My husband and I were to stay at the Proctor Mansion Inn this past Friday through Sunday for our 5th Anniversary celebration. We spend 6 hours traveling to get there only to find that the room we had booked through Booking.com was already occupied by other travelers. It seemed that there was a break down in communication between Booking.com and the Proctor Mansion Inn and so the room had been double booked. Now, while we can understand that things like this happen sometimes, the way the situation played out was unacceptable.
First, we entered the Inn from the wrong door due to the fact that there were no visible signs indicating where one should actually enter from to be greeted. The entryway we arrived through was dirty, with a dirty rag that had been left thrown on the floor. We had to search the first floor until we found another entrance and were greeted by the "Innkeeper" who was barefoot. We introduced ourselves and she said, "Oh, I thought everyone had already been checked in," which was our first indication that something was amiss. When she tried looking us up on the computer, she apologized because the computer was, in her words, "ancient" and "slow." When she realized the rooms that had bathrooms were all booked she proceeded to go through a binder to find our Booking.com reservation. It turned out that the reservation was not in the binder. I had to look up my confirmation on my cell phone and show it to her. When she asked when I had booked the reservation and found out it had been booked earlier that week- Monday to be exact, she realized that she needed to check the fax machine. Apparently our Monday reservation from Booking.com had been sitting in the fax machine for FIVE days. She then proceeded to blame Booking.com for the double booking and said that she needed to call the owner of the Inn to see what to do. When she called him, they offered us a room for the night that did not have a bathroom. They explained that we could use the half-bath downstairs in the main hallway. Half- bath as in NO SHOWER. They explained that we could have that room for the night and then switch us to a room with a bathroom the following day. When we asked what discount would be provided to us the owner offered us the room for $50. He acted at though he was doing us a favor since the blame, at least according to him, was clearly Booking.com's. We said we'd be willing to see the room, go to dinner- since it was close to 8pm at this point and we hadn't had a meal in 6 hours, and let them know. The Innkeeper showed us the room- which was okay- but nothing to write home about, and then left to think about what we were going to do. My husband eventually found us other accomodations- with a full bathroom. So here are my thoughts on what transpired: 1) while the communication break down was BOTH Booking.com and the Proctor Mansion Inn's fault, the fact remains that our reservation was in their fax machine for FIVE days. This means that they had FIVE days to contact us and tell us there was a mistake in booking. 2) The fact that they insisted it was Booking.com's fault is unacceptable when the Innkeeper herself told us that any bookings from Booking.com had to be entered into their antiquated computer manually. This means that if a room is booked, Proctor Mansion Inn needs to tell Booking.com that it's booked. How else is Booking.com to know a room is booked since the two systems do not communicate automatically? 3) The fact that the owner still tried to make a dollar from our situation was reprehensable. Some people may have thought $50 is no big deal, but when you think about our situation- a couple hours from home on a Friday night with, potentially, no where else to stay, you'd think he'd have offered us the room gratis since the situation was clearly not our fault. My husband and I have traveled extensively, and almost exclusively stay at B&Bs because of the higher service and quality. I am sorry to say I did not find that at the Proctor Mansion Inn. So, if you want to still book at room at the Proctor Mansion Inn after reading this, here's a word of advice- call them directly or you may find yourself in the same situation we were in this past Friday- tired, hungry and without a room. read more