Yeah you're right. It's just hard when you can hardly open your mouth without crying. I did confirm with the desk clerk when she altered our reservation that we would receive our points back. Then upon check out I asked again. I always got an affirmative answer.

The story.

We were in Italy hoping from city to city with friends for my husband's 40th birthday. My friends were flying back earlier than us. A few months before we left they asked if they could come to Venice for the day with us from Florence. We found very early AM transportation back to Rome for them. I phoned the Venice hotel and explained the situation and said they would not be staying at the hotel but asked if they could bring their luggage and leave it in our room. The hotel told me this was acceptable. We planned to have a late night in Venice before they left to travel back to Rome in the early AM.

Upon check in I again explained the plans to the desk clerk who was fine. I introduced our friends. We explained to the bell man as he helped bring their luggage to my room.

The problem started when we asked the hotel concierge (who also kept the keys) for help with a water taxi to bring my friends to their transportation back to Rome. The concierge had a huge problem with the situation and said they could not leave the hotel in a water taxi due to liability reasons. Okay. That was fine. Then he went on and on about how 4 ppl could not sleep in a room. It was not the best exchange but I was hoping it was be alright because we obviously weren't going to bring my friends up into our room for sleep.

At 11:30 we returned to the hotel to get a bit of extra clothing for a gondola ride. The new concierge had our key and just laid into us. We tried to explain but this guy was horrid. He sent someone up to our room and took our friends passports. Then called the room 3 times in just a few minutes demanding we come down. He knew we were going on a Gondola ride. I had tried to explain everything! I thought if I gave him full disclosure he would understand. Then upon leaving for our ride again more of his accusations and treating us terribly. A few comments about how this wasn't America etc. It was utter disdain.

Our gondola ride was terrible. We returned to the hotel to get a few drinks before my friends left. When we walked in the junior employee yelled 'There they are!' in Italian and pointed to us arm extended while the concierge swung around and glared at us watching us walk to the bar. We entered the bar and sat down when the phone rang. The bartender answered it. It was just so obvious. The bartender listened for a moment, scanned the room with his eyes which landed on us, said something into the receiver and hung up.

At that point I was beyond upset and I got up, went to the lobby and confronted the senior concierge. I asked him why he was doing this to us. He said we weren't allowed to sleep 4 people in our room etc etc. I said no one was sleeping! We were spending money in the bar! As far as I know the bar is public and not for hotel guests exclusively. He was so mean. He sneered things about this not being an American Hotel where we sleep 8 ppl in a room etc... I started crying explaining how we had made phone calls, gained permission, was up front with everyone because we weren't trying to do anything against the rules. We were in the bar. I think I blubbered emotionally for a few minutes because it was all so unbelievable.

Our friends retrieved their bags and left. No one spent much time in the room.

We were in a tough situation. We were there already! We even asked what he wanted us to do at this point and all they wanted is four people not to sleep in our room. Great. That was never the plan anyway. We complied. We just felt so helpless because we tried to do everything right. I can't quote every word the guy said to me but it was said with contempt and nothing we said was believed.