Nicole Stilwell

Review of Millenium Broadway Hotel

I m writing this in hopes I can encourage other pa...

I m writing this in hopes I can encourage other patrons to never stay at the Millennium after the miserable experience I had. So through a third party (ticketsatwork) I booked a three night stay for the Millennium for my extended family without being told the hotel was a non refundable rate. A family member got sick and we had to cancel their stay. When I called the third party they told me it was non-refundable and there was nothing they could do. Naturally I was furious because I wasn t told this the first time, so I stayed on the phone with them for almost an hour until a manger finally told me ok, we can send a request to the hotel directly to see if they ll let us refund it, but it s on the hotel to make that call. Naturally the Millennium denied that request so I was then told by the third party to speak them directly. Here s where I started to lose my patience. I called the Millennium several times and I was transferred to the wrong department each time. Eventually I got someone and the woman with a very aggravated tone snapped You need to speak with Joe, the reservations supervisor, or Lauriann, the director of the front desk. Try again LATER. So I called Joe several times and kept getting his voicemail. Left a voicemail, still no response after four days. By then I was so fed up and went to the hotel in person to speak to Lauriann. She told me I m very sorry, ma am, but because you CHOSE to book a non refundable rate there s nothing I can do for you. It s just like losing broadway tickets; something happens, you lose the money. Excuse me, but I "chose?" I chose to book something without my knowledge? So your telling me it s MY fault the third party didn t tell me it s a non refundable rate? That I m supposed to just lose $900+ dollars for a mistake that I didn t make? Not to mention I can t control my family getting sick. Not only that, but the ticketsatwork cancellation policy clearly states Hotel cancellations or changes can be made anytime outside the 72 hours before your arrival date. Lauriann also explained to me that we sell our inventory to these third parties to fit the rooms for us, and there s a whole process in place that makes it difficult to give you a refund. I then asked Lauriann to speak to her manager and she said Well I m the one who chooses to make this call, and there s nothing I can do. I m sorry, but I've worked in retail for 10+ years, and there s always a back end way to issue refunds. The attitude I got from Lauriann tells me that the Millennium CAN issue me a refund, but just doesn t WANT to. I understand the hotel is a business and it wasn t Lauriann s fault directly but considering the circumstances she could have and should have made an exception for me. When I showed Lauriann the original reservation with the return policy statement Loriann eventually said ok, here s my card, send me an email of the original reservation and I ll see what I can do. It s been a week and I ve heard nothing; probably never will. Not even a quick email or phone call saying I m working on it I ll get back to you soon. Absolutely unacceptable. This is not how you take care of your customers. While it may not be the hotel s fault ticketsatwork screwed up, they screwed up, and if ticketsatwork doesn t have a way in their system to issue a refund, the hotel should have. It IS the hotel s fault for being unprofessional, rude, completely disorganized, and totally disrespectful to my situation. Whatever you do, DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL, otherwise you will be greeted with management that will not take care of you.