Fed up with Bienville House!
 

Just wondering if anyone has encountered this problem or has any suggestions for me.
Booked Labor Day weekend at Bienville House for $190/night. Just saw rates from $139-$160/night on bienvillehouse.com for the same room type. Called the hotel - they won't budge. Manager states I can't get the lower rate, and I also can't use my AAA discount. Reservationist told me when I booked that the whole amt would be charged and it is nonrefundable and can't be cancelled. So, I can't even cancel and rebook at lower rate. Feel like I've been screwed over for not waiting until the last minute. Any suggestions?

lisbeth, that is a fairly common industry standard procedure for B&Bs.

It isn't very fair but because they are usually privately owned, it is a matter of survival.

That is one of my biggest pet peeves about B&Bs.

Forgot to add, call back and ask them if they will upgrade you as a show of good faith.

Thanks GoTravel, but I don't know if I can be upgraded. I have a king balcony room reserved. I don't think they have anything bigger or better. Do you know otherwise?

lisbeth this is what I would do. By the way, I worked at an Inn for two years and we followed a similar MO.

I would call the inn tomorrow between 9AM and 5PM because that is when the owner/manager/decision making person will be in.

I would politely state your case and ask them to put themselves in your shoes and how would they feel knowing everyone around them paid $30-$50 less per night per room?

The flip side may be that it sounds like you have reserved one of the better rooms in the house. They may be sold out of King/Balcony rooms and all they have left are Run Of The House Rooms. The Run Of The House Rooms may be on special for $139-$160 per night and these rooms are much less desirable and cheaper.

A Run Of The House room may only be a queen bed, no view, no fireplace, no jacuzzi.

They may give you the option to downgrade for the cheaper rate. It sounds to me like you have a really good room and that rate isn't offered for that room.

Does that make sense?

I would call and at least have them explain. They are perfectly within their rights to charge more for a superior room.

That is good advice. I would also mention that you had done major research on several travel message boards before deciding on staying with them. That lets them know that you will be sharing how this is handled. Many B&Bs belong to some sort of association. Does this one?
Check their site & see. It might be worth contacting an impartial 3rd party like that if you can't resolve it on your own.

Good luck!

Isn't Bienville House a hotel?

It is, indeed, an 83-room hotel. I had looked at the site when a family member was planning for a NOLA trip. I think this tells us just how popular New Orleans and it's good hotels are .... that a hotel can deal with the public in this way, and everybody still clamor to go there. I won't stay in a hotel or go through a booker who tells me that I will be charged in advance, and there's no refund or cancellation for any reason. (There are B&B's that I would enjoy a stay in, but I won't go because of their payment policies.) Good luck, Lisbeth! I hope you can somehow get them to change their minds!

Benj and GoTravel have made good points and suggestions.

This is one of my pet peeves about B&Bs as well. The instance that really perturbed me was with a B&B in Martha's Vineyard. We had reservations checking in on Sept. 13, 2001. Of course there was no way we could even get there because all or most flights were grounded. They refused to refund our $1400 plus. It just so happened that I had two other short trips planned within six weeks after that and decided to cancel both. One stay was at a B&B in Santa Fe that graciously gave me a 100% refund as did both airlines.

The MV B&B did offer to let us reschedule our stay if we did so within three months, which was impossible. After MUCH haggling, they finally agreed to honor our stay if we used it within three years, which was very decent. However, it still bugged me that they would not budge initially given the circumstances.

Bienville House is a hotel. This has nothing to do with B&Bs and I'm unsure why/how this was even mentioned.

Were the $139-160 rates listed for those specific dates or just as a general "rates as low as..." comment? If they were indeed showing for the specific dates and for the same room type, the hotel really should honor the lower rate. Even airlines will give such a credit, for goodness sakes!

Call the hotel general manager if the reservations office or front office manager doesn't give you any satisfaction. Maybe an upgrade is a reasonable compromise, although $190 seems very high for that particular hotel during Labor Day.

Let me get this straight. You made an agreement of your own volition. Now you don't like the deal and want to renig on it?

Excuse me, but where has anyone done you dirt? I can understand wanting to get a better deal, and asking for it but you have a lot a nerve to complain that the hotel has done anything even the slightest bit wrong by holding you to your agreement. If someone had done the same to you, you'd be whining that about people failing to keep their word, the sancity of contracts, etc.

I have to agree with crozier... you agreed to the price, the hotel decided to have a 'sale' because they probably didn't fill up and you happened to see the new price. If they had been fully booked the price would have gone up and you would have felt you got a bargain. It's just business.

I can't agree with that way of thinking - we stay at the same hotel in New Orleans every year and typically by the time we get there I have negotiated our originally booked price down about $100 a night. That's too much money to ignore. The same with air fares, we already have them down about $50 each for that trip and I'm still watching for more.

Thanks to all of you who supported me and offered your advice. I'm not going to let this interfere with my enjoyment of the trip. However, let me just say that when I arrive, if there is ANYTHING that is not up to my expectations (room cleanliness, staff courtesy, etc.) I'll be raising hell at the front desk.

Perhaps this is a similar situation with a different outcome. I had booked two nights at the Marriott in Buffalo at a rate of $156. Because I'm a "Marriott Miles" member, they sent an e-mail about a month later advertising special rates at selected Marriott hotels for that weekend. I checked the website and the same room was advertised for $119. I e-mailed the hotel asking them if it would be possible to change the rate (my other strategy would have been to cancel and then re-book, but it was Memorial Day Weekend and I suspected they might be sold out). I got an e-mail back almost immediately confirming the rate change. The lower rate was verified as soon as we checked in this past Friday evening.

I too suggest you try and see what may be done- BUT you did agree to the terms of NO REFUNDS and agreed to the price you were charged. I don't see any refund coming your way. This is a major reason, I rarely book expensive nonrefundable lodging and especially far ahead. Plans do change and you can only accept responsibility for your purchases and TERMS you agreed to.