Bizarre hotel booking issue - I don't want a rollaway!

[Moonblossom]

Because apparently I am never capable of making a hotel booking without something going sort of wrong!

Bear with me, this is a bit convoluted. I wanted a king bed room at the Hilton from Wednesday the 25th to Tuesday the 31st. I am flying in from relatively far away (Montreal, Quebec) and the buffer days are sort of necessary for me.

However, when I went to the CMR page right after it opened on Friday night, the only room available at the Hilton on Wednesday was a king bed with guaranteed rollaway. I don't need a rollaway, I don't want a rollaway, and I certainly don't want to pay for a rollaway.

I've called both CMR and the Hilton directly and the general consensus was "That doesn't make any sense, I agree, but for the time being we can't help you." CMR can't give me a room and make a note not to put in the rollaway, and the Hilton can't do anything until they get my booking - at which point it will be too late for me to buy my plane ticket at a reasonable price.

The guy at CMR was quite helpful and nice and put me on a waitlist for a room with no rollaway starting on the 25th, but at some point I am just going to have to buckle down and buy my ticket so I'm sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place here.

I'm just wondering if anyone else tried to make a booking for the Wednesday and was met with similar bizarre issues. It just makes no sense to me that they can't just be like "oh okay we're changing the reservation so you don't have a rollaway anymore! someone else can have it!" ><

[lummy]

What you can do, is say you don't need the roll-a-way at the hotel, they have to honor your request. This happened to me once.

Its a bit more iffy, but the hotel knows whats best, they wouldn't risk anymore Bad reviews.


Edit: I had an after thought, It says guaranteed, which means you have the option, but its there if you need it, (at least to my knowledge of the english languages, that means you have an option)

[Rin_chan]

That is a bit strange, but I agree with lummy, if you tell the hotel you don't want the rollaway I'm sure they'll have no problem not giving it to you and letting someone else who requested one have it.

[Moonblossom]

The problem is the room with a guaranteed rollaway is $26 more expensive than the room I would like ($89 for a King, $115 for a King w/guaranteed rollaway). When I spoke to the woman at the Hilton she said they could remove the request and not have it sent up to the room, but she couldn't guarantee that they'd adjust the room cost accordingly. If I'm staying for six nights, I'd really rather not have to pay $156 extra for a service that I don't want or need.

That's my main issue. If I could just get someone to say "No problem, we won't include the rollaway AND we won't charge you for it" I would be fine, but the response I got from CMR and the Hilton was "Well we can just not send up the rollaway but you may be charged for it nonetheless, we can't promise anything."

I just really can't wrap my head around why the only available option was to be charged for something I don't need.

[Admiral Donuts]

Go up to the next level in the hotel chain. Although it's possible the hotel sets rooms up that way to make a little extra cash to take advantage of the extra traffic the con brings.

[Moonblossom]

I spoke to the person who handles group bookings and she was as perplexed as anyone else. I'd wonder if it were some sort of a cash grab but the Hilton is a good, respectable hotel and I can't picture them doing something that underhanded, and there was no problem booking without the rollaway and extra fees on the Thursday through Monday. It's only the Wednesday that gave me this issue.

It's all very odd XD

[lummy]

If they charge you for not using something, Ask for the manager. My experiences have taught me that if your charge something you don't want, you should complain loudly (or sue, or argue, etc).

Its very bad service to charge someone something they don't want, but then again I can understand the fanime "special" pricing, and how they would charge you, because you booked the one with a roll-a-way.

Maybe further down the line you could change the reservation.

Anyways best of luck.

[Rin_chan]

Definitely, NO ONE working at a front desk wants to hear "Let me speak to your manager." It might just help you get it sorted out, but fanime pricing is strange so even then it might not be a guarantee :/

Hope it all gets sorted though, good luck. 

[Admiral Donuts]

I spoke to the person who handles group bookings and she was as perplexed as anyone else. I'd wonder if it were some sort of a cash grab but the Hilton is a good, respectable hotel and I can't picture them doing something that underhanded, and there was no problem booking without the rollaway and extra fees on the Thursday through Monday. It's only the Wednesday that gave me this issue.

It's all very odd XD

The only Hilton I ever stayed at had puke in the sink when we walked in the room. We got yelled at when asked it be cleaned up. So, yeah.

And I don't think it's so much as a "cash grab" as it is they set up rooms with guaranteed rollaways so more people will show interest in a king-size room, because if you couldn't guarentee a rollaway, nobody would take it. But then you're all, "Um, yeah, I don't want one" and all the Hilton employees start shaking their fists and are all, "Curse you for upsetting our fancy booking system MOONBLOSSOOOOOOOOOOOM!!"

[Moonblossom]

Jeimizu, that still doesn't explain why I had no trouble doing it for the other six nights. I've been booking king-bedded rooms with no rollaway for years there without hassle, I really think this was some weird glitch or booking issue between the Hilton and the CMR, but I'm peeved nobody can overwrite it somehow. ><

[Arkham]

The 'Guaranteed Rollaway' isn't that there is an actual rollaway there, it is that it is a much larger room with enough space for a rollaway, and so if you want one, there is room for it ( and a guarantee that it'll be available ).

[Kyra_Maverick]

Im not sure everyone here understands the issue. It's not just that she doesn't want the rollaway, it's that she also doesn't want to pay for it. The room with a guaranteed rollaway has the cost already added in when you book. No one can give a definite 'Yes' or 'No' over whether she'll be charged anyway for the rollaway that she's not using.

[Moonblossom]

Thank you Kyra. Maybe I wasn't clear enough when I explained it, sorry.

It's a moot issue now anyway - all the rooms are full on the 25th, rollaway or no. I'm on the waitlist for a room though, with or without the damned thing XD I'll take what I can get at this point.

[Admiral Donuts]

Maybe you can rent it out to someone staying overnight in the convention center who didn't get a room for $26 a night.

If I see someone sleeping on a rollaway outside the dealer's hall i'll know where it came from.

[Moonblossom]

I have a feeling I'd get in trouble when the Hilton desk staff saw me wheeling it across the lobby XD

"Ma'am, where are you going with that rollaway?"
"uh.. this? Um, I just wanted some fresh air and thought I'd go take a nap in the hallway..."
"Alright then! Carry on!"

[Arkham]

Im not sure everyone here understands the issue. It's not just that she doesn't want the rollaway, it's that she also doesn't want to pay for it. The room with a guaranteed rollaway has the cost already added in when you book. No one can give a definite 'Yes' or 'No' over whether she'll be charged anyway for the rollaway that she's not using.

You aren't paying for the rollaway. The rooms with the guaranteed rollaways are bigger and just happen to have a rollaway in the closet. You are paying for the extra space.

[Kyra_Maverick]

If that were the case wouldn't the Hilton staff member point that out? Not that I don't think thats a possibility, but you'd think one of the staffing reps would have pointed out her misunderstanding.

[Moonblossom]

Yeah, not a single person (Hilton or CMR) thought to inform me that the room would be larger so I don't know if that's the case - do you know this for a *fact* or are you just assuming things? They all just told me "well you can just say you don't want the rollaway, but we can't guarantee you won't be charged for it." Note that they said "charged for it", being the rollaway. Not "charged for the larger room".

It's okay though, I'm on the waitlist and if by the time I need to book my plane ticket I still haven't gotten a room on the Wednesday, I will either crash at a friend's or stay in another hotel a little further out for the one night and then hop a taxi over to the Hilton in time for the con. It will all work out :)

[Moonblossom]

Just wanted to say a big thanks to the CMR team - this has been resolved, I now have a room on the 25th too, with no spare rollaway or charge :D

[jAded]

I'm glad you got your hotel room taken care of.
I was going to say that the rollaway included in rooms this year may be the hotel(s) response to people overstuffing their rooms at conventions in the past. I'm not saying that everyone does it, but enough people do it, unfortunately.