About 3 months ago, I booked a two nights stay and paid in full for March 4-6, 2017.
My husband and I were traveling to central Florida for my daughters wedding. We decided to take a little time for ourselves as we often do not get to travel together. I found this place suitable for our needs and near Johns Pass.
Last week we thought we would like to stay an extra night so I called the hotel. I spoke with Richard. He informed me that he did not have an extra night free. In fact he confided that Expedia and Booking.com had OVERBOOKED his hotel and the only way he found out was by checking his upcoming reservations. He said that he had a guest that booked a 10 day stay and he had no idea where he would put them. He semi-jokingly said "you wouldn't be interested in canceling your reservation if I DOUBLED your money back would you?" I immediately said no.
Well, I got to thinking and started looking to see if I could find some other place with that refund, but the timing would not allow it as everything was getting booked in the area within my price range so I dropped the idea. Later that night I spoke to my husband about it and we both felt bad for Robert. Knowing we had friends in the area and that our schedule was flexible we asked our friends who we were planning to visit while in the Tampa area, if we could spend the two nights with them. They gladly accepted us. So I called The hotel to speak to Richard but he was out. The girl at the desk said she would find out where he was and have him call me. Within 15 minuets my phone was ringing.
I asked him if he was serious about the refund if we canceled. He said yes he was. We talked numbers and got our entire refund plus an extra night. Now, this was not double the money back, but in his defense he did not realize that we had already paid the full amount. He explained that he could not give us our money back plus two nights but he would gladly give an extra night. We found this acceptable. We are not greedy people and we did feel for him. We also had another place to stay near by for free. So to have the money + 1 night free would allow us to do other things on our vacation.
I called the credit card company and asked how long it would take the refund to be credited to the account. They said 2-5 days. This was on a Friday. I emailed Richard and asked him if he had already issued a refund and he said yes. This was within an hour of our deal and the appropriate paperwork stating a refund was to be given.
It is now 9:30 pm on the following Monday and the refund in the amount we agreed upon is showing.
With this extra money my husband and I decided to extend our vacation another two days and go to the east coast to the Kennedy Space Center on March 8th to see the rocket launch. It also allows us the ability to stop off for a night in Charleston, SC on the way home and take in a boat tour of the city before heading home.
I can not vouch for anything at this hotel except for the integrity of its manager.
I will say, that if I ever decide to spend time on the gulf coast again, I'll want to book at this hotel. For one, it the least expensive hotel so close to Johns Pass.
I hope the people who needed the room for 10 days has a splendid vacation, bc obviously this was their entire vacation. They will likely never know that someone else gave up their reservation for them and that's ok.
I hope that this kind of thing doesn't happen to you, but if it does, they will honor their word and give you your refund plus extra.
I'm just glad that it was us and that we were so very understanding and flexible with our vacation plans.
My advice to all is make sure your hotel is not overbooked by calling in advance.
Happy vacationing!!☺