This is my 1st time ever leaving a bad review of a business. I would have preferred to write this…read moredirectly to OE, but I feared my words would only end up in the hands of the manager, Robert, with whom my problem is.
I recvd an email from OE on 8/7 alerting me that they'd be opening soon. I was on their mailing list from when I stayed at Greenporter the past 2yrs (the og hotel that OE took over). On 8/16, I booked via the link in that email with the "30%off for those who find us early" promo for Mon9/14. I immediately recvd the $308 charge on my card and looked fwd to my stay.
Upon arrival 9/14, there was lots of construction occurring which was to be expected as they'd just opened. My husband and I were greeted by Mike at the front desk, who was absolutely lovely. Unfortunately, he informed us that our booking was actually for Tues9/1, not Mon9/14. He kindly advised that only 2rooms were reserved for the night, so we could check in and likely only pay the difference from what I had already paid & the rate for that night (which was $417). I immediately recvd a txt with a link to confirm my stay (note I never got this txt upon my original booking). We thanked Mike for being so wonderful and headed to our room to drop our bags and change after a long day of travel - expecting to be charged about $109.
About 1hr after checking in, we recvd a charge of $613.42! We went back to the desk and met the manager, Robert. He said we wouldn't be able to only pay the dif as we "never showed up to our 9/1rez." He even said "I remember that day bc it was our opening day and we had the best room arranged for you as you booked so early." I asked why I never recvd a txt reminder or call relating to the rez and he responded "I dont think we had your #." Surely your hotel booking page would have (and should have if not) required my # upon booking AND surely you did have it, bc the confirmation I got that day upon the new booking was from the same # as Greenporter- I had prior msgs in that very thread. I explained that it seems likely your brand new site had some sort of error, especially as the date it changed my reservation to was literally opening day. Robert said there was nothing he could do and we'd have to pay the full rate for the night on top of the $308 I'd already paid. I pulled up the site showing the rate was $417 & asked why we were charged $613.42. He said "oh, that's not what we charged- let me look into it" (hmm sounds like another possible system issue, huh?) he couldn't make sense of it and said he'd need to speak to the hotel revenue department and told us that we need to call AMEX. Right, because it must be the major credit company who had a system error and not your brand new hotel- just like it couldn't have been your brand new website's fault the reservation went awry in the 1st place. I requested that he at least refund the $613.42 & we will go get our bags and leave entirely. Robert was so rude, unwelcoming, and pretentious that I embarrassingly ended up sobbing over the whole ordeal on our walk to get our bags. The man has no business working in hospitality. Side note, his upper-crotch/lower-belly area sticking out under his shirt was rather unsightly and unprofessional
Oyster Estate could have had an add'l $100+ & 2 happy/returning guests who would spread positive reviews to our friends and family about the decor, pool, cleanliness, vibe, excellent hospitality of Mike at the front desk, etc. Instead, they had a girl sobbing in the lobby who spent $308 on NOTHING, they needed to turn over our room again since we had already checked into it, and they now have this awful review - terrible business move by Robert. Imagine I'd spent a total of $921.42 for a Mon night in off-season with tons of loud construction vehicles and no open restaurant (hopefully they have completely separate management for that when it does open)
If you are looking to stay here, I would suggest waiting for the hotel to work out the kinks beforehand. Also, double check all of your card charges and call to book instead of using their site.