Warning if you have Pre booked @ Holiday Inn Express

[DAVSEAKAT]

Dear All
We are staying the first night at the Holiday Inn Express, 1853 McCoy Road, Orlando. We booked 3 rooms in January, recieved our confirmation and sat back & relaxed. Job done. Sorted!!

Last week I thought I would just go online and check what we had booked, roomwise, breakfast etc, but I couldn't find it on the Holiday Inn website. I didn't really think too much about it, came onto DIS instead.
A couple of nights later tried again, same thing it was as though the hotel didn't exist, so I emailed Intercontinental Hotels asking if there was a problem with the website?
After several days I reiceved a reply saying that that hotel was no longer part of their chain.
I replied asking if all reservations were being honoured? and stateing my reservation number.
The response was that our reservation was cancelled in May, and i should contact the hotel direct. I was panicked only 2 and a half weeks to go!!!!!!!!!! I emailed the Ramada straight away, but could not relax, so I found a phone number and rang them.
'Dont Worry' was there answer, 'We have your reservation, everything is in order'. Phew, I was relieved. I sat back & relaxed. Job done. Sorted!!
Yesterday, I received a reply to my original email to Ramada Inns, stating 'Yes they had my reservation for 1 room for 1 person' !!Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I was straight on the phone again, and sure enough, that was what we had booked, no matter that I have the original booking confirmed.
This story does have a happy ending, they have now given us 3 rooms.
The moral to this story -
IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS AT -
THE HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS
1853 McCOY ROAD
ORLANDO

CHECK YOUR RESERVATION IMMEDIATELY

 

[totalia]

I work in the hotel industry.

Online is a great place. BUT you MUST, I can't stress this enough, MUST call THE HOTEL a number of times before the time you are due to be there to be sure that your room is still intact and as you booked it. There are two things involved with screwups, computer and human error.

I recommend calling at least once a month until you are due to come. And once a week starting the month before.

Online is possibly the LEAST reliable source for booking a reservation. It is also by far the cheapest because most internet sites have a lowest rate guarantee (meaning you can't get the same rate just by calling the hotel directly) in their contract with the hotel company.

It's not that they are bad companies but that things happen. Computers get deleted or die altogether and the information disappears. Sometimes, it litterally does disappear through virus' or even an accidental button push by a newbie employee that doesn't understand what they are doing.

At my hotel, we loaded on the updated version of our reservation software and promptly had the whole mainframe delete itself because a setting was wrong.

Give them a chance to fix it. Talk to a manager if you have to but you will likely be able to get free nights by complaining about the messup or at least free dinners or something. Hotels are very good about that and they know their money rests on their reputation.

 

[LKS]

We had this happen to us this year with a HI in Colorado Springs. I called them directly and they said they were honoring all the HI reservations. I ended up changing my mind and staying somewhere else - partly because I have this sneaking suspicion that it's not the nicest HIs that leave the chain. I could be wrong... Also, I wanted my points and once they left the chain I wasn't going to be getting any.

We have one here in Savannah that left HI and became something else. We stayed there during our relo and it was a dump. That probably colored my opinion about properties that leave the chain.

 

[thelittlemermaid]

We were suppose to be staying at the Ramada Inn at 5858 International Drive. After the AAA agent made the ressies, I went online to check them out. From the pics everything looked fine. About a month ago, I don't why I checked, but I went back to Ramada's website to look at the hotels in Orlando. To my surprise the hotel we were suppose to stay at wasn't on the webpage anymore. I tried going to "their" webpage, but it wouldn't work. So on the hunt I went. Did a search on Yahoo, and found the website tripadvisor.com that had reviews of this hotel. Needless to say they weren't very good what so ever. There were a couple of good ones, but the bad reviews out numbered the good ones 3 to 1. I called my travel agent and told her what I had found on the tripadvisor website and not being able to find them on Ramda's.

I wasn't going to find out if they were still up and running after the reviews, and told her to cancel it and to see if she could get us a room at the Ramada Inn at 6500 International Drive. I checked them out and the reviews where alot better.

With the reviews that the other hotel received, I bet Ramada more then likley "dumped" this hotel from their chain. If I ran Ramada and saw those reviews I know I sure would.