Double-charged for my room by Aria. Best way to get assistance?

A wide ranging group of responses in here...

I know mistakes happen. Our company makes them a couple times a week. It is all about how you correct the problem. Because if you immediately unload on a business before allowing them to rectify the mistake I think that is wrong. Now if they don't fix it in a timely or correct fashion that is when you escalate. At least that is what I do.

Once, while staying at The Mirage, we were given keys to a freshly checked out of room. Someone must have just left and went to the airport or another hotel because the steam from their shower still hung in the air. Went back downstairs and they were apologetic and put us in a better room.

Another time at NYNY my girlfriend and I were laying in bed and someone tried to open our door. I heard the key slide in and then people trying to open it. Looked out the peep-hole and could see a couple with their bags. Called down to the front desk and they apologized and hooked us up with a food credit.

 

Mistakes happen, but the way they handled your situation is awful. I had a noise issue at Aria before and that wasn't handled well either. After putting my experience on Tripadvisor, they offered me a city view upgrade on my next stay. I did take them up on the offer and figured that the value of a city view room at Aria is a big fat "0". I think this is about the customer service level going way down in Las Vegas as a whole, and Aria is no exception.

A similar thing to yours happened to me at Agua Caliente in Palm Springs. Only, the room I was assigned was dirty, it didn't seem to be occupied (no suitcase etc.). I called the front desk, and within 2-3 minutes (without me demanding anything besides a clean room), they told me that they were were sorry and they upgraded me to a suite. I didn't even have time to get angry, or even talk to the manager, because the front desk was so quick to resolve the issue. This is one "classy" way to handle the problem if one claims to be a "luxury resort".

 

When you get the email survey, give them the lowest score on the check in and overall part. That usually gets the manager's attention, since it's a red flag and they'll probably contact/compensate you somehow. I too would be livid if I found out someone had entered my room.

I love Aria and always stay there, but the entire check-in process is a pain. Even the Gold/Plat check-in is super slow. I usually have my friend get in the regular check-in line, and I'll wait in the vip one, and not surprisingly, its 50/50 who makes it to the counter first.

 

Okay, what happen stinks but mistakes do happen. It's part of life, it's your reaction to mistakes that define you as a person. OP did just fine and reached out to this board to double check she was following the right path.
A few of you demanding this that and the other thing, you of course are entitled to your opinion but I think you all just need to relax a little bit and have some compassion for other people. Yes, they made a mistake sending you to the wrong room, but someone made a comment that that person shouldn't work there. So at your place of an employment if you make one mistake would you like to be let go? Also, the other person that said call me a taxi and give me my money back I'm leaving, is that how you really want to spend your vacation? You want to be riled up just to be riled up and walk around and tell everyone how riled up you are? Relax, you are in Vegas doing Vegas things, go downstairs get a drink, see some pretty women (or men) and enjoy the ride .

 

Gulp, I know people carry guns in Vegas but it still kind of freaks me out. Just not used to that sort of thing being a Canadian.

 

Lol - this was just on a driving trip. He has carry permits & has taken a lot of training. Plus works in a law enforcement work area

 

As someone who travels on business and stays in hotels every single week, I think to regard this as "Just a mistake" is flippant. This error wasn't just a billing error, or not leaving clean towels, or not giving you a strip view when that's what you booked, or an inconvenience... this was a serious guest security violation. And even more so since this occurred at a "resort" and not a Super 8. I spend roughly 150 nights/year in hotel rooms, many not nearly as "nice" as Aria, and this occurs so rarely it's usually not on my radar screen. My having keys to enter a room already occupied is a minor deal to me, but someone having keys to enter my room is a MAJOR. And yea, of course keep the chain or dead bolt closed when your in the room, but what about when you aren't? For a hotel to give some random guest access to my room, and therefore, to all my belongings is a major issue, it's not just a mistake. Just look at how our legal system and Jury handled the recent case of a Marriott front desk clerk giving a stalker a room beside his intended victim.... and that wasn't keys to the room. How they might compensate is another discussion. Frankly, even though giving keys to an occupied room "happens everywhere", if it happens to me, I'm not staying there. I have an expectation of security and privacy and they are being well compensated to ensure that. Especially since I am a female traveling solo.

Over my 20 years of traveling, 150 nights per year in hotels, this has happened to me exactly twice. Once in a nice hotel in St Louis, they gave me the keys to my room, which I entered and immediately smelled a fresh shower. WTF? As I entered further, there was a naked young man asleep on the bed. I backed out as quietly as I could (he never did know I was in his room, as far as I know) then went straight to the front desk. I asked for the front desk manager then laughingly asked him if the HHonors Diamond rewards had been upgraded..... LOL. He was absolutely horrified and personally escorted me to my new room, which worked out well as I had him drag my bags (no rolling bags in those days).

The second time it happened to me was in Reno on vacation meeting friends. I decided to catch a little laptop time in my room and was laying on the bed, face down, in a t-shirt and underpants, messing around on my laptop. The door BURSTS open and this Japanese guy comes storming in. I wish I had a video of his face when he saw me laying there, he was utterly terrified! He started stammering apologies and backed out of the room as fast as he could. I whipped on some shorts and caught him at the elevator, we rode down together (poor guy, he was so embarrassed). We walked up to the front desk together, with me asking for the manager. The manager was horrified and immediately said they wanted to comp my meals for the entire trip, just charge them to the room. That was great, but we had a long discussion on hotel security and privacy expectations. I'm positive the Japanese guy was much more traumatized than I was, but it could have been the other way around and it could have gone bad fast.

Both of my instances were due to housekeeping coding rooms as Clean and Available instead of Clean and Occupied. I'm sure there's a better system now, but I do use my deadbolt/chain while in the room. It doesn't really matter why it happens, it's the hotel's responsibility to make sure it Doesn't Happen. Again, this isn't dirty towels or a Kleenex under the bed, security must be a core competency and zero tolerance by management.

 

If it wasn't done intentionally, it is just a mistake. Again, if I opened a room, and saw it was someone else's, to me that's not putting me out enough that I am making a stink. If I am shaving my junk, and someone walks in on me........different story. (Unless I am going to be able to write Penthouse Forum)

 

Since it's situational on what your doing when the door opens, there's no way to predict if "the mistake" will be problematic or not. I consider anyone coming into my room without authority to be a problem. But then again, a guy's point of view is clearly different. I suspect that might differ if it was your wife or daughter. I agree to disagree.

 

At least two different issues are being discussed here.

1 - Occupied room given to another customer.

and

2 - Being billed for two rooms.

Two totally different issues in how each of us handle them. I think some of the responses are mixing the two issues. To me, the billing thing is "just a mistake".

 

Why can't I get a room occupied by a gorgeous naked girl who invites me to stay?

It appears that different people have different thoughts on how to handle the situation. Everybody deals with situations their own way. Some don't think it's a big deal. Some do. It becomes a problem when people think others should deal with a situation the same way they do. But people will deal with things from one extreme to the other. One person will demand the world. Another person will apologize to the front desk for bothering them to get them a key to an empty room.

For me, if I am on vacation and happy, I probably wouldn't make a big stink. But if I am on vacation, and one thing goes wrong after another, my mood would be different, and I would show how upset I was. Who knows, I may be one of only a few who would act this way.

 

Thess - that was a double whammy of a mistake and I empathize with you - you handled it very well, with the first incident being the most egregious. In this day and time of automated systems there should be better cross checks built into the system but it shows either human error (fat fingers) or computer glitches do happen - still not a fun way to begin a vacation. Hope the rest of your stay was fun.

I'm usually ok with a polite apology and quick fix to the problem at hand, but in this case, I would follow up with an email to both the hotel manager and the guest relations manager, along with a description of the already occupied room experience, and a copy of the original double billing invoice, plus a description of the multiple efforts on your part that it took to finally get a billing resolution (include staff names where appropriate).
Yes, mistakes do happen -
but 1) this is a combination housekeeping/front desk/guest service problem as well a billing problem on the same stay.
and 2) once someone 'in charge' recognizes this was more than a simple mixup I'm confident you will receive the sincere apology you deserve. And if they decide to offer you some form of future comp or credit part of the bill back to you, that would indicate this is a resort that not only wants your future business but is acknowledging that not only one, but two mistakes were made - what are the odds on that happening in Vegas?

Unlike another poster suggested, I would not storm off to another hotel - because these days in Vegas, there just might not be another hotel or room available to my liking without a lot of effort to get resettled - I'd rather blow it off and be enjoying the maximum amount of time enjoying my vacation.