First we brought you a story about hotel guests unable to sleep because of noises outside the building, now it’s a tale of woe from the opposite side of the looking glass, with residents on one Manhattan street sending a bill for its sleepless nights to a neighboring hotel full of party-goers. [More]
Neighbors Bill Hotel $21,000 For Sleepless Nights From Noisy Parties
By April 23, 2013
Hotwire Landed Us In A Four-Star Hotel Under Renovation With Innovative Jackhammer Wakeup Calls
By April 23, 2013
It’s nice to have your hotel provide a wakeup call, but not when you didn’t ask for it. And not with jackhammering. James had used Hotwire before for short hotel stays of a night or two, and never had any problems. So he used the site to book the hotel for his four-night vacation with his girlfriend in a warm-weather vacation spot in the United States. They were delighted that the site placed them in a nice four-star hotel, but it turned out to be a four-star hotel then under renovations. [More]
Beware, Hoarders Of Hotel Rewards Points: Book Now Before It’s Too Late
By March 18, 2013
Hey, you. Yes, you, the guy with the piles and piles of hotel rewards points stacked up nice and neat. Might want to think about booking a vacation and using up those points soon, as most of the major hotel chains have either already devalued their points or will do so pretty darn soon. [More]
Would You Pay A Hotel To Tell You It’s Time For Bed?
By March 11, 2013
You’ve had a busy day, you’re tired — why don’t you just shut that phone off, climb into your PJs and get yourself tucked in to bed, mister. Not everyone has a mom around to send them to bed, especially when you’re sleeping away from home, but you can pay to stay at one New York City hotel in order to get the services of a “sleep concierge.” [More]
IKEA Enlists Marriott’s Help In Assembling European Budget Hotels Using Only An Allen Key
By March 5, 2013
IKEA announced last year that it wanted to build a bunch of hotels across Europe, right around the time it unveiled plans for its own district in Hamburg, Germany. And now the company is one step closer to its dream but it needs Marriott’s help. Ostensibly even it can’t decipher those wordless instructions sheets. [More]
Two Guests Who Drank Corpse Water Now Suing L.A. Hotel
By February 27, 2013
Last week, we shared the story of a Canadian tourist who disappeared and died under mysterious circumstances, then turned up dead in the water tank of the Los Angeles hotel where she was staying. The investigation into the 21-year-old’s disappearance and tragic death continues, but some former guests are being proactive and have already filed a lawsuit against the hotel. [More]
Hampton Inn Offers Me Refund For Canceled Reservation, Changes Its Mind And Charges Me $500
By February 20, 2013
Many hotels have rather strict cancellation policies, which is understandable since it’s bad for business if people book rooms and then fail to show up. What’s not so understandable is a hotel that decides it has a strict cancellation policy after it’s allowed a guest to cancel and provided her with a cancellation number. [More]
Howard Johnson Gives Away Block Of Rooms Reserved For Wedding Because It Doesn’t Know How To Say No To Mumford & Sons Fans
By February 19, 2013
A bride-to-be got some bad news last week about a block of rooms she’d reserved at a Howard Johnson Inn in St. Augustine — they had all been given away to Mumford & Sons fans and there was nothing that could be done about it. [More]
Priceline Books Me In 3.5 Star Roach Motel, And There’s No Refunds
By January 22, 2013
The problem with Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” feature is that you don’t get to name your own hotel. That’s the point, of course. When Chris used it to book a 3.5 star hotel for his vacation, though, he looked up reviews for the place and saw that other customers’ experiences ranged from “no heat” to “dog poop in the closet” to “bedbugs.” That was not promising. So he tried to cancel, only to learn that Priceline has a strict policy against that. No matter how terrible the hotel you end up with might be. [More]
Hotel Claims Overzealous Employee Posted Sign Offering To Pay For Nice Online Reviews
By December 14, 2012
Earlier today, we told you about the Texas hotel that offered guests up to $5 if they posted positive reviews on any number of popular travel sites. A rep for the hotel has since responded to say that this was a case of an overzealous employee acting on their own. [More]
Dallas Hotel Blatantly Offers To Pay Guests For Positive Online Reviews
By December 14, 2012
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Here’s a tip to hotel managers around the world — Paying for reviews is bad enough. Advertising that you’re willing to pay for positive feedback is only going to communicate to your guests that you run a bad hotel and that you expect them to not have anything nice to say about your establishment. [More]
FTC Warns Hotels That Hiding Resort Fees May Violate The Law
By November 28, 2012
Have you ever booked a hotel room and then arrived to find that in addition to the room rate, you must also pay a “resort fee,” even if you have no intention of using the amenities the fee is intended to cover? The Federal Trade Commission thinks some hotel operators may be illegally hiding these fees in order to mislead consumers about their room rates. [More]
Expedia Books Me Into 4 Hotels I Can’t Stay In
By November 2, 2012
Like many New Yorkers in low-lying areas, Consumerist reader Jacob’s home was evacuated. Without a place to stay, he used his phone to book a room at a Manhattan hotel. Little did he know that he wouldn’t be staying at that hotel, or the one after that, or the one after that. [More]
NYC Hotels Double Rates On Some Guests, But Is It Gouging?
By October 30, 2012
All over Manhattan today, there are hotel guests who were supposed to have checked out but who are forced to stay at least one more night because their flights are canceled — and they couldn’t get to the airport anyway. Making matters worse, a lot of these people are paying higher room rates then they have been. [More]
Fancy Hotel Wedding Planner Doesn’t Understand How Email’s “CC” Function Works
By October 24, 2012
We’ve all had the horrible “Oh no no I sent that hilarious yet inappropriate email to everyone in the entire office” moment, but there’s a difference between slipping up and hitting the “reply all” function, and adding someone as a “cc” or carbon copy (remember paper?) recipient. Which must mean the wedding planner at a fancy British hotel who accidentally revealed her truly snooty feelings about a couple just doesn’t know how to use email. [More]
Comfort Inn Boots Wedding Guests From Overbooked Hotel, Doesn’t Seem To Care
By October 11, 2012
When you book a block of eight rooms at a hotel, 18 months in advance no less, you’d expect to have a little leverage when the place suddenly realizes it’s been overbooked. At the very least, you’d expect a little bit of respect. But a woman in New Jersey says the folks at Comfort Inn were not terribly comforting when they told guests who had reserved rooms for a nearby wedding that they would have to stay elsewhere. [More]
When Tropical Storm Threatens Tropical Paradise, Hotel Won't Let Me Cancel
By August 23, 2012
William’s dilemma with Priceline and Westin is what we’re guessing will be the first of very many travel problems caused by what is now Tropical Storm Isaac. William used to live in New Orleans, and knows better than to be anywhere near the projected path of a hurricane if he doesn’t have to. He had plans to travel to a vacation spot in Florida right in Isaac’s predicted path this weekend, and was probably supposed to be in the air right now. He was able to cancel his normally non-refundable AirTran flight, but the hotel, a Westin, won’t budge. He paid through Priceline, which has a no-refunds policy. That’s common knowledge. The problem is that Westin wouldn’t cancel his reservation anyway until an actual evacuation order is issued for the area. [More]
Holiday Inn Sends Me Wrong Receipt, Reveals How Much Of A Discount It Gives To Travelocity
By August 22, 2012
If you’ve ever booked a room through Travelocity or any other online travel site, you might have wondered how much that company is paying the hotel operator for the room. Without even trying to, one Consumerist reader managed to find out what Travelocity actually paid for a recent stay at a Holiday Inn. [More]
