Ever booked NOT the hotel you thought you booked?

[kdonnel]

My wife and I are planning a weekend trip to Disney in the very near future and have had great luck staying at Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas. You get a DVC sized room for a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a Disney price.

Well it turns out there are TWO Vistana reports in Orlando and this time we are booked at Sheraton Vistana Villages Resort Villas.

1. Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas
2. Sheraton Vistana Villages Resort Villas

At least I figured it out before we drove to the wrong one!

Both have similar amenities but #2 is 15 minutes further from Disney.

 

[DCLMP]

Hyatt house and Hyatt place.

 

[Genie+]

Quality Inn. We drove to wrong one after a late flight. Thought we booked the one at a different address. Not fun. Especially because DH had already accidentally changed our navigation destination to ‘center of Orlando’. We were driving around Kissimmee for 90+ minutes after landing at 1am. Third time’s the charm, lol. We finally made it!

Lesson learned. Since then we are very careful to check addresses and make sure we know exactly which property we are booking. Then we make sure to have the correct full address from our reservation, and not rely on looking it up online.

 

[mjkacmom]

Hotel Newbury/Newbury Guest House in Boston. I did book the guest house, but I couldn’t find the reservations in my email. So I booked again, but booked the Hotel Newbury. I then realized my mistake, Hotel Newbury was not refundable, I called the guest house and I did have a reservation, fortunately refundable. Unfortunately the hotel Newbury was $1000 a night.

 

[TinkAgainU]

I don't think I've gotten as far as arrival with a confused hotel -- but I've come Very close to doing that on more than one occasion. So many hotels have very similar names it is easy to do and frankly, I think a few of them are actively hoping to pick up stray error bookings. I must check the address and dates 5+ times before each trip. I can see why a Travel Agent was a good thing back when they were more utilized!

 

[NYCgrrl]

No but my former DIL once tried to send me to Boston to stay at a hotel in Baltimore. One B too many for her I guess.

 

[CarolynFH]

Many years ago we believed we had booked a hotel on the north side of the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. When we arrived, we were informed we had booked the same chain's location on the south side of the airport. It was another 30 minutes down the road.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Not quite the same thing, but I booked a hotel that LOOKED very nice but turned out to be anything but. The collapsible bed had bed bugs, I drew the curtains back to reveal a brick wall, and the shower was in the toilet (literally). Not the best trip.

 

[Deb]

I used to be in hotel management. Besides the common, booked a close, but not us location of the same chain, at least once we had someone show up at our desk to check in and they had booked (and actually needed to be at) a location of the same chain in a city of the same name, one state over. So about 90 minutes away.

 

[Disneydawg74]

Long ago, on our first trip to Europe, I booked a hotel in the French town of Eze sur Mer, back when you had to call for a reservation. My poorly trained ear heard the nightly rate of Mille soixant (1060 FF, that long ago it was francs), but they actually said Mille six cent (1600 FF). Oops. But, we had a great time and now this hotel is priced so sky high that I am glad I made that mistake back then.

 

[Disneylover99]

We once booked a Comfort Inn in Niagara Falls and when we got there, it turns out, our reservation was at the Comfort Inn in the sketchier part of town. they were really nice about it and luckily they were able to change our reservation for us. We just had to pay the difference to stay in the more desirable hotel.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

My brother in-law did that once pretty much (except he had been to the right place already once that day). He and a friend had gone to a baseball game in Cincinnati, and they booked a hotel room at some chain hotel. For whatever reason, his friend stayed at the hotel and BIL got the bright idea to go out do something on his own. He returned to the hotel later that night only to eventually realize that he was at the right chain (name) hotel, but was at the wrong location. Yes, there was alcohol involved.

His friend has never let him live that one down.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not fully the same thing as the names were far enough apart but most recently in Nice, France my husband had booked a Holiday Inn Express and Crowne Plaza both as when we booked it we were undecided which one, they were both in the same building but we didn't pay close enough attention to the addresses and didn't realize that at that time. The Crowne Plaza was a tad bit more but not enough to have made the decision clear as day as to which one to book (and again at the time of us booking we didn't pay close enough attention to the address to realize they were in the same building).

Well my husband forgot to cancel the Crowne Plaza one until a couple of days in advance which is when he realized they were in the same building as each other so we decided why spend the extra we'll just go with the Holiday Inn Express. There was no penalty as it was cancelled with enough time to not incur one and no monies initially lost as it was no pre-payment rate. But when we get to the building the entrance to the building it was difficult to find the doors to the Holiday Inn Express and the Crowne Plaza was easy to locate so we go inside to the lobby and they tell us how to get to the entrance to the Holiday Inn Express. We go there and they tell us we've been upgraded to the Crowne Plaza for no additional charge so back to the Crowne Plaza we go (with 2 medium sized luggages and 2 carry ons and 2 personal items as we had just come off a cruise). We never did get a reason for the upgrade but they were very quick to tell us no additional charge; we just sort felt embarrassed that we had both booked in the same building and didn't realize until an e-mail reminder came so we didn't ask too many questions.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Not a wrong location but a hotel that in the few years since I had last been at, sadly had gone downhill drastically. The room was dirty, smelled, and looked like it definitely seen better days. I did get a full refund and was able to stay at a super clean and nice Howard Johnson's that was nearby for only a little more. I was blessed indeed that all worked out so well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Many years ago we believed we had booked a hotel on the north side of the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. When we arrived, we were informed we had booked the same chain's location on the south side of the airport. It was another 30 minutes down the road.

I was just telling my husband that airport locations or hotels close enough to the airport can be particularly tricky. If the hotel name is long enough the end part can often be missed. Like in September we have a hotel booked at the Atlanta airport. There's Hyatt Place Atlanta Airport-North and then Hyatt Place Atlanta Airport-South. I appreciate they have the directional in the name but because it's at the end of the name you better pay close enough attention to which one you book! In this case with the Atlanta hotels they are just on the other side of the airport from each other so luckily if we for whatever reason make a mistake it's not a 30min type situation you had but I feel for you.

 

[soccerdad72]

We have Vistana points and used some leftover ones last fall in Orlando but I double checked that we booked the one closer to Disney. Nice resort, next time we have a few points left, we might try the other one. IIRC, it’s closer to Universal.

 

[ncc1701]

No, but can see how it can happen. We needed to book a hotel last year for a family wedding. There where 2 who were part of a national chain. Town was the same for both on the website .
The cheaper one was in an iffy location . We knew the area so booked the one a little further away.
In areas we don't know I now check the map on the hotels website to see exactly where it is.

 

[bcla]

Not typically. I generally print out the reservation and make sure that the address is present.

I do remember being on a package tour and we did't end up going to an optional activity. So we went out on our own and took a taxi to the hotel we were supposed to stay at. We took our luggage with us. They didn't have a reservation for us, and the hotel front desk helped us get in contact with our guide, who didn't tell us that the hotel was changed. Not sure if it was because they weren't happy about missing out on a commission and didn't tell us intentionally.

 

[happybaker]

I got the hotel right but when we went to check in, they couldn't find the reservation. I had the confirmation, but had booked it for the wrong weekend ‍♀

They were sold out, so we had to book elsewhere. Luckily, it was just a one-night stay to see friends, but I had used Priceline to book the wrong night, so we were out the money on that reservation.