Hi, I had an issue with a recent reservation at a Comfort Inn. Specifically, I arrived (around 12:30 in the afternoon), the hotel had no power and was not going to have power until at least the middle of the night and so I was forced to make a reservation at an alternative hotel at greater expense. Further details are noted below in the emails I sent to Choice, but long story short is I am having no luck getting my points put back in my account (the reservation was with points) or any other compensation (I have not received any sort of response from Choice). Any advice?
Thanks!
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Email sent to
[email protected] on Sunday, July 2 2017 at 3:19 PM (a few hours after I tried to check-in at the hotel and learned they had no power):
I made a reservation with rewards points for the Comfort Inn Near Warner Center for July 2 - 4, 2017. Reservation number [redacted]. Upon arriving, I was not even able to get into the hotel's parking lot because a power line had been knocked down in front of the hotel (photo attached). I parked in a lot down the block and walked into the hotel's lobby. The person working there was very kind, but explained he could not check us in because there was no power and that the latest estimate was that there would not be power for at least another 10 hours. He suggested finding alternate lodging, noting that the other hotels/motels right in the area were also without power. He suggested calling to Choice to get assistance with this. I went back to my car and called Choice. The agent I spoke with said he was unable to do anything because I was within the cancellation window but that he was going to transfer me to another customer support person. When he did this, it went to a voicemail. I tried calling one more time and had the same issue. At this point, having no other choice I went online and booked a room at a Marriott a couple miles away that was still close enough to where I needed to be but which also had power. This came at substantial cost of $175/nt + tax (invoice attached). While I understand the downed power line was outside of the hotel's control, in this situation I would have expected much better support and assistance in securing an alternate reservation without out of pocket costs. I am hoping you can assist with rectifying this situation by returning the choice points used for this reservation and also providing compensation for the significant out of pocket costs I incurred in securing alternate lodging.
Please let me know if I can provide you with any further information. I can also be reached on my cell phone at [redacted].
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After receiving no response and also logging into my Choice account to the shock that somebody at the hotel had taken the liberty of checking me and out of the reservation, I sent this email to the same email address at 9:42 AM on July 6th:
Hello,
I am following up on the below email. Please let me know if I can provide any further information. In addition, I want to note that I logged into my Choice account today and there was a folio for this reservation which states that I checked into this hotel at 4:15 AM on 7/3 and checked out at 4:47 AM on 7/4. This was definitely not the case -- other than my initial visit to the property on 7/2 noted in my last email, I did not make any other visits to the hotel.