room type they needed, just to accommodate your stupidity? well, I think you got what you deserve and should feel grateful the chain gave you undeserved points.

  • Sherrybaby92

    The hotel is not at fault in this situation.  The room she selected on the website was their “flow-through” room.  The description is simply, “standard room”.  It further states in this description that there are no guarantees on what room type will be given at check-in.  There is a method to this perceived madness.  The Holiday Inn chain uses this “standard” room type in situations when the hotel is nearing capacity.  It enables a guest to still reserve a room.  Here’s a scenario that explains it better:  A guest wants to stay Friday and Saturday night at a hotel.  This hotel only has King rooms or Double rooms.  On Friday, they have 5 Double rooms available, but no King rooms.  On Saturday, they have 5 King rooms available and no double rooms.  So – for the two nights, they do indeed have 5 rooms available each night.  If a guest tries to reserve a King for two nights, they will be turned away and the hotel will lose the sale.  Same goes if the guest tries to reserve a Double for two nights.  The “standard” room type is in place to not only protect the hotel from losing a sale, but to enable the guest to get into the hotel.  Upon the day of arrival, the front desk is able to shift room types to accommodate everyone.  This system works and rarely causes an upset.  The reason it does work, is because the guest is informed that no room type is guaranteed.  If the guest does their part and reads the description, then they must be prepared to receive a room that may not be their first choice.  True, the guest entered the number of guests occupying the room, but her doing that does not in any way change the availability situation at the hotel.  I would recommend that in the future, she does NOT select the “standard room” if she has to have two beds.  If the hotel does not offer a double room to the guest, then they are indeed letting her know it is not available.  Furthermore, the advance purchase rate offers a discount WITH a catch that is clearly stated.  There is no refund for this room.  It is quite common for guests to overlook the fine print and then blame the hotel for their inconvenience.