Cancellation nightmare, advice needed
 

Help! We cancelled a reservation for a Fairfield Inn Key West stay at the beginning of November as Hurricane Michelle was approaching, and they Keys were being evacuated. We were charged for one night anyway. Upon calling Guest Relations, I was told that the reservation was never cancelled and the cancellation number I was given by Marriott reservations is not a real one! After getting nowhere, I asked to be transferred to a "supervisor" (Dan Pecoraro), who basically restated the same, and said I'm basically dependent on the goodwill of the hotel to agree on the cancellation. Yikes!! In several years of really intensive biz and leisure travel, I've never had a problem like this occur. What's the recourse we have in this case? Guest Relations wasn't very helpful at all in this, even though the mistake comes from Marriott... Anyone have a similar experience or words of advice about this?

If you were charged on a credit card, contact your card issuer. They will fight for you, and at least credit your money back to you until the matter is resolved.

Also, put your complaint in writing. I have found that letters sent to customer service often receive better replies than phone calls. Include a copy of your posting on this message board so Mariott will know that many people have heard your poor experience.

Good luck.

It has only happened to me once and I called the hotel directly and spoke to the MOD (manager on duty) and they took care of it. Just dispute it with your credit card company and at the end it will be removed from your card.

One way to avoid this is by cancelling your reservation on-line. The cancellation number will be retained in your file for several months.

Well, there's a happy ending to this story: the hotel manager agreed to refund the charges. However, I was left less than impressed with the Marriott reservations and guest relations people overall... I will certainly insist on getting something in writing when I need to do a cancellation in the future.

Glad to see it all worked out.

Honu, I always wondered where people from your beautiful state would travel to for their vacation. Now I know.

I agree 100%. I always cancel on-line if I can. Then I print the cancellation confirmation and retain it for several months just as insurance.

General45,

actually, lots of locals do yearly pilgrimages to LAS (the #1 vacation spot from HI). I think LAX/California comes second, and Japan tours are also very popular w/3rd or 4th genaration Japanese-Americans who live here.

Mr. honu and I are a bit odd in that respect as we never go to LAS, but usually go to Europe (for biz. and family), Australia (any reason is good to go there), and Florida (for biz., wildlife, and birds, but not for the Mouse).