Reader Adam L’s most unsavory experience at a Santa Cruz Travelodge this week included:
hotels
Orbitz Customer Cancels Reservation For Spite
By 8.22.06
Even with Orbitz’s notoriously inept customer service – behind that facade of campy commercials and flash games, there’s…more facade – this is a new one. Reader Missdona booked a room at the Bellagio hotel last week. Yesterday, the price dropped $20. She tried to lock in the lower rate but was unable to online and the phone people consistently put her on long hold only to disconnect her or refused to help. She decides to cancel and book with the hotel direct. A phone rep tells her that cancelling will cost $25.
Sheraton President Blocks Off 30 Rooms For Personal Use, Your Reservation Be Damned
By 7.25.06
With this type of “No room at the inn” you would think it was the second birth of our Lord and Savior. Though, this unholy reservation, and botched reservation, earns a “Jesus Christ.”
The News
By 7.11.06
• If you can’t have Lay, there’s always other chips to go with the fish. [CT] “Enron-related case means test for new treaty”
Travelocity Atrocity
By 6.14.06
Turns out the Travelocity Guarantee isn’t that. Think of it more as a courtesy statement of what you might expect to pay should Travelocity have all its shit together. This guy recorded a call he had with a Travelocity supervisor. He wanted them to honor the agreed-upon price. They didn’t.
Beat Credit Card Blocking
By 6.6.06
Lifehacker’s got a pointer to an FTC article for avoiding “credit card blocking” when booking trips, whereby a hotel will stake claim for the full cost of your stay, plus the incidentals it feels you may buy, prior to checking out of the hotel.
Tip or Sign the Slip?
By 6.1.06
Tipping, a venerated system of checks and balances that rewards good service and punishes bad, is under attack, or is it evolution?
Turning the Tables on the Hudson
By 5.23.06
Robert Norton is staying at the Hudson Hotel here in New York and his feet are cold:
Better Bidding for Hotel and Airfare
By 5.5.06
A few days ago, we chatted about biddingfortravel.com,an online forum for people to share bidding strategies on travel auction sites like Hotwire and Priceline.
BiddingForTravel.com
By 5.3.06
One of the problems with travel bidding sites such as Priceline and Hotwire is that you’re betting blind. The house has all the stats, has already determined what they’re going to pay and it’s up to you to guess what might work.
Guides to Best & Worst WiFi Hotels
By 3.28.06
One day, glorious reams of interlocking, free and open wi-fi networks will seamlessly interlace across America. Until then, service remains a plane as broken as a pimpled and pockmarked skater video inhabitant, a matter of special concern for the road warrior.
The Only Time You’ll Want to Check into Bellevue…
By 3.27.06
We spill plenty of pixels here about crappy customer service so it pleases us to know that somebody, somewhere, is getting it right, even if you have to travel all the way to the Pacific Inn in Bellevue, Washington.
