McKinley Chalet Overbooked

[Go9ersjrh]

I was calling and confirming all our hotel reservations and was informed by the McKinley Chalet that they were overbooked and would be moving us to the Denali River Cabins. They don't appear to be the same caliber of accomodations. They were offering us a refund on our room rate and to pay for our tickets to the Cabin Night Dinner.

 

We made reservations at the McKinley Chalet in February. We selected the location since that is where the Cabin Night Dinner is as well as where the Tundra Wilderness tour leaves from.

 

I told them I would let my travel agent handle it. So how adament should I be about staying at the Chalet? How are the River Cabins?

 

Jacquie

[shereemcg]

when is this for? we're booked there for 2 nights next month.

 

sheree

[Go9ersjrh]

The dates are August 10 and 11. It also appears we would not have known until we arrived. I only found out because I was calling to confirm room type.

 

I have made it my practice to call ahead and confirm reservations for this reason. I now have the ability to think about what we are going to do.

 

Jacquie

[shereemcg]

we're a week later. I called a few weeks ago as well, may try again just to be safe!

i had made so many reservations, I went back and made sure I cancelled the right ones and confirmed the others!

at least they were offering you decent compensation. we chose the chalet because it's a 1br suite and there's 3 of us.

have a great trip!

[Plut0]

Jacquie,

 

We had the same problem except it was at the Hilton in Anchorage. We discoved that we were bumped as we were checking into the hotel. What we learned is the Hilton and McKindley (and a few others) are used by the cruisetour groups. When these groups need more rooms, individuals who booked are the ones who get bumped. It sounds like they are offering good compensation. We requested that the hotel pick up all the nights in the hotel due to the inconvenience since we had booked the hotel where our day tours were leaving from. Worse was they were only relocating us for one of the two nights. We were very calm and nice to the check-in clerk and he told us we were the only ones who had not gotten mad and yelled at him (he was just the messager to be honest). They ended up paying for both nights, gave us breakfast when we returned to the hotel and sent a fruit basket with an apology letter from the hotel manager.

 

I would take the change and ask the hotel how they can help you get to and from the other hotel to attend the cabin theater and the wilderness tour.

 

Good luck.

[General Max]

This is a good indicator on why it is good to book a cruisetour. Individual reservations take a back seat to the cruise lines.

 

General Max

[Go9ersjrh]

As of this morning, the McKinley Chalet is overbooked by 2 rooms. There is a decent chance that we will be staying there since my travel agent let them know that her clients preference was not to change hotels. They also assumed that we had a car since our hotel reservation was independent. It appears the first people they bump are those with cars because it's less inconvienent for them. We are arriving by train and don't want to be riding shuttle buses.

 

I recoginize that I probable wouldn't have this problem if I had booked a cruisetour, but I don't like tours. I've picked hotels and stay times based on what we want to do. We are traveling with a 9 year old and most of the cruisetours are not really geared for kids. And honestly, it's a lot less expensive to do it your own and I enjoy the planning.

 

However, I always book major vacations with a travel agent that can advocate for me if needed. This is not the first time we have been bumped. Two years ago we were to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu and they closed a tower down due to mold the week before our arrival. It worked out fine.

 

The lesson here is to make the phone calls and confirm before you go.

 

Jacquie

[Plut0]

Jacquie,

I agree things are much better when you know about them in advance. Good luck and I hope you have a great time. Hopefully Mt.McKindley will be sharing her beauty on the days that you will be there.

 

Mary