On April 29, 2012, we reserved a room at Hibiscus Suites Inn for two nights during Memorial Day weekend (checking in May 26, checking out May 28). Our reservation was placed using Booking.com, and Hibiscus Suites charged our credit card for the one night deposit, as Booking.com's policy had mentioned that they might.
On Saturday, May 26, we arrived at the Hibiscus Suites Inn around 10:00am, very early for check in but we were going to head to the beach for the day and figured we might as well stop by the hotel first in case early check-in was available. We were also hoping to request a renovated room since many previous reviews had indicated that rooms at Hibiscus Suites that had not yet been renovated left much to be desired. When we arrived, the lady at the front desk (I believe her name was Jenn) could not locate our reservation and proceeded to bring over the general manager Chris. The two of them just kept staring at the computer screen without saying a word to us for at least five minutes. Chris, the manager, then went into some dark and dusty back room next to the reception desk and we were left for another ten to fifteen minutes before he came back out to face the music of his property's negligence. In the meantime, we listened to another guest complain that he had managed to fix the air conditioning in his room himself, but the hot water was still nonexistent. Another guest was trying to explain to the front desk lady that he was coming to pay for the additional night that he had booked to extend his stay, but it took her almost ten minutes to locate his information in her computer system, despite the fact that he gave his name and room number multiple times.
In the end, Chris' explanation was that Booking.com had notified Hibiscus Suites Inn that the reservation being made was for April 29, 2012, the day that I booked the reservation on their website, and not for Memorial Day weekend. Despite the fact that my Booking.com paperwork clearly stated the proper dates for the reservation being May 26-28, he continued to stand there inept and unsure what to say other than to blame Booking.com and report to us that their property was full for the weekend and they could not honor our reservation. He further claimed that Expedia.com is also known for making such mistakes regarding proper reservation dates, despite the fact that I have used third party reservation sites to travel all over the United States and also all over Western Europe without a single such incident occurring to date. Hibiscus Suites had also already charged our credit card for the reservation deposit, so his solution was that they could refund that amount. Not a solution at all...we explained that we were in town from Orlando (2.5 hours away) and were going to be stuck with nowhere to stay during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. He basically forced us out the door while he called Booking.com to discuss the situation with them, as I'm sure he was paranoid about other guests overhearing the conversation between him and I regarding this unforgiveable mistake on their part.
Several minutes after leaving Hibiscus Suites, Booking.com called me and was able to find us a nicer resort to stay at, unfortunately 8 miles away and near Sarasota Airport rather than the beach, since almost every resort in town was fully booked for the holiday weekend. Booking.com explained their reservation notification process to me, which is usually automated for large hotel chains, but because Hibiscus Suites is a small, mom-and-pop establishment without large scale, automated reservation software, they were sent an email from Booking.com with the same reservation information that was shown on my paperwork. They had to review the reservation, click a link within the email to confirm their availability, and then manually enter the reservation into their own tracking software for their reservation records. A separate link in the email from Booking.com allows them to access the credit card information that they used to charge us for the one night deposit. If Hibiscus Suites cannot handle utilizing third party reservation sites for reservations, which their GM Chris indicated is often a problem for them, then their business will surely suffer, since that is really the only way that most out-of-town travelers would ever be aware of such a small, unadvertised property. Lesson learned: When Hibiscus Suites' response to every negative Trip Advisor comment is to blame the fact that they are under construction and renovating, rather than take responsibility for their poor quality lodgings and management, then negligent reservation mistakes are par for the course. Although our trip was definitely negatively impacted by staying by the airport rather than the beach, I do feel grateful that we were able to stay in a clean room with working hot water and AC, something that Hibiscus Suites was struggling to provide for their other guests. read more