Of all the dumb blonde things I've done, this ranks right up there with the best of them. We were planning an out of town conference thingie next month and I booked a hotel through Priceline quite a while ago for this, just to ensure that we would actually go. In the meantime we'd kinda sorta decided that we either:
A.) wanted to upgrade the hotel to something with a bit more class, or
B.) cancel the reservation altogether and not go to the conference.
We weren't sure if we'd pay a fee to cancel since it was placed through Priceline, and I'd kept the reservation information in a VERY safe place, knowing I'd need it no matter what we did. After much nagging on my husband's part about whether or not I checked into cancelling, I realized that I lost the reservation paper. It's not in filing under January or February (or December for that matter), it's not in the VERY safe place that I put it (on the computer desk) and it's just plain nowhere to be found.
Problem. Big, fat, most-blonde-thing-I've-done-in-a-while, problem. So guess what I did yesterday? Yep, you guessed. Called every hotel that comes up in a search in this (thankfully not too huge) city that we reserved the hotel in. I felt like such an idiot asking if I had a reservation there. No, I don't have the confirmation number. No I don't even know if the reservation is with you. Yes, I know I'm an idiot.
My husband found this to be absolutely hysterical. But you can learn from my mistakes. Let's recap, shall we?
1. When you book a hotel, write down all the possible information that you'll need to know and put it somewhere safe. And keep it there. Do not let the kids use it for scrap paper to do their math homework on. Do not let the artist use it to doodle on. Do not let the baby feed it to the dogs. You may want to consider neatly folding it up and placing it in your underwear drawer. You'll be likely to see it every day, and know that nobody is going to find it except you.
2. Hotels do not know Priceline policies. They will tell you that you can cancel in advance with no fees, and will gladly do this for you.
3. Priceline has a firm, set-in-stone policy that there are no refunds given, nor date changes, nor transfers. If you do not show up on the reserved night, they will charge your credit card regardless. This is part of the reason that they ask for this up front, before even finding a hotel for you.
4. Priceline's policy forces blonde idiots to call the hotel back and beg to have their original room reinstated. This is done with much laughing and asking "what happened?!" Now I'm a bigger idiot. But I did upgrade to a non-smoking room with a king size bed for the same price.
25 comments:
Underwear drawer - how did you know?
Did you go back to your inbox of your email, as well as your Trash? I just leave all my info in my inbox. Because I also tend to use paper for math and doodling.
ow come that safe place never seems to be quite safe enough. I hope you managed to get everything figured out.
I'm glad you at least upgraded!
Maria
There is much to be said for king size sleeping accommodations.....and for going kidless for a night or two. :)
After all that work and embarrassment, I am glad that you were able to upgrade! Hope you enjoy your night out.
Argh, that totally sounds like something I would do. That's one reason why I hate using those services like priceline. In my life you just NEVER KNOW what might happen to keep you from fulfilling your hotel staying obligations!
I am a dumber blonde. Really.
I made our honeymoon reservations using Priceline--both the hotel and airfare. We were flexible with our dates, so I went for maximum cheap. I must have tried 20 different combinations. Somewhere along the line, I got it in my head that we were going on a specific date. Except, I was wrong. We realized that we had missed our flight about two hours too late, even though I thought we weren't leaving for another day. Oops. We managed to drive the 19 hours and had a great time, but I still don't trust Priceline to this day. Somehow, it's their fault. I don't know how, it just is.
At least you were able to get the whole fiasco straightened out and managed to entertain your husband in the process!
I'm too skittish to use Priceline.
Angie
www.AllAdither.com
I would do the same thing. I actually did a similar dumb thing with Priceline. I booked a hotel last year when we were going to the beach. This hotel was our 1/2 way point, just one quick night. So I wanted it as close to the highway as possible. I picked a city (Columbia SC) and then picked a location. We were going to be on the East side of the city. So, somehow, I requested a hotel on the WEST side. I realized my error minutes after I hit the "confirm" button. I called them, crying, no luck.
Luckily, it wasn't too far out of our way, and it was a nice hotel for the money.
My husband wasn't surprised. I literally do NOT know my right from my left, so why would I know East from West?
No fear of Mr. H becoming addicted to blogging. He BARELY comments and is ONLY blogging on my b-day cuz it's my b-day.
He is a HUGE introvert!!
Hallie
Yeah, don't count on a refund from Priceline, generally speaking. We did get them to give us one, one time. We tried to book a room, we hadn't even hit "approve" at the end of the reservation, and their website went down. So we booked a room through another site. It was for that night. The next morning, we had an email from priceline saying our room had been booked (for the night before) and that our CC had been charged. It was jumping through hoops to get them to refund, even though it was their fault because of their website. We would have used the room, had we known it had booked, what hotel it was at, etc!
oh...yeah Hotwire is the same way...doesn't matter if you don't show up, you're getting charged. But I have literally paid 1/2 price for a nice hotel room by going through Hotwire. And I was often paying 40-50% off of flights back when I used to fly home all the time. I even got a round trip flight between DC and Chicago for $97. Yes, that's only two digits. We did Priceline a few times for flights, but I hated being coaxed into changing my long distance carrier just to get a better chance at a cheaper flight. Don't know if they still do that now.
But glad you got the upgrade! And glad to know I'm not the only one that leaves important papers in such a safe spot that I can never find them again. ;)
I have "blonde moments" all the time. I am a constant source of entertainment for my family and friends!
Kimmy
My 'safe place' must be in the dryer because things disappear like socks.
Do like I do next time put it with your bills. It will for sure not get opened and it will stack up good with the rest.Unless, like me you grab it to sweep up the trash off the floor. Rethinking that maybe not a good place. hmm... maybe I should put my bills with my undies!
You are not the only one!! I toss things in the trash all the time and then a week later my husband will be looking for it!! I can't help it!! I just start and go crazy with throwing stuff away!! So, you all are going then huh!!??
Underwear drawer....yes, just ONE safe place. Not the thirty nine I have now and then can't remember...
Ugh! How frustrating!!
Here's what I learned from your story: Don't use Priceline. What kind of policy is that anyway?
At least you didn't book the wrong flight, like I did. Try explaining to "CheapoAir" that you really didn't mean to click "Yes"!
So how many phone calls did it take to find the right one? Hopefully that 'very safe place' wasn't written on your hand.
Spammon - thankfully I scored on the 5th call. And then had to call back, of course.
Priceline has been fab for us in the past but it's getting harder to get a good deal. And they don't do long-distance changes now because I've never dealt with that.
We used to stay at 5 star establishments in Pittsburgh for $30 (tax included!!), but after the Steelers made playoffs the other year and were playing at home and the hotel overbooked and bumped us, we haven't been able to score as well.
Haha! This SOOO could have happened to me!
Lesson learned, no priceline. Thanks. It just sounds all too confusing to me. My husband has been trying to convince me to put a box on the counter and label it "a safe place" since there really is no such thing. Glad it all worked out in the end. A king bed with no kids to sneak in it sounds about as good as it gets!
Next time, write down all of the important information, and GIVE IT TO YOUR HUSBAND. This way, when it gets lost (and it will) it won't be your fault, and he will have to make all of the phone calls while you stand by smugly laughing.
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