Let me take you on a journey of complete unprofessionalism that ruined the start of my long-planned vacation.
I left New York at 3:00 AM to catch a 6:50 AM flight to Fresno. I had booked two rooms back on July 4th through Agoda, planning this trip for over four months. This property is misleadingly advertised as having multiple rooms, but in reality it only has one studio with its own private entrance on the top floor and a small bunk bed room underneath it, nothing more. I made two reservations, one was canceled and the reservation for the studio was still active, so I assumed we were fine.
We arrived at the property on October 11th at 7:40 PM. It was completely dark, with no sign of staff, no lights, and no instructions despite the listing claiming check-in was available until 10 PM. We tried calling the phone number listed repeatedly for over 30 minutes....no answer, no callback.
We waved down a local man walking his dog who knew the people who run this place, and he tried calling the owner for us...still no response. A guest staying on the property also tried helping us reach someone. The couple staying there said they had also struggled the night earlier for over two hours to reach anyone when they checked in. Clearly this is a pattern!!! We called every number we could find, total silence from the person who run this place ECHO adventures, Elisabeth and her husband, Ryan.
After two freezing hours outside in 30 degree weather, walking around the pitch black property searching for someone, we heard a phone ringing. The couple staying in the studio, Studio which looked just like the one we had booked, gave us an alternative phone number for the person who runs this place, but even that number went unanswered. We then traced the ringing sound and found an abandoned iPhone left outside on the ground. It turned out to be the alternative phone belonging to Elisabeth.
With no help, no access to our room, and no one answering any phone lines, we had to leave and try to find a place to sleep. Every local hotel was sold out. The only reason we finally reached someone was thanks to a kind stranger at a local bar who happened to know Ryan, the husband. After three long hours of trying to reach anyone, we finally got ahold of Ryan but his wife, Elisabeth, quickly took over the call and was dismissive and unapologetic from the start, speaking with a tone of arrogance. First, she told me that she hadn't checked Agoda lately, then claimed my reservation didn't exist. Then she changed her story and said Agoda never sent it to her, but regardless I had a reservation cancelled like shifting the blame to me. Then she admitted she had seen the messages and calls but chose not to respond because she was "confused" about why someone was trying to check in, since she believed she was already full and all expected guests had arrived. Despite knowing someone was trying to reach her about a reservation, she still ignored every message and even admitted she saw the Agoda chat and chose not to answer there either, adding that she ignore the call coming from her guests and the person who knew her during the spam of 3 hours. Not once did she apologize during any of this.
Her "solution" after leaving us stranded in the cold for hours?
"Try booking.com or Airbnb."
She said that to me at 11:30 PM see pictures and video. No offer to help. No responsibility. No basic decency.
Thankfully, a nearby hotel took pity on us and made up a room at the last minute, even though the heat didn't work and priced quite high. We finally got inside a room at 1:30 AM exhausted, stressed, and furious.
The same morning at 8:30 AM, Elisabeth showed up at our door, not to apologize, but to retrieve her lost phone. When I reminded her about the situation, she had the nerve to say:
"You turned out to be my hero, even though I couldn't help you yesterday."
No apology. No accountability. No shame. instead she asked me how much I was paying for the room and to "enjoy my stay" I told her it was temporary since there was not heat and then she remarked "so pricey and not heat "
This is not how a business should operate especially in a small town where reputation matters. The complete lack of communication, the arrogance, the refusal to take responsibility, and leaving guests stranded without help is absolutely unacceptable.
Save yourself stress and misery. There are many wonderful, honest hosts in the Yosemite area, Elisabeth and Ryan are not among them.
ALL GUESTS knew they were being FILMED mostly because of the found phone, even one of the guest in the video suggested me to take the FOUND phone and BRING IT in the morning the following day to speak to Elisabeth about this, this is also filmed in case you have a doubt! yet not faces are shown on any of these pictures cause it's the decent thing to do, they also gave me their personal number in case I needed help, everyone tried to help but you! read more