HRH No Way Jose

[A Mickeyfan]

I would like to add that it really doesn't matter how early you check in, things like that can happen. When RPR first opened up, they screwed us up too. I booked (and paid for my 1st night) club level, 2 queen beds the first week they announced that they were taking ressies. Upon check in, at 9:30 am, me, DH,DD,DD & DS were told that "if" were were going to be staying on club level, we where going to have to stay in a king room (no rooms were ready yet anyway & we didn't expect them to be but wanted that FOTL for the parks). When I asked her about a pull out sofa in the room she said she "wasn't sure"!!! Wasn't sure, they expected a family of 5 to sleep in that one bed! They told me even though I wouldn't be on the Club Level floor, I could still use the facilites since I had paid for them. That wasn't flying with me. As it turned out, we ended up on the Club level floor, in a king room with a pull out sofa. Me, DH & youngest DS in king bed, DD & DS in pull out. Not the best arrangements but had to make due. We couldn't even get a cot since there was no place to set it up (other than near bathroom & entrance way). We figured it was due to the grand opening & everything wasn't up and running yet...turns out, happens more than I thought
I agree, when you pay for your night in advance, you are assuring them that you will be arriving, they should be assuring you that they will have your room for you. The worst that could happen to them is you not showing & they keep your money!!! The worst that could happen to you is....just what happed to OP, not even having a room onsite anywhere

 

[kellymonaghan]

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?

Not quite, but what every traveler should not merely assume but know is that travel suppliers screw up from time to time.

Hotels screw up like this often enough that, within the industry, certain "standard operating procedures" have developed to deal with the situation and the very natural upset of the customer who has been inconvenienced.

So what I meant was that the response was standard operating procedure, not the screw up. Sorry if I was unclear.

 

[PavelB]

Yes, be careful with the Universal hotels.

Don't get me wrong - we love going to universal - but you really cannot trust them. We had a reservation at the RPH for 2 connecting rooms, with 2 beds each, for 5 nights in July. I had in hand a letter confirming all this. Well, at check we went through the whole procedure. When we were finished my husband confirmed that there were 2 beds in each room. No, one room had a king bed. That was unacceptable. The woman said that the connecting rooms at the RPH never had 2 beds each. I showed her the letter. She went into the back and came out with our new room assignments. One room was on the 5th floor and one was on the 4th. Connecting? I don't think so! She went in the back again. They had no connecting rooms. We had to make do with 2 next to each other. Of course they were not ready. One was finally ready at 4:45 the other not until 6:30! We tried to call the manager numerous times. We were never called back. (this was a 5 night stay.) We gave up and never got the connecting rooms. We were travelling with children so this made it more difficult.
Note: be careful when you get 2 or more rooms - they tried to bill us for another car for 5 nights.

 

[dbriggsq]

We've just stayed in connecting rooms at RPH and they certainly did both have 2 beds. However we didn't receive the complimentary upgrade which was promised when we booked online using the AP discount.

 

[AspiringCindy]

I had a problem with HRH last Aug. We have a ressie for 4 nights on an Entertainment rate and checked in at 12:30 PM knowing full well that a room would probably not be ready. We checked back every 2 hours...and to no avail, finally checked in at 9:30PM. We were placed in a dirty carpeted stained room that stunk of dog, and were woken every morning by barking dogs! When it came time to check out, I requested a late check-out because we had checked in so late(and by the way, I am a gold member)and I am a member, and her reply was, Oh, but you are on an Entertainment rate though! No member features apply! Later on, I E-Mail the general manager with all my complaints and just got a sorry! Next time you visit us ask for me! The employees are soooo hip...that they borderline rude!

 

[princesspumpkin]

Saying that "this is not Disney" doesn't make sense. Disney is not perfect in any way either. We just got back from a 10 day stay at the PBH - perfect stay. Couldn't ask for better. Every hotel has its problems. Both Disney and Universal are nothing more than large corporations, selling a product which happens to be themeparks. Most of the time both corporations get it right, but both have experienced problems. It is the nature of business. With the amount of employees both sets of hotels employ - there is absolutely no way that either corporation can keep tabs on the attitude of each one, every minute of the day. Many of the employees have worked for both corporations. Disney does not corner the market on Pixie dust sweet employees.

BTW - the worst hotel problem our well-travelled family EVER encountered was at the Polynesian Concierge. It still makes me queasy to think about what happened.

Checked in to our room at the Poly (our 4th stay there - all previous ones had been perfect) - went to the parks, came back late and everybody crawled into bed. 13year old and 4 year old in queen by the windows, 10 year old in the daybed. DH and I were in the queen by the bathroom.

10 year old wakes up next morning and says "GROSS mom". He is looking over to where the 4 year old is sleeping. His sweet cheek was resting on a half dollar size of green SNOT. All crusty and gross. And it was not his snot! Further inspection of the room found 3 blister packs of prescription medications on top of the TV, along with an over-the-counter cold medication bottle in the trash can.

Our travelling companions who were in the next room (a nationally prominent lawyer and a CEO of a large company) came over and witnessed what we had found. We went to concierge to get somebody to come see the disgusting mess my toddler just spent the night on. We called housekeeping.

The only thing they did was tell us that they would deep clean our room when we were out to the parks that day, which btw they didn't do. No compensation, no apology. Even after the 4 year old who was sleeping on the SNOT came down with a 102 fever two days later. Then the 13 year old who was sleeping in the same bed. Then I came down with it. Our 14 day, $15,000+ vacation was totally ruined. Again, not even an apology. And remember, the medicine was prescription - so had the name of the room's former occupant on it - so it was pretty obvious where the snot had come from. I expected at least an apology after seeing my toddler sleeping on somebody else's body fluids. An apology for putting us in a dirty room that the sheets had not been changed in. And to make matters worse, the beds were made, so obviously housekeeping had been in there, but were so lazy they didn't change the sheets.

So, would I say "It's not Universal" Absolutely not. I am just including our experience at WDW to show that even Disney can mess up. However, we dealt with it and moved on. Everybody and every company makes mistakes. You just try to fix it and hope that the next time, your experience will be like 95% of the other visitors who post.

So, to move on, my suggestion would be to write a letter and send it certified to the general manager of the Hard Rock Orlando. Research the Hard Rock and Loews and CC a copy to as many higher ups as you can. At least let them know what happened. Decide before hand what you are going to accept as a reasonable solution then write a polite letter detailing everything.

I did exactly that. When I returned home, I sent a pleasant, but firm letter that stated what had happened to us. I also made sure that I told them I was NOT looking for any compensation, because I wasn't. I felt that if I asked for something, they wouldn't take my complaint seriously - would just write me off as somebody looking to get something for nothing. I was more concerned that the Poly fix their housekeeping problems.

So, I sent a letter to the GM of the Poly, the GM of the WDW resorts, and all the way up the chain, with one going to Michael Eisner (found all the addresses here on the DIS ). Was sure that the one going to Eisner would just be trashed, but was I ever surprised to get a phone call about a month later from a lady saying she was Mr. Eisner's secretary and that Mr. Eisner would like to find out what happened. (This was duing the height of the SARS panic a few years back, so people were taking bodily fluids a bit more seriously.) To make a long story short, the Poly revamped the way they train their housekeepers, which was an acceptable solution for us.

So, write a polite letter explaining what happened. Go up the chain if need be. Both Disney and Universal are in the customer business. Good customer service is their livelyhood. If the GM of the Hard Rock seems uninterested, go up the chain till you find somebody who is. Decide what you deem a reasonable solution and then go after it. As said before, customer service is Universal's livelyhood. You will find somebody that cares!

Goofy, I really like your style! Well done, and well said.

 

[donsgal]

that's scary...we have ressies for November and I'm not looking forward to that game...anybody with suggestions?