Thanks to a missed train, we were stuck in Frankfurt for an extra night and opted to spend it at the Hyatt Regency Mainz. Though not the fault of the hotel, check-in proved to be a nightmare.
The last-minute rate was over 200EUR/night so I made a cash + points booking on my laptop from Frankfurt Central Station about an hour before check-in. The reservation went through, or so I thought, though I received this message—
But my points were deducted and because the message said my reservation cannot be “viewed online” I figured that was the reason it did not show up.
I had one more meeting in Frankfurt but sent Heidi and the baby ahead to check-in and get settled.
Check-In Problem: No Reservation Found
40 minutes later, though, I received a call from my wife stating they could not locate my reservation. I was just walking into my meeting and told her to ask the hotel to call World of Hyatt for assistance.
About an hour later I emerged from my meeting and pulled out my mobile phone: seven missed calls from Heidi. Oh no…
I called her back and she said that the hotel had called World of Hyatt and they “could not find anything”. The hotel eventually “took pity” on my wife because the baby was crying and booked her a points-only reservation using my account. I was livid.
Immediately calling World of Hyatt, I explained to an agent what was going on and she verified that there were two deductions—one for cash + points and the other for points only. I asked her to call the hotel, find out what happened, and ensure that the points for the points-only stay were redeposited back into my account.
She conferenced in the hotel and I began questioning the duty manager in German about what was going on. She claimed I had no reservation. The World of Hyatt rep cut in and said, “Actually he does.” Long story short, the problem was fixed after 15 minutes on the phone and no one could explain what happened.
CONCLUSION
Here’s my explanation: if you see an error message like the one above, figure that something went wrong. Call Hyatt, even if the points were deducted from your account. I wish I would have done that: it certainly would have saved a big headache.
If only that was it for the drama…but stay tuned. Our stay took a very unexpected turn I will describe later today.
No mention of an email confirmation. That could have been shown to the hotel staff upon check in. If you didn’t receive one then you should have immediately called Hyatt.
I did not receive one. I only saw the points debited.
i’m not surprised … i love hyatt hotels, but i can’t stand their booking system. i booked a stay at grand hyatt goa eight months out, canceled it, and then saw a $2000 charge on my credit card bill at the time of the planned/canceled stay. another time i booked two rooms at grand hyatt san francisco, used a DSU to upgrade one, and was charged for one suite and one room. hyatt westlake village deducted points from my account once when i booked and again when i stayed. those are just the issues in the past few months. their hotels are nice, but for a no-hassles/straightforward experience i much prefer marriott.
all these inexplicable incidents – score another one for the software. i once was checking in at AA counter for LAX-AUS flight, and they said I had boarded a flight a few hours earlier. They had the ticket issued and “someone” scanned at gate and boarded the flight. I was given “another” boarding pass after an hour long research could not find anything. I was credited miles for my flight, and that earlier mysterious flight.
I received the same message when trying to use the CC free night award. I had logged in and reached the booking page by clicking through the free night redemption booking button (I hope that makes sense). I was looking at the Andaz Napa which is too high a category, but it said that the free night redemption was available, so I went through the steps and clicked book. Got the same message above. Nothing really happened after that…still have the award night. I would be incensed if what happened to your wife happened to me/my family/friends.
Common sense – if you ain’t sure, make sure. If something looks like it ain’t supposed to, that it ain’t what you think it is.