How bizarre.
This is why one should always travel Third World. I go to little Lonely Planet hotels in my travels and never, never do any of them stiff me, fail to pick me up at the airport, not have my room ready, or give it away to someone else. My reservation is made on my word and theirs usually by email, they pick me up, and all goes fine. I don't like these big corporate hotels, they really don't match the quality of service you can get from a nice little third world hotel - and I am not joking - from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Ecuador to Panama to Argentina, they are all very nice and take good care of you. Big corporate hotels are another story.