No room at the inn

Some months ago, I made a reservation through Travelocity with-

Comfort Suites West Dallas - Cockrell Hill (CSWD)
4275 Dfw Turnpike, Dallas TX 75211

-for the NRA Annual Meetings in Dallas.

Boy, was that a bad move.
Ok, the one thing I might have done differently was call early the day of arrival to let them know I was definitely coming.

Well, I didn’t call. My roommate for the trip was to arrive in Dallas about an hour after me. Because of Dallas weather, he arrived about five hours later.

Unbeknownst to me, at about 4:00 p.m., the CSWD attempted to charge one night’s rent to the card they had on record. That card, a Bluebird, is a re-loadable cash card I have used for years to book reservations. Unfortunately it did not have enough of a balance to cover their attempted charge.

Then, they attempted to call me at my old number that Travelocity had back when I made the reservation. Since they couldn’t reach me, they cancelled my reservation and sold the room to someone else at a higher rate.

NRA - Dallas - Record Attendance: over 87,000 in attendance. Big demand for rooms.

How convenient that was. Nice little extra profit for the hotel.

Imagine our surprise when we arrived to learn there was no room. The desk clerk, however was very helpful. He did call and find a room nearby which we were able to get for the weekend.

When I called Brittany Smith, the Front Office Manager on Monday, she told me it is corporate policy to do what they did. If it is in fact corporate policy, it stinks. She then told me that the desk clerk had a room and could have rented it to me at the higher rate.

If that is so, why did he tell me about the cancellation, then offer me the higher rate, then look at his computer terminal, apologize and say there was no room? What would be in it for him? Then, he was very helpful to arrange a room nearby. Her accusation just doesn’t ring true. Pants on fire?

So, here’s my recommendation:
Stay away from Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Hotel & Suites, Mainstay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, and Ascend Hotel in general, and from CSWD in particular.

I think I may even have some idea why CSWD is rated 2.5 out of 5.0 at the Travelocity website.

Rant complete.