Terrible treatment and price-gouging for a Sandy-displaced New Yorker
Having enjoyed Intercontinental Hotels for years while traveling on business, I had a much different experience while staying there after being displaced by Hurricane Sandy. When I arrived to check in for my confirmed reservation, I was told it could not be honored thanks to a "glitch" in the hotels.com system, which I had used for booking, and that every single room in the hotel was booked. The only recourse the desk staff offered was to say that it was not their issue and that they could not help any way other than to provide me with hotels.com's 800 number. In other words I was on my own, homeless thanks to the hurricane, and upon further discovery, unable to find another hotel anywhere in Manhattan that night. Charlotte the manager was called up front and she also was "unable" to help. I cooled my heels for an hour in the bar and checked back in with the front desk. There had been a shift change and suddenly the evening desk employee was able to magically produce a room! He even asked me what my hotels.com rate had been and he arbitrarily typed in the amount I quoted him. A few days later when I asked to extend my stay because my apartment was still uninhabitable, I was told they could accommodate me, at twice the rate I was paying! I was reminded by the desk manager how upscale a hotel the Intercontinental is and how lucky I was to get the original rate. Tired of being treated like a second class citizen, I found another hotel, checked out and spent the rest of my displacement at the The Out NYC, who treated me with the utmost respect and provided me with lovely accommodations and impeccable customer service. The Intercontinental anywhere on this planet will never get another penny of mine.