This nightmare travel agent story started out as something simple. A woman, referred by one of my favorite clients, emailed saying she had narrowed her Paris honeymoon down to four hotel choices and wondered what kind of deals we could get for her.
Two were small boutique hotels and one of those was sold out. The remaining options were D’Aubusson, the Hotel de Crillon, and Le Meurice. I gave her prices, and noted that our prices at the least included free extras. At the Crillon, it was breakfast, an upgrade, and free airport transfer.
The Hotel de Crillon was their first choice, and their entry level room was €700 a night (about US$1,000), with rooms going up, way up, from there. The hotel said if we booked they could confirm an upgrade to a deluxe category. So far so good.
They asked me to book the room, over a less expensive junior suite at the D’Aubusson, and I sent off the paperwork for the extra goodies and upgrade.
The Leading Hotels Sales Representative along with a very discerning co-worker had both seen rooms this year, and had been impressed. When I got further emails from the hotel confirming VIP treatment from two different staffers, I figured the clients would be very happy.
Then I woke up the morning of their arrival to an email titled “Advice and Help?” Since the clients had booked their own air, I wasn’t sure what this might be about, but figured it might be something to do with baggage or a missed plane anyway. No such luck.
They had arrived at the hotel, and they hated it. The woman, who was the one emailing me and cc’ing her husband, said the room was “tired,” and an “afterthought.” She said they were thinking of moving.
Apparently the Four Seasons had space starting two days later, albeit at €200-€300 more a night, and they had quickly called to make a tentative reservation. But what could I do?.
I fired off emails to everyone, the hotel, the sales representative (who was on vacation), the person at our consortium in charge of hotels. Wondering what had gone wrong, and asking for help.
In relatively quick order, I found out that the clients had indeed been upgraded, although one person said the room was on a lower floor and might have felt dark to them. The Crillon said they were full, but would see about moving my clients as soon as possible, probably the next day.
I relayed this to the client, and while her initial reaction was “well, this first room has left such a bad taste in our mouths we’ll probably just move anyway,” she agreed to wait until the next morning.
By 10 a.m. Paris time, the hotel had another option for them, this time an upgrade to a junior suite, that normally went for over 900 Euros a night.
Her response to me, that the room was much better, but really, the hotel was “just tired” and they had decided to splurge at the Four Seasons. So they checked out and moved.
Leaving aside all the wasted time in researching and booking the hotels, not to mention dozens of emails back and forth trying to salvage the situation when they didn’t like the room, the situation illustrates one problem with reviews and recommendations.
This wasn’t a hotel where the client didn’t have much information in advance. As noted, she had done preliminary research plus, I knew people who had seen the rooms recently.
Yes, the property is older, which explained the “tired” comments. On the other hand, another travel writer told me she agreed with the client’s assessment.
And looking at reviews on Tripadvisor, for example, while the Hotel de Crillon is rated highly overall, there is some of the same disagreement, with some saying the hotel is the best ever, and others complaining about the age and condition of the rooms.
For what it’s worth, the Four Seasons, while overall higher-rated on Tripadvisor, has a number of complaints as well, although they are more about the sky-high prices — €35 for continental breakfast, €10 for a soda from the minibar, and about some nearby construction.
It’s true, one person’s “historic” can be another’s “dated.” Just as one person’s “modern” can be another person’s “sterile.” Plus, some people will expect five-star prices for everything at a five-star hotel, while others it is perceived to be excessive gouging on top of high room rates.
The main point of this post, however, is simply, that all the research and referrals in the world won’t always compensate for differing tastes. (In a later post, I will give some suggestions for trying to choose a hotel when faced with a lot of varied information.)
And for anyone who’s wished they could spend $1,000 a night on a room — even in the hotel world, money doesn’t always buy happiness.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
