I wish there was something lower than "1 star."
We arrived around 11pm the first night and for some reason they had 2 rooms reserved in my name - even though it was just my wife and I. We explained that it was a mistake and that we only wanted / needed 1 room. The woman at the FRONT DESK said it was past the cancellation deadline, so we were being charged for the extra room and that we'd need to call RESERVATIONS to sort it out because there's nothing they could do there at the front desk.
So I got to the room and spent 15 - 20 minutes on hold before talking to someone in RESERVATIONS only to have them tell me they couldn't do anything - they said only someone at the FRONT DESK could remove the charge for the second room. I explained that the FRONT DESK told me I had to call them. At that point they suggested I call CUSTOMER RELATIONS the next morning.
So I called CUSTOMER RELATIONS, waited on hold another 15 minutes, and finally spoke to someone. He said he couldn't do anything to remove the charge - it could only be done by the FRONT DESK (!!) and offered to call them on my behalf. After being on hold nearly 10 minutes while he did that, he came back and said the hotel refused to remove the charge for the extra unused room.
BTW - the hotel was NOT full. There were maybe 8 - 10 cars in the whole parking lot. So it wasn't as if they were losing out on potential revenue. They had plenty of empty rooms.
After burning all that time trying to get that sorted out, I decided to just give up and just dispute the charge through my Credit Card company.
In the meantime, we decided to check out a day early. So we stopped at the FRONT DESK to let them know. The woman said that since we made the reservation online, she couldn't change it. They can't change reservations at the hotel?!?
So I went to the room and spent another 15 minutes on hold waiting for someone to pick up the phone at RESERVATIONS only for her to tell me she cannot change the reservation! She said "changes have to be done by the FRONT DESK" because "Choice hotels are individually owned" and RESERVATIONS can only make changes BEFORE you're in the room.
At this point, I've been at this for over an hour.
The woman in RESERVATIONS puts me on hold AGAIN to "look into what they can do."
After a few minutes, she came back on the line and said she has to transfer me to CUSTOMER RELATIONS where I'm on hold for about 5 minutes before the call disconnects.
I called back CUSTOMER RELATIONS, waited on hold for about 5 minutes this time and then had to explain the whole damn thing to them all over again.
The CUSTOMER RELATIONS guy says he needs to put me on hold to call the FRONT DESK. He then comes back on the line to say the woman at the FRONT DESK doesn't "know how to change the reservation" and he's going to consult with one of his "mentors" about it.
So now, I've been on hold for about 10 minutes waiting for him to do that...
I'm in the 7th circle of hell.
UPDATE:
The CUSTOMER RELATIONS guy finally came back on the line and said we could check out in the morning at the FRONT DESK and we wouldn't be charged the final night.
When we went to check out the next morning, the guy at the FRONT DESK said "but, you're booked for one more night."
So I gave him an abbreviated version of the whole story and he said "ok, I can check you out but it's going to increase your rate because you had a special rate based on 6 nights so you'll have to pay more."
I asked "how much more?" He smiled and shrugged and said "I don't know....just more."
I slid the key across the counter (it fell on the desk) and said "we're checking out." His response was "you don't have to be rude."
Seriously, don't EVER stay at this hotel. read more