HRH No Way Jose

[mom2ee]

We just got back from Orlando and for 2 days were to stay at HRH. We arrived with a prepaid/ressie # and we were brought through the entire checkin process (do you need minibar keys, do you need roll away, etc) for about 20 - 30 minutes. As we are anxiously awaiting our room keys we are told that "Here's what we're going to do...we will send you down to the Crowne Plaza for tonight, comped and you can come back tomorrow" WHAT????? Seems that due to some mixup our ressie has been "sold" or they "oversold" the resort. We arrived at about 5pm, certainly not late given that checkin is at 4pm. If that wasn't bad enough, we are told not to worry, we will be upgraded for our second night and everything will be okay. Yeah we were upgraded to have a lovely view of the roof!!! Yes the room was comped at the Crowne and we only had to pay for the room that we stayed in for one night at the HRH. We did receive a lovely bottle of wine (oh, yeah, we're Lowes members) and a basket of fruit (2 apples, a banana, an orange and some grapes). My biggest gripe is that nobody was forthcoming at the onset of the checkin process, like it was all some game to see how long they could hold off telling us about the mixup. anybody have an address of where to send a letter? Sorry to unload, but just wanted to warn everyone.

 

[No11's Mom]

Wow, that's not cool. Did you ask if they could put you at one of the other onsite hotels. Seems like they would have had room for you at one of them.

 

[goofy!]

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[damo]

Ack, that is awful!!! Someone here will give you the name and email of the manager at HRH. I would have been very upset as I am sure you were!!!

 

[Motherfletcher]

I have heard of them overbooking before, but the comped hotel was the Peabody. I think I would have fussed about the upgrade as soon as I got in the room.

 

[Muffy]

What a lousy upgrade! You should of been upgraded to a suite for that mixup. I hope they comp you a free stay over this....

 

[robvia]

Wow, that is some story, thanks for sharing and warning everyone.

I usually check in early at 8am for that reason. In the afternoon, there is a long line of people.

 

[Eclpz314]

We had a similar problem at RPR last summer. I had booked club level just as the year before, verified, reconfirmed (love planning!) up until the day before we left home. DH and sons sat across the lobby while I checked in for us. I can still here the words "Oh, we don't have you down as club level" and me answering "don't make me turn around and tell them that" as I just kept glaring at the person behind the desk. Finally we ended up w/club level room (the absolute farthest one away from elevator overlooking the luau/dogwalk area) I'm sure the last person to check in to club that day really didn't get a room. This incident plus a couple others that occured during our stay prompted RPR mgt. to compensate us nicely this year. Hope you get yours settled out.

 

[mom2ee]

we are home now...anybody with an idea of "how to sort this out"? btw, they informed us that there were no rooms available on site for the night we were moved and upon our rearrival, they were NOT apologetic or accomidating. just a warning, this is NOT Disney

 

[alien]

We stayed at the HRH for 3 nights in July and we also had problems. We checked in at 4 p.m. and they said the rooms (we booked 2) would be ready in 15-20 minutes and they would call my cell phone when ready. We were hungry so we ate at the Beach Club and returned about 5 p.m. and the rooms weren't ready yet. 5:30 p.m. - the rooms weren't ready yet. By 5:50 p.m., my DH went to the desk to find out the problem. I noticed a few people who were in line with us also hangning around the lobby waiting. Supposedly, one room's bed needed to be fixed, and the other room's carpet was just shampooed. At 6 p.m., one room was ready, the other wasn't. We went to the room that was ready and the maids were outside the other room (2 doors apart). By 6:15 p.m., we got in the room (brothers-in-law in the 1st room).
In our room, the safe was broken, the iron was broken, and the toilet broke. We usually didn't get our room made up until 5 or 6 at night. Our last night there, we had wonderful neighbors who started partying at 12:30 a.m. with singing, loud music playing, and smoking (wafted through the connecting door). They didn't stop until 3:30 a.m. We called security at 1:30 and they had to bang on the door twice until the party people heard the door. Didn't help. Luckily, we were checking out the next day to go to Disney. I'm hoping they just had a bad day. They did comp us 6 breakfasts' and 6 drinks.
We will give them another try again but probably only for 2 nights. At least they didn't try to send us to another hotel!

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

I'm so sorry you had that happen.

My personal theory on why people seem to wait and wait at the Hard Rock to check in - no balconys. I think people smoke in a non smoking room and it takes housekeeping most of the day to fix it. I know this happened to us once. They kept telling us only 15 minutes more, 10 minutes, ect. When we finally got into the room it reeked of smoke and the carpet was pretty damp. I wish they had just told us what was going on, because obviously they knew.

 

[goofy!]

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[Princess Mommy]

that is TERRIBLE! I hope you can find some answers for the mix up!

 

[mom2ee]

Thanks for setting me straight goofy...thanks for the input on how to proceed...i will research who to send said letters to...i too am not looking for compensation, just didn't want to be brought through the 30 minute song and dance when the person checking us in knew from the moment he pullled up our ressie that we did not have a room and that a human error had been made

 

[goofy!]

.....

 

[kellymonaghan]

anybody have an address of where to send a letter?

Carlton Hudson, General Manager
Hard Rock Hotel
5800 Universal Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32819

Nothing can really make up for having your expectations dashed, but no one's perfect, not even a four-star hotel.

That said, what HRH did in your case was standard operating procedure, even a cut above the average.

One lesson to be learned from this is to check in first thing in the morning. Not only do you get a full day of FOTL, but you'll have first dibs on any rooms that have been overbooked.

 

[mom2ee]

What I don't understand, correct me if I am wrong...what HRH did was standard operating procedure? Am I now to always asume that although I have a confirmation # and a prepaid 1st night reservation I don't really have a room? What if the plane doesn't allow up to arrive at the hotel bright and early at 8 am to enjoy the FOTL access. What if we had to fly in later and arrive at 5 pm and just want to enjoy the pool for the evening? Is it standard operating procedure in the themepark hotels to overbook the rooms and just ship the poor unfortunate souls out that showed up when there planes got them to Orlando? Just be upfront with me when I arrive don't ask what my Loews amenity preference is or if I need the minibar key...

 

[klh999]

When you take one night deposits. I think they should NOT overbook. They know who is coming. If someone doesn't show up, they have already been paid for the room. I would be really upset if this happened to me. It is hard enough with kids, then with kids and packing and uppacking. A small upgrade would not leave me happy.

 

[mom2ee]

there was no upgrade...we booked a "garden view" and recieved a lovely view of the roof...no bigger room with a bad view...just the room size we booked with a bad view...yes, this is what we risked when we booked, just don't say that "we will upgrade you when you return"...don't make a difficult situation worse by "promising" something that you can't deliver...

 

[klh999]

Mom2ee,

You are such more calmer than I would have been. To be honest, I would have asked for my entire trip for free since this would have ruined my relaxing vacation. Who wants to check in and check out of hotels, to save a few dollars? What did you save $250 bucks, big woop for your inconvience.

Did you pay the room with your credit?? If so, I would disbute the charges with my credit card company!!! Companies tend to notice more, when someone is looking to take away their money.

Good Luck and Update us. I think what they did was wrong. Especially since, today I found out that with the Universal Vacation package the fee to change anything is $50 per person.. So I think I would be fuming if they didnt have my room at the inn.