Horrible experience at Hyatt Place 17th Street

[teacherman]

Hampton Inn and Suites in Plantation.  I have never been to Plantation but we already had this booked for February based on TA reviews.  We just decided to go ahead and use it for 2 weeks from now.  I am a Hilton honors member and booked it on the Hilton site.  It was less than I had booked the Hyatt on VT site.  We always have stayed in the 17th Street area but just decided to try something different.  They supposedly have free shuttle from the airport and also to the ship.  I called them and confirmed this information.  A Uber is only about $15-20 if we don't want to wait for the shuttle.

[Ashland]

29 minutes ago, teacherman said:

Hampton Inn and Suites in Plantation.  I have never been to Plantation but we already had this booked for February based on TA reviews.  We just decided to go ahead and use it for 2 weeks from now.  I am a Hilton honors member and booked it on the Hilton site.  It was less than I had booked the Hyatt on VT site.  We always have stayed in the 17th Street area but just decided to try something different.  They supposedly have free shuttle from the airport and also to the ship.  I called them and confirmed this information.  A Uber is only about $15-20 if we don't want to wait for the shuttle.

Thanks..I'm a Hilton honors member too and will check out the rates for our Oct post cruise stay Snowbird itinerary ..Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale. We've always stayed at 17th Street too (Hyatt or Embassy) and will have a car rental this time since we'll be staying post cruise for a few days so transportation isn't an issue. Again thanks.

[slidergirl]

I went to the Value Trips website to see what it actually is.  To me, it is more like a travel agent than a 3rd party booking engine like Expedia, etc.  You don't book directly on the website like you do on an OTA- you put in a "request".  Then, they get back to you to say whether or not you request is done.  The fact that they give you a Hyatt conf # and tell you to contact Hyatt directly for any issues is another giveaway.  Some of the fine print also tells that they themselves don't do your charging - but you are under the actual hotel's payment and cancellation policies, so depending on the property they try to get the reservation at, you may have a deposit of anywhere from one night to the whole thing:

"When you submit an online reservation request it is not confirmed until accepted by the travel provider and you receive a reservation confirmation. Your reservation will only be booked if the posted Value Rate is available. Depending upon the travel provider, you will receive a confirmation either by e-mail or online in real time. If you see a notice screen after submitting your request that tells you your request is being processed and to allow up to 2 business days for a confirmation, you will receive your confirmation by reply e-mail. This is sent to the e-mail address you provide in your request, so please be sure it is a valid and active e-mail address. A real time request will display your confirmation information as soon as your reservation is completed.

ValueTrips.com never charges anything to your credit card. No booking fees or service charges are added to your total by ValueTrips.com. Some listed travel providers require a credit card to guarantee your reservation. Some travel providers may charge a deposit or the total of your reservation to your credit card. This information, as well as the travel provider's cancellation policy is listed under the "Reservation Guarantee" section of the online reservation request form."

[colville2002]

15 hours ago, jr8934 said:

I accidentally came upon this thread  I am now quite scared. I reserved through Valuetrips.com for Dec.22nd. Is there a way I can find out if I do, indeed, have a room? Leaving the next day for a cruise. Now I don't know what to do. Help, please! Joyce

 When I reserved through Value Trips they took a long time to confirm so I ended up emailing Hyatt and getting my confirmation from them before I got one from VT. 

 

I emailed Hyatt on Wednesday after reading this thread about my booking (for 8 December) as I checked the Hyatt website and booking.com etc to see that night was sold out.  They have confirmed we have a room and have marked our booking not to be selected for relocation since we will be arriving around 9pm with a young child, having been travelling for around 17 or 18 hours when we arrive.  I was updating them on our arrival time anyway since our flights were changed.

[slidergirl]

3 hours ago, colville2002 said:

 When I reserved through Value Trips they took a long time to confirm so I ended up emailing Hyatt and getting my confirmation from them before I got one from VT. 

 

I emailed Hyatt on Wednesday after reading this thread about my booking (for 8 December) as I checked the Hyatt website and booking.com etc to see that night was sold out.  They have confirmed we have a room and have marked our booking not to be selected for relocation since we will be arriving around 9pm with a young child, having been travelling for around 17 or 18 hours when we arrive.  I was updating them on our arrival time anyway since our flights were changed.

 

Good on you for being proactive instead of just thinking all will be fine.   I would also call the hotel that day to let them know you are on your way and to once again verify that they will not walk you.  Unfortunately, sometimes, notes are not read when rooms are moved around or walked.  

 

 

[jr8934]

Thank you all for the replies. Yes, I will call the hotel directly. Joyce

[angelhelly]

Wow. This thread is gonna make me have nightmares!

 

I booked there for our pre-cruise stay. I book an award stay, Half point/Half Cash which I booked the day bookings opened. And now the hotel is full.

 

Considering the price I paid (4000 points + $55), I don't think I can move. I guess we'll have to pray.. 

 

For those in the industry, how do they usually deal with Award stay since they are technically the "cheapest" booking?

Edited December 4, 2018 by angelhelly

[nhraformula00]

I would not panic, this was a one week during the boat show overbooking. Yes it happened, maybe it was bad judgement from unhappy supervisor or something of that nature. 

[slidergirl]

20 hours ago, angelhelly said:

Wow. This thread is gonna make me have nightmares!

 

I booked there for our pre-cruise stay. I book an award stay, Half point/Half Cash which I booked the day bookings opened. And now the hotel is full.

 

Considering the price I paid (4000 points + $55), I don't think I can move. I guess we'll have to pray.. 

 

For those in the industry, how do they usually deal with Award stay since they are technically the "cheapest" booking?

 

I fortunately never had to deal with a walk of an Award stay.   Just on my experience at my old Starriott property - the award really wasn't really the cheapest.  Starwood paid the property a daily rate for an award stay.   Since award stays are from members of the frequent guest program, I would think they would be just up the walk chain from those who book the cheap 3rd party rates.  Just my thought.  My current property has no loyalty program, so we consider past guests as our "loyal guests" and will do our best to not have to re-accomodate them, instead start with the 3rd party bookings.

[sherrjo]

On 11/24/2018 at 6:29 PM, 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 that it was very interesting to read. It was interesting to know that booking.com make mistakes as I assumed it was the hotel that uploaded their offers.

 

I don't know what OTA means but I have used booking.com for several years and usually look directly at the hotels website however I usually find a 15-20% mark up on the hotel's own website and no free cancellation. Once hotels start offering booking.com rates on their own sites I will be more inclined to use them.

 

 

[Nanatravel]

Thank you to the OP and all of you for sharing your personal and cruise hotel stay related experience.  Just booked a hotel for a family wedding stay on Booking.com (which I've used with no issues) and I just can't take the risk of a change in accommodations.  I re-booked on the hotel chain web site, got a Senior discount and am saving almost $100 for 2 nights.  I usually use Hilton web sites but this time the bride has chosen a Marriott chain hotel.  So glad to have found this thread and taken care of our reservations.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Nanatravel

[IndyCapt]

On ‎12‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 4:55 PM, nhraformula00 said:

I would not panic, this was a one week during the boat show overbooking. Yes it happened, maybe it was bad judgement from unhappy supervisor or something of that nature. 

Just to clarify, our experience being "walked" at the Hyatt Place happened on Friday, November 9th, which was AFTER the boat show had ended. It had been over for a few days. We knew that because that afternoon on the water taxi we noticed they were dismantling all the temporary floating docks they bring in for the show.

[slidergirl]

9 hours ago, sherrjo said:

Thanks for that it was very interesting to read. It was interesting to know that booking.com make mistakes as I assumed it was the hotel that uploaded their offers.

 

I don't know what OTA means but I have used booking.com for several years and usually look directly at the hotels website however I usually find a 15-20% mark up on the hotel's own website and no free cancellation. Once hotels start offering booking.com rates on their own sites I will be more inclined to use them.

 

 

  

OTA = "Online Travel Agency", also "Opaque Travel Agency."  Online is like Expedia - you book a specific hotel.  Opaque is like priceline/hotwire etc., where you don't know what you are getting until you hit "book."  You pay the OTA a markup when you book through them, also.  It is usually around 10-20%.  Example: you book a room at the NoTel Motel though Expedia where you pay them directly for $200; NoTel Motel gets $160 from Expedia and Expedia pockets $40 from your reservation.  There are OTAs where you now give them your credit card and they pass it onto the hotel and they take either a 1 night deposit or entire rate (depending on their policy).  There is still a markup there between Expedia and the hotel.   

As far as hotels offering booking.com's rates: call and try to get the agent to book at the price match.  I did this just the other night - it wasn't worth the effort to have a walk-in book on Expedia, wait for Expedia to process the booking and send it to us and build the reservation.  I just looked on my CRS for the "NET" rate (what we get for OTAs) and built the reservation.   Plus, be aware that booking.com negotiates away some of the normal amenities that everyone else gets in order to get you that lower price.  At my current hotel, all guests receive 2 complimentary breakfasts ( a nice hot buffet) EXCEPT for booking.com guests.  It has it specifically in the notes I see, so a booking.com guest will pay $15 each for the breakfast, which for 2 people will eat up that "discount" you got by not booking with the hotel...  Just do your due diligence!!!

[Happy2cruise]

On 11/24/2018 at 1:00 PM, Noxequifans said:

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

So do we and in fact sometimes we have found a cheaper rate on the hotel's website.

[bankonus]

So, after reading all these posts, I decided to change my Valuetrips reservation for this coming January. Turns out when I went to rebook through Hyatt directly, it was now cheaper than Valuetrips. I signed up for their member # (free) and saved 40.00. It is now guaranteed through the hotel and I advance paid so no need to worry about that expense at the last minute. Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. 

[Desert Cruizers]

Sorry this happened to you, I book directly with the Hotel this way if I need to make any changes I can go directly to the Hotel.

[tip]

I’ll admit that we have never stayed at the Hyatt Place in question, but I have used what a previous poster referred to as the “cheap” OTA sites over 100 times to book both middle of the road and even some high end motels and hotels and have never experienced a problem.  Of course I am pro-active.   I call the motel or hotel DIRECTLY a few days before our stay to confirm the reservation and our arrival time.  We are snow birds on our way down to Fort Lauderdale right now and I have called all of our motels directly this week to verify.

[slidergirl]

I tried to post yesterday with another anecdotal fiasco on booking via those 3rd parties, but it went away...

 

This week (between  Christmas and New years) is always one of our busiest weeks.  We are fully booked from 12/26-1/3.  2 nights ago, a guest shows up with his Expedia reservation for a several night stay.  Bring up the reservation on the computer: "Mr. Smith, we have you staying with us for x nights in a room with 2 queen beds."  He blows up immediately: "No, I booked a 2 bedroom suite!!!"  Uh oh.  He shows me his phone with the Expedia confirmation (NOT ours) with the suite.  I go the Expedia extranet to see what is there - turns out Expedia mis-booked it (Expedia has the ability to set up the reservation automatically, without our intervention).  He leans over the Front Desk: "What are you going to do about it?!?!?"  We are totally booked and no amount of moving people around is going to find a suite.  We call our other hotels property - nothing.  We call our residences property - nothing.  BUT, our CEO has a unit booked there.  A phone call and the CEO gives up his unit.  The guest gets walked (well, we loaded up his 2 bell carts of luggage and his family of 5 into our shuttle van) to the residences into a luxurious 4 bedroom suite that goes for $4000/night instead of the $850 (or so) he paid Expedia.  We eat the difference...

[parrotfeathers]

18 hours ago, slidergirl said:

.  We eat the difference...

 

Not related to third party bookings I know--couple years ago I made a reservation with North cruise port  Hampton Inn.  Hampoton Inn has it so that you can pick your room.  I was a very frequent Hampton Inn person.  I got there; they had given my room to someone else. They wanted me to go to the third floor.  I told them I already picked my room on the first floor.  They gave me a huge suite to make up for it.  Great people.

Sorry I know it really isn't related.

[cruisegus]

Lesson learned by trying to save a dollars you found that the only way to really book a motel is through THEIR web site.  Note for the future if you stay at the same chain constantly, I happen to be Marriott Lifetime Platinum Premier, and I can guarantee this will never happen to you again

[New_To_Cruisin]

On 11/24/2018 at 10:21 AM, Alaska59 said:

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.

I agree with you - we had issues at that particular location as well. A group of us were there in March, 2018 the day before our cruise. I am a frequent traveler, and booked a room with loyalty points. I had requested a room with 2 queen beds, booked it, confirmed by phone 1 month ahead of arrival. Once there, instead of getting a room with 2 queen beds, we got an accessible room with 1 queen bed and a pull out couch. When I went back to the desk to speak with the manager, I was completely brushed off. I followed up with emails to address this, and was again brushed off and told tough luck. I think that the management at that particular Hyatt are horrible, and not at all customer focused. I normally really like the brand, but this location's management is unprofessional and rude. 

[Desert Cruizers]

We stayed at the Hyatt back in 2015 and never had a problem, sad to learn it is  not recommended anymore and many have had issues. Next time I cruise from FLL I will be considering a different hotel.

[RG306]

I generally try to book directly with the hotel.  More often than not, the rates are cheaper with an OTA BUT most chains will match the rate or even discount it by an additional 20-25% if the lower rate is found within 24 hours.  This has gotten us some great hotels and saved us a lot of money over the years.  We've never had an issues with being walked.  I do always try to touch base with the hotel directly prior to arrival.  

[nhraformula00]

I have never had a problem with valutrips and will continue with using  them in the future. One problem and everyone runs.

[robertlanajean]

Just booked through ValueTrips. Put my Hyatt member # in comments and asked to include in booking. Still haven't gotten confirmation from ValueTrips (4 days now) but the reservation showed up on my Hyatt member page within a couple hours of my request so I'm content. Hope we don't get walked so we can have dinner/drinks/shopping so close, but if we do .. we'll roll with it. We're not meeting big groups or have any specific requests.

 

I will report back after trip (end of May) if we got the free breakfast as members or not since it may not be a "qualified" stay.