gooselee
Apr 30, 12, 6:54 pm
This past weekend I had a reservation at a Country Inns outside of Atlanta (about an hour outside the city). We were in the area for a wedding that began at 4pm. The advertised/standard/published check-in time for this property was 3pm - which would have been fine with us, but we were hoping to get in a little early just to have time to relax.
We arrived around 1pm and attempted to check-in early as CC Silver - didn't mention status or anything to start off with, just came in and asked if it would be possible to check-in early. FDA said they had a full house the night before, so no rooms were ready yet. Fine, that's understandable, no big deal.
Then we asked if we could get a phone call once a room was ready, so we could run out for lunch but return as soon as we had a room, in order to change, shower, etc. FDA flat out said no, they can't do that. This was a surprise, since literally every hotel I've ever been to, even lower-end Microtels and Hampton Inns, have been very willing to write down a phone number and make the courtesy call.
Confused, I then asked FDA to confirm that we were guaranteed to have a room available to check in to as of 3pm, the published check-in time. Her (somewhat rude) response was that they were cleaning the rooms as fast as they could, and would get everyone in as soon as possible, but no promises. I pushed a little more, and pointed to the sign on the actual desk showing a 3pm check-in time, and was met with the same response, that we were not guaranteed to be able to check in at the published check-in time, but just whenever they could have rooms ready. Based on my repeated questions and rephrasings, this was not a miscommunication at all, FDA was specifically saying that we might not be able to check in at 3pm.
The lack of willingness to provide a courtesy call I can partially understand if they're expecting a busy night (though nobody else was in the lobby the entire 20 minutes we were there), but is it normal for properties to clearly state that check-in time is not guaranteed?
We ended up cancelling that reservation and being able to walk into a HGI down the street at a comparable price, but have others had any experiences similar to this?
We arrived around 1pm and attempted to check-in early as CC Silver - didn't mention status or anything to start off with, just came in and asked if it would be possible to check-in early. FDA said they had a full house the night before, so no rooms were ready yet. Fine, that's understandable, no big deal.
Then we asked if we could get a phone call once a room was ready, so we could run out for lunch but return as soon as we had a room, in order to change, shower, etc. FDA flat out said no, they can't do that. This was a surprise, since literally every hotel I've ever been to, even lower-end Microtels and Hampton Inns, have been very willing to write down a phone number and make the courtesy call.
Confused, I then asked FDA to confirm that we were guaranteed to have a room available to check in to as of 3pm, the published check-in time. Her (somewhat rude) response was that they were cleaning the rooms as fast as they could, and would get everyone in as soon as possible, but no promises. I pushed a little more, and pointed to the sign on the actual desk showing a 3pm check-in time, and was met with the same response, that we were not guaranteed to be able to check in at the published check-in time, but just whenever they could have rooms ready. Based on my repeated questions and rephrasings, this was not a miscommunication at all, FDA was specifically saying that we might not be able to check in at 3pm.
The lack of willingness to provide a courtesy call I can partially understand if they're expecting a busy night (though nobody else was in the lobby the entire 20 minutes we were there), but is it normal for properties to clearly state that check-in time is not guaranteed?
We ended up cancelling that reservation and being able to walk into a HGI down the street at a comparable price, but have others had any experiences similar to this?