Posted on 12/30/2003 9:02:33 AM PST by Saundra Duffy
Beware of New Year's Parties: My Worst Hotel Experience ! May 15 '02
The Bottom Line If you're traveling on a holiday, be sure to check with the hotel in advance to see if any hotel services will be affected by special activities.
My worst hotel experience happened about 15 years ago when my husband and I decided we would "See the USA in a Chevrolet."
We loaded the children, ages 7 and 8, into the Chevy Astro minivan and off we went to California. We had planned, and I use that term loosely, a 10-day sojourn from Memphis to San Diego, then up to San Francisco, and back home through Las Vegas, and Oklahoma City.
It was a lot of driving and we had booked Holiday Inns most of the way. They were having a special if you booked in advance so we were committed to our schedule. We had some pretty grueling days because we hadn't realized how long it would really take to get from city to city.
It had been a long week already by the time we left San Francisco to head for Fresno. The Fresno Holiday Inn was going to be special for us. The hotel was a "Holidome" that featured an indoor poor, arcade, and miniature golf for the kids. We thought they could use a break from the monotony of being in the car several hours a day. My husband and I could certainly use a break from being stuck in the room with the kids all night.
We had booked this hotel through the Holiday Inn central reservations, just like the others where we had stayed. We would be in Fresno on New Year's Eve. There would be no staying up late to celebrate, since we planned to leave very early the next morning to go to Las Vegas.
The children were so excited about the pool that they were about ready to put their swimsuits on in the van.
I breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled into the parking lot. This would be such a nice break for us.
And then it began...
We asked for a room overlooking the pool as we checked in.
"I'm sorry. Those are reserved for the party."
That should have been my first clue. I was tired, ready for a nice swim and dinner before getting some sleep. I didn't argue, we just took the key and went to try and find our room. We could still walk back to the pool.
It gets worse...
When we entered the pool area to walk to our room there were balloons everywhere. Some were even tied to a raft floating in the middle of the pool. It was about 5 pm, so we had plenty of time for a swim before dinner. Or so we thought.
As the kids were excitedly talking about swimming one of the gentlemen doing the decorating overhead them. Then we heard those words, those most awful of words.
"I'm sorry, the pool is closed for the evening."
The only reason we selected that hotel was that it had an indoor pool. It was the only reason that we drove out of our way to go to Fresno, California, the Raisin Capital of the World. I hate raisins!
We went on to our room, knowing that we wouldn't be able to find anything else on New Year's Eve and that there were no other hotels in the vicinity with an indoor pool.
We dropped our bags in the room and headed back to the restaurant. At least we could have a nice dinner.
Food, food, did someone say food...
You guessed it. The restaurant was closed because of the party in the hotel. We were advised that we could order from Room Service, but that we would have to do it quickly because they were stopping it at 6 pm so everyone could help with the party.
Weary, aggravated, and with hungry, crabby children in tow, we headed back the to room to order dinner. By this time everyone was crabbing at everyone else. I threatened to put the children on a plane back to Memphis. My husband threatened to put us all on a plane. And then I cried. In fact, I think we all cried.
An hour or so later, our food finally arrived. It wasn't very good, but we were so hungry by then we didn't care. At least the delay had given us time to shower and be ready for bed early.
No rest for the weary ...
By 8:30 we had left our request for a 5 am wake-up call and we were in the bed.
At approximately 9 pm the party started. We could hear the music coming from the pool area and were glad we were in the back wing. Every time the doors would open into the hallway, the music would get louder.
Still, we managed to doze off. Then about 10:30 the hallway partying started. Doors were slamming. People were yelling from room to room. Phones were ringing. Music was blaring.
We called the Front Desk to complain. They said they would send security.
Somebody please help me ...
By midnight the noise hadn't stopped. In fact, it was even louder. Laughing, yelling, and door slamming continued. I called the Front Desk again.
"I have only 5 hours left to attempt to sleep before driving hundreds of miles tomorrow. Will you please ask Security to quiet these people down?"
Once again, I was told they would take care of it.
The last straw...
Finally, at 2 am, unable to control my anger any longer, I stood in the doorway of the Holiday Inn where I hadn't been able to swim, was denied access to the restaurant, and was not allowed to sleep because of all the noise.
I must have looked like a demon straight from Hell as I glared at the party-goers and screamed at the top of my lungs:
"SHUT the #$%^@*$@# UP!!!! Some people are trying to sleep!"
I called the Front Desk and told them I had screamed at people. I also told them that if I heard any more noise I was coming to the Front Desk to scream at them. My voice was deadly calm. They knew I meant business.
"Yes, ma'am."
And then I was exhausted. I laid on the bed, covered my head with a pillow, and yearned for sleep.
Sleep, at last...
Miraculously, there was no more noise. I finally drifted into oblivion. Then I slept fitfully for 3 hours, dreaming of choking people with streamers and ripping up their party horns.
It seemed like only minutes later that the shrill ring of the telephone woke us. Then an oh-so-cheery voice chirped:
"Good morning, it's five o'clock. This is your wake up call."
At least the night had finally ended. And for us another day of travel began.
The night that will live in infamy...
How can I possibly remember so many details of an event that happened 15 years ago? Those events will be seared into my brain forever. It was, without a doubt, the most frustrating hotel stay I have ever encountered.
And so it ended...
Holiday Inn has a guarantee that if for any reason you are not 100% satisfied with your stay, you do not pay.
The next morning, as we wearily checked out, I asked for the manager on duty. Lucky man. He had no idea what was coming. When I told him my name and room number, a strange look came over his face.
After a 10-minute tirade about everything from the pool to the restaurant to the noise, he apologized profusely and took the room charge off the bill.
At that point I wouldn't have been happy if he had paid me the cost of the room.
That was very little consolation for what we had gone through, but a least it helped a little. I do have to respect Holiday Inn for honoring their promise.
My poor husband ...
During all this my husband knew to just get out of the way and let me rant. The man is a saint. I can't believe he didn't divorce me as soon as we got back to Memphis.
At least the kids and I got to sleep during the drive to Las Vegas. Later my husband told that was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. We vowed we would never do anything like that again.
Indeed, that was the last time that we ever went anywhere with the children that required more than one hour's drive time.
Now, when I'm telling people about a vacation we're planning and they ask if we're taking our children or grandchildren, I usually laugh (semi-hysterically) and reply, "If I have to take children with me, it's not a vacation."
My conclusions...
#1. Reservations should have advised us that a party was taking place that night and we would have limited access to the hotel facilities. Hotel's fault
#2. Security should have stood in the hallway of the building where people were trying to sleep. Hotel's fault
#3. We should have inquired at the time of the reservation if there was anything out of the ordinary occurring at the hotel because of New Year's Eve. My fault
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LOL!!! Yeah, but was it on New Years Eve?! This is so funny!!
at Holiday Inn that's called a "continental breakfast"
Stop it! You're killin' me! LOL!!
I hope you don't refer to your offspring that way routinely!
Had my first beer or should I say beers, New Years Eve (for 1966), and got drunk and sick.
New Years day found me, sick, in a helicopter flying into a hot DZ. I was truly hoping for painless death to put me out of my misery.
Looking back, I think I would have prefered to be in a hotel in Fresno.
Oh, the experience was so bad, that I never had another drink since.
(cue theme from "Jaws")
DOODY!!!!!!
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