Complaint Review: Nautical Inn

Well, since I am just learning about this site, I thought I'd report a overpriced,rip-off hotel/resort in lake havasu, AZ. My experience with them happended over Memorial Weekend of May 2001. My friends and I planned a fun holiday weekend in Havasu,,and I had heard this was another "nice"hotel,, next to the London Bridge Resort. I reserved our room back in march of that year,,,,,and they had a MINIMUM of a 3 night stay at a whole whopping $315 a nite..

I went ahead and paid for one nite on my credit card as a confirmed reservation. They gave me all the info, etc,,and since we had several people, we were to get a larger room..I forget what it was called,"Bay room" od "parlour" room,maybe. I told the sales lady we would be doing a late check in since we were coming from Phoenix..like around 10 pm..She said ok. I also got my itenerary in the mail and read it completely. Well the day we were to leave,,i called them and verified with them that we were going to be arriving late,,,again they said "OK".

I called again from my cell phone while we were going through Parker (about 30 mins away) ,,,gave them my name,,said we were almost there and the lady said "Ok,,,not to worry"or something like that.... so we arrived at about 10:15. We waited and waited to helped while in the lobby,,and heard one of the clerks arguing with some guy about them not having the proper reservation etc. The guy ended up getting a room anyways.By the time I was helped, I gave my name, reservation # etc.. and the woman said "Uh oh,,, I have bad news for you. We dont have a room for you." I said "WHAT????" I had a reservation!

I called ahead of time and told you guys we'd be late!" I even saw my name scribbled on a yellow sticky note,,on the counter. The clerk went on to say that if we dont arrive by 10 pm,,they're free to give up our room. I was furious,knowing since its a holiday weekend,,,there werent very many rooms available ,except in the flea pit hotels. The itinerary also didnt mention their rule. The clerk acted like "thats just theway it goes" and offered to call the motel 6 and Super 8 to try and find us a couple of rooms. I said "No way"....we're not paying for two rooms at another hotel when we're supposed to have one here! We argued with the woman at the counter..and I said that this was very inconsiderate...being we had called several times in advance and we were told it was ok. I asked to speak to the manager,,and she simply said he's not available.

My eyes were filling up with tears since we had made plans around staying on the lake,,and what to do with the waverunners we had rented, etc. After about 1 hr of demanding we get our room back,,she was able to put us in a smaller room,,which did not accompany us very well. We were also charged for the two extra people AND we did not receive any special accomodation for the inconvenience either. So,,,the hotel ,,,after having to pay for 3 nites and a total of almost a 1,000 bucks,,was a rip-off,,, the hotel restaraunt sucked,,,AND there is no room service even. They didnt offer us anything for what they did. The only good thing about the hotel was the view of the lake,,and we were right off the shore. After I got home,,I emailed Jack Skinner, the hotel manager,,who didnt respond to my email. I contacted the BBB ,who said I should try and 'work things out" with Mr. Skinner,,then file a complaint if necessary. My big complaint is,,if a hotel is going to give up your room even after youve paid for one nite,.,,they need to state it in the intinerary..that rooms are not guaranteed if check -in is late.

The BBB said I had a valid complaint. When I went to Havasu over labor Dayweekend,I talked to a couple other nearby hotels about our experience at the Nautical Inn..(we stayed elsewhere of course)and they said they'd heard similar complaints,,and the problem is,,theres not alot of competition for resort-like hotels in Havasu,,and they can basically do what they want,,and still make wads of money. The Holiday Inn took better care of us than the Nautical Inn,,even though we made a reservation only a couple of days in advance,,,and we got a cheap room too. The Ramada Inn has remodeled ..and is also a decent place to stay. THE NAUTICAL INN SUCKS and DOESN"T DESERVE YOUR PATRONAGE!

Kris
Mesa, Arizona

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