A Miserable Experience
Avoid the Milburn Hotel on New York's upper west side at all costs. It could end up costing you plenty.
My reservation at the Milburn was for Friday, Sept. 18. On Monday, the 14th, I phoned the hotel to inquire about the cancellation policy, which would have been unnecessary had I received a copy of the policy by e-mail or snail-mail. The person I spoke with told me it was three days in advance of the reservation. She also used the phrase "72 hours," which, from my travel experiences, is a synonym for three days. So, because my plans were uncertain at the time, I chose to wait one day based on the conversation, especially since the confused clerk did not tell me that the deadline for canceling was Monday.
When I called Tuesday -- three days before I was scheduled to check in -- to cancel because of a family matter, I was informed it was too late. The front-desk clerk I spoke with said to contact the general manager on Wednesday to discuss the situation.
I left repeated polite messages with the general manager on Wednesday and Thursday. He refused to return my calls. So I stopped by the hotel Friday morning before leaving town, and the general manager told me the matter had been turned over to accounting and to contact them.
For the next eight workdays, I phoned the hotel and asked to be switched to accounting. Each time, I received a recorded voice and was asked to leave a message. Each time, I left a polite recording -- eight of them -- yet never received one return call. It was obvious that the continuous lack of returned calls from the general manager and accounting was an effort by the hotel to ignore me, hoping that I would go away.
Finally, I phoned the hotel and requested to be switched to anyone in accounting. I got a live voice who told me a refund or full credit would be considered.
My occasional pestering finally got a response after a few weeks. I was informed that no refund or credit would be granted, only that an unspecified "rate" might be considered on my next reservation with the hotel. Are you kidding me?
So I'm out $339.13, plus hours of my time dealing with the most customer-unfriendly hotel general manager in a lifetime of travel.
There are plenty of good hotels in New York. Most have a one-day cancellation policy. They send you their policy upon making the reservation. Their reservations clerks explain the policy properly. And, if a problem arises, they are courteous and reasonable.
The Milburn is none of those. Stay away.
Sign in with Facebook
