Usually Mom's not a SC, but this takes the cake

[sixums]

Khiras' post about hotels overselling their rooms reminded me of this. I tried to forget about it, but the more I think about it, the more I'm really very ashamed of my mother over this. If I had been there, I would have tried to stop her.

Last weekend my mom and dad had to fly to Chicago for my grandfather's funeral. He was 94 years old and managed to hold it together with Parkinson's and the death of his wife 6 years ago. They're giving my brother and I shell casings from his 21 fire salute, and he passed on the ring he received for serving in WWII down to me, his youngest grandchild. Needless to say, that man is my hero.

Anyway, when they got to the hotel, they found out that the hotel had oversold their suites, and were offering my parents a regular room at a discounted price. This would have been okay, except my parents had made arrangements to have my aunt sleep on the fold out couch and hadn't told the hotel. So what does my mom do? She pulls the "I have cancer" and "I'm attending my father's funeral" cards. She recently finished chemo for breast cancer and has surgery in a few weeks, but it's not fatal and she's actually doing really well. She pulled a total shitfit on the hotel and forced them to boot another couple out of the suite so they could have it.

I told her I found it to be a really deplorable move, but she made a lot of excuses as to why they really needed it. She tried to tell me it was because she needed her sleep, and so dad could work in the other room... but I know it's just because they were having my aunt stay with them and didn't want to tell the hotel.

My aunt who lives in downtown Chicago.

The worst part is the more I talked with her about it, she felt remorse for about half a second. She knew it was wrong but felt perfectly justified doing it. Being on this site and reading these stories, I just can't help but feel so ashamed. I guess the only thing I can do is try and let it go, but I have to say this. To the person(s) who had to deal with her this past weekend? I am truly, truly sorry.

[AdminAssistant]

So sorry for the loss of your grandfather. He sounds like a wonderful man.

[sixums]

So sorry for the loss of your grandfather. He sounds like a wonderful man.

I'm very at peace with it. A few days before he passed, when he was put in hospice after a lot of medical complications, my aunt who takes care of him asked if he knew he was going to die. He said yes, and that he was okay with it. It put a lot of my family at ease. The last time I talked to him, he said he was proud of me, and...

Gah. Now I'm crying. He was really a wonderful man.

[Pedersen]

You would be ashamed of me, too, then.

July, 2006: Wife and I were in Alaska, on our wedding/honeymoon trip. We had made our reservations in January, so 6 months in advance. We found a place that looked decent online, and had the features we wanted (specifically: non-smoking, fridge, hot tub/jacuzzi/whatever it was, internet access). We booked for four days, and only the last day was a prime night (Tuesday night through Friday night). Did all our due diligence, called, etc.

Come the day of checkin, and we're running a bit late. We're not expecting to get there until 6 or 7pm, and we expected to be there earlier. So, around 2pm, we call them up to inform them. They inform us they're giving us a room without the hot tub.

This set me off. I told them in no uncertain terms that we had made this reservation well in advance, done all our calls, and we were not accepting anything less than what we reserved.

They moved someone else to get us what they had promised us for the past six months. And I don't actually feel bad about it.

[sixums]

It's not necessarily that she yelled at them for not getting the room she want. She forced them to boot out another couple by playing up the fact that she's sick, when that's not the reason she needed the room, and caused a big scene in the middle of the hotel lobby. She told me she screamed her head off until she got what she wanted, and felt good about lying (her words!). She would have been perfectly happy with a regular room if it weren't for the fact that she was sneaking my aunt into the hotel.

[Pedersen]

Ah, now I understand. Yeah, that part was pretty sucky. At least mine was confined to phone calls.

[Peppergirl]

You would be ashamed of me, too, then.

July, 2006: Wife and I were in Alaska, on our wedding/honeymoon trip. We had made our reservations in January, so 6 months in advance. We found a place that looked decent online, and had the features we wanted (specifically: non-smoking, fridge, hot tub/jacuzzi/whatever it was, internet access). We booked for four days, and only the last day was a prime night (Tuesday night through Friday night). Did all our due diligence, called, etc.

Come the day of checkin, and we're running a bit late. We're not expecting to get there until 6 or 7pm, and we expected to be there earlier. So, around 2pm, we call them up to inform them. They inform us they're giving us a room without the hot tub.

This set me off. I told them in no uncertain terms that we had made this reservation well in advance, done all our calls, and we were not accepting anything less than what we reserved.

They moved someone else to get us what they had promised us for the past six months. And I don't actually feel bad about it.

That's actually a much different situation. If you hadn't called to inform them ahead of time, I'd call major suck - but the fact that you called and let them know you'd be there - they had no right to try to stick you in a different room. If they guaranteed you a jacuzzi room (and it wasn't just a request) then you had every right to do what you did.

[bainsidhe]

That's actually a much different situation. If you hadn't called to inform them ahead of time, I'd call major suck - but the fact that you called and let them know you'd be there - they had no right to try to stick you in a different room. If they guaranteed you a jacuzzi room (and it wasn't just a request) then you had every right to do what you did.

Agreed. At least, if by "moving someone else" you didn't mean they forced someone who had already checked in, unpacked and starting dipping to move to another room. I think you called early enough you should've caught it in time. In which case, non-sucky if you were at least civil about it.