poochie

Vicky-
I'm curious what Best Western did they change you to?
We have reservations for the Best Western Le Nouvel Orleans. It's supposed to be a 3 star. We got a great deal on Expedia.

stefanaccio

If you are going to Italy you will almost assuredly pay for at least one night. You may be charged for more...

Casale-Villa with No Bidet
http://www.angelfire.com/film/casale

nytraveler

Vicky -

I think there must have been some confusion as to what happened. American Express cards don;t have limits - that's one of their benefits - you can charge whatever you want. If you try to charge a huge amount - they may call to verify its you - but you will never be turned down as "over limit".

Believe me - I know - I once unexpectedly had to charge a $34,000 dinner - and no one turned a hair - and that was on top of about $20,000 business travel expenses that month. And yes I have a plain old green card - not a gold or platinum, never mind black.

m_kingdom2

I never use American Express for that very reason. I was once in Asprey in the eighties, and Amex refused my payment. I phoned them up, but they still refused as it was larger than anything I usually charged to that card. I managed to speak to a relatively senior figure there, and told them to cancel my card immediately. They let me down when I needed it. Fortunately, Access (now MasterCard) didn't even require a phone call for that charge. Furthermore, Amex has an annual charge, and with service like that, who can be bothered?

audreyleigh99

This wasn't in Europe and isn't entirely on point but I just have to share.....on our honeymoon the hubby and I went to Napa Valley. We were booked into what looked like (and should have been for the price) a fairly upscale boutique hotel. We arrived to find a beautiful lobby (as pictured on their website) but were promptly shown to an awful, dingy room that didn't even look all that clean. A chair in the corner of the room had a big stain on it and the carpet had seen better days - definitely not what was pictured (or should I say airbrushed) on their webiste. We went back to the front and asked for another room but were told that to get one of the renovated rooms we would have to pay $100 more per night. We tried to find another hotel nearby, but, as it was a holiday weekend, had no luck. We drove past several other places that had looked beautiful on their websites but that looked awful in person, and my hubby told me not to feel bad, that if I had left the booking up to him he probably would have booked us into a trailer park based on the misleading websites. We then briefly considered hopping a plane to Vegas and just forgetting the whole thing, but Southwest was booked so we ended up spending the night at the hotel. The next day, in better spirits, we were able to find a nice hotel that had just opened and was not booked and switched over (they even upgraded us to a nice suite out of sympahty). We checked out, the honeymoon was salvaged, and the first hotel did not charge us for any of the remaining stay, even though I think they had a two week cancellation policy.

audreyleigh99

Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, I always forget about that!

Underhill

Grandmere,

We too had a hotel in Normandy wanting to charge way in advance--a year, in fact--for our one-night stay. We just said no thanks and found a different place with which we were quite happy.

However, we also booked for one night at the Hostellerie Saint-Pierre, giving our credit-card number as a guarantee to the booking site. One day later we cancelled the reservation by an e-mail reply to the confirmation. When we returned from France last month we found that the hotel had charged us for a no-show: the entire amount of one night's stay. The booking agency told us apolegetically that the reservation had certainly been cancelled but that the hotel "did not wish to cooperate" in refunding our money. Our credit-card issuer is now dealing with the problem.

aneckc

Had this situation happen to us in Switzerland 2 yrs. ago. Website looked great, reviews were positive, front desk people accommodating...until we had to hike upstairs 3 floors to our small, dark room with tiny bathroom. It had a great view of Lauterbrunnen but we felt yucky staying there. We tried to change our room or cancel our reservation but they said we had to pay for one night at least. We stayed that night but did get a room right next door in a much nicer hotel for the same price for the next 3 nights. I guess the hoteliers need to make their money. That wasn't the worst hotel we've stayed in (Korea and Philippines) but what can you do?

I do think hotels with nice pictures of their lobbies but with crummy rooms are deceptive though and are not being entirely upfront with their customers.

ira

Hi Vicky,

I always make sure to have a confirmation from the hotel before arrival. It might not get a room, but it allows you to successfully dispute charges.

>.. the reserv has disappeared from my Expedia My Trips folder <

Expedia has messed up. If you have the printout, demand that expedia pay for one night.