siobhan

In Feb of this year we had booked 3 nights in May to stay at Hotel Mondial, Place de la Resistance, Tours. The last confirming e-mail we received from the hotel was - confirmed and see you in May.<BR><BR>When we arrived at the hotel we discovered that we had not been booked in. The receptionist at the hotel did find another hotel for us but we were very angry at the incompetence of the hotel re:booking.<BR><BR>We have since e-mailed the hotel requesting an apology but have not yet had a reply. <BR><BR>We are on the verge of complaining to the French tourist board.<BR>

aaa

Good luck with getting any response....<BR><BR>When you emailed the hotel, you should have also FAXXED them your request as a back-up and REQUESTED a REPLY FAX from them--then, this would not have happened.<BR><BR>So much of this same thing happens when you book via the internet---you HAVE to back-up with REAL FAXXES....and GTE with CREDIT CARD IN WRITING....

siobhan

I have had a reply from the hotel, quite surprisingly. It is in French and I reproduce it here in it's entirity, so apologies for the long post but I am rather shocked by what the hotel had to say.<BR><BR>"Apr&egrave;s avoir pris des reservations pour des americains qui prennent l'habitude de ne pas venir, j'ai &eacute;t&eacute; ex&eacute;d&eacute;e par ce genre d'attitude j'ai pens&eacute; que vous ne viendriez pas comme les autres am&eacute;ricains, le minimum c'est de prevenir d'une fa&ccedil;on ou d'une autre<BR>auquel cas il ne faut pas s'etonner de mon attitude qui est &eacute;gale &agrave; celle des am&eacute;ricains c'est &agrave; dire sans scrupule<BR>D&eacute;sormais je demande le n° de carte bancaire comme garantie le risque est diminu&eacute;, mais il arrive encore que les gens ne viennent pas , auquel cas d&eacute;ormais la nuit est factur&eacute;e <BR>mais je trouve cela dommage que les gens ne pr&eacute;viennent pas; pourquoi ?<BR>Vous appelez &ccedil;a de l'incomp&eacute;tance, comment appelez-vous l'attitude de vos compatriotes ?<BR><BR>Now my French isn't that good and the bits I can't translate are in brackets, but the general gist of it is...<BR>"After having taken reservations for Americans who take the practice not to come, I was &lt;ex&eacute;d&eacute;e?&gt; by this kind of attitude. I thought that you wouldn't come, like other Americans. The minimum is to prevent in one way or another, in which case one should not be astonished by my attitude which is equal to that of Americans i.e. without scruple. From now on I ask for a credit card number as a guarantee to minimise the risk, but it still happens that people do not come, in which case from now on the night is invoiced.... &lt;not sure of this bit&gt;...; why? You call that incompetence, what do you call the attitude of your compatriots?"<BR><BR>So, despite having confirmed our reservation in February and then having failed to actually reserve the room, this hotel proprietor apparently feels happy about this and excuses her behaviour with racist comments.<BR><BR>I'm not sure if there is an official body I can complain to about this, so if anyone can help I'd appreciate it. In the meantime, I'll try the French Tourist Office.

Sue

Siobhan-<BR><BR>I'm sorry you were disappointed in your hopes of a smooth reservation. <BR><BR>I need to clarify something; did you email the hotel your credit card number when you confirmed your reservation? Did the final confirmation of the hotel arrive after you had submitted this number?<BR><BR><BR>

Siobhan

At no time was the credit card number requested, not in the e-mails or booking form.<BR>Our accommodation had been confirmed. <BR><BR>Re: aaa's suggesion of faxing - what is the point of using e-mail if you have to fax as well.<BR><BR>I have booked holidays on the internet for the past 3 years and have never experienced Hotel Mondial attitude.<BR>

tamara

Something similar happened to me whilst in Italy. I had booked a room for my daughter and myself through Expedia with a confirmation. Upon arrival they told me I had to pay double because I had a child, but I showed them how I had already paid for an adult and child. I learned a very valuable lesson, only in America are people truly service oriented. He didn't care at all, he just looked at me and the door. End of story, I paid double!

Sue

Siobhan, the part you didn't understand (prevenir, previennent) means essentially to let one know ahead of time (by cancelling). "The minimum is to let you know" "but I think it's too bad that people can't let you know--why?" So, he/she is so disturbed by the cavalier attitude of many Americans who make reservations and then just don't show up that he has no confidence in American reservations. Is he right to take it out on you by not honoring your reservation? Absolutely not! In fact, in so doing, he becomes like them.<BR><BR>But his frustration is understandable. These small mom and pop operations really depend on renting their rooms. For many years we traveled in France, being asked no guarantee at all--I guess it was not in the European mindset that you could give your word that you would arrive and then not do it. (Many hotels still do not run your credit card until you leave.) The solution then is what he has decided to do, take a card number as guarantee (though that doesn't solve a no-show with a reservation of several nights), a decision he should have made long ago since he obviously is so disturbed about the situation. It's just unfortunate that he didn't make that decision BEFORE your trip, and it's equally unfortunate that you reaped the consequence of the behavior of inconsiderate Americans (it's not the first time I've heard this).<BR><BR>Tamara, this situation is not at all like your case in Italy. The owner made a poor decision (will the Americans arrive or won't they, I don't know, so I'll rent the room--bird in the hand and all that). Your hotel in Italy deliberately bilked you, knowing that with a child, it would be unlikely that you would tell them to shove it and look for a new place.

xxx

Sue, I don't think his frustration is "understandable." This guy is in the service industry. If he has had problems, which I think he exaggerated and used as a convenient excuse for having shafted Siobhan, then he should have demanded a one-night's deposit as a backup. Nowhere did he suggest to Siobhan that Americans were giving him problems, until AFTER the hotel had screwed up. I'm glad this was brought to our attention--we have a Loire Valley trip coming up and will make sure to pick a different hotel.<BR>Also, I've worked in the hotel business myself in the UK. Americans were no more likely to reserve and not show than Europeans. The Hotel Mondial is blowing smoke and we should not be making excuses for their unprofessional behavior.

Nigel Doran

The proprietor's attitude is disgraceful. <BR>Post his email address here and we can bombard him with polite messages to that effect.

BTilke

From reading the hotel's response, in which the manager admits to not having any scruples, I also get the idea that he doesn't believe ANY American should expect their reservation to be honored because some OTHER American may have failed to show up. Why does he even take reservations from Americans since he thinks that one will be just like the other and not show up? I agree, this guy was just "blowing smoke". Instead of apologizing for the mix-up, he lashed out at the customer. He's in the wrong business. He should go work for some government bureaucracy where people EXPECT to get jerked around.<BR>Remember that episode from Seinfeld where the car rental agency gives away the car he'd reserved? Like the rental agency, this hotel knows how to TAKE a reservation, but not how to HOLD a reservation...and, as Seinfeld noted, it's the HOLDING part that's important.

xxx

Web site is www.hotelmondialtours.com<BR>email is [email protected]

Sue

I've sometimes had to push smaller hotels to stipulate their cancellation policies when requesting a room proposal, but I've always insisted. A cancellation policy is a fact of hotel life, or it should be. The business incurs costs when they make bookings, and the party who incurs these costs - me, the guest - can be expected to have to pay them, assuming I cancel within a specified number of days/hours of the booking, or don't show up (more about this, below.) The nationality of the buyer has #$%^& all to do with doing business, as your hotel knows very well; this is just a smokescreen for their own poor management practices. <BR><BR>When booking, I've also asked hotels to indicate that my estimated time of arrival is acceptable. (I generally indicate a time around 1600-1800 hours, when the desks of even small hotels should be open.) I am thus indicating that I expect the room to be held for me until at least that time, as part of our contract. In other words, we have to agree from the start just what 'not showing up' means.<BR><BR>I agree the hotel lacked professionalism, but unfortunately, the other lack in your case was a formal legal contract. I know, the way the hotel behaved, you can be forgiven for thinking you had one, when you did not. They didn't ask you for a CC number, and sometimes hotels I've dealt with haven't asked me, either. In that case, I've had to politely insist that before I can confirm, that they choose a Credit card that I can use to guarantee the terms of my reservation, including the terms of the cancellation and the time of arrival. If they don't comply, I go elsewhere, because without a way to proffer payment I CANNOT confirm the terms of the contract, as I've understood the laws of just about any country I've ever visited.<BR><BR>Have my contracts always been honoured? Well, in 39 out of 40 cases, they have. In the 40th case, the hotel said on our arrival that they had had to change us to their 'other' hotel, and that they had faxed us about this (well, they had, but not until after we had left and were already in Italy.) It was annoying, and we said so. In fairness to the hotel, for our second night they gave us a much better room than we had originally booked, in order to compensate us for the inconvenience of having a technically equivalent but alternate room on our first night. <BR><BR>But in truth, Siobhan, had they not done so, I'm not sure what else we could have done but accept their alternate arrangement, and possibly written the relevant guidebook to complain about the switch. For we did receive some value in return for our money - whether it was truly equivalent value would be hard to prove. I agree your situation was frustrating, and you've let us know, and you can bet I'll be wary about doing business with this hotel, if I should ever do so.<BR><BR>

Patrick

This somewhat reminds me of a reservation we once had in Amboise, I believe the hotel was called Beau Site. We had communicated by email and by fax. They had comfirmed their largest room with a terrace overlooking the river, something we wanted them to assure us of before we confirmed. They also assured us that parking was available at the hotel. I had all the faxes with me when we checked in, so there could be no problem. When we arrived we couldn't find the parking space. We double parked in front while I ran in to see about parking. They told us their "parking" was to just find a place on the street. This was impossible in crowded Amboise in the height of summer. Next we found that there was no reservation for us. I pulled out the faxes and showed them to her, signed by the "reservation manager". She kept frowning and finally said, "oh, I see, this was made over six months ago. We don't keep our records that long." She told us there was no problem as they did have a small room available at the back of the hotel, and she was surprised when I said we wouldn't stay.

siobhan

Thanks for all your replies.<BR>Sue has some very good suggestions which I may implement myself next time.<BR>Not the best idea to bombard the hotel with...whatever, as you stoop to the hotel owners level. I'll leave to the French Tourist Board to do the bombarding.<BR>Thanks again all

siobhan

Patrick<BR>I do sympathise.