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Those displaced from the Holiday Inn - please read!
I am writing to those that were displaced from the Holiday Inn - City Center in Downtown Denver during Session One of Convention. Apparently they overbooked the hotel by 70 rooms. I was not informed of this until the day I checked in, even though I had confirmed my reservation on the 17th, just the week before.
We were moved, as I am sure you were, to the Holiday Inn - Central, some three miles away. I do not need to go into the troubles we experienced, as I am sure you had the same kinds of troubles. To say that this new hotel was substandard to the accommodations we thought we had made would be an understatement. Eventually we had to move the last night as we could no longer tolerate the situation.
I believe very firmly that we need to contact all those involved in any way and share our disappointment, frustration, even anger and be sure that they are held accountable and that they understand that their guests cannot be treated this way if they hope to maintain a business.
Please find below contact information for what I believe to be those involved. I am still trying to find out who owns the two Holiday Inns so they might understand the level of service their Hotels provided. In the meantime, write some letters!
If you don't know what to say. I have attached a file containing my letters to Stampin' Up, Mayor Hickenlooper, and IHG (Corporate Holiday Inn).
InterContinental Hotels Group
Guest Relations
PO Box 30321
Salt Lake City, Utah 84130-321 [email protected]
Mayor Hickenlooper
City and County Building
1437 Bannock Street, Room 350
Denver, CO 80202 [email protected]
Holiday Inn � City Center
1450 Glenarm Place
Denver, CO 80202
303-573-1450
General Manager � Phyllis Truex
Holiday Inn � Central
4849 Bannock Street
Denver, CO 80216
303-292-9500
General Manager � Vince Quiachon
Don't forget Stampin' Up. If you read my letter, I do not rant and rave to them that they should have fixed it, simply that there could have been better communication given and that maybe they could have given the impression that they cared that this had happened to us. I do believe they cared, I just don't believe they communicated this to us.
Don't just sit back and say "Oh well". We deserve better, we should demand better!
Im so sorry about what happened to you *hugs* I understand your frustration and disappointment. It definitely puts a damper on what is supposed to be a "get away". I hope that you get a good response from stampin up and I hope that the hotel is held accountable. It is people like you that help assure that the rest of us get what it is that we order/reserve. If you just ignore them and do not hold them accountable they will never stop taking advantage of people. Thank you for making a stand. *hugs again*
I really do feel for you. I was notified via email that myself and my group were to be displaced as well to the Holiday Inn Central. After doing research online and KNOWING how poorly hotel shuttles usually run, my entire group and myself cancelled our reservations completely, booked a place elsewhere (much further out) and rented a car. It ended up working well for us, but it was a gigantic inconvenience finding extremely last minute accommodations. I hope that many others will write along with you to Holiday Inn's corporate team.
I also agree with you that Stampin' Up! should have at least made some kind of 'nod' of acknowledgment of the situation even though they were not to blame. The silence from them did hurt.
Last year, it was the Shilo that let it's guest down...electrical problems left guests without electricity for hours which meant stifling temperatures & darkness for many guests! It almost looked like a war zone with guests (mostly demos) seeking refuge outdoors in the evening just for the relief associated with the temperatures inside!
Not sure how that situation was finally resolved in terms of any kind of reimbursement to their guests...but, I hope you find a resolution that suits you for the carp you had to deal with ;)
The last two years I've stayed at the Marriott directly across from the convention and at Little America which definitely met my expectations & I would highly recommend both for next year!
Your letters are well written. I hope other misplaced demonstrators accept your offer and send letters as well.
On a side note I stayed at the Comfort Inn - Downtown. When I went to check in I was told my reservation was cancelled. I asked who had cancelled it since I had not. The desk clerk said it shows cancelled you don't have a room. I had to sit down, pull out my computer and get my email confirmation reminder received on Sunday to prove that I had a reservation. I did get a room. The unfortunate part was that the desk clerk did not want to help me. I had to prove that I had a room - they didn't have to prove that I cancelled. Very frustrating.
Your letters are well written. I hope other misplaced demonstrators accept your offer and send letters as well.
On a side note I stayed at the Comfort Inn - Downtown. When I went to check in I was told my reservation was cancelled. I asked who had cancelled it since I had not. The desk clerk said it shows cancelled you don't have a room. I had to sit down, pull out my computer and get my email confirmation reminder received on Sunday to prove that I had a reservation. I did get a room. The unfortunate part was that the desk clerk did not want to help me. I had to prove that I had a room - they didn't have to prove that I cancelled. Very frustrating.
I think you need to write a letter about that clerk to the gen'l manager of the comfort inn. you may get a refund. they are in the hospitality business and that doesn't sound too hospitable.
__________________ Lisa @stampylisa -Twitter/PinterestSupport AFSPHoard stamp stuff, it's eco-friendly ;)Art=making something out of nothing and selling it~Frank Zappa~my Blog~My Health Coaching web
Sorry this happened to you! A bad hotel makes for an icky situation not to mention stress during what was supposed to be a relaxing time. I am happy to see that you are addressing Holiday Inn corporate about the problem. Most people would just sit back and do nothing productive. But I have to ask and am not being snarky in any way but what does SU! have to do with it? Was the reservation made through them? I agree that they should know about it so that they don't include Holiday Inn on their hotel list in the future. But I'm not sure that they could have done anything for you. Now, if the reservation was made with SU! as the middle man then they have a BIG problem to deal with. Really, how does a hotel do this? It would seem like if they were overbooked they would be obligated to call each reservation holder to tell them and ask if the City Center would be an acceptable solution to the problem. It seems like an unfair business practice especially since other hotels close to the center could have accomodated customers. Perhaps a letter to the Colorado Attorney General or Better Business Bureau would be another place to start. At least where I live the BBB is a big deal. Don't know about CO though. Good luck and gosh, I hope no one else has to go through this.
I am pretty sure that SU was the middle man. Demos made their reservations through SU the way that SU asked them to. I think that is why they felt even more upset about the situation than normal.
__________________
Christina Carnahan - Mom to Nathan 8, Iian 8, Cloe 6, and Matt 5.
My upline was one of the people displaced. She was happy with the free night they were given and was only charged $99 per night. She was staying with 3 other people and she only payed $99 for all 4 nights. She said the room was fine, and the hotel had a good restaurant. Her only complaint was the shuttles were small and they had been promised a bus to shuttle them to the convention center. The trip to the convention center took 20 minutes. They did provide a free shuttle (bus) to the airport on Sunday morning. I do agree that it shouldn't have happened, but she felt the solution & compensation was ok.
Sorry to hear you had a bad time - hopefully they will rectify the situation for you!
SU! really wasn't the "middle man" - anytime any large event is planned there is a HUGE amount of negotiations that are done. Part of the process includes holding the blocks of rooms that the convention centers/cities/whoever have deals with in that city. For SU! to have an event in any city, they must commit to fill the rooms. In the end, if those rooms are not filled, then the company hosting the event has to PAY for them. Stampin' Up! would have worked with those in Denver, negotiated a rate, etc. It is all part of the process. When you called to make reservations, it was not thru SU. They provided the phone numbers to call, because then the discounted rate was given AND the rooms taken from the blocks. If you make your own reservation, the hotel doesn't count that toward the block and SU! needs to fill more rooms - or they will pay.
Ultimately, I did not feel that Stampin' Up was responsible. I did not expect that they were going to be able to do anything to solve it. However, we did book our room through Stampin' Up. We did not contact the hotel directly as Stampin' Up requested until after the 16th of the month. We could have gone and booked our own room ourselves, independently, but we knew that Stampin' Up preferred we booked through them because they had blocked off the rooms, etc. I was not trying to hold Stampin' Up responsible, however, I would have appreciated more communication and simply an acknowledgement that they knew about the situation and were working with the hotel to fix it. Please understand, when we first checked in, the hotel was perfectly happy to tell us that this was Stampin' Up's mistake to begin with. (THAT was cleared up quickly) I had only wished that Stampin' Up had better communication with those demonstrators that were affected.
Last year, it was the Shilo that let it's guest down...electrical problems left guests without electricity for hours which meant stifling temperatures & darkness for many guests! It almost looked like a war zone with guests (mostly demos) seeking refuge outdoors in the evening just for the relief associated with the temperatures inside!
Not sure how that situation was finally resolved in terms of any kind of reimbursement to their guests...but, I hope you find a resolution that suits you for the carp you had to deal with ;)
The last two years I've stayed at the Marriott directly across from the convention and at Little America which definitely met my expectations & I would highly recommend both for next year!
I was at the Shilo last year and we got that night that was out of electricity completely free.
Not defending the Holiday Inn here but the problem is that they are in the middle of a renovation and made promises of rooms being available by convention time that they could not keep. A fellow demo actually got to stay at the downtown HI and she was miserable. She was about the only demo on her floor with a bunch of construction men who were working on the floor above her all week. I am glad that you are being proactive.
On a very positive note - we stayed at The Curtis and it was FABULOUS. All staff was accomodating and VERY nice. In a world where customer service seems to be on the decline this hotel has the best staff. They apologized profusely for the inconvenience of evacuating several times for fire alarms. Shame on those of you who were smoking in your rooms and setting the alarms off but I also know from talking to the staff you were charged for breaking the rules:-). If convention is ever in Denver again we know where we will be staying:-)
My friend and I were displaced and were totally OK with the change. We stopped by the downtown HI and with the renovation going on, it was noisy, plus we got stuck in the elevator to the parking garage. No thanks! We both agreed that it was a much better solution. I hope things work out how you would them to. Blessings,
Jacque
__________________ Rubberstamping, wearing & selling amazing jewelry and relaxing in beautiful Colorado !!!!!
I was a displaced Stamper and my trip was completely dampened by this...
1) Emailed Dan from HI and never received a response back when I asked questions regarding the shuttle.
2) On the first day, we ordered room service (which cost us more) because the menu advertised RIGHT and ON TIME. It was 10 minutes late and all three of our orders were wrong. We did this to make certain we were in line for the shuttle on time...
3) The bus the first full day of convention never showed up and there were about 40 demonstrators sitting out front of the hotel. We ended up hopping in a car with demos from Georgia...complete strangers but super nice. We paid for their parking which was $10 (which although not a lot of money we wouldn't have had to pay if we were at the other hotel...think of it as two refills of snail).
4) Because the shuttle system was so convoluted and we were never sure when or where one was we took cabs on 2 nights back to the hotel ($40...think two new stamp sets)
5) On the last day there was a sign that said FREE shuttle service from the hotel to the airport. When I called before the convention we were told that wasn't available and so we paid $67 for shuttle service from the convention center to the hotel. So we cancelled our shuttle reservation and were set to take the 3:00 shuttle from the hotel to the airport.
6) Because we needed to go back to our hotel to get our luggage we missed the afternoon sessions for the convention which we really wanted to go to! If our hotel would've been the Holiday Inn by the convention center we would've been able to do that.
7) At 2:00 we called the hotel to get a shuttle from the convention center to the hotel. We didn't make it back to the hotel until 2:58 barely making the shuttle to the hotel.
Then the shuttle went back to the convention center to pick up another demo and we didn't get to the airport until 4:00 when the hotel person assured us we'd be there at 3:30.
9) The shuttle driver hoisted my suitcase onto the shuttle using the telescoping handle even though I had already put the handle down. He removed it the same way. When I went to put my suitcase into the airport the telescoping handle came off in my hands leaving a 8 inch in diameter gaping hole in my suitcase. I had to put all of the important things (ie- stamp sets...hehe) in my backpack and put my suitcase in a trash bag and tape it up to get it home and it is completely ruined...HI will be getting a picture of this!!
Needless to say, and I realize it isn't SU's fault, our trip was lesst that perfect because of all of these options. I was a little frustrated to know that we were displaced from the HI but the Stampin Up employees were not. And also that people were displaced based on the length of the stay NOT on when they made the reservation. This should've been handled a different way.
They'll definitely be getting a letter from me!!
Jennifer
Don't forget to send a copy of your letter to the Passkey.com folks. That's who handled the reservations for SU!. They need to know that the hotels they were using were SERIOUSLY overbooking THEIR customers!
Passkey Head Office:
Passkey International, Inc.
180 Old Colony Ave., 3rd Floor
Quincy, MA, 02170
Main: 617-237-8200
Fax: 617-328-1212
Sales: 866-649-1KEY (1539)
Thank you for posting this thread and including your letters as samples. Three friends and I were also moved to HI Denver Central. I didn't feel the accommodations were bad, but the customer service was way below par and all we heard were "pass the buck" statements from front desk help to the shuttle drivers...bemoaning the fact that they had to deal with all these demonstrators, the inconvenience of it all, and how they'd been "slammed" with conventions for six weeks. Isn't this the business they are in - to provide these types of services??? The read between the lines message sent to us was, "Don't bring your convention to us, we can't handle it."
Shame on those of you who were smoking in your rooms and setting the alarms off but I also know from talking to the staff you were charged for breaking the rules:-).
I'm sure, especially with the smilies, that you're joking, but not everyone who was at the Curtis was with Stampin' Up...there was at least one, if not two, other groups there last week for conventions.
I was one of the demo's who stayed at the Holiday from HELL. I was so upset when I got there that I was gonna get back on a plane home. I went out there for 7 days to relax and read by the pool. I booked that hotel just for the pool. I did not receive an e-mail telling me that they were not done with the renovation. They called all over and could not find me another room.
The rooms weren't bad but the banging and the filth. Plus the elevators being used by the workers, they didn't even stay to one. They kept coming on with the guest with garbage and buckets of stuff. They kept stopping at all the floors they were working on.
In all it was a nightmare. I will be calling Holiday Corp direct. It cost me almost a $1000. for the worst trip ever. It ruined convention for me.
I don't think I will ever be going to a Convention again.
Hi Jennifer-
I too was affected by the whole Holiday Inn mess. In my mind, they did not offer us an alternative so I chose to cancel the entire trip. Luckily, I fly standby so I did not have to worry about plane fare. This was to be my first convention and I didn't want it ruined by going through the whole commute thing and being tied to a shuttle. Yes, I believe the company that was accepting our hotel reservations should have been involved and take some responsbility as well. It does not only rest on Holiday Inn! Needless to say, I will be sending letters too!! I am glad to see I was not the only one deeply affected by this. thanks for sharing your information.
While I did not attend convention and was unaware of this situation until reading this post, I just wanted to applaud all of your for raising your voices, individually and collectively, to let HI know of your substandard treatment. As someone who used to travel extensively for business, I know that women, especially, are often not treated with the respect they deserve in these matters.
I would encourage you to phrase your letters with concrete, specific examples of how this experience cost you in terms of cost, inconvenience and having to deal with rude treatment. Give names of employees when possible, and times of service, exact reasons why security was sub-standard, etc.
Finally, ask (translation: DEMAND, but politely) for compensation or other ACTIONABLE response from HI. I'm afraid making statements like "I want you to be aware" will not elicit any action from HI executives, as you have not asked for any response or action to be taken.
I attended convention two years ago and loved having accommodations right across the street from Salt Palace, so I know how much this experience must have tainted your enjoyment of convention. So, SPEAK UP, and demand some recompense for your loss.
I am fighting with them now. They only offered me one night. Told them it is not good enough. So they will get back to me in 7 -10 days.
Ill post when I hear from them.
oh my goodness! that sounds like such a mess for those of you who were displaced. I too was at the Holiday Inn (the original one for convention) and when I heard the info about displaced demos arriving and being turfed to another facility I immediately called to check on my reservation for 2nd session. The desk clerk assured me that I had a reservation so I clearly explained that I was part of group 2 of a convention and knew that some of the group 1 folks had been shuttled elsewhere. Again, she assured me that I would be staying in the original hotel but I was still nervous until I checked in and actually had a room assignment. Of course, the elevators were hosed up and not all working (but I can tell you that I stood in line much longer waiting for the elevator at the Las Vegas (Hilton?) convention hotel so it wasn't the worst thing. We had breakfast at the hotel a couple of days which was pretty slow unless you got the buffet however that was the worst of it. I am so far past the days (or should I say weight?) of putting on a swimsuit that knowing the pool was closed didn't bother me a bit.
For those of you who had such a terrible experience during Session 1, I am so sorry! I hope that they give you a very generous comp on that whole mess....for those who felt it worked out ok for them, then I am happy too but clearly not everyone was pleased with this nor should they have been.
Maybe because we had only 2700 at convention instead of 3000 the session 2 folks were impacted by this but it was certainly a mess and even though they weren't directly responsible, SU did definitely need to know about this so I'm glad you are all taking action. Jan
I am fighting with them now. They only offered me one night. Told them it is not good enough. So they will get back to me in 7 -10 days.
Ill post when I hear from them.
I'm really sorry you are having a tough time with HI, but your sig quote about Denver is really rather hurtful. HI is NOT all of Denver. :( Some of us who live here actually like it.
I stayed at the Shilo last year in SLC. Yeah, having no electricity was a bummer, and having no hot water the next day until after 4 was no fun, either, but it didn't ruin my entire convention experience. In the end, it was really just a place to sleep and shower for me. I couldn't even tell you if they had a pool!
Those displaced from the Holiday Inn - please read!
