Worst experience I can remember with a hotel. I've stayed many more nights in hotels the last few years than I'd like to admit, so felt obliged to write a review for hotels.com users since it directly relates.
- We booked about a month in advance but when we arrived and were told that there was no booking in our name.
- We were told that the hotel has no relationship with hotels.com and that 'Hotels.com just lists every property without permission'
- We were told they could call someone (called Bob or something) who could tell us which other places in the area might have space - we declined this and booked at the nearby Water Street Inn which I can definitely recommend.
- The attitude of the owner was a bit shocking. No surprise, no apology, just a "They keep doing this, we don't have a booking" response. It made it obvious that they do this a lot.
- When checking in at our nearby hotel, the receptionist said that they've heard the same from other people.
So, in conclusion, if you're on here you know that the hotel obviously has listed itself here so the owner is lying. Especially when you consider there are verified reviews from people who have successfully stayed. The only motivation for this that I can think of is that they accept the booking but will 'lose' it if someone books direct as it enables them to avoid the commission to hotels.com.
As it turned out, The Water Street Inn was lovely so all's well that ends well. But we got lucky to find it with no notice!