ryan754

I recently had a booking at the Holiday Inn Bogota Airport.. I arrived at about 2am or so. (I had expected to get in later, but took an earlier flight from Mexico City) They had a room available, and since it was after midnight the front desk took my rate, and pretty much doubled it for the "two nights" Typically in the past, I would pay an early check in fee, but I was tired, and this worked for me.. Next day came, and I was asked when I was checking out.. Come to find out they doubled my rate for the several hour stay, and my original reservation was still intact. So I would pretty much pay 3 nights, and stay two.. Upon the lack of resolution, I checked out and told them to fix it.. Charge me for one night at my rate, and let me know by the evening..
I never heard back.. Several days later I was informed that they were not giving me any money back. The GM would not communicate with me.. Only until I called IHG did she email me in poor english the exact same statement her colleagues said..
Now from what I saw, I might not have a big case with my credit card.. It's my word against theirs, and they have my signature... I'm hitting spire as I check out of the Crowne Plaza Bogota tomorrow.. I have come to realize that IHG lacks real customer service in this situation. I was told by them that I have to take it up with the hotel, or my credit card. They won't get involved..
Although this is trivial I think I may be saying goodbye to IHG.. Recently at a HI, I was locked out of my room for over an hour sans clothes (I left my room to do laundry) due to a broken lock.. I was told the night was comped, but it wasn't and well the hotel just brushed it off. If IHG isn't going to supply real support to it's customers who spend 75+ nights in their hotels.. Well... Hell..
Just a heads up... Avoid the HI BOG airport.. As for the other properties here, they are great!

Dave Noble

You arrived at 2am and didn't have a booking for that night?

Did the hotel simply charge you a rate no more than the walk up rate at the hotel for that night?

I don't see that it is reasonable to expect the room to be available for 2 nights when booked for one

When you signed , what did the paperwork say?

Did you actually cancel the following night's stay and , if so, was it before the cancellation deadline?

ryan754

I canceled my actual booked stay as I realized they were going to charge me again.. There was no cancel fee as I had until 6pm to do so.

FlyerTalker688786

from experiences:

Check-in between 6am to 12pm: Early check-in fee should be charged if no special arrangement (e.g. RA early check-in guarantee, hotel often not charge this fee for elite members arrive around 10am etc.)

Check-in before 6am: a full day rate at walk-in rate is charged.

So let us say, you booked from 2nd to 4th (2 nights), and you arrived at 2am on 2nd, hotel is not in wrong doing to charge you one extra full night.

If you booked from 1st to 3rd, and you arrived at 2am on 2nd, hotel should not charge you extra night but only honour the original booking and charge accordingly.

From what I understand in your post, you are in the first situation, and the hotel is in its right to charge you one extra night since you arrived 12 hours before hotel published check-in time.

To charge you an early checl0in fee or one extra night is not depended on whether your arrival time is before midnight or after. It depends on a much later time than mid-night, in some hotels it might be 4am and in some hotels it might be 8am. Happy travels.

Gagravarr

If you arrive at 2am on a Monday morning, and leave at 2am on a Wednesday morning, in almost all cases you need a 3 night reservation from Sunday to Wednesday to cover it.

Unless you've otherwise negotiated it, or have something like SPG's Your24 as a high Platinum, that's just the way that pretty much all hotels cover it. They couldn't sell the room the first night as you needed it from part way through, and they can't re-sell it on the last night as you leave too late, so you pay for all 3 nights even though you were only there for 48 hours.

When I'm arriving somewhere in the middle of the night like that, I always book something from the evening before. Sometimes I book a cheap place to crash at the airport, then move to my nicer hotel in the morning, not always expecting a late-morning checkin. Other times I just suck it up and book the main hotel for the trip from the night before, then I can arrive and settle in. Either way, I always let the hotel know that I won't be there until very late, so they know to hold my room!

ryan754

Sorry if I am confusing... I stayed a total of about twelve hours... (So one night yes) Yet I was charged the cost of two nights.. Nonetheless, I came up with a halfway fair resolution with IHG CS.. The GM has fairly poor english skills, and no comprehension. I'm just going to leave several bad reviews, and move on.. I'll do a chargeback so at least the hotel pays $20 or so even if I lose. At the end of the day the hotel will lose some revenue from my reviews.. A bit more than they took from me..
I'm still happy with the other IHG options in Bogota, and the Marriott by the airport. Also the JW when it's affordable..

1353513636

IME the hotel has to ask you if they want to charge anything more than what I booked. For instance, if I had a rate of $110 for Monday night, if I showed up Monday at 6am, they could either just give me the room （actually happened once, though it was an ORD airport hotel a couple days before Christmas) or tell me exactly what additional amount I would need to pay to receive the room then instead of at the official check in time. If the hotel doesn't say when you check in that they're charging you extra, then they have no grounds to do so.

ioto1902

??? I don't understand.
Your initial plan was to stay one night, so, let's say from 1pm on D-day to noon D+1.
You arrived earlier at 2am on D. You stayed 12 hours, so you left at 2pm on D.

In my opinion, you should pay 2 nights :
> 1st night : 2am to noon at whatever local rate (not your booking rate)
> 2nd night as per your initial booking (even if you checked out very early)

Did I get it right ?


I'm also asking myself why you booked a night to finally leave at 2pm, but, that's absolutely not relevant for the current problematic.

Dave Noble

If you book for 10th-11th , where check in is around 2pm on 10th and checkout is around noon on 11th , turning up at 2am on the 10th, then would expect to be charged for the night of 9th-10th

This is what happened to the OP (ignoring dates) and was informed that would be charged

The only unknown is what the actual rate was for the extra night was quoted at that time. It would seem, from what the OP found in the morning, is that there was a misunderstanding and that the rate for the 1 night was the amount quoted rather than that being the total for 2 nights - the rate would (ime) be on the check in information and if the person agreed to it , then should expect to pay that amount

For the originally booked night, checking on the booking site, it would seem that , for a flexible rate, the latest cancellation time is 18:00 on day prior to arrival, rather than day of arrival. With that penalty, then the hotel would be right in charging for that night too. I suspect that the OP may have misread the cancellation deadline ( unless it has recently changed )

MSPeconomist

When the OP arrived in the middle of the night, I wonder whether the front desk staff he dealt with at that point were even aware of his reservation starting in about twelve hours. The statement in the OP that he/she was asked when he/she would be checking out could be interpreted as evidence of confusion about this by the hotel.