Stratosphere denying advance payment?

[bignig135]

We come over from Scotland annually, in January we will be staying at the Stratosphere, in a suite, courtesy of a friend winning a significant amount on the lottery. Originally we booked a flights and basic room package but our friend kindly gave us the money, in dollars, to upgrade.

Looking online, we could only find one contact email address, which failed to work, so we phoned the Strat, were given a quote for nearly $2500, which is a considerable amount for accommodation for low rollers like us and volunteered to pay by credit card there and then, only to be informed they couldn't accept payment, nor send us an email to confirm the price.

We phoned back as we are concerned that we will turn up and be faced with a much higher bill, only to be again informed that the hotel will not send us an email and if we were really determined to pay upfront that the only way they would accept this is if we write, including copies of our passport, driving licence and credit card!!!

As things stand, we only have the first name of the receptionist we spoke to on the call and understandably this isn't at all reassuring.

Should we just stop worrying, or is the real reason the hotel are being difficult is that they hope the strength of the dollar will rise between now and our check-in and they hope to justify a price increase by using that as an excuse to screw more money out of us? Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[Snidely]

Vegas is often weird about sending confirmation emails. As along as you have a confirmation number, you should be fine. It's not like you're flying halfway around the world to get there....

Maybe you could change hotels to something nicer. Maybe the Cosmopolitan...

 

[Nevyn]

It is most likely because it was a package booking instead of direct through the hotel.

The confirmations and reservations are all through the package, so the hotel can't easily amend them.

 

[bignig135]

Nope, no confirmation number given over the phone! The other potential snag is that we particularly specified on the calls that we wanted a full and final total upgrade price, including the resort fees and she confirmed these were all included.

Doesn't seem too unreasonable that we turn up, only to be confronted by a less than helpful receptionist declaring that the figure quoted would never include resort fees!

If worst scenario happened we could simply state " fine, we'll go to stay in a better hotel then!", but very inconvenient and a poor start to a holiday!

 

[nostresshere]

We come over from Scotland annually, in January we will be staying at the Stratosphere, in a suite, courtesy of a friend winning a significant amount on the lottery. Originally we booked a flights and basic room package but our friend kindly gave us the money, in dollars, to upgrade.
...

As mentioned above, if this was booked through someone else (not the hotel direct), you will not have much luck talking to the hotel. And, you may have trouble doing an upgrade. Those rooms in packages are often specially priced (to the third party) and are hands off to the hotel staff - sort of.

Depending on how much they gave you for the "upgrade", skip the Strat reservation and just go book a room direct at another hotel with a suite.

Tell us more and folks here might be able to help.

And by the way, I am pretty sure you were not talking to the receptionist as that person can do anything with reservations.

 

[Nevyn]

Can the initial reservation be cancelled for refund? If so, price it out with air and hotel separate and whatever hotel/room you like.

If not, maybe instead of the hotel call whoever the package was booked through and enquire about upgrades.

 

[bignig135]

Hi nostress and Nevyn, we did contact our package holiday operator ( lastminute.com), who advised us that they could probably organise an upgrade to a star suite, but that first they would have to get us to cancel our original booking, possibly meaning our air fares would rise, be sent a refund and start all over again. Also, on their website, they only seem to provide the other 2 types of suite available at the Strat, not the Star Suite we want to stay in. I always marvel at the people on this board who seem to regularly chop and change their flight or hotel reservations, whereas we are all for the easy life! I can see the value if you save loads of money, but is it really worth the hassle? With one of the largest online sites, one year we had our credit card charged twice for a significant sum and it was a nightmare getting it all sorted out!

We have always been told that the best possible rates are only available direct from the hotel itself, which is why we chose to contact them direct.

Looking around quickly online, for our dates we could stay at somewhere like PH for example, but for a similar price that we are paying for a suite at the Strat ( we are well aware that this suite isn't going to be particularly luxurious!), we'd just get a standard room at PH.

Given that email contact didn't work and that if we phoned we wouldn't reach anyone very high up the totem pole, we are considering posting a letter to the hotel General Manager, asking for an email confirming the total price due. Do people consider that too obsessive, or justified to put our minds at rest?

We are already bracing ourselves for a potential argument with the taxi driver on our way to the hotel ( tunnelled for the first time ever last year, $40 from McCarran to Excalibur!!) as a fairly long trip to the Strat. might be regarded as a prime chance to long-haul us. Neither of us has a smartphone, so no Uber/ Lyft.

Thanks all.

 

[urbanphotos]

If you're spending $2,500 I wouldn't stay at the Stratosphere. While I like the property, it's in a terrible part of the city. You won't want to walk anywhere from there unless you enjoy an urban environment... drug dealers, hookers, thugs, panhandlers, homeless.

As far as being long hauled, don't worry about it. You report it to the Taxi Authority http://taxi.nv.gov/Complaints/Complaints/ and you won't have to pay the fare at all. You can either fill out those forms when you get back home, or you can call the Taxi Authority (702) 668-4005 when you arrive at the Stratosphere. They'll tell you to wait while they send a police officer. Or you can threaten the driver with the Taxi Authority and offer the opportunity for a free ride in exchange for not calling them.

 

[nostresshere]

We come over from Scotland annually, in January we will be staying at the Stratosphere, in a suite, courtesy of a friend winning a significant amount on the lottery. Originally we booked a flights and basic room package but our friend kindly gave us the money, in dollars, to upgrade.

Looking online, we could only find one contact email address, which failed to work, so we phoned the Strat, were given a quote for nearly $2500, which is a considerable amount for accommodation for low rollers like us and volunteered to pay by credit card there and then, only to be informed they couldn't accept payment, nor send us an email to confirm the price.

We phoned back as we are concerned that we will turn up and be faced with a much higher bill, only to be again informed that the hotel will not send us an email and if we were really determined to pay upfront that the only way they would accept this is if we write, including copies of our passport, driving licence and credit card!!!

As things stand, we only have the first name of the receptionist we spoke to on the call and understandably this isn't at all reassuring.

Should we just stop worrying, or is the real reason the hotel are being difficult is that they hope the strength of the dollar will rise between now and our check-in and they hope to justify a price increase by using that as an excuse to screw more money out of us? Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[nostresshere]

Okay, it appears you have a package deal and the hotel is not going to do anything to help. Your Travel Agent is probably not going to be much help.

Yes, booking direct with hotel is the best deal, but you CAN NOT CALL THEM AFTER you have booked with someone else and change stuff.

I know it is normal for folks from UK to book a package deal, but you have almost no flexibility once you have done that.

Stop wasting your time trying to deal with the Strat. It is not worth it.

A suggestion - check on getting another better hotel (maybe Cosmo) for the 2nd half of your trip. Screw the room at strat - just leave early.

Repeat, you are wasting your time trying to deal with the Strat for an upgrade.

 

[PsyDoc]

I agree - the Stratosphere is not worth the hassle. For the same money you can get suites at much nicer hotels.