Guest User
September 21, 2024
Picture this: a weary traveler arrives at what was foolishly believed to be a hotel--a place for *rest*. Little did I know, I had stumbled into a 24-hour circus of stomping, hollering, and the unmistakable sound of someone holding a frat party directly above my head until 2 a.m. Apparently, the room above had been rented out by a herd of elephants. After enduring hours of this delightful symphony of chaos, I made the fateful decision to call the front desk. "No answer," you say? Of course not. They were likely too busy orchestrating the hotel's nightly disaster plan. So, at 2 a.m., I dragged myself down to the lobby to plead for some semblance of peace. A gentleman on shift was located closing up the bar. "Relax," said the night man, who assured me that it would be taken care of. Moving rooms at this hour was not discussed--because who in their right mind would want to switch rooms after midnight, with luggage, after a 3-hour drive anyway? After all, isn't sleep just an optional luxury when you're paying to stay at a luxury hotel? Despite my plea, the noise continued, and I managed a grand total of three glorious hours of sleep--just enough to ensure I was too exhausted and depleted for the very conference I had traveled to attend. Nothing like a $250-per-night stay to completely ruin your entire professional agenda. In the morning, bleary-eyed and teetering on the edge of sanity, I approached the front desk again to check out, where I was handed a business card like it was some kind of golden ticket. "Contact the General Manager about any and all complaints," they said. I imagine they said it with a smirk, knowing full well he wasn't easily contacted. I was hoping for a partial reimbursement, or Bonvoy points, but of course, he never returned a single one of my calls. At this point, I had resigned myself to my fate. I checked into another, *actual* hotel nearby the same day and had a very comfortable stay. But wait--there's more! Days later, I noticed a valet parking charge on my bill. Now, I parked my own car *on the street* (which has free overnight parking). Yet there it was, a nice little charge for a service that I didn't use. When I called to get this cleared up, they confirmed that I hadn't used valet and, in a stroke of genius, proceeded to charge me for valet **again**. I naively walked into the lobby (again) to explain this very simple error. But apparently, basic arithmetic and understanding the difference between crediting and debiting a charge is a skill not required to work there. The employee behind the desk gave me a blank stare that could rival a brick wall in terms of mental cognizance. I'm fairly certain he just randomly pushed buttons until the system gave him the dopamine hit of having successfully done absolutely nothing. I was also *promised* that a $20 "incentives" fee would be credited back after my stay. I did not use anything in the entire hotel except for the shower. The money was never returned. They just