I recently booked a 2 night stay in this hotel on Priceline.com. I was very excited that I was able to get such a nice hotel at such a reasonable price and my wife and I were excited for a weekend away from home.
We drove to Columbus on Friday evening Oct. 14 and after visiting with some relatives we headed to the hotel. I approached the front desk and was dismayed to hear that the hotel was overbooked and that they did not have a room for us. They said they were very sorry for the inconvenience and offered us a room at the closest hotel on them. I was very satisfied to learn that this was a Hyatt, so, again, I was excited. They then preceded to tell me that on Saturday I would have to check out of the Hyatt and Check back in to the Doubletree. This is where I'm concerned.
I made a reservation to check into a hotel room on Friday and check out on Sunday. This is a reservation I made and paid for under the assumption that I would have access to a hotel room from Friday night until sunday morning WITHOUT INTERRUPTION. I checked into the Hyatt and called priceline's customer service to see if they could help me. They told me that I would have to call in the morning and talk to someone in hotel services.
The next morning (after a pleasant night at the Hyatt)I spoke to a gentleman with Priceline that quickly refunded me for the previous night as my reservation had not technically been honored, even though I had called and confirmed the reservation on Thursday.
Priceline also agreed to speak to the Doubletree regarding my situation. I was counting on my hotel room as I did not want to have to leave all of my luggage in the car as I was out in the city all day. The doubletree told Priceline that they would definitely have a room for me that night and I could check in any time after 3pm. I thanked Paul for his help.
The Hyatt told me I had to be out by Noon which was fine as I was planning on leaving the hotel around 10am. I called the doubletree to see if they could find a room for me now so that I could unpack and have access to a shower. They again told me that I would definitely have a room, but I had to wait until 3pm.
I was forced to check out of the Hyatt pack my belongings back in the car and head all the way back to my family's house on the North Side of town to park my belongings for the day. I ended up not even heading back to the hotel that night as I already had my belongings at family's house 20 miles north of town. So i crashed there for the night.
Basically I feel that if a reservation is guaranteed for a Friday through a Sunday. One should not be forced to pack up and change rooms. It's a good thing that I wasn't in dire need of a room between Noon and Three or I would have been making much more noise instead of quietly waiting to vent until I returned home. I am very dissatisfied with the way that the Doubletree handles these types of situations. They should have been more prudent and only bumped individuals that were booking one night stays as this would have avoided situations of unhappy travelers. I would be thrilled to get this type of upgrade if it covered my entire stay.
I just wanted ONE room to stay in during my trip. That's why I booked one room for two nights and not two rooms each for one night.