Hotels (All)

Which Are The Best & Worst U.S. Hotel Chains?
School is almost done and the weather is getting warmer (or at least it's supposed to be), which can only mean... well, it can actually mean an awful lot of things. But today we're going to discuss which hotel chains people will look forward to staying in — and which ones they will be dreading — this summer. More »

There's A Used Condom In My Room. Does The Hotel Owe Me Anything?
David and his wife were staying in a hotel over the weekend, and their lovely room came with a complimentary used condom on the floor. The staff on duty at the time swapped them into a different room, and promised that someone in charge would contact them in the morning. And that was the last they heard about it. He wonders: did they deserve a discount on their bill, a comped night, or anything at all for their trouble? More »

Canceling Super 8 Reservation Somehow Leads To More Reserved Rooms
Reserve on the Web, cancel on the Web. Wouldn't that make sense? Mike thought so, and he didn't see anything indicating otherwise when he made his Super 8 reservation. But somehow, his reservation for one night turned into a two-night reservation after he canceled it because he was supposed to call the motel directly to cancel. Who knew that canceling a reservation could have the opposite effect? More »

Days Inn Books Five Extra Rooms, Empties Your Mom's Checking Account
Heather's mom reserved one room at a Days Inn, and received confirmation for three rooms. She canceled the two extra reservations, then had to call and cancel the original one as well, early enough that there was no penalty. But after the date of her scheduled stay, the company billed her for three rooms, draining her checking account. Wait, what? Days Inn had her down for six rooms, and charged her as a no-show for the three she didn't know about. Now she's broke, and no one can refund her for the three phantom reservations. More »

Priceline Upgrades You To Reportedly Bedbug-Infested Hotel
Ordinarily, it would be a good thing if Priceline upgraded your bid for a 3.5-star hotel to a 4-star bid. This sometimes happens when a classier hotel accepts your bid. It wasn't much of a bonus for Lissa, though. She wanted to avoid a certain 4-star hotel because user reviews in various places complained of bedbug infestations, so she bid only on 3.5-star establishments. Of course, this bid landed her at the allegedly infested hotel. It took her several hours of customer service hell to get out of the situation, which is still better than being chomped on by bedbugs. More »

16 Tips On How To Be A Better Hotel Guest
While most of the travel horror stories we cover on Consumerist involve airlines, the hotels, bed and breakfasts, inns and flophouses of the world are no stranger to regular readers. But one reader writes in to explain that the best way to get good service from hotel staff is to just be a decent human being. More »

Homeland Security Teams Up With Major Hotel Chains To Fight Terrorism One Room At A Time
Just like last year's program that once again made Walmart safe from terrorism, the Dept. of Homeland Security has announced a partnership that will remind us all to fight terrorism while stealing towels and toiletries from the hotel bathroom. More »

Hipmunk Now Finds Flights That Fit Into Your Schedule
Hey, busy travelers: If you're tired of toggling back and forth between your Google calendar and the website you use for booking your flights, the folks at Hipmunk have come up with a way to integrate your schedule into your flight and hotel searches. More »

Getting The Hotel Bed You Ask For Is Only For The Elite At Hyatt
When Rosalie and her husband reserved a room at a Hyatt Place hotel, they thought that by requesting two queen-size beds, they were reserving two queen-size beds. This is not so: they were requesting two queen-size beds, and the couple learned this the hard way. This wasn't just a case of travel preferences and first world problems: Rosalie suffers from severe back problems, and needs a nice, immobile bed to herself in order to prevent Even More Pain. More »

Hotel Gives Away My Room, Hotels.com Won't Give Me My Money Back
For all the confirmation e-mails and reservation numbers you receive when booking a room through Hotels.com — and most third-party discount reservation sites — there is still a slim chance that you'll arrive at your destination only to find out your room has been sold off to someone willing to pay more. More »

Guy Files Class Action Against Hilton For Charging Him 75 Cents For Newspaper He Didn't Ask For
A man has decided to turn a minor annoyance, getting a newspaper at your hotel room door and getting charged for it, into a class action lawsuit. More »

If I Rebook At A Holiday Inn I "Favorited," I Expect The Hotel To Be In The Same Location
In the five years I've been writing for Consumerist, I've read plenty of hotel horror stories and complaints, but this is a new one. Using the "Favorites" option on his HolidayInn.com account, reader Andy booked a stay at a Holiday Inn Express that he had gone to before and enjoyed. When he arrived at the same location, it was now a "Mission Inn." They told him the Holiday Inn had moved down the road. The new facility was sub-par compared to what it had been previously and he complained to Holiday Inn corporate, they basically said "tough noogies." Which is how Holiday Inn just lost a life-long customer. More »

This Travelodge Ashtray Sends Out A Mixed Message
While the FDA has decided to go for the ick-factor in trying to curb smoking, the folks at Travelodge are combating in-room tobacco use in an interesting way... with ashtrays. More »

Hotels.com Leaves You Without A Place To Stay In Beijing, Shrugs
Dylan traveled to China a few months ago. His consumer complaint doesn't directly involve any company in that country, though: his issue is with the company that was supposed to provide him with a place to stay in Beijing, Hotels.com. Miscommunication ensued when Hotels.com first had the wrong address for the hotel, then failed to actually reserve a room for Dylan. When he called the company for help, he learned that while they help customers book rooms in foreign countries, they don't necessarily have anyone on staff who speaks the language of those countries to smooth over issues. More »

Candlewood Suites Pushes Back New Hotel Opening Date, Forgets To Tell Guest
David had this crazy, completely irrational idea in his head. He thought that just because he had a confirmed ten-night Candlewood Suites stay, made through the InterContinental Hotels web site, there might be a room waiting for him. The reservation went through just fine, and was in the system. The problem was that the grand opening of this new hotel in El Paso, Texas had been pushed back to a few months after David's planned stay. His reservation was now invalid, but no one at the hotel chain bothered to notify him. Are other guests due for a rude surprise when they check in or call to confirm their reservations? More »

Hotel Issues Refund, Priceline Keeps All Of The Money
Wynn could use the services of a Priceline negotiator. He booked a stay at a Marriott through Priceline, but due to some confusion, the hotel put the price of the entire stay on his credit card. The hotel promised Wynn a refund of the incorrect charge, and didn't end up charging Priceline for the hotel stay, either. That was incredibly nice of them, but leaves Wynn with a problem: Priceline still charged him, and simply kept all of the money. More »

MGM Grand No Longer Charging $20/Night To Get A Non-Smoking Room
A couple weeks ago, we told you about how the MGM Grand Las Vegas had begun charging $20 per night to guarantee non-smoking rooms to guests. That didn't go over well with the general public and now the resort tells Consumerist that it's rescinded the policy. More »

Would You Pay $20/Night To Guarantee A Non-Smoking Room?
You can almost imagine the moment when some executive at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was walking by the check-in counter and heard an employee ask a guest, "Will that be smoking or non-smoking?" And in that moment, yet another idea for a tack-on fee was born. More »

Enjoy Our Down Bedding: Too Bad You're Allergic To Down
If you're allergic to down and stay at a Quality Inn, you should probably check ahead of time to see whether there is any down-free bedding available in the entire building. Jason is allergic to down, and this was the first hotel he had ever encountered that couldn't provide him with feather-free bedding to accommodate his allergy. His complaints to corporate were met with more or less a shrug. More »

Long For The '70s? This Vintage Hilton Ad Will Cure That
No person in their right mind should ever long for the '70s. In case, they do, however, we offer as counter-argument this incredibly weird Hilton ad, which features a magician, a Scott Bakula impersonator, and a bunch of hotel maids dressed in what later became the Munchkin costumes for a community theater production of "The Wizard of Oz."
More »

Update: Hotels.com Finally Issues Refund To Misinformed Customers
You may remember the story from just after Christmas of the two Consumerist readers who weren't told their reservation on Hotels.com was non-refundable until after they'd requested a refund. After the story appeared here, it looks like the site saw the error of its ways and has refunded the money. More »

Hotels.com CSR Doesn't Tell Us Room Is Non-Refundable Until After We Request Refund
Kate and her friend Crystal recently tried to book a weekend getaway to New York City. They found cheap airfare on JetBlue and a customer service rep at Hotels.com was nice enough to book their hotel room for them over the phone. All was going well until the women needed to cancel their trip. That's when Hotels.com finally told them what they should have been told in the first place — that their hotel did not offer refunds. More »

If You Want Unbiased Hotel Reviews, Don't Trust Expedia
What's the purpose of hotel reviews on Expedia.com? Based on the recent experiences of two customers who wrote to Consumerist this week, it's not to provide a balanced overview of customers' experiences. Two unrelated readers stayed in different hotel chains in different cities, had bad experiences, and wanted to warn other travelers. Expedia posted neither of their reviews. Why not? More »

Ways Hotels Try To Bilk You For Extra Money
A hotel's room rate is only the base price of your stay. The industry pulses with ways to stick you with a bevy of fees you may not see coming. More »

Reader's 323,000 Hilton Points Zapped Out Of Existence
Due to the nature of Craig's work, he spends about half of his nights sleeping in hotels. If you're a hotel chain, he's the kind of customer you would want to work hard to keep. However, Hilton doesn't think so: since his work didn't bring him near any Hilton properties in the last year, they canceled his rewards account and purged all 323,000 of his HHonors points. More »

Honeymooners Turned Away From Hotel For Being Too Young
Imagine you're an 18-year-old bride who has had to plan your entire wedding and honeymoon on your own because your groom has been away at Marine boot camp. And then you arrive at the hotel after the ceremony and find out that there's no room at the inn because you're under 21. More »

Priceline Restores Insanity, Moves Hotel Reservation To Different City
Priceline has a very different understanding of what a "hotel reservation" is than Shane does. He and his wife and children planned to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Washington, D.C. to attend this past weekend's Rally To Restore Sanity And/or Fear put on by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They reserved a hotel room in a close suburb, near a Metro station, correctly assuming that traffic would make driving into the city a bad idea. More »

Overpriced Bars Now Adding Mandatory 18-20% Tips
Here in New York City, there are certain bars — most of them in hotels and most of them frequented by people who read in Us Weekly that celebrities party there — that are not only charging absolutely ridiculous amounts of cash for basic cocktails, but are automatically adding hefty tips onto the tab. More »

UPDATE: Fairmont Hotel Drama Gets Happy Ending For College Students
Yesterday, we brought you the story of 128 Washington University students whose reservations at the Fairmont Millennium in downtown Chicago had been canceled and relocated 15 miles away to an airport Sheraton. We're happy to report that the situation appears to have been resolved, without much bloodshed. More »

Fairmont Hotel Cancels Reservations After Receiving $13,000 Deposit
UPDATE: Looks like this situation has been resolved. More »

Is This The End Of Recession Pricing For Hotel Rooms?
While the last couple years haven't exactly been wonderful for people in the hotel business, many travelers have been able to score cut-rate rooms as hotel operators sought to fill rooms. But now, says USA Today, it's looking like rates are back on the rise again. More »

Holiday Inn Manager: If You Book Through Priceline, You're A "Bad Customer"
Discount travel websites can provide amazing discounts, but can also make you a second-class consumer of sorts—particularly in hotels. Jesse learned this the hard way when he booked a stay at a Holiday Inn in a major American city. He tells Consumerist that he reserved his room through Priceline, and called the hotel to make sure that his reservation would include two double beds for the four people traveling. He checked in to find a single queen bed in the room. His mistake? According to the hotel manager, being a "bad customer" who booked through a third-party site. More »

Hotels Testing Lower Price For Lower Quality WiFi Access
For those of us that live and die by our laptops, WiFi access at hotels is often a necessary — and occasionally costly — evil. But some hotels are now experimenting with pricing levels that offer guests a discount if they're willing to accept a lesser internet connection. More »

Minnesota County Doesn't Want Employees To Even Have Option Of Watching Hotel Porn
The notion of business travelers being forbidden from purchasing X-rated pay-per-view isn't anything new. The erotic offerings are — so we hear — more expensive than other titles and very few employers want to foot the bill for them. But Winona County, MN, doesn't just want to tell municipal employees not to order hotel porn; they don't even want them staying at hotels that offer smutty selections. More »

Should We Confront The Bellman About Stealing Our Camera?
One our readers was staying at a hotel and the friendly bellhop brought his luggage, including his camera case, up to his room, while he parked the car. When our reader got to the room, the camera was gone. More »

That Free Balloon In Your Hotel Room May Be A Used Condom
Kids: don't try to blow up balloons that you find on the floor. Or anywhere that's not from a sealed package. A 4-year-old boy awaits sexually transmitted disease tests in Atlanta after he did just that. He mistook a previous guest's used condom for a balloon, tried to blow it up, and became mysteriously ill shortly afterward, with a fever and mysterious white bumps in his mouth. More »

Holiday Inn Will Pay Your Baggage Fees If You Stay With Them
In an attempt to alleviate the annoyance of checked baggage fees, all while drumming up some business, Holiday Inn — along with other IHG-brand hotels — will pay up to $50 of your fees if you book a weekend stay with your Visa card. More »

Hotels.com Screws Me Out Of Price-Matching Guarantee Because They're Too Busy
Last week, Consumerist reader Kenny needed to book a hotel for a few nights and decided to use Hotels.com, in part because of the site's Price Match Guarantee. But when Kenny found a lower rate and attempted to take advantage of the guarantee, Hotels.com was just too busy to get around to his request. More »

Starwood American Express Card Hikes Annual Fee To $65
The annual fee for the Starwood American Express card is going up from $45 to $65. Is it worth the price to pay for the right to use a credit card? More »

Tips For Scoring A Hotel Room Upgrade
Several years ago, I began a cross-country trip in San Francisco, where I'd booked a night at the Marriott through Priceline for something like $85. But because I'd arrived so late in the evening, the only room left for me wasn't the windowless heck-hole next to the ice machine I would usually expect, but a deluxe room with a sweeping view of the city. Little did I know I'd inadvertently followed one of Travel + Leisure's tips for hotel upgrades. More »

I Got A Free Night In A Hotel: Should I Complain?
Ryan writes that he has a moral dilemma. Traveling for a wedding, he and his wife checked in to their hotel late. Past midnight. Somehow, this resulted in their not being charged for the first night of their stay, even though hotel staff promised to straighten the situation out. More »

Travel: Is That Online Deal For Real?
Our inboxes and search results are filled with great-sounding travel deals, $35 airline tickets, $399 three-day all-inclusives and the like, but have you ever actually tried to snag one? Oftentimes it seems a low "landing prices" shoots up after all the fees are added, or if you try to get a date other than a very narrow set, or you want to do something crazy like return home afterwards. NYT took a look and found that while that's true, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting a price close to the advertised one. More »

Hampton Inn Wants You To Use Imaginary Boxspring Measurements
Older stairwells were apparently not designed to handle the massive boxsprings that come with today's double beds. When Sarah ordered a mattress set from Hampton Inn, she didn't realize this, and ran up against a no-return policy and an inexplicable $500 markup for a split boxspring. More »

Hilton Hotel Tells You To "Just Wait It Out" While Other Guests Prank Call Your Room
Staying at the Hilton for his first-year wedding anniversary, Brian and his wife had to suffer through two different groups of fellow guests prank-calling his room, excessive noise, and a non-working air-conditioner. They did give him one free night for his troubles, but that didn't make his experience any less unpleasant. Here's the letter he just shot off to the CEO of Hilton Hotels and other top-ranking executives to express his dissatisfaction. It got him his entire stay refunded, a voucher for two-nights stay at any Hilton, and, holiest of holies, an apology from the manager. More »

How Does Travelocity's New Service Compare To Hotwire & Priceline?
In a move to compete with Hotwire and Priceline, Travelocity has gotten into the deep-discount, semi-blind hotel booking business with the introduction of their new Top Secret Hotels service that promises savings of up to 45% on three and four-star hotels. More »

Hotel Employs Professional Snugglers To Pre-Warm Beds
If you're looking for a job in the hospitality industry and have highly refined snuggling skills, some Holiday Inns in Britain might have just the job for you. They're offering guests the opportunity to have their beds pre-warmed by a member of the hotel staff. Yes, a hotel employee will climb into your bed wearing fleece pajamas, stay there until the bed reaches a temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and then go away. More »

Hilton's Points-For-Haiti Offer Isn't A Good Value
If you've got Hilton Honors points, the hotel chain will let you redeem them as cash donations for Haiti relief efforts. That's a pretty nice offer, but Oyster Hotel Reviews points out that the hotel chain is only offering $25 in donations for every 10,000 points—an exchange rate that puts the points at a fourth of what they're usually worth. More »

Is It Poor Taste To Solicit Hotel Rewards Points Donations?
Jeremy received a solicitation from Hilton to donate his points from the chain's loyalty program, HHonors, to the Red Cross in order to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti. He thinks that this e-mail blast was in poor taste. Do you? More »

Harrah's Las Vegas Resorts Say No To Resort Fees
If you don't like the idea of paying a resort fee the next time you visit Las Vegas, make sure you check out the various Harrah's Entertainment resorts. Today they sent a press release to travel blogger and temporary TSA aggravator Chris Elliott in which they state that all of their Vegas resorts "exclude mandatory resort fees." More »

Comfort Inn Driver Rescues Abandoned Holiday Inn Customers, Then Takes Them To Wendy's
Here's a nice holiday-themed story of how a kind Comfort Inn driver not only helped out a group of stranded travelers, but even agreed to take them to get food after they checked into their hotel. Maybe he was hoping for some big tips, or maybe he's got some grudge against the local Holiday Inn. (Or maybe he's a nice guy.) Whatever his motivation, he probably just earned some repeat business for Comfort Inn. More »

Planet Hollywood Responds To Negative Facebook Comment With Free Wine And Chocolates
Frustrated with a room mix-up and subsequent bad customer service at Planet Hollywood's hotel/casino in Las Vegas, Brad expressed his frustration in a note on their Facebook fan page. More »