Ever walked in on someone else’s hotel room? Twice?
Way back when, IHG ran the Priceless Surprises promotion where thousands if not tens of thousands of people spent weekends filling out postcards in order for the chance to win points, hotel stays, or dream getaways.
We got lucky on our 8th game piece as we won a free night in the USA from IHG. It had to be used by the end of the year, and we didn’t have a lot of US travel coming up. The only time we could find to use it was at the JFK airport. There are a few options at JFK, but we hadn’t been to the Crowne Plaza yet, so for a grand total of $0 and 0 points, why not! The normal price for the room is 30,000 points (which is stupid ridiculous) and usually over $250 a night (also ridiculous).
Before heading on the AirTrain we called the hotel to make sure the shuttle was waiting for us. By the time we got to the shuttle stop, the van was pulling up. A short 10 minute ride and we were at the hotel.
We got checked in by a lovely agent at the front desk and she gave us our room keys. Seamless, just as it should be.
We headed up to the fifth floor and opened our room only to find…
from HotelNewsNow.com
Oops! Someone had locked the room from the inside. We thought maybe it was just stuck so we shut the door and opened it again. Nope! Fully locked.
Already tired from a full day of flying, we weren’t in the mood to deal with this, so we headed back down to the front desk, cut the line, and said “Someone is checked into that room, this won’t work.” With a stunned look on her face, she immediately pulled up new room keys and sent us on our way with a sincere apology.
We headed this time to the 4th floor, got to the room, opened it and… guess what?
If you guessed the lights were on, EVERY drawer and cabinet was opened and the toilet had just been used, you’re right! It looked like someone cased the joint and then peed before he/she left.
Ok so now we’re really in a bad mood, and just headed straight to the front desk to speak with the manager. When he came out my question was simple. “At what point does it become OK for a guest to be assigned two rooms only to have one occupied by a guest and the second to have someone just left?” The answer of course, is none. He cut a third set of keys but I asked him to go up to the room first to please make sure it was OK. I wasn’t in a mood to keep heading up and down the elevator.
Shortly he headed back to tell us the room was ready and he had the AC turned on and cooling down the room for us. He offered breakfast as a compensation but, since we’re flying out in First today, it wasn’t a necessity. I joking asked for 100,000 points, he smiled, and offered 5,000 points as a gesture. Tired and sore from the days travel, I said thank you and we headed to the room.
It was a very modern looking room, and the details were quite nice.
The bathroom had the same red accents and a really spacious shower suite.
There was a seating area off to the side of one of the beds,
And a large flat screen TV directly across from the bed.
As I walked over to the TV to grab the remote I noticed the floor was soaking wet. As in drenched all the way through. The door to the fridge was propped open so I took a peek in. Just a biiiiiiiit of a freezer problem.
Looks like maintenance or housekeeping decided that the best way to defrost the freezer was just to keep the door open and let the water seep out all over the floor. #Winning.
It’s now 11:30 and all I want to do is sleep, but we can’t with a pool in the living room. So, we call maintenance to have it removed. 15 minutes later the door was off the fridge and it was being removed from the room. Finally, some sleep!
Just take the whole damned fridge
We went to bed, hoping to get a good 8 hours sleep. But sure enough it wasn’t over yet. At 1:30 in the morning, a full 2 hours after they took the fridge away, the front desk called to say “Hello this is the front desk, we’re just calling to make sure the fridge is removed and you’re enjoying your room.” What the hell? You’ve got to be kidding me! A call two hours later at 1:30 in the morning to make sure we’re fine. Trust me, I’m not fine now.
When we headed out in the morning, I talked to the front desk manager and I asked why someone would do that. She said that no, there should be no reason to call at 1:30 in the morning, and once I explained everything else to her, she made sure to proactively refund points to our account for the value of the stay. She also said to reach out to her directly next time we’re in the area so she can arrange a suite upgrade for us.
So, we got three different rooms in 15 minutes, a drenched floor, and a reimbursement for the free night’s stay. I’ve already checked and the 30,000 points they promised have been credited to the account. Interestingly enough they came in the 5,000 from the evening and another 25,000 in the morning.
5, then 25
So, we headed in the shuttle to the airport to check out the Flagship Lounge before take off to San Fran. We’re almost home! #NMCLaborDay
September 5, 2016
“A call two hours later at 1:30 in the morning to make sure we’re fine.”
I’m sorry, but I laughed out loud when I saw that line. Talk about bad timing – yikes!.
By the way, I was supposed to stay at the same hotel earlier in the year for a stopover. I ended up re-scheduling for a direct flight instead, so I always wondered how it is at this hotel – thanks!
September 6, 2016
I’m willing to give them another shot, especially since the other IHG option is the Holiday Inn and it’s farther away. And, I now have assurances from the manager that we get a suite next time 🙂
September 6, 2016
just once
in my haste to get to the toilet , wrong floor, wrong room,
realized my mistake when I notice the stuff on the sink counter was not mine.
I flushed and made my get away un noticed.
September 6, 2016
Mike! You actually used the bathroom?! How did you get in?!
September 6, 2016
the key worked in the door, ( older set up with real keys, no cards)