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View Full Version : I am getting ready to blow a gasket (Tropicana Inn is trying to balk at my rates)



mystycalchyk
05-12-2005, 09:44 AM
I am going to try to remain calm.

I booked my hotel reservations for July 13- July 18 last OCTOBER!!!!!

I was faxed confirmation of my reservation, which includes the fantastic rate of $74 a night.

I called today to let them know we will not be arriving on the 13th but on the 14th instead, and also to check rates and availability for our Christmas trip (yes I book early for my trips)

After I changed the date I asked:

"OK, great, before we move on to my next question...I just want to confirm, you have me arriving on July 14th and checking out on July 18th and my rate is $74 a night. Right?"

Hotel chickie: "Umm no the rate is $124 a night"

me: *freaking out* "Umm, no, I have my faxed confirmation showing $74 a night. It was faxed to me on October 15th by ___________ " (insert name here).

She has asked me to fax that to her and I have, but she just says she has to do some research but the rate was booked and confirmed on Oct 14, and no changes have been made. They dont offer a $74 rate.


If they dont honor this rate I am going to scream bloody murder. What is the use of pre-planning, getting your confirmations in writing only to have them change them at a whim? I will never find another hotel this late.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

The old man
05-12-2005, 10:01 AM
I'm a little confused by this post. I have found that when one changes dates that often the rate does change. But are you saying that they don't even show the $74 rate for your original itinerary?

I also, IMHO, find the phrase, "hotel chickie" offensive.
David

rentayenta
05-12-2005, 10:03 AM
Mystycal, make sure to bring your original fax. They will honor it. I have ran into this sort of problem before. It's such a pain and I can empathize.

bradk
05-12-2005, 10:07 AM
just to play devil's advocate, here's where things get a little fuzzy in my opinion.

yes, they may have agreed at some point in october (?) to give you a rate of $74 for the nights specified.

but that agreement works both ways. you committed to rent a room for those dates and in return, they gave you an agreeable rate.

now you want to change your end of the bargain and expect them to keep theirs.

from a legal perspective, i think they're fully in their right if they want to charge you the current booking rate (effectually canceling your prior reservation and creating a new one), in which case, you might as well keep your original reservation and lose a night.

however, i'm on your side in that it makes good political and moral sense to honor the original agreed price since with two months to go, they shouldn't have much of a problem filling the new vacancy.

Andrew
05-12-2005, 10:08 AM
A Travel Professional with whom I am personally acquainted relates that the Tropicana commonly over-books their rooms, and will sometimes move "bumped" guests to other area properties including the Anabella. One guest who was moved demanded, and was granted, comped ART passes to compensate for losing a walking-distance room.

If you booked your room with the hotel directly, you should basically make yourself a nuisance until you get to someone who can solve the problem. Talk to the hotel management, send letters.

If you booked with a third-party service (Priceline, Hotwire, Travelocity, etc), contact their customer service department.

mystycalchyk
05-12-2005, 10:09 AM
I'm a little confused by this post. I have found that when one changes dates that often the rate does change. But are you saying that they don't even show the $74 rate for your original itinerary?

I also, IMHO, find the phrase, "hotel chickie" offensive.
David



I didnt 'change' any dates. I only am showing up a day later than originally planned. AND I am giving them full 2 months notice that my arrival date is now later, it's not like I waited till the last second. If I were adding days? Then yes I would expect to pay the higher rate for any days added on, but not to drop a day off.


And you are correct, they are saying they do not show the $74 rate in any way shape or form.

hotel chickie??? offensive??? :|

considering my screen name is mystycalchyk....I cant see how it could possibly be considered 'offensive' to call someone by something I also call myself. :confused:

The old man
05-12-2005, 10:14 AM
I didnt 'change' any dates. I only am showing up a day later than originally planned. If I were adding days? Then yes I would expect to pay the higher rate for any days added on, but not to drop a day off.


And you are correct, they are saying they do not show the $74 rate in any way shape or form.


I think that adding or dropping is the same thing as changing your itinerary. The hotel books out rooms based on the dates you give. Dropping a day means they need to find someone who just needs to fill that one day or blends with other openings they may still have.

I think it's more interesting that they say that they don't show any mention of $74 even though you have a confirmation. This would seem to give you bargaining power.
David

JosieGirl71
05-12-2005, 10:30 AM
We had a similar problem with Hojo's when my sister needed to drop a couple of days from her itinerary. We had booked at a really cheap rate ($58/night?) using the Mousesavers rate but when she called to drop a couple of days, they were quoting her the new rate which was $15 more a night (for a 6 night stay, this is a lot of money to a 22 year old). I called back for her since I was the one who originally told her to book the extra couple of nights until we "firmed up" our itinerary and the management gladly gave us the original rate.

Of course, Tropicana is definitely not Hojo's when it comes to customer service but I am sure it will all work out in the end. Good luck!

Andrew
05-12-2005, 10:32 AM
I've just been told that the Castle Inn (also on Harbor, across from the park) currently has a AAA rate of $84/night for a room with two queen beds, and the Anaheim Plaza Hotel has a AAA rate of $77/night for two doubles or $74/night for one king. If you are a AAA member (and if you aren't, you should be) you might have them book one of those as a backup in case you can't get satisfaction from the Tropicana.

mystycalchyk
05-12-2005, 10:33 AM
Thanks :(

Im really annoyed with them. I mean I'm sure they dont have alot of people booking this far in advance but I do. The fact that I havent booked yet for Christmas is unheard of.

Im waiting a bit till I call her back. I will give her another hour or so.


*taps foot impatiently*

mystycalchyk
05-12-2005, 10:34 AM
I've just been told that the Castle Inn (also on Harbor, across from the park) currently has a AAA rate of $84/night for a room with two queen beds, and the Anaheim Plaza Hotel has a AAA rate of $77/night for two doubles or $74/night for one king. If you are a AAA member (and if you aren't, you should be) you might have them book one of those as a backup in case you can't get satisfaction from the Tropicana.


Wow. Thanks. I will have to look up their numbers and check with them.

adriennek
05-12-2005, 10:54 AM
If you change your itinerary, I can see why they would change the rate- these things are subjective and are designed to fill as many rooms as possible, so if they can get you to stay an extra night with good rate, it would be worth it for them. Kind of like "Buy 3 get One Free!" Even if you don't want the 4th free item, it's part of the incentive to move product (or in this case, rooms.) Even if you cancelled a night, that changes the contract.

Now, if they won't honor the original rate for the original dates, that's violating their half of the contract, per the fax.

As for over-booking- Is the Tropicana owned by Hilton? They do this a lot. We've been bumped from the Hilton and we've known other people who were bumped from the Hilton in the past, too.

I always book with a Travel Professional with whom Andrew is personally aquainted. That way, if there's a problem, she can fix it for me :D I even got bumped from a regular room to a two-room suite once at a DoubleTree Hotel. I'm convinced it was because the hotel knew I would tell my travel professional and she would send more clients to them.... and it worked!

Adrienne

mystycalchyk
05-12-2005, 11:16 AM
Well I will never book with them again. Still waiting to call her back. And still checking other places as well.

I just booked our December trip with Extended Stay.
Arriving December 24th and checking out on January 1st. $56.99 a night.

Yes, Im cheap. I like to spend my money on stuff at Disneyland not on a place to sleep. We stayed at the Extended Stay on our trip last December and it was just fine. King bed, kitchenette. For a trip that long we need to save as much as we can.

sriggins
05-12-2005, 11:20 AM
Yes, Im cheap. I like to spend my money on stuff at Disneyland not on a place to sleep.

No doubt. What about hiding out in the Castle? :P

Opus1guy
05-12-2005, 11:21 AM
I didnt 'change' any dates. I only am showing up a day later than originally planned. AND I am giving them full 2 months notice that my arrival date is now later, it's not like I waited till the last second.

I don't think this really applies in your case, but just for the record almost every major hotel chain I know of considers this what they call "Shaving" your existing reservation. And many of them consider that a change in the complete reservation. Removing just one day will often result in a new rate for your remaining days.

They do this even when it doesn't make "common sense" to do so. Often you'd think they'd be glad to have your $74 room back so they could re-sell it for $125 or higher. But it usually doesn't work that way.

What I do when I plan travel and think I might have to lop-off a day or two at the beginning or end of the trip, is to book separate one-night reservations at the beginning or end of the trip. When I arrive at the hotel, it's a simple matter for them to link the separate reservations so I don't have to check-out and check-in again, and perhaps even change rooms.

Personally, I don't get the feeling here that your shaving a night off the beginning of your trip has anything to do with the difference in rate in this case. I think the hotel just screwed up what your initial confirmed rate was to begin with.

But for future reference, shaving can change the rate on remaining nights. Similar to attempting to change dates on a restrictive airline ticket. Leave a day earlier or later, and you can be subject to a complete re-fare of your entire ticket. Even if you're doing them a favor by moving off of an oversold flight to a half-empty flight!!

Although that often doesn't make sense to us, the Marketing of low rates and fares is a science to them, and they'll often forgo "common sense" in order to "protect" the restrictive nature and change penalties of advance purchase low priced product, by sticking by their policies.

Good Luck and/or hope you find a more reliable place (from what some report on this property).

experiment626
05-12-2005, 11:26 AM
While I agree it sucks for you, I do think that the hotel is right in this matter. You changed your reservation, they changed the rate. Esentially they made a new reservation for you with the current rate. I am sure that the hotel is completely booked as are many of the other surrounding hotels. I think it may be hard for them to find someone who wants the room just for that one night, so I can understand that they want to be compenstated for the day you droped.

At this point I would tell them to keep your reservation as originally booked (with the $74) rate and to simply note that you won't be arriving until the 14th.

Mark Mywords
05-12-2005, 11:55 AM
Yeah, experiment626 might be right. The suggestion to just walk in there with the fax no matter what, and that they'll probably honor it might be a little off-base. Any other year, I'd say that they're probably right, but this is the 50th we're talking about. We had much more trouble getting our rooms for this summer than usual.

hlbtimes2
05-12-2005, 12:08 PM
Just a bit of info: According to their website the only night that week that is completely booked is Saturday. However, all of the special rates (senior, AAA, webrates) are all sold. They just have the standard rates available.

MR_RUBBLES
05-12-2005, 12:22 PM
We are going in June and two days ago booked a room at the Anaheim Plaza. Two queen beds for 69.00 a night. Their website is www.anaheimplazahotel.com. Good Luck.

mystycalchyk
05-12-2005, 02:01 PM
Thank you all for your responses.


Im still quite annoyed with this chick at the Tropicana. She is going to honor the rates (and yes I have requested another faxed confirmation). But she repeatedly said to me that the rate I was quoted was $124 a night and that the fax was sent with a typographical error. I kept saying back to her, that I wasnt trying to cause problems, but the fact that she is insisting that I was originally quoted $124 is her basically calling me a liar, and had I been quoted $124 when I went to book this room all those months ago, I would have politely declined because I wouldnt have paid that much for the Tropicana, and I would have booked elsewhere (and since it was so early when I started making these plans I would have had no problems).

She was really steaming me off by insisting that I was quoted the $124.
I was never quoted $124. :mad:
I do not like being called a liar *fumes*
She kept interrupting me and finally I had to ask her to plaase allow me to get at least one sentence out before she cut me off again.
I know shes ticked off too, but seriously, she needs to be ticked at the chick who apparently quoted and booked me wrong...not me.
I called, I booked and I expected that rate.
Had I not decided to change the dates, and had I not been such an anal person that always checks and rechecks everything, how much arguing would I have had to do when we drug our tired butts in there late that night? Would they have honored it at 11PM when I obviously have no where else to go? I doubt it. :rolleyes:

I will stay there this one last time, and I will never in a blue million years ever consider the Tropicana again, and I will make sure to tell everyone I know exactly why.


They did this to me this last Christmastime too BTW. I had booked months in advance for Christmas and was quoted I think it was 89 or so a night (maybe 94 or something), and when I called a month or so in advance to reconfirm (yes Im that anal, I always reconfirm, and will again the week before I go) they said the rate was up by $50 or so. I was so annoyed with them that I just called and booked the Extended Stay right then and there and cancelled with them.

If we are planning on driving we can stay at Extended Stay since we will have a car, but if we fly we try to stay right there on the strip.

3894
05-12-2005, 02:38 PM
Thanks for letting us know about the discrepancy, mystycalchyk. That has got to be majorly irritating.

jswtsang
05-12-2005, 09:12 PM
bummer, i paid 74 bucks for one night there through hotels.com, did you book directly through them or through a website? Maybe you could score something on a website and cancel your orig reservation?

jt

The Lovely Mrs. tod
05-12-2005, 09:54 PM
There is no such thing as a "typographical error" from a hotel...if you got it in writing, they have to honor it, and any professional would do so without arguing with you. Although, even though you weren't 'changing' dates just dropping one could have made the original rate void. If they chose to, they could argue the $74 rate was based on a stay of X nights, dropping the night negated the rate. The woman you are speaking with is probably not a hotel professional. Don't let someone else relay the problem to a higher up...insist on speaking directly with the higher up yourself---politely, but do it. Sounds like you've got a res agent who is just a phone bank person. If the Tropicana routinely pulls things like that you need to go to AAA with it, and maybe AFTA.

That said, we got what I consider a really good rate at the Castle Inn...it was $120 but that is for a 2 bedroom suite.

-TLMt

RobRoz
05-12-2005, 10:21 PM
one word , PriceLine ..or is that 2 words ? :rolleyes:

adriennek
05-12-2005, 10:49 PM
Changing the rate on their end is inexcusable. My aforementioned Travel Professional told me a long time ago: The earlier you book, the better rate you'll get.

Victoria, I hope you'll put a review into our review system so that our readers will have the heads up when they're planning their trips!

Adrienne