Originally Posted by
RogerD408
Did you get any confirmation of your first reservation? If so, I would claim they failed to walk you like they should have. Unfortunately, I find Choice does not provide good customer support and you may not get any help, but if their central system confirmed the rez I would try to get them involved. Good luck.
I have never been able to find a definitive walk policy for Choice.
The closest I've ever come is finding this:
https://www.choiceadvantage.com/webh...mation_SRD.htm
13. What if a reward night is walked?
Choice Privileges members (our best guests) should not be walked under any circumstances, especially a reward night! However, if walking a Choice Privileges member is absolutely necessary, the member will receive the walked night free (under the normal Choice Hotels International walk policy) and still is entitled to a free room night. Hotels must notify the Choice Service Center that a guest was walked. The points will then be added back to the member's account.
Unfortunately, that page refers to award stays, not revenue stays, and nowhere else have I ever been able to find "the normal Choice Hotels International walk policy."
Having been walked
three times, I'm highly motivated to find that policy...
Originally Posted by
Often1
Choice is not known for customer service. So, just forget it for purposes of anything other than remembering not to use it.
Not that you should have to, but I would always call the property directly for an immediate arrival. Even if there was space, you do want to know what you are getting for a room and it may not be the Presidential Suite.
I agree that Choice's normal CS is useless. However, in two of my incidents of being walked, I was able to get a successful resolution by contacting the Choice executive customer service email address (I think I found the address on Chris Elliott's site), though it still required some back-and-forth arguing.
I disagree that you need to call the hotel directly to make a reservation, since by doing that you lose access to the member discount or your corporate discount and the cashback you'd earn through a cashback portal, but calling after making the reservation to verify it with the property does make good sense.
Originally Posted by
nomiiiii
This is not a Sleep Inn vs Comfort Suites issue. I wouldn't really say "I'll never stay with Sleep Inn brand" because every franchised out hotel is a different operation.
This is a choice hotel group issue - mostly all hotel brands in this group overbook and will have no problems leaving you out cold once full. I've had this happen with Rodeway, with Quality Inn etc.
With Choice Hotels, I always have a backup idea of where I might stay, plus I also make sure to call the hotel by 4-5pm to re-confirm my reservation and tell them "hey I'll be arriving late don't give up my room" (this won't be relevant in OPs case).
This--totally this. I've been walked three times at three different brands, none of which were Sleep Inns (which is actually one of the nicer brands in the Choice portfolio). It's up to local hotel franchise management. Unfortunately, some are incompetent and some are downright evil, and in these cases, my Diamond status has meant nothing. Being walked is bad enough, but the fact that there's no escalation path to resolve the issue is what's ultimately the most frustrating to me.
Originally Posted by
FreeHotBreakfast
Yes, there are some locations that will start running credit cards at the moment check-in time begins, and if there's a problem getting authorization they will cancel your reservation without notice. Courtesy phone call? Not even. Then you show up late at night and find you have no room when a simple call to Card Services could have cleared up everything had you been alerted to the problem a few hours earlier.
You'd think hotel management would prefer a satisfied customer and assurance the room won't go empty but not necessarily. Caveat emptor.
That's what happened in one of my instances, though not right at the check-in window. I was arriving after midnight, and apparently the hotel tried to run my card at midnight, which failed because I had gotten a replacement card with a different number. They never bothered to notify me but simply refused to help me when I showed up. Since then, I've always made sure my card on file is up to date and will call the day of the stay if I plan on arriving after midnight to reconfirm.
Of course, nothing fixes stupid...I made a booking outside of STL in the early afternoon for an arrival that evening (around 8pm or so). When I showed up, the clerk--who was obviously new and wet behind the ears--said he canceled my reservation when I didn't show up by the 3pm check-in time, because that's how check-in times worked...