Can you refuse an upgrade?
 

Here’s the situation:

I booked my normal cheap city view rate for a kind non-smoking. When I checked in I was given a king, N/S, ocean view – no problem. When I went to get on the internet, I found the phone nor internet was working in the room.

I went to the front desk and was given the option of waiting for engineering (1 hour at least) or change rooms. Needing the internet within the hour I choose to change rooms. Then I found out I would either have to take a double room or a smoking room – this made me ask the question, what if I did not want the upgrade and asked for my city view room?

Would this have been against my room guarantee?

After about 30 min of putting up a fight, they tried to make me feel bad by saying I “was bumping someone out of their room.” I ended up in a king, N/S, with internet, but 1 phone working.

Maybe I don't understand your question, but I don't see how refusing an upgrade would be against your room type guarantee. The room type guarantee is based on your reservation, not the upgrade. Since the room type guarantee doesn't cover upgrades, I would expect that you could certainly refuse it (if you had wanted two doubles, for example).

I would guess that when you checked in and accepted the upgrade, your room was blocked to someone else that indicated a preference for that room type. That would explain the "bumping someone out of their room" comment, which was quite unprofessional I must add.

That's a lame excuse by the front desk. Engineering could have fixed the problems by the time the next guest arrived.

There is NEVER an excuse for any hotel staff member putting you on a guilt trip. If indeed they "bumped" someone else from a room....or more likely a room type they requested, that's not your concern. Its a matter between the hotel and the other guest. Resolving that seperate issue to the other guest's satisfaction is the hotel's problem....not yours.

Yikes! A 30-minute fight over THIS?

To me as a casual observer, it sounds like the hotel was less than fully accommodating, but you were probably too much of a stickler as well. After all, if the internet was that important to you then you could have quickly taken a double room and been done with it. Or did you then insist on the hotel meeting all of your preferences PLUS the ocean view upgrade plus the working internet? Did they not have a business center where you could have logged on until they got it fixed in your room?

1) Having the internet out and/or having to switch rooms are not very big issues to me. It is a failure on the part of the hotel (who needs to clear rooms as functional between each guest), but "stuff happens". As long as they fix it or grant another room, everything is ok.

2) However, I agree with the other comment that the hotel should never have told you they were bumping someone else out the new room they were putting you into. That is totally unacceptable (to you; and realistically, to the people they were bumping). That is nothing less than an attempt to accuse you of being at fault for the hotel's lack of proper maintenence. I'd have called for a manager and asked that my stay be comped for atrocious treatment. If that didn't work, it would be a request to see the GM. If my stay wasn't comped, I would report the hotel to Guest Relations with a demand for a response from a senior level manager including their official title.

3) What I want to know is, what "upgrade" are you referring to? King and double rooms are standard rooms. Were one of the two offered rooms bigger, with a better view, higher floor, etc.?