Hotel Astor

HU YEN CHANG ( زوج شاب وشابة / زوجين),

I have had a very bad experience with Hotel Astor at Munich. Just want to share with all so that everybody will take note when booking hotels online. Please verify ALL DETAILS with the hotel before you confirm your booking or provide your credit card details for payment. On July 31 2010, I have booked a double room for a 1 night stay (18 Aug 2010) in Hotel Astor via [Booking.com], on the terms that this is a 4-star hotel with air-conditioning facilities. However, when I arrived (with my girlfriend) at Hotel Astor on 18 August at 10:30PM, tired after a late train ride, we were presented with a room with no air-conditioning. Room 610. And we were taken to ANOTHER building though the fire escape passage to the room. This room, together with room 609, were not together with the other rooms, and we had to go though many doorways to get to it. We were really not happy given that the room did not tally with our reservation (no air-conditioning) and that it was in another building. We told the gentleman at the reception that we wanted a change of room but was told that the hotel was full and that were no other available rooms. He went on to tell us that it was his first day at work, which I was amazed then at the ease he led us to the 'hidden' rooms at level 6. Although tired and it was very late in the night, I decided to try my luck to look for another hotel in the vicinity. And we told the gentleman at the reception that we are not accepting the room because it does not comply with our reservation. We managed to find one in the same street, though we had to pay a higher price, but THERE WAS AIR-CONDITIONING though a 3-star hotel. We came back to Hotel Astor to collect our baggage, returned the key to the gentleman and told him that because the room does not tally with what we booked, we are rejecting the room and do not expect to be charged for the room. He told us he was very sorry that the room did not meet our expectations and that he had no other available room for us. And goodbye. We rejected the room because contractually, the room did not meet the facilities indicted for Hotel Astor on Booking.com where we booked the room. We were already very angry that we actually had to go look for another room in the middle of the night after a long train ride, the last thing we expect is to be charged for the room we rejected. I was astounded to find a charge of 79 EUR from Hotel Astor in my credit card bill. I wrote to Hotel Astor to explain that I did not reject a good room to go seek a another hotel with a lower price, but that we were forced to go seek a room on a hot summer night after a long tired train ride because the hotel did not provide the room as what we booked for. And a refund. We did not hear from the hotel UNTIL we wrote to BOOKING.COM to complain and seek assistance. Not only did they refuse, to give a full refund, this is what they answered, 5 days later: “you have booked a double room via booking.com for one night 18. August 2010. I'm very sorry, that you were not satisfied with our new renovated room with separate bedroom and living room and a big balkony. The room is one of our biggest rooms and is located on the 6. floor, which is much more quiet as first or second floor. In Germany it is not a precondition for four star hotel to have air condition in the guestrooms. There is also no information in booking.com, that we have a aircondition in the guestroom. The information, which yor have red says, that we have air condition in the hotel, means restaurant, breakfastroom.. , but there is no information about air condition in the room. I have also talked with bookings.com and they have confirmed me, that we don't have any false information on our side. You arrived after 10:00 pm and we had no possibility to sell the room in the night for somebody else.” And they offered 20% refund. And did I mention, they removed the “air-conditioning” tag from their website on booking.com. We can still see this indication of air-conditioning on other booking websites for Hotel Astor, Munich. (I’m sure if this tag should have been removed by now). This is a case of misrepresentation of information. It is ridiculous to state air-conditioning in the hotel and expect the guests/potential guests to understand that the air-conditioning is only in the restaurant, bar... but NOT in the rooms, which they are paying for. If the hotel is losing one room, one night’s revenue because of its own misrepresentation of information, how can you expect the customer to pay for it? 20% is not satisfactory. I did not cancel my hotel booking. I rejected a room that did not meet the contractual terms. In addition, the manager on duty has agreed NOT to charge us for the room. Upon receiving our rejection of the 20%, this is their reply: “we haven't made any mistake. You did book the room over booking.com and there was no information about aircondition in the room. We do not wate our customers to pay for something else, as what they have booked. In this case, we haven't made any mistake...” Hope this serves as a warning to all who books hotels online. Please verify ALL DETAILS with the hotel before you confirm your booking or provide your credit card details for payment.

• NO air-condition in room (although they have claim it is state on the website with air-conditioning facility) Charge for Room although agreed not to! Room another building accessing thru fire exit!