We have been planning a trip to New Orleans for my 40th birthday in June, and we%26#39;ve stayed often at the Place, but not this time!
I e-mailed a request for a private balcony room on St. Anne St.(we%26#39;ve stayed in these rooms before and they are lovely) and was told none of these rooms were available. I can understand that, so I asked what was available and explained that what I was trying to avoid was a repeat of the experience we had last summer.
I explained that last summer we booked directly with the hotel more than 2 months in advance and that I had the same request. We were told they couldn%26#39;t give us the king balcony room we had requested, but they did have a queen room. I said ';OK, book it, we can live with a queen bed as long as we have a private balcony on St. Anne%26#39;s.'; The cost of a deluxe room (all balcony rooms are considered deluxe) is the same irregardless of which room you get, but we were OK with it. In our experience, the rooms facing St. Anne St. are much larger than others, BTW, which is one of the reasons we made this specific request.
When we arrived, we were given a ridiculously small (even by FQ standards) room facing Chartres, the bathroom was 3 feet from the bed and the bed was against the wall! There was no access to a balcony, we had to leave the room and go down the hall to get to a public balcony. We went back downstairs to address this, but were told rooms were assigned on a first-come first-served basis and requests were only honored if they had a room available, and that was all they had. I told them I had been assured of a specific room over the phone, but to no avail. I was very polite about the whole situation, and in retrospect, I kind of wish I had made a scene and made them call the owner. Back to present day..
After e-mailing all of this to the hotel while planning this trip I explained that I didn%26#39;t want to go through that again, if I need to pay more for this room type, OK, just let me know. Or even, just give me a larger room without a balcony. I was told that it was true that even though you make a request, rooms are assigned at check-in, and you may not get what you requested, that you are assigned to whatever they have left. Our e-mail conversation went like this: I asked her if this is true, why are you telling me that no private balcony rooms are available, you do have rooms like that, right? She said yes. So, if I show up first in line at check-in time, then one of these rooms would be available, first-come, first-served per my request? NO, they are already booked for those dates. WHAT?? How did they book them - so that in the future if I want to make sure I have one of these specific rooms, what do I have to do to make sure they are reserved? She said to make a request for them, and if they are available when you check in, we will give you one. But you said these are reserved prior to check-in, how do I do that? Repeat..repeat.. repeat...
OK, I just give up!! I%26#39;ve booked elsewhere for my 40th, which is a shame, since I really like this place, but I%26#39;m fed up and confused by their booking procedure. If anyone has advice, please let me know, because I do like Place D%26#39;Armes, but I refuse to pay $130+ a night for a (possibly) crappy room.
A little cheesed off at Place D'armes
I don%26#39;t know if you knew this or not, but you can now book specifically balcony rooms. It doesn%26#39;t show this on the website itself, you have to check availability for whatever dates, then you see all the different options available. They even have junior suites which include a fridge and microwave.
I was just playing around on the website a couple of months ago as I%26#39;m staying at the Place for my trip in 2 weeks, and noticed this. Since I had made a special request for a balcony room overlooking the FQ, I called up right away to see if I could now be garanteed a balcony room, and I was able to get one.
Maybe check the dates you were planning on going, and see if any balcony rooms are still available and go from there.
I remember you%26#39;re post from last year about the hassle. I have to agree with you though, a straight answer would be nice. Keep us posted.
A little cheesed off at Place D'armes
I also booked through the website and requested the room we had last visit and they gave it to me.
However, it was an interior room and maybe they aren%26#39;t as popular as a balcony room.
We just came back last weekend from a stay there and they were packed and the staff working the Place were wonderful to us.
Maybe try the site again?? Or..there are other really great places to stay, too.
Good luck and hope you do have Happy Bday and enjoy our beautiful NOLA!
If you say you are expecting to pay ';130+'; is that forlate spring, which is off season. If so,go one block up and book the Bourbon Orleans. You can get a deluxe king, some with balconies, and if you arrive mid-week greater than 50/50 odds of an upgrade to a suite.
Thanks for your suggestions! I definitley don%26#39;t want to cross the Place off my list, I just got SO frustrated with them. I%26#39;ll try your suggestions next trip!
I%26#39;m still concerned, as PD%26#39;A is (or was) on my list of next places to try.
If a property accepts my reservation, deposit or full payment, for X style room, balcony, amenities, etc. And then I check in and am told, ';Oh, gee, we only give you whatever room we have or want to give you on the day and time you happen to show up.'; No, no. Not acceptable.
Well, either PD%26#39;A is really weird and unusual, or else this poster has experienced an unusual and unfortunate experience. Or perhaps the story is missing parts and the poster is a bit confused. From the long extended posting, I might guess that.
If I go to Macy%26#39;s and order a sofa, and later a recliner chair is delivered, and they say, ';Oh, that%26#39;s all we have available.'; ..... No, no one would accept that.
I reserved a room of X type, paid in advance. Now give it to me.
That is a terrible. I have heard bad things about that place. Glad you are staying somewhere else.
Young curmudg,
Yes, I do tend to ramble, but I am far from confused.
While the Place is a gorgeous little place that I would recommend, the booking procedures are a little odd. You book a room type (courtyard, interior, deluxe, etc.) and they offer two doubles or a king/queen. You have to request a balcony or a king room. These are not guaranteed. In other words, you may request a king size bed, but get a queen for the same price. And the rooms vary widely in size for the same price. So while, technically, you get the room type you pay for, it could range from tiny to huge, with or without a balcony.
Another poster mentioned that they have recently addressed this on their website, so maybe that will help.
Sorry, this is as succinct as I get.
Yes, I understand your succinctness. I still maintain, you make a reservation, pay or make a deposit, you have a right to the product or service. Either that property has new, ill-trained management and staff, or there was a breakdown in communications.
That%26#39;s why I recommended the other poster move up the street to the Bourbon Orleans.
An example of how not to be walked over:
I had a week%26#39;s stay at the historic Parker House Hotel in Boston. Upon check-in the young desk clerk tried to tell me they didn%26#39;t have a room for me, simple blank stare, -and asked me to step aside so they could handle customers in line behind me.
Didn%26#39;t even apologize for overbooking and offer to find me another place in town - which I would not have taken anyway.
I said:
--I am not stepping aside. Call the police if you wish, or I will. You are attempting to steal money from me.
--I have a prepaid reservation for a king room, with the extra amenities accorded to my Omni membership card.
--If you are really overbooked, then perhaps I should unpack my suitcase on one of these sofas in your nice large lobby here. Please try to keep everything quiet after 11 pm, and dim the lights, when I sleep in your lobby. Oh yes, I assume you have a batheroom for employees behind your desk here? It has been a long trip, and right now I really need to pee. I am now going to climb over your desk and you tell me where the bathroom is back there.
The people in line behind me were laughing by this time. The young kid desk clerk sweating, and his partner had gone to find a manager.
Repeating my simple points to the manager, or whatever, I was politely and quickly escorted to an executive suite.
Point of my story: No hotel should get away with accepting your reservation, and then later trying to B.S. you with %26#39;you get whatever we have when you arrive.%26#39; If you reserved, paid, specified the product and services, you own them for the specified dates.
We%26#39;ve never had a problem there-always knew what kind of room we were getting and received it. When you have a problem bump it up the line politely and it will be addressed. Sometimes people that have the particular rooms do not check out and stay longer and thus the problem of a particular rooms availability.
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