An unfortunate, annoying set of circumstances? To be sure.

But...a nightmare?? Spoiled, ratty Fodorites - woefully out of touch with the real world: get a grip! Too bad there are too many out there who have forgotten, in just a few short months, the difference between minor inconvenience and a true nightmare.

"Bratty" Fodorites, that was supposed to be...

I thought "ratty" was fine!

Listen people, x is right. Sure it's been months, but I still break into cold sweats just thinking about <<spooky music>> "The Nightmare At Tavern On The Green"!

The manager will say "what would you like me to do to make this up to you?" and your wife will say "we would like the night that we had to move twice to be complimentary" and the manager will say "well I can't do THAT, but what I CAN do is give you a certificate for a free night on a future stay at our hotel."

This is not difficult to predict. All these people go to the same "customer service seminars" and have the same well-rehearsed answers to everything. There is no such thing as true customer service these days, service workers are just trained seals.

It's the fault of poor management that nobody was on duty who could fix a door lock.

It's the fault of poor employees that they put you into a handicapped room that they needed for someone else.

It's not their fault that the hotel was full and they had a difficult time finding you another room, but they wouldn't have had this problem if they weren't too cheap to have adequate, competent staff on hand to fix broken door locks.

If you were indeed moved to a "downgraded" room you deserve a break on the room rate at the very least. Since you stayed so many nights you should be considered a valued customer and a good manager would comp one night's room for you for the night that you had to move twice and delay your plans. A locksmith would have cost them a lot more.

I am not saying hector is a troll, necessarily. But some things to consider.... any hotel in Monterey or Carmel that charges only $129 the week of July 4 is not one of the major upscale chains nor a charming boutique hotel. It is probably of a Days Inn, Red Roof, Comfort Inn type. That doesn't mean they don't deserve good customer service - BUT THEY WERE OFFERED A SUITE for the night. Seems fair to me!

And why can't his wife handle this herself?

I once had a similar problem - I also didn't understand why the card lock couldn't be repaired. But it couldn't. The hotel upgraded me for one night and I willingly moved back to my room the next night.

When I checked out I discovered they had comped my breakfast. I appreciated it but certainly didn't expect or demand it.

Only if you can convince someone there to grant you one. But, why, oh why, would you even consider returning?

Hector:

1. Jen and everyone else who says you have no complaint are wrong wrong wrong. You were treated abysmally.

2. You or your wife should have spoken to the manager very soon after the broken-lock incident. No way should more than one move have been needed, but had you spoken to the manager right away, it's likely the rest of the story wouldn't have been so miserable. And, as someone noted, it is hard for a hotel to know what's happening if no one says anything until after checkout.

3. Write to the hotel because they need to know just how wrong things can go there, not because you can expect any compensation. Unless it's a chain, another free night may be all you'd get and why go back? And they aren't going to refund any money unless they are feeling really worried about the PR or are really contrite and fundamentally more of a class-act than they sound.

First of all when Hector wrote, on Sunday, his wife was still at the hotel, so he wsan't talking about a free future night, he was talking about being comped on THAT bill.

As far as two moves being unnecessary, if the hotel was fully booked, how was this to be avoided? How would you like it if you were the person who had reserved the big suite, and arrived only to be told "Sorry, we had to give it away to another family when their lock broke, but we'll give you a discount on their little room, since the lock is now fixed."

You at least deserve acknowledgment that they made several mistakes. In my business, once something goes wrong with one account, things sometimes turn into a total train wreck and it sounds that way here.

At the very least, they have a SERIOUS problem with their switchboard/phone people.

And they should have kept your family in the upgrade-level room without having to move again.

And it's "lo and behold," not "low...", just for the record.

Please tell us the name of the hotel and whether you acted on this situation or not.

Hector,
I had same sort of experience, reserved rooms with guarantee that I would get certain rooms ( happened twice at different hotels in different places)last time the rooms we settled for had spiders, loud music from parking lot all night long, toilet ran, and no hot water if anyone else was showering, the walls were filthy etc. We were also in a high tourist area (Niagara Falls Ontario) I made a list of the complaints, and presented them to the desk as I checked out, and received one night free immedately, with much apology. Better luck next time.

Some hotel chains (comfort Inn, definintely, and some Embassy Suites) do have a 100-percent-satisfaction guarantee. But Comfort Inn's specifies that you have to notify the staff right away about your coplaint, to give them a chance to fix it, which seems only sporting.

I was comped a night at ES when I complained repeatedly about a band of noisy teens who ran around the halls into the wee hours -- it sorta soured me on those hotels that are set up with the big atriums.

Hector, bubbe, please, next time, tell your wife and your daughter to get on the pay phone, call another hotel (tell them the circumstances) and then threaten to check out. Also threaten to revoke charges on the credit card that you used to check in.

Oh, god, Hector, please tell me you didn't use cash.

Hector, you guys really screwed this up. You could have had them in the palm of your hand, but instead, THEY had YOU in the palms of their hand.

Was this the Carmel Mission Inn?

I'd be willing to bet money that it was. They have a special of $59 listed on their website, valid Sundays and Mondays through August. When I called to inquire, the reservationist told me that I must have been looking at someone else's website! When I asked for the manager, he said to call back in a while as he was tied up with a locksmith at the moment! Then I remembered this thread that I had read about a hotel in Carmel with a lock problem!

Hector,

You should have checked out and went to another hotel. Why didn't YOU take that option?

I know you like having your laundry list grow with all those unforgivable items....to act as leverage in getting something for nothing at a later time.

However, you created a lot of your own problems by not taking control of the situation. The fact that your wife couldn't be consoled with any peace offering handed to her is not the hotel staff's responsibility. She may agree with your something for nothing philosophy and was acting in support of your cause.

Nice try, but no cigar.

Sorry Mr Travels-a-lot but no customer of any hotel should have to accept a "peace offering". Whether the hotel is $150 or $59, you should get what you reserved and not have to jump through hoops because of mismanagement. The hotel personnel should be the ones jumping through hoops for the customers.

Yes indeed this was the Carmel Mission Inn, the room rate was $89 for weeknights and $169 on weekends.
They really enjoyed the hotel, (room etc was clean and renovated and large) until they had to start dealing with one little annoyance after another.

Most maddening part of it for my wife was that there were several rooms available, the incompetent desk clerk had simply made an error by putting them into a handicapped room and then "couldn't be bothered" to make another change for them. He was too busy playing cards at the desk with another employee.

If you decide to stay at this hotel, try to deal only with Nikita at the front desk and she is apparently the only one who is not on automatic pilot. Also, the rates from bestwestern.com are often better than the rates quoted directly from the hotel desk.

The manager of this hotel never did get in touch with my wife while she was staying at the hotel (or afterwards), even though she left 3 messages at the front desk and I sent emails from home both before and after the visit. At checkout time, my wife meekly requested (as is her style) that an adjustment be made to the bill because of the annoyances, and she was told that nobody could make adjustments to the bill except for the manager, and that he would not be in until the next morning.

After reading this thread, my wife has told me not to bother to write a snail mail to the hotel, and to just drop it. She did however, talk 2 of her friends into staying elsewhere, and that is probably the best way to deal with hotels that do not treat you as you'd like to be treated.

Justice could not be better served than to broadcast their name to everyone. (Done finally) You are due some sort of retribution in my opinion although it is best to address it when it happens or when you check out. Contact the hotel & if you get unsatisfactory results Conde' Nast Traveler (magazine) is good @ applying heat as well.