Portofino Bay Hotel not for this man

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

I booked a eight day, seven night vacation, the first night at Portofino the next five at the Hard Rock and the Last at Port Orleans(trip report to follow) We paid in advance, we received a comformation for our rooms, the money was taken from my credit card. When we arrived at the PBH to start our first Universal vacation(always a Disney guy) we were rudely treated by a check in clerk who would not tell us why we didn't have a room, we were given a form letter by an asst front desk mgr who said they were over booked and would relocate us to a hotel 15 minutes off site. I advised him that was not an option I had a room that I paid for so I was booked to stay there. He then said we can not kick people out of their room if they want to extend their stay. He again offered me a room at at hotel(where their big atrtraction was a duck parade in the lobby) and a cab ride there. I asked for the General Manager Mr. Brian Johnson, Mr Johnson told me there was nothing he could do that he can not make people leave even if they did not have a reservation for that night and he already took my money for the room in advance . He also offered to refund my money and ship me to an off site hotel. He said I had a one nite stay at the PBH and they were giving preference to people with longer stays first. I told him I have five nights at the HRH and he didn't even try to get me in there. This man has very little customer service skill and wanted me off the phone, he did not care if he was destroying my vacation. The Asst manager was trying to usher me out of the hotel as soon as he could so there would be no scene made. I was not even able to look around the hotel. I go to Florida at least 3 or 4 times a year and I will never stay at the PBH. They were rude and unprofessional. I would advise everyone to reconsider if you want to stay there, if you have a problem they do not want to help and if they overbook due to a convention they do not look out for the little guy. They destroyed the first leg of my Universal experience right away, and lost any chance of referals, If they want to compete with Disney they should take a better customer service stance with their customers.

[kellymonaghan]

I would say to you what you would no doubt say to someone who had a bad experience at a Disney hotel: one incident is not the entire story.

I have stayed at PBH several times and have never had less than a sterling experience. So go figure.

Another thing worth noting: your problem occured because A LOT of other people wanted to stay there too. That says something about how successful the hotel is. They must be doing something right.

Also, the Peabody Hotel (the one with the ducks) is one of the world's great hotels. It's the traditional haunt of high rollers in town for conventions and the like. My guess is the room rate at the Peabody was higher than the rate you paid at PBH.

FWIW, PBH has become a major choice for corporations hosting special events, conferences, etc. Much like the Swan and Dolphin. That's the main reason it's so frequently fully booked or overbooked. And, just like the Swan and Dolphin, the hotel manager is not going to risk this VERY valuable business to satify a tourist with a one-day stay. Sorry to sound brutal, but that's just a reality of the business world. I'm sure if I'd been in your place, I'd have gotten the same bum's rush.

Of course, none of this excuses your bad customer service experience. You could probably leverage this bad experience into a very nice experience with room upgrades and the like on a return visit, which I guess will never happen. Too bad far all concerned.

[jlima]

I agree with Kelly - if you are ever relocated to another hotel ALWAYS ask "What can you do for me" before you accept the walk. Get it in writing, and get the names & titles of who you talked to.

You could potentially be offered free room & tax, upgrades and/or free meals for your inconvenience. I agree that being walked is never the best way to start a vacation, but if you negotiate you can make lemonade out of lemons!!

[Robinrs]

I have to agree with kelly, I would've JUMPED at a chance to stay at the Peabody.. but that's not your problem.

I would have a paper trail as long as my arm to make sure I got some retribution for this matter. I had a problem not quite this bad at the All Stars Music Resort back in September but enough to ruin my taste for all Disney resorts.

I have since gotten phone calls and promises to make up for the mess. I intend to go back onsite with Disney but NOT to that particular hotel.

I certainly hope they pay you back for this nightmare. Let us know what happens.

BTW, where did you eventually stay?

[Beckles]

1) Hotels can not force a guest to leave in most US states (though I thought that was not the case in Florida, but I guess it is). Once you are checked in to a hotel, most states have laws that prohibit the hotel from forcing you to leave as long as you keep paying your bill. Maybe they had a lot of people doing this (sounds odd to me though, but it happens).

2) Minimum compensation you should expect for being 'walked' is a complete refund *and* your hotel stay payed for at a comparable or better resort. (The Peabody is very nice, but I would have asked for the Grand Cypress personally and settled for the Peabody). That is the minimum, and you should also be able to negotiate a free meal and such if you're so inclined to negotiate a little.

3) If the PBH was sold out, I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts the HRH was also. In my four trips to USF since the HRH opened, the HRH is always more booked than the PBH (as evidenced by either being totally sold out or lack of any discounts at the HRH compared to the PBH).

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

The peabody was a duck hunt . they gave ma a $99.00 room that needed cabs back and forth to the parks there was a red carpet in the lobby for a duck parade I had to wait for an elevator because one was reserved for the ducks, and I do not go on vacation hoping to get bumped for a few crumbs or ducks to be thrown my way. when you book a $300 room to start your vacation and you are sent packing to a duck village it is a bad experience , and that is not the way to do business. what makes theses hotels popular is the word of mouth and the individual customers not the once a year company, and let me tell you they did not know how to keep a customer Happy I had six nights if you add in the HRH not one night but they cared more about getting me out of there to help the next customer on line then getting it done right. the HRH hotewl people were very nice but the PBH were stuck up and did not care. When they are having a slow season they beg people to stay with deals and such but when it is busy they do not care.

[Belle1962]

What I would have minded most was losing FOTL!!!! Having just got back from our first experience with FOTL we will never go back without it.:)

[Glory Days]

I am just shocked to find out that we can go on a vacation to a hotel like the PB, and be told you can't come in. I bet the fact that you had a one night stay was one of the reasons you were bumped. Our soccer team went to Virginia last year and they gave away our rooms to another group and only had kings, and most people had families of 4. They wanted us to walk and go to the Motel-6, which was not at all like the hotel we booked. We insisted on staying in the king rooms the first night, kids on the floor, moving the next, and called and wrote the hotel chain. They ended up comping 12 families for the one night. Our major complaint was not the lost of the rooms, which was bad enough, but the treatment we got from management after driving 5 hours. They just wanted us out of their lobby. Unless you go through that you can't imagine how it feels. I'm very easy going, and ended up very upset. I thought ours was an isolated incident. I would hate for it to happen on a Disney/Universal vacation.
One question: Did you check in very late in the day? We did. Maybe there's a lesson in this!:confused:

[Jon360]

I don't know where you are from or what time of day you checked in, but if I was on one of my trips to Orlando from NY and they tried to pull that on me I would definitely give them the hardest time in the world. The Peabody is not an acceptable replacement in my opinion.

This is what I suggest doing should anyone encounter this in the future:
1. You should tell the manager you will personally wait in the lobby all day waiting to see if someone decides to check out of a room.

2. The Peabody is not Portofino Bay. I am shocked they did not even offer you front of the line privelages or a future upgrade or dinner or anything! In my opinion the only slightly comparable hotel to Portofino Bay in the Orlando area is Disney's Boardwalk. Unless they were willing to put you at a deluxe Disney resort, nothing else is even remotely comparable to the PB quality and experience.

It seems like they were trying to push you out of the hotel so that you would not see anyone else checking in or out. I believe that the longer you make the situation last and the longer you refuse to accept their shoddy Peabody offer, the better chance you have of getting decent compensation for this unfortunate incident.

Please send letters immediately to Loews, to Portofino Bay, and to Universal Vacations. They need to know that this is not the right way to treat customers in the event of a sellout.

I also do not buy the line that they cannot control people staying longer. When I wanted to extend my stay for one night at Hard Rock Hotel last month, the clerk at the desk had to check in the computer to make sure they had availability before he would extend my stay.

Obviously Portofino Bay was simply oversold. While overselling is a standard practice in the travel industry, Portofino Bay knows exactly how many rooms are sold 5 nights before your stay because that is when your reservation is non-refundable. In my opinion they knew they were overbooked by a certain # of rooms and tried to talk people with the shortest stays into taking the Peabody.

While this makes business sense to accomodate guests with longer stays before those with short one's, for a first class hotel they definitely did not properly compensate you for the switch.

[nhrenee]

Wow! Our experiences could not have been more different. I've stayed at the PBH 3 times, and have always been treated with courtesy and respect.

You should defenitely write a letter to the general manager of the hotel.

The one time I wanted to extend my stay they said they couldn't because they were full.

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

Glory Days you are right on , it was the worst. They wanted me out of there the asst manager was walking me out to the taxi when I was on the cell phone with the asst mgr. I was there early in the morning. I took an 6:00 am flight out of New York as I couldn't wait to enjoy my time off. They knew they were over sold days in advance because they had a list of letters already printed to give when you tried to check in , but yet they did not have the respect to let us know ahead of time but they kept everyone's money all the time until you had to get a refund for the room. Glory Days they do not care about the little guys at all they just sold me a bill of goods , the asst mgr thought it was insane that I thought about changing over my total vacation to Disney. they had an attitude like I was not paying and they were doing me a favor by sending me to the "DUCK VILLAGE". It was a shame and put me in a non-vacation type of mind set:(

[Une Amie]

I am appalled at the treatment you received. If we are obligated to cancel within 5 days of our stay or lose our deposit, then they should be obligated to inform us "before" we arrive that the hotel is overbooked.

I think it is very poor PR to be known for spoiling peoples vacations. What if you had plans with other people who were staying there...and made those plans
months in advance? These hotels are starting to get like the airlines with their overbooking.

From what I've heard on the board....Disney does not let you stay another night if the hotel is booked up. And why would I want to spoil someone else's vacation just so I can extend mine anyway?

My DH and I are going to the PFH hotel next week for 3 nights and there had better be a room for us. I booked it over 6 months ago.

I would bet that you weren't the only one that day who got bumped outta your room ressie....especially if it was a convention. There were probably quite a few people who decided to stay longer.

If it's a law that you can't make a person leave...then I think the hotels should be obligated to inform those who want to stay another night, that by doing so, they may be taking a room from someone else who has pre-existing reservations and planned their vacation there.
:rolleyes:

[Jon360]

Why did Hard Rock Hotel have to check the computer for availability before they would extend my stay?

The logic here is dumb. The hotel obviously has the right to refuse someone who wants to stay longer.

The person who wants to stay the extra night at Portofino even though they are sold out should be going to the Peabody. Not you, the customer who booked your room at Portofino weeks in advance.

You did not fly down from NY to stay at the Peabody.

I would even go so far as to write the Florida state Attorney General's office about your experience and inquiring if this law even exists.

You should have given them a dose of NY Attitude!!!!

-Jon

[jtopicz1]

I did work in the reservations department for a large hotel company for awhile. There are several points that this topic brings up:
1) While they technically can make people leave the hotel, they would basically have to evict them; same as they would an apartment renter. Sure HRH can say "You have to leave", but if the person won't, they cannot legally go into the room and throw their bags out in the hallway. HRH would have to go through an "eviction" process.
2) It is a very common practice to overbook hotels by as much as 5%. For example a 500 room hotel may sell as many as 525 rooms. There is a very good chance that at least 25 rooms will be no-shows. Everyone does this- Universal, Hilton, SHeraton, Days Inn, even Disney probably. I know that doesn't make it right, but it is a standard indusstry practice. Usually it doesn't matter because a)enough people will be no-shows or b) you are staying at a Days Inn and they bump you to a nicer hotel. Obviously when you've got a reservation at one of, if not the nicest hotels in Orlando, pretty much any bump will be down.

Anyways, yes I am sorry that that happened to you, and it would definatly ruin a trip. The people who are saying you should report HRH for bad business practices, however, I think that would waste your time, as this practice is apparantly (and sadly) perfectly legal.

Jim

[Sleepy]

I would have demanded a private shuttle to and from the parks and a handful of FOTL passes to last me the days intended to stay in the park. Afterall, isn't that why we make reservations for onsite hotels? I think it stinks that hotels place us in a "first come first serve" situation because they are afraid to say NO to people who refuse to leave when their stay is up.

[Jon360]

Logic needs to be used in these situations. Don't throw their stuff in the hallway. Simply make it so that their room key doesn't work past 1pm. Then when they go to the front desk to question why their room key doesn't work, explain that their reservation expired that day and they must take their stuff and check out. Send a bellman with them to their room to get their stuff from the room and leave. The hotel can even offer to book them a fine room at the Peabody hotel, a lovely resort only minutes from Universal.

It is much more reasonable to tell a guest trying to extend their stay that the hotel is sold out then it is to deny a new guest with an existing reservation from staying in the room.

Even if the hotel overbooks by 25 rooms, they knew 5 days in advance that they were overbooked and should have called those people to let them know the situation so they could plan accordingly. However, in this situation, overbooking was not the excuse given by Portofino. The hotel said the reason was that too many guests wanted to extend their stays.

If Portofino Bay and Hard Rock hotel are sold out for key dates like July 4th and December 31st, does that mean I can book a room for July 3rd and Dec. 30th and just refuse to leave the room and get the extra night? If so, this silly practice has the potential to screw over many vacations.

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

you are right jon360 I wanted to stay my entire vacation at the HRH but they were full the 26,27th if I had to do it over again I would have just booked and extended that is what I will do from now on, That is the only way I guess and every major holiday book and extend. THE MAIN PROBLEM WAS THE UTTER DISTAIN FOR ME THAT WAS SHOWED BY THE PORTOFINO, THE ONLY THING THEY WANTED IS ME AND THE OTHERS THAT WERE BUMPED AND THERE WERE A LIST OF OTHERS OUT OF THE HOTEL QUICK AND WITHOUT A PROBLEM. THEY DID NOT CARE ABOUT MY FEELINGS OR ANYTHING ABOUT ME. THE ASST MGR LOOKED AT ME LIKE I WAS CRAZY WHEN I TOLD HIM THIS IS NOT A CORRECT BUSINESS PRACTICE. IT IS A SHAME.:mad:

[Une Amie]

Smooth.....they wanted you out before you and the rest of the unfortunate vacationers told their stories loud enough to the rest of the people standing in line. They just wanted to sweep you all under rug. This is really a bad business practice.

My husband and I are going to be there next weekend. Now I am going with this knot in my stomach wondering if our vacation will be tarnished by a similar incident and lack of regard for the customer.

I know I will feel uneasy about booking in the future if there are any more stories such as yours...and I think other people would feel the same way. You plan on something like this for months, and just don't want to hear that your hotel stay has been thwarted at the last possible minute (standing in line at check-in) gesh! :(

[Jon360]

Silky Goofy,

That brings up a good point. If Hard Rock hotel or Portofino are sold out for any dates, this means that all one needs to do is book a room one night before the sold out date, then they can freely stay as long as they want even though the hotel is sold out.

[DVCKid]

Wow! Thanks for the heads up. We're planning our trip for November and were considering one of the Universal hotels for the first three nights. Guess we won't be doing that after all. If their attitude is such that only conventioneers are afforded acceptable customer service, then they can count me out.

And I was sort of looking forward to the parks, too. Oh, well, I guess I'll save my money for Disney...

[lookingforward]

I am so sorry this happened to you. It certainly would have totally ruined my first few days if this happened to me. You deserve a major apology and compensation from Lowes. Did you get everyone's names etc? I lived in Memphis and am quite familiar with the Peabody Hotels there and in Orlando. While they are first rate properties it is not the same thing as staying on site at Universal, especially the Portofino! Did you go to the parks your first day, did you miss out on FOTL access? Sometimes is is just impossible to grin and bear it, let us know how things turn out with your complaints. We are with you!

[jtopicz1]

The way I see it (being that I've worked in hotel reservations before), it really WAS NOT Portofinos fault if customers refused to leave when their stay was up. Legally Portofino CANNOT make them leave. JON360's idea of simply programming the key to stop working is good, but LEGALLY they can't do that (unfortunatly). Basically certain states make hotels follow similar rules to apartments when the want to "evict" someone. Florida is one of them. So basically, you could cheat the system by checking in on an open day and staying right through sold out nights, refusing to leave. Of course this is not ethically right, and considerate people wouldn't do it. Obviously though, from this experience some people will do as they please.

I DO NOT however, agree with the way Portofino handeled the problem. They should have (at minimum):
A) Offered front of the line access passes to everyone in the group.
B) Offered free meals
C) Offered to make the stay at the Peabody free,
and
D) Picked up your taxi bill for any transpotation to and from the parks.

Jim

[Une Amie]

Hmmm...
jtopicz1! I understand your view there. However, I have a hard time believing that all those people refused to leave that day.

Realistically speaking, I think those people wanted to extend their stay and Portofino just did it...simple as that! They then proceeded to eliminate customers based on their length of stay...his being only (1) day, perhaps others only (2). etc.

I tend to doubt that any of those customers "demanded" an extended stay. I think they were a part of a "convention" and their affiliation with it is what spoke the loudest. As always..in business, money wins out.

[Beckles]

That's right ... evicting someone is not easy, and if they locked you out, you'd have grounds to sue the hotel (think Pacific Heights when Keaton's character sued the landlords and won because they shut off his utilities even though he was the bad guy ...).

The one thing I don't know is the rate you pay. I think the hotel has the right to charge you maximum rate in this case (what's printed on the door?) ... I'm not sure if they would do that ... but they could I imagine ...

Of course if you *ask* they're not going to tell you about this ... but you can do it ...

[Beckles]

Oh ... one more thing ... Loews First Gold and Platinum members can get a reservation 48 and 24 hours in advance regardless of whether the hotel is sold out or not ... some other hotels have similar policies for their elite frequent guest members too ... sometimes someone is bound to get walked because of this, though not always ...

[Jon360]

jtopicz1,
If that is the law, it is a dumb one. What if all a bunch of Universal executives bought out the hotel for one night and I refused to leave my room. Do you think they would evict me then? I guarantee you my key would not be working past 3pm if this were the case.


Une Amie,
I agree that Portofino probably just extended the stays without question. If the hotel is sold out they should say they are sold out to guests requesting an extra night. They should explicitly inform the guest that if they were to stay an extra night they would be bumping another family who reserved their room out of the hotel. After hearing that argument, most people would not opt to stay the extra night.


Beckles,
The hotel has the right to evict you because your stay is over. The room belongs to a new guest at the 3pm checkin time. If your things are in the room, a bellman will gladly open it for you so that you may get your stuff out. Nobody is being denied access to their stuff, it simply must be

Also, Loews First Gold and Platinum members would not apply since the reason given was the fact that too many guests extended their stays. They did not say the fact that the hotel was overbooked as the reason for the room not being available.

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

Good luck guys I hope there is no convention there. It ruined my whole 1st day . would you guys be in the mood to party after this happened. By trhe way I am a loews member joined do to these great boards that give us a place to chat and learn information. They couldn't do anything for me.. The real reason we were bumped but the general manager would not say so was the fact there was a convention there. They probablly added on rooms for them when they got their total and they bumped the little guys with first one day stay( enen though I had another six days with HRH) two day stays. and folks believe me it would not have been that bad if their staff used alittle respect and kindness instead of the way they did it. even if the PBH was the best hotel in the world which it is not, they should show the customer alittle more respect and kindness.

[The Hunt]

First, let me say that you should never get a "bum's rush" in this situation, and you should be treated with courtesy. However, my understanding from your story is that the manager offered to refund your money and give you a free night at the Peabody. (And you accepted it, right? ) Since this was only a single night of your vacation, I'd say that's a pretty good deal. I don't know what your rate was, but that's several hundred bucks in your pocket. I'll bet they would have given you FOTL access too.

[jlima]

Every hotel, everywhere, oversells by 4 - 5%. Sometimes the oversell is more, depending on the nature of a convention, or its previous history in your hotel.

According to the info. on the DIS, the PBH has 750 rooms, which means the hotel will be oversold by 35 - 40 rooms before the revenue manager will close a particular day off. This is a standard business practice in the hotel industry.

Since the average convention group has a 10% no-show, a group with 400 arrivals will have, on average, 40 people not show up. A group with 500 arrivals will have, on average, 50 rooms not show up. Hotel management must allow for this or risk having unsold rooms.

A hotel such as the PBH has rooms coming in from tour operators, wholesalers, a corporate reservations center (Lowes), travel agents (through Sabre, Worldspan, etc), internet sites such as Travelocity, conventions, and, last but not least, individual travellers through the hotel's own reservation staff. Filling a hotel to 100% is like building a giant puzzle, every day. Unfortunately, when the numbers don't go down enough, a business decison has to be made, and guests get relocated to other properties.

[Beckles]

Originally posted by Jon360
Beckles,
The hotel has the right to evict you because your stay is over. The room belongs to a new guest at the 3pm checkin time. If your things are in the room, a bellman will gladly open it for you so that you may get your stuff out. Nobody is being denied access to their stuff, it simply must be


No, they don't have the right to evict you, that's pretty much what we're saying in this thread. It may not seem fair, but that's the law. Eviction laws in general are very favorable for the tenants (hotel guests) and not the landlord (hotel). If they did make you leave against your will you would have a right to sue the hotel, and you would probably win ...

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

jlima it sounds like you work for the PBH(sounds like a shill) trying to right or soft soap a wrong. the fact that they do it is not right . who gets the uses of my money from the time I pay until they refund it.. Play with the money over and over and over and over thats what they do !

[jtopicz1]

I think, to pretty much some up this thread, Portofinos customer service, in your case, was horrible. Beckles and I pointed out that it is simply illegal for a hotel to evict a guest (even though I agree this is a terrible law). Portofino should have made every attempt to make you, the bumped guest, happy - which they obviously did not in this case.

Jim

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

right on it is all about caring ,customer service and good workers all of which they did not have

[jcl110]

Hi Everyone,
I read this post and I dont understand a few things I read so enlighten me if you will.
I called th Hard Rock Hotel today , and inquired about the practice of bumping guests even if you are a confirmed arrival. the answer I got was that it is a rare occurance and when it does happen ,The hotel will overcompensate the person that is bumped. I asked about my reservation and was told that if I have a confirmation number, I will not get bumped.
I havent seen many complaints about this practice on this board so Im hoping they are telling the truth.
I can only imagine how Silky felt when treated that way.
I dont really undesrstand how a person can tell the hotel they wont leave unless its emergency related, and when I stayed at Disneys Yacht Club a few years ago I wanted to stay and they said no, they couldnt let me stay...does that mean I could have said too bad, im staying anyway? This whole scenario, plus the answers I got from the hotel, is enough to confuse anyone, to say the least,
and all I can say is if they try to bump me out , they will
have to over, overcompensate me....FOTL The Works! Sorry you had a rough time Silky...:cool:

[jlima]

SSG- no I don't work for the PBH but I do work in the hospitality industry; IMHO the staff at the PBH could use some people skills and I certainly would have moved on to the next guest on the relocation list. I would write a long letter about your treatment to the hotel president and also forward a copy to Lowes corporate office.

[Robinrs]

This topic can be debated FOREVER but to sum it up SSG has been made an unhappy consumer and it's obvious that he should be made happy by someone at Loews.

It goes to show that a happy customer will tell 10 people but an unhappy customer will tell 1,000.

SSG, please let us know if you hear from the powers that be and if they offer you something that can rectify this. Just like you I left Orlando on FIRE :mad: about the way I was treated at a Disney Resort but they have since made amends.

Thanks.

[Beckles]

jcl110 ~ First, a confirmation number does not mean you won't get bumped. As for the overcompensation, at minimum for getting walked any hotel will usually offer a full refund and pay for new accomodations equivalent to or better than the hotel you were booked in. Some will offer even more, and you should be able to negotiate further if you're so inclined.

As for your experience at the Yacht Club ... of course if you ask they're going to say you can't say, but if you don't check out, they can't make you leave ... hotels don't like to tell people this if they're sold out obviously, since it could create a bad situation, but it's the law. Also, not all hotel employees may even be aware of this ...

Since SSG is unhappy, the hotel obviously did not treat him as well as he should have been treated. If it were me, I would have taken the refund and smiled all the way over to my free room at the Peabody.

[DisOrBust]

Let me tell you my family was VERY EXCITED to stay at PFB. It was the whole reason for us addng USF?IOA to our trip. Our check in took an hour with our rooms not being ready, fine we hit the parks. Came back at 4:30 waited another half hour to check in and our room still wasn't ready. We were tired and hot and they could have gave a damm! Half an hour later we FINALLY got to check in. We spoke to the manager and he could have cared less. Sorry, but if they are trying to compete with WDW and the Grand Floridian this is not how you do business. My father has travelled ALL over the world and thought the PFB looked like a resort going down the tubes. There was NO customer service. If you asked someone a question the standard answer was "I don't know ask someone else." The hallways were banged up badly, holes were patched roughly with spackle and left like that. I think all the bell hops were taking out the corners, it made it look very shabby. In every elevator lobby there were empty vases with the "moss" in them and no flowers, it looked like they were skimping. I know every place has its off days but what we saw were consistant problems not just an off day.

How this person was treated is horrific! I would have lost my mind!! You plan all year for a vacation and have that happen right out of the gate? BESIDES!!! We tried to extend our stay and was told NO there was no room available!! If they want to "chance" overbooking then the consequence if they get caught is a "free ride" to the person they bump!! Sorry but I can't risk my families precious vacation time on a chance of having an experience like this. No more PFB for us.:(

[Melanie1001]

Since I've read so much bad about PBH here, I feel I have to post a good experience about it, lest everyone get scared away from staying there. I've stayed onsite at Disney and Universal, and all in all the staff at PBH was the best I've ever come across. I stayed there 4 months after the hotel originally opened. Everyone was bend-over-backwards nice to me and my family. Since the place had just opened, there were a few kinks in the works. None of which were very bad though--still some painting being done, a few closed off walkways, etc. They also had a terrible time with the automated wake up call system--it would call you but never play the greeting, and then keep calling for another 3 or 4 times till it gave up. Not long after this had happened, the concierge called us, and asked about the problem with the wake up call (we hadn't complained and really didn't care since it had called us on time and we woke up). When we came home from the park that day, there was a cute Betty Boop coffee mug filled with flowers and a hand written apology regarding the wake up call! Keep in mind, we hadn't complained at all! Check in and check out were fast and the staff was so courteous about everything. At check in there was a computer glitch that made it take about 5 minutes longer than it should have, but that didn't phase us in the least.

So in short, staff was wonderful, room was great, everyone was courteous and nice. Perhaps I had an exceptional experience, but I wanted to throw my own $.02 worth into the pot. :)

[Melanie1001]

They've always had moss covered rocks in the planters in the halls...I thought it a bit weird myself but somehow it just added to the unique European touch of the whole hotel....

[Smooth Silky Goofy]

RIGHT ON DIS OR BUST .. PBH has no respect for the customer do not even mention them and Disney in the same breath. I am writing to Loews about this matter, I do not know about writing to the PBH as the general manager Brian Johnson already told me in other words Tough Luck THAT IA OUR POLICY. I hope someone will help me but I know it will not be the PBH people they do not care.

[EpcotBill]

bump

[Notatourist]

did you tell Lowes Corporate your story?

That might help.

[nhrenee]

Epcot Bill,

Why did you feel a need to bump this thread if you didn't have anything to add?:confused:

[Tigger9]

I worked at a large hotel in Massachusetts for approx 8 years. Most of that time was working at the front desk. And let me just say, Hotels lie!!! They tell customers many many lies!

No you cannot stay, we are booked. Of course they are not going to tell you that if you don't check out and just stay in the room the hotel can't kick you out!

Of course they are going to say people extened their stays by not checking out. If they told you they overbooked then it would be their fault!

In Mass. a hotel cannot kick out a guest who does not check out. I have had it happen many times, yes you can tell them they can't stay and try whatever you can but ultimately you cannot kick them out!

Yes hotels do overbook, all the time!!!! This is a very common practice, as people said there are always no-shows, it is better for the hotel to overbook and walk an occasional person than not overbook and have no-shows and empty rooms! It costs hotels money to have empty rooms!

A confirmation number does not mean that you are guaranteed to have a room at THAT hotel. It means you are guaranteed to have a room at A hotel! If the hotel runs out of rooms and you come to check in, they will WALK you to another hotel. They will give your your money back and pay for your night at another hotel.

[EpcotBill]

Someone started another thread asking about being bumped from their hotel when they had a reservation.
That's why I bumped this thread. And I replied to that thread telling them to see this one. OK nhrenee?