JAR, not exactly. The ADA requires that they have an elevator, but elevators do break. They would have had to offer a full refund or make other arrangements for the disabled person, however.

The very few times I have disputed a charge, the credit card company has made it clear it will not mediate the dispute. It places the disputed amount in "suspension" for a limited amount of time and verifies the accuracy of the charge (i.e., I signed a receipt, the card was swiped through a card reader, whatever). It's been up to me to achieve a resolution with the vendor.

In Gail's case, I wouldn't sign the charge receipt when checking out if the hotel hasn't appropriately reduced the total charge. The hotel already has the credit card number and can still charge the full amount, but at least the hotel won't have the cardholder's signature implying acceptance of the charged amount.

And, Gail, I hope you'll post a review of this hotel on Tripadvisor.com and also alert all of us here to the hotel's name.

BTW, we complained to the hotel we stayed at in NY last Thanksgiving about the lack of a decent shower --not warm and not much water -- and after several complaints, they refunded us quite a bit of money. We got the refund about 4 months after the fact.

I loved this discussion 'cus we've all "been there". Lots of great ideas......and gail, I have to say that I admire the way you handled it in the interest of keeping peace w/in the family unit!!!! VACATIONS ARE FUN and adventuresome...in spite of bad weather, wasted time, wasted $$$$$, construction, naughty elevators, hotel employees with "attitude" :) :) Sounds like this incident didn't totally ruin your day in Vancouver!

I will post review on tripadvisor - (Sunset Inn and Suites, Vancouver, BC) but it will be difficult since the hotel is beautiful, rooms huge, bedding comfortable and while the hotel is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of the elevator, stuff happens. I think my DH bears some of the responsibility for the confusion - he was trying to be helpful to his family and instead started a big mess. On the other hand, I also believe in the service industry in "the customer is always right" - and that the proper course for the hotel would have been to inconvenience the other party getting ready to occupy our room - either by offering them the 2 rooms, sending them to another hotel, etc. rather than forcing us to move.

Anyway, lovely hotel, incredible city, good vacation, with one really big blip at the end.

Gail, you are right to request the first night free, and I think we all support you on that. And in posting an honest review.

Doesn't look right to me how the whole ordeal was handled, and the vague promise of "doing something to the rate".

Print out this thread and give it to the manager.

oooh Cassandra....GREAT idea!

Another update - we checked out this AM at 5:30. I have copy of final bill, which included no compendation for the aggravation. I did not sign, but instead, wrote note to manager.

Night clerk was no help - his English was not great and he had no power to do anything. Of course, they already have my credit card number and can charge me whatever they want.

Grrrrrrr........

I'm going to come down squarely in the middle here, thereby annoying everyone no doubt:

If, when the bill comes through on your CC, you see no adjustment, call the CC company, explain the situation, and ask for 25 per cent off the bill as compensation. If you get that, or even only something merely close to that, I'd take the money and run.

Why not an entire night's comp?

The main problem here is that you accepted the room, as opposed to opting out (and I fully agree that in such instance, the normal cancellation policy should not apply.) I understand why you didn't want to move - I hate last minute moves myself - but by not doing so you acknowledged the situation to be inconvenient, but not absolutely untenable (which it would have been had the hotel room been on the fortieth floor, or one of your number handicapped.) By taking the room, you were obviously given value by the hotel that exceeds, by a considerable degree, 0 per cent of the room rate for that night.

I do think you are right to post on Tripadvisor: the hotel obviously has fallen asleep a bit on regular maintenance - TWO elevators should never be completely down. OTOH, I think they themselves were seriously inconvenienced (try operating a multistorey hotel when your cleaning and laundry staff don't have access to an elevator!) so they should learn quickly from this experience.

Hope you enjoyed Vancouver.

Sue - you bring up some good points. But when we accepted the room one elevator was working. It was only after it appeared we would be elevator-less that we even looked into changing rooms.

I did post on Tripadvisor. Waiting to see what posts on my credit card - charge has been "pending" when I checked on-line.

And we loved Vancouver - wonderful city. Added to short lists of places I might rather live than Boston.

Hi again gail.

Yes, I do note that you took the room (at least for the first night) based on a situation that subsequently deteriorated. But that you were able to cope with the situation by walking up could be presented as an argument by the hotel that the situation wasn't untenable to you even at that point.

Don't get me wrong, I think hotels need to be held accountable: I'm at present disputing a charge by a hotel for a stay I have clear evidence that I cancelled in accord with their policy. And I can certainly appreciate the aggravation you and your family experienced. But I note that you seem to be considering not paying the charge; think carefully about this one. I haven't paid the charges in respect of my own dispute because I don't want to finance over $300, especially when I received no value in respect of that $300 whatsoever, but on the other hand watching the interest mount on the unpaid balance is not pleasant. I have been assured the interest will be credited in the event of resolution, but it is still not pleasant; I'm trying to anticipate all the possible arguments the hotel might make for not accepting my evidence. I'm also keenly aware that the hotel is as much a 'customer' of the CC company as I am, so the CC company is somewhat vested in keeping both parties happy.

Point of this long diatribe is: when considering your course of action, consider the most conservative as well as the most liberal interpretation of your situation. The conservative one is the one I've tried to point out to you.

Best of luck.