Horrible experience at Hyatt Place 17th Street

[Alaska59]

We started our vacation on the worst note possible after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale.  We caught the shuttle to our hotel near the port.  

When we arrived to check-in we were told we didn't have a room at that location.  There were several couples traveling who were told 

the same thing.  We had confirmed reservations through Booking.com.  Apparently, anyone booking the hotel through a third party may be

bumped from booking to another Hyatt hotel.  We argued with the man at the desk who kept saying that Booking.com should have informed

us that it changed.  We know that was a lie.  Hyatt sold our rooms for a higher price and shuttled us to Plantation, Florida to stay.  We were all 

livid in that we had plans for the overnight stay in the area and now we were at some location we would never have chosen. 

 

I just want to warn those of you how dishonest this Hyatt location was.  There was probably a total of 10 couples who they did this to on Saturday,

Nov. 10th.  I bet this happens a lot.  We met one couple who had stayed at the port location many times and this was the first time this happened to

them.  One lady was trying to get her money back after being sent to the Plantation Hyatt.  Bottom line, just beware of who you book with.  I have had

very favorable experiences with Booking.com so I don't hold them responsible for this incident.  I blame Hyatt.

[parrotfeathers]

That does sound like a horrible experience.  Tops mine having the expectation that the Holiday Inn Express renovations were complete and they weren't even close.

[Toftwood]

Sadly I have found Booking.com bookings dishonoured before by hotels/chains other than Hyatt. At times of high occupancy, Booking.com it seems continue to sell rooms even when the hotel is closed out for any more reservations. My most recent experience was in Italy and I was being “medivac’d” back to UK, hardly the best time to be told there was no room for you. On that occasion there was no doubt that the hotel was not to blame.

[slidergirl]

Sorry to say that it is partly your fault.  The cheap 3rd party OTAs (Booking, Groupon, Expedia, Hoteltonight, etc) are notorious for screwing up reservations,  I see it on an almost daily basis at my hotel.   The OTAs do not have simultaneous updates on a hotel, so it is totally possible for then to "book" a non-existent room.  If a hotel is booked up with reservations made through their own booking engine, there is nothing they can do for you - they can't kick someone out.  And, the hotel cannot help you directly if you booked OTA - you must deal just through that OTA.  Had a guest last Monday:  he had a basic room, wanted to upgrade to a 2 bedroom suite.  We had none left to sell.  He shows me his Expedia page on his tablet that shows one.  He goes "what if I hit "book" now and you have to give me that suite."  Well, sorry, you won't get it, despite what Expedia says...  Sometimes the OTA will book you into the wrong hotel - you want the Hyatt Place 17th 

St, you accidentally get booked at the Hyatt Place Podunk City.  I see that too.  I have access to the various OTA extranets and see wrong booking on their site - wrong dates, wrong place, wrong name, you name it.  

 

DO NOT try to save a few dollars using an OTA - book on the hotel's website or phone them!!!

Edited November 24, 2018 by slidergirl

[Noxequifans]

We always book directly with the hotel .... avoids a layer that could cause a problem.

[Cheezus]

Lesson learned. Book with the hotel directly. 

 

Plantation is pretty sweet though, for what thats worth. Plenty to do. 

 

I do love how Booking.com doesn't properly secure your booking and it's all Hyatts fault.

 

Best wishes. 

Edited November 24, 2018 by Cheezus

[rkacruiser]

53 minutes ago, Cheezus said:

Lesson learned. Book with the hotel directly. 

 

Plantation is pretty sweet though, for what thats worth. Plenty to do. 

 

I do love how Booking.com doesn't properly secure your booking and it's all Hyatts fault.

 

Best wishes. 

 

I am sorry to read of your experience.  However, your experience only reinforces how I book hotels.  I only book through the hotel chain's web site or directly with the hotel by either phone or their web site.  Rarely, I will use a travel agent for such a booking.

 

For me, saving some $$ is not worth the possible issues by booking with some other reservation "provider".

[JohninDC]

Thanks for the detailed feedback.  I hope the rest of your cruise was more enjoyable.

[Alaska59]

Appreciate your comments, but I have to add that we made our confirmed reservation last April and I received a confirmation reminder on November 4th about our room.  I don't think it's my fault or the others fault for booking early and sticking with our reservation.  I have had other Booking.com reservations respected by the Marriot chain and a Canadian chain.  In fact we were upgraded to a suite in Vancouver.  So this is on Hyatt.  I have learned a lesson from this experience. I didn't save that much money from that booking, I was just trusting my previous experience. 

[JamesEM]

14 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Sorry to say that it is partly your fault.  The cheap 3rd party OTAs (Booking, Groupon, Expedia, Hoteltonight, etc) are notorious for screwing up reservations,  I see it on an almost daily basis at my hotel.   The OTAs do not have simultaneous updates on a hotel, so it is totally possible for then to "book" a non-existent room.  If a hotel is booked up with reservations made through their own booking engine, there is nothing they can do for you - they can't kick someone out.  And, the hotel cannot help you directly if you booked OTA - you must deal just through that OTA.  Had a guest last Monday:  he had a basic room, wanted to upgrade to a 2 bedroom suite.  We had none left to sell.  He shows me his Expedia page on his tablet that shows one.  He goes "what if I hit "book" now and you have to give me that suite."  Well, sorry, you won't get it, despite what Expedia says...  Sometimes the OTA will book you into the wrong hotel - you want the Hyatt Place 17th 

St, you accidentally get booked at the Hyatt Place Podunk City.  I see that too.  I have access to the various OTA extranets and see wrong booking on their site - wrong dates, wrong place, wrong name, you name it.  

 

DO NOT try to save a few dollars using an OTA - book on the hotel's website or phone them!!!

Thanks for the information.

[Paulinda]

OK, now I'm worried.  I made a March reservation using booking dot com for Hyatt Place 17th st.   Should I now call Hyatt Place directly and confirm with them???  It seems that for a smaller hotel there are a lot of recommendations on CC for this site.   

[JohninDC]

Calling the hotel to verify your reservation can never hurt.  If you received a Hyatt reservation number along with your Booking reservation that's a good sign.

[DaveOKC]

After MANY nights spent in hotels on business, I am all too aware of what can happen with room reservations.  So, I always book directly with the hotel.  While it may cost me a bit more, it is worth it for peace of mind IMO.

 

Also, I make good use of free hotel nights via my credit card rewards programs (Hyatt has a very good one with Visa by the way and we use it at the Hyatt 17th).  

[Paulinda]

OK, I just called Hyatt Place 17th and they confirmed my reservation.  That eases my mind after reading the above experience Alaska59 recently had.  In the past we've always called hotels directly or used their websites to book rooms.  I think I'm only saving less than $50 using booking dot com and considering the cost of everything else....that's a pittance.     The young man from H-P that I spoke with was very helpful and re-assuring.     

[slidergirl]

18 hours ago, Alaska59 said:

Appreciate your comments, but I have to add that we made our confirmed reservation last April and I received a confirmation reminder on November 4th about our room.  I don't think it's my fault or the others fault for booking early and sticking with our reservation.  I have had other Booking.com reservations respected by the Marriot chain and a Canadian chain.  In fact we were upgraded to a suite in Vancouver.  So this is on Hyatt.  I have learned a lesson from this experience. I didn't save that much money from that booking, I was just trusting my previous experience. 

 

What happened with other chains has no bearing whatsoever with your Hyatt experience.  Did your "confirmation" come from Booking.com or Hyatt directly?  The confirmation number is NOT the number for the confirmation of the hotel - it is just your cheap OTA's "confirmation" that they have your request for a reservation in their extranet.   I have OTA guests show up all the time with only the OTA confirmation number, which is basically useless.  I have to login to that OTA's extranet as a hotel and try to search for that guest, sometimes to find that the reservation request was not uploaded to the hotel.  Upgrades have no bearing whatsoever, either.  You may have lucked out in Vancouver because the hotel had to move some guests around to accommodate  someone else and you were selected to get bumped up - due to length of stay.  I bump up people frequently in order to block another guest with a longer stay.  Also - if you book with booking.com, be aware they they "discount" your rate by sometimes agreeing with the hotel to deny you certain benefits that guests who book normally will receive.  An example: at my current hotel, everyone receives breakfast as part of their rate EXCEPT booking.com.  And, in the notes I see on a booking.com guest, booking.com sends us a note that "no meals included in this rate."  

You roll the dice when you book with an OTA, be it for a hotel room or an airline flight (I've got some doozies from athlete friends who had their travel booked via Travelocity/Orbitz).  You won some, but you lost this one,.

[Alaska59]

Thank you for your input.  Caveat Emptor is the rule of the day.  I wasn't born yesterday and I know what I bought into.  So did the other travelers that got burned.  You had to be there to see how customer service was handled, then you can comment.  No person should be treated in that manner.  Especially after traveling a long way.  It was shady and underhanded and most probably the rooms were sold at a higher price at the 11th hour.  

The only reason I posted this information was to help others to perhaps avoid a bad experience. 

[slidergirl]

7 minutes ago, Alaska59 said:

Thank you for your input.  Caveat Emptor is the rule of the day.  I wasn't born yesterday and I know what I bought into.  So did the other travelers that got burned.  You had to be there to see how customer service was handled, then you can comment.  No person should be treated in that manner.  Especially after traveling a long way.  It was shady and underhanded and most probably the rooms were sold at a higher price at the 11th hour.  

The only reason I posted this information was to help others to perhaps avoid a bad experience. 

I highly doubt it that the Hyatt sold rooms at a higher price at the 11th hour.   That is just a lash-out by you.  You just got screwed by booking.com.  Now, how Guest Services handled it is another matter.  If they had no rooms available and had no booking for you, nothing they could say would probably assuage your anger.  Who found out that booking.com booked you into the wrong hotel?   I deal with nasty guests all evening long - 2 nights ago, I had a 20-something ask me "if I wanted to take this outside" when I was trying to explain he and his parents only booked a single room, not a suite.  I'm sorry both you and the hotel were put in a bad situation,

[BlueHerons]

19 hours ago, Alaska59 said:

Appreciate your comments, but I have to add that we made our confirmed reservation last April and I received a confirmation reminder on November 4th about our room.  I don't think it's my fault or the others fault for booking early and sticking with our reservation.  I have had other Booking.com reservations respected by the Marriot chain and a Canadian chain.  In fact we were upgraded to a suite in Vancouver.  So this is on Hyatt.  I have learned a lesson from this experience. I didn't save that much money from that booking, I was just trusting my previous experience. 

Unfortunately, it is industry standard for hotels AND airlines to overbook.  They have a certain percentage they know will cancel and will over book to that.  

 

Those who get bumped?  The lowest rates who are not members of frequent stay programs.

 

It doesn't matter when you booked.  You had the lowest rate, you booked with third party, they are going to bump you first.

 

The best way to avoid this is to book directly with the hotel, join their frequent stay program, and call the hotel and have them note on your reservation not to walk you.

 

Hyatt was perfectly in their rights to walk you, it's in the small print that you agreed to under the terms and conditions when you hit the purchase button.

 

You are badmouthing Hyatt for something you actually agreed to.

[Alaska59]

I did not purchase anything in advance and the fine print says nothing about "you may be moved".  My terms were to pay at the hotel. And as far as Hyatt moving us, they are at fault, they overbooked.  I had no recourse to change my booking because it was within the 72 to 48 hour time frame.  So, lesson learned.  Don't preach to the choir.

[BlueHerons]

1 hour ago, Alaska59 said:

I did not purchase anything in advance and the fine print says nothing about "you may be moved".  My terms were to pay at the hotel. And as far as Hyatt moving us, they are at fault, they overbooked.  I had no recourse to change my booking because it was within the 72 to 48 hour time frame.  So, lesson learned.  Don't preach to the choir.

Yes, third party suppliers specifically state these terms when you purchase.  It is in the small print, pages and pages of it.

 

I would try reaching out to Hyatt and their customer service.  You very possibly may get a few free nights out of this.

 

Preaching to the choir would mean we have the same view.   We don't. 

[IndyCapt]

I had a similar experience at the Hyatt Place 17th street on November 9th (day before the OP)....Our reservation was made through ValueTrips. Luckily, I had called the hotel as we waited to disembark our ship just to ask them if we had any chance of an early check-in. The hotel rep asked my name and said "oh your reservation is one of them that got walked over to our Hyatt Place in Plantation"...I told him that location didn't do us any good and we weren't  interested in staying in Plantation. I asked to speak to a Mgr. After a few minutes on the line with the Ass't GM who said that Value Trips should have notified us (which obviously they had not) and basically there was nothing they could do. Oddly enough, the first hotel rep admitted it was on the Hyatt for "overbooking" the rooms. He volunteered that information when I said "so this is how Value Trips operates?". I quickly called the Embassy Suites 17th St. to check on rates/availability and was able to get a room since that was in the area we wanted to be for the one night post cruise. We even got an early check in at the ES when we arrived about 10:30am. We wanted to make sure our cc didn't get charged for the Hyatt, so later that afternoon we walked over to the Hyatt and spoke directly with the GM who confirmed we would not be charged for the stay. I had read a lot of good comments about using Value Trips but after this experience I doubt we'll be using them again if as I understand it now, the discount bookings are the first to get moved when they're overbooked. And btw, it was about 1pm that afternoon that we eventually received an email from Value Trips saying our reservation was being moved. In the future, we'll just book direct as is being recommended by other posters.

[GJClay]

I have also seen it go the other way when booking third party. This is not cruise related, but we once booked the Omni in San Francisco through hotels.com. Upon our arrival, hotel employees were on strike and were standing outside our window at 7:00 a.m. banging louder than you can imagine on pots and pans in protest; there were no amenities, no food available and on and on.  Hotels.com moved us AND gave us some free nights.  Omni couldn't have cared less and wouldn't have helped in any way, since they were the culprit. I guess you just never know.

[slidergirl]

6 hours ago, IndyCapt said:

I had a similar experience at the Hyatt Place 17th street on November 9th (day before the OP)....Our reservation was made through ValueTrips. Luckily, I had called the hotel as we waited to disembark our ship just to ask them if we had any chance of an early check-in. The hotel rep asked my name and said "oh your reservation is one of them that got walked over to our Hyatt Place in Plantation"...I told him that location didn't do us any good and we weren't  interested in staying in Plantation. I asked to speak to a Mgr. After a few minutes on the line with the Ass't GM who said that Value Trips should have notified us (which obviously they had not) and basically there was nothing they could do. Oddly enough, the first hotel rep admitted it was on the Hyatt for "overbooking" the rooms. He volunteered that information when I said "so this is how Value Trips operates?". I quickly called the Embassy Suites 17th St. to check on rates/availability and was able to get a room since that was in the area we wanted to be for the one night post cruise. We even got an early check in at the ES when we arrived about 10:30am. We wanted to make sure our cc didn't get charged for the Hyatt, so later that afternoon we walked over to the Hyatt and spoke directly with the GM who confirmed we would not be charged for the stay. I had read a lot of good comments about using Value Trips but after this experience I doubt we'll be using them again if as I understand it now, the discount bookings are the first to get moved when they're overbooked. And btw, it was about 1pm that afternoon that we eventually received an email from Value Trips saying our reservation was being moved. In the future, we'll just book direct as is being recommended by other posters.

Just as an aside - you probably could have negotiated to have a taxi/black car take you from the Hyatt Place Plantation to where you needed to be.  

Hyatt Place is not a brand I've worked for, so no comment on the "always overbook" that the FDA told you.  

[Hollyann]

I came online to state a similar situation at Hyatt 17th Place but booking with Valuetrips.  I booked it in January 2018, called the Hyatt about 2 weeks before my November 10, 2018 trip to confirm and then when I got off of the airplane in Ft. Lauderdale, I had an email (from Valuetrips that had a BUNCH of grammatical errors) stating that I would be picked up by 17th place, but taken to Hyatt Plantation.  Then when I was dropped off at Plantation, the driver did not want to pick me up at 10:00 am to take me to the ship (which was now 25 minutes away).  Finally he said that he would for $10 a piece instead of the usual hotel fee of $7 apiece.  Grudgingly we agreed because we knew we had to get to the port.  

Long story short, Hyatt Plantation was extremely nice - was even about $10 less.  After calling Hyatt 17th place,, he said if we were bumped that day and it was Hyatt's fault that they would have paid for the room.  Then he told me that they had told Valuetrips 8 days earlier that we would be bumped and that it was Valuetrips fault that we were not warned earlier.  I do believe him (and I am pretty skeptical about things) at that point, he had no reason to lie. He did sound upset about what I said about the driver (Tony) not wanting to come back at 10 to take us to the port.  

 

I don't usually deal with 3rd party vendors. After seeing good reviews on Cruise Critic about Valuetrips, I thought we'd try them. Not again and I wanted to warn others.

 

 

[Alaska59]

Yes, thank you for your comments.  I just wanted to comment to help future travelers.  Whenever anyone puts their credit card down to secure a room I know this is a binding reservation, unless cancelled soon enough.  But there are choices when booking rooms and one of those is to prepay in advance,  that I elected not to do.  So, in effect I didn't pay for the room 6 months out. However,  I don't need some hotel employee to get political just because they don't see my point of view.  Name calling is wrong and has no place on this board. Lets just agree to disagree.