Learned a lesson the hard way, hotel evacuation reservations

[parrothd]

I have read before not to use a certain hotel .com booking site, I did it anyway. Well guess what, I had two rooms in Houston for two nights, a confirmation #, prepaid with credit card (yes, the card was charged immediately). These rooms were booked on Monday lunch time, as we are walking out the door on Tuesday morning we get a call from the Hotel itself saying that they got our reservation from the .com site, the only problem was they sold us a room that did not exist. I called the .com site and they tried to locate us another room, but at this point everything was booked, they said "sorry" for our inconveince. Moral of the story is if you don't want to be stranded during a hurricane evacuation, call the hotel DIRECTLY, do not use a hotel .com reservation site!

[Lebowsky]

Thanks for the info, I have been booking my evacuation rooms through the Holiday Inn website and it worked pretty good. Spent a night in Orlando and got a free upgrade to a suite.

[Josephine96]

Sorry about that parrot..

[mascpa]

Sorry for your experience but thanks for sharing the info. I had never considered that but will certainly keep it in mind should I find myself in that situation.

[Jagno]

I'm sorry you went through this but if you need to evac again ask some of us here on the board to check our local hotels for you. We have so many newer hotels that sprung up from all the casino's and we could have led you to a nice one in a good area as easily as a phone number, who to speak with and directions to avoid the traffic jams. That's what board friends are for!

[KeyLargoDave]

Can you please clarify what the heck "a certain hotels .com site" means?

Do you mean hotels.com? Expedia? What? A general warning that you got screwed by an internet site is not really going to help anyone.

[parrothd]

I was trying not to explicitly mention them, thought it was obvious that it was Hotels.com.

[KeyLargoDave]

Thanks for the clarification. I might note that when I was trying to flee the Apalachicola area on Wednesday, the Motel 6 800-number person said there were no rooms at the one in Gainesville, but we called the hotel directly one minute later got reservations for two rooms, which were ready when we arrived.

BTW, another hug for Motel 6 for taking pets at all their locations, as mentioned in the Pets thread. We saw an amazing number of evacuees with pets this week. Another note: Tranquilizers from the vet are a good idea. For both dog and owner.

[parrothd]

I have contacted the Louisiana Attorney General's office, they said they would investigate, they wanted the confirmation numbers, hotel names, etc. Someone else posted this about Hotels.com on this board before Ivan, I guess I should have listened!

[janieb]

I found out that the websites are not updated information. Lots of times they show vacancy and there is no vacancy. I tried to book a room after checking the website that showed a vacancy but there were no rooms available. I called because I wanted to hear a real person and make sure before I start riding in a car 5 or 6 hours that I had a room to go to!

[dawgpound]

We visit a certain hotel every summer. The website in question asks up to $92.00. The kicker: every room in that hotel is $69.00!!!

[parrothd]

We didn't trust the web site either, we called hotels.com to book the reservation.

[yankeelmbb]

thought I'd put in my 2 cents here......early in the week of Frances my husband booked us Fri, Sat, and Sun nights at a hotel in Tampa on Hotels.com(we are in Melbourne). I did call the hotel themselves to reconfirm. On Thursday we decided to leave that night and I booked the room for Thursday night (2 DIFFERENT reservations) After spending the night there Thursday, my husband went to let the desk know that we were now switching to his reservation. Standing in line, he listened to the person behind the desk tell people with CONFIRMED PRE PAID RESERVATION....which they had until 6 PM to cancel be told that their rooms were already given away....RIOT IN THE LOBBY. They were trying to get them in other places but still....giving away rooms before the cancellation deadlines...how rude. I have to admit though...the hotel refunded us for the night we spent in the hotel without power...nice gesture I thought considering we expected that!!! Next time I do this I will go a day earlier and clain squaters rights.

[JoanFlorida]

FYI - I recently saw a morning show reporter talking about how hotels are no longer cooperating with accomodation-dot-coms as they did; that the hotels prefer consumers come to their sites and book directly with them.

I have been lucky in having reservations I've made through internet sites honored, but recently I experienced a HUGE difference in rates with Hilton St. Pete - expedia was $250 per night, actual rate directly through hotel, $89!!! Had to pay in advance, but so far so good!

I'm glad the attorney general is getting involved in your case...hope they nail 'em!

[wins]

We evacuated for Ivan..to me the best plan is to make a couple of reservations several days ahead of time to the north, and not in the direction of where any long bridges, etc..have to be crossed. Cancel the one that you feel is most unsafe the day you leave. I live in the Panhandle and have had great success with Holiday Inn. Also, most of them take pets, and if they don't, will usually be very accomodating in a serious emergency. Tifton, Georgia was especially great.

[FloridaDawn]

I also will never use any internet site to book a room. I used Expedia to book a hotel. It was a 2 bedroom suite in Naples, FL. for $149.00 a night. I thought wow, that 's a good price & I booked it. I decided to call the hotel myself and got it for $109.00 a night. That is a big difference. I cancelled the expedia one. It cost me $25.00 to cancel, but I still came out ahead. I learned my lesson!

[wxwatcher2]

I wonder what the big deal is to call a hotel in advance?
You know the dot com companies are trying to make a mice profit.

Me, I look up the hotel on the internet and call them.

[Ixolib]

I use hotel.com and others to search for availability, rates, etc. THEN, I call my chosen hotel directly and make the reservation. It's good advice everyone is giving to shy away from making reservations through a second party.

[birdwomn]

I usually work thru the hotel chain online then call to confirm the reservation in person once I have made it and again when I am ready to hit the road.

I have had the clerk at the desk book me for the "wrong days" and when I get there if I have proof from the online reservation sheet as well as my phone confirmations, they have found me a room in a town of "completely booked" rooms more than once.

[alicia-w]

We used the Best Western web site to book our room and called the hotel too to confirm that everything was copacetic. The people were very understanding and sympathetic. Didnt hurt that I was a TN girl and a UT fan... (It doesnt hurt to suck up where you can...)

We were told to expect some nasty weather in TN too but it didnt happen where we were in Sevierville. We are very grateful for all of those folks up there who made an unplanned vacation quite nice.