A little disappointed about PBH

[E.Jane]

I just phoned the hotel this morning and asked to speak to someone in guest services. Took 5 minutes for them to put me through to someone at the front desk - she made it sound like "guest services" was something totally unheard of. When I finally spoke to someone, I told him I realized there could be no guarantees, but would appreciate it if we could be assigned to a room with a balcony. He told me only 3 deluxe rooms have balconies and the chances of getting one were very, very slim. He plugged my request into the computer, but left me with the distinct impression that I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting one. Oh well, we'll have to wait and see.

I finally got my Loews card in the mail. It says upgrade (if available) at time of reservation, so I mentioned it to him. He "snorted" at me and said upgrades are only given out at check-in. Both the web site and the brochure that came with the card say "at time of reservation" when you're using your Loews card for the first time. It's not that I can't understand why they wait until check-in, but why publish one thing and practice another?

I'm just a little disappointed at how I felt by the time I hung up - like it was silly of me to have even phoned.

 

[PartyofSix]

I'm sorry to hear your disappointing call. It does say that you can request an upgrade at the time of the booking but it's based on availablity at check in. As for your balcony, I can't remember your dates, but call back 30 days before your trip and ask again. There are more deluxes with balconys than three. I know of six from just my stays there. two facing the villa pools and 4 facing the beach pools that are deluxe villa rooms. Also they are looking at making the 5th floor the club level if that interest you. They don't have dates of the club level opening but you should ask when you make calls. I'm not sure who you talk to in guest services, there are james, jeff, billy, candice that i have spoken to and all of them are very wonderful about noting your request. Just remember right now they are noting the request but keep your chin up and call call call again that's what they are paid to do is take down guest request.

 

[E.Jane]

I hadn't heard they were thinking about a club floor. That's something to think about!

Also, was "guest services" the right department to have asked for, or should I be asking for something else when phoning with a room request? Like I mentioned, the woman who answered the phones made made it sound like there was no such thing as "guest services" and put me through to the front desk instead.

Thanks!

 

[PartyofSix]

I have gotten that reaction by the operator as well, just persist to you get guest services. When you call how bout ask for Candice in guest services that may help you our or ask for Jeff in guest services.LOL Jeff Pitz is very nice and helpful. He helped us on NYE night when it started to pour I called him from the lobby phone and he check the radar and came out to greet us and give us the info and since all the resturants at the hotel were book he made helpful suggests to us and even called the HR to see if the Palm had any ressie's left using his advise we were able to get into del toria and be seated in minutes. I guess we got lucky on that maybe somebody canceled out because of the weather. You will love this place I still can say that with a smile.

 

[webray]

Looking for guest services..you must be a frequent disney visitor.

Loews hotels offers the concierge desk...to all guests while you are at the hotel...for helping you. The reservationist or front desk person can put in your requests. If you really want a balcony room, the best thing would be to check in early...before the rush if possible.

The Portofino is a wonderful resort...you will love it with our without a balcony.

 

[PartyofSix]

Webray just to fyi PBH does have a guest services staff as well. They sit behind the front desk in that area and are there to help with request and questions. I have never had any luck getting help from there front desk. I think guest services are open till 10 or 11 p.m.

 

[damo]

I also contacted Guest Services through the front desk at Royal Pacific and they helped with my room request.

 

[Robinrs]

I call guest services for EVERY hotel I go to, no matter where I am. If they do not have a dept specifically for that they send you to whoever it is that handles it, may it be the front desk or the concierge.

 

[E.Jane]

From bad to worse....then great again!

Ok, I've put the balcony issue aside, and phoned once again to try and get the entertainment rate for 3 nights out of our 7 night stay. You can imagine my reaction when the woman said, "hmm...the first two nights were cancelled". Ok...take a DEEP breath....

I asked immediately for someone in Special Services. Yes, that's different than Guest Services, and unfortunately, I know about this department from another mix up. It seems the mix up came from accounting, who had been debiting and crediting my card when they were apparently bored one day, and being a Canadian, I lost $20 on every debit/credit they made. Anyway, I got half way through my ranting when the woman said "ok, enough. I'm cancelling this whole mess, booking you for 7 nights in a deluxe room, all at the entertianment rate". She emailed accounting to tell them to retain what I've paid already, and arranged for a faxed confirmation. No way I'm getting on a plane now without that in my hand!

Although I am very appreciative of the deal, I now understand why people use travel agents or book packaged deals!

 

[PartyofSix]

Did you happen to speak to candice or francis? They are wonderful. I'm so happy things worked out for you the holidays had guest services slammed!

 

[E.Jane]

I didn't talk to anyone at the hotel. I phoned central reservations and asked for special services. It's a whole different operation than the guest services at the specific hotels.

 

[nhrenee]

Hi E.Jane,

I'm not sure how big the balconies are for a deluxe room but with one of our kidsuites (4th floor, west wing) we had a balcony. It was only a "standing" one, no room for tables or chairs. I don't know what your expectations are and don't want you to be dissapointed. It's too bad you're having trouble already because the people at the hotel itself are wonderful!

 

[E.Jane]

Someone please calm me down....

I just checked my visa bill online. 4 new entries from universal after their reassurance that it wouldn't happen again. I had already paid for 5 nights and asked them to retain everything already paid. Now, they've refunded 3 nights and charged me one more night. I'm at the point where I no longer know for sure what's been paid, because with the exchange rates, no two numbers are ever the same. I'm furious. I tried phoning again and speaking to the lady in special services that I talked to last week but she's not there today. I'm afraid to talk to anyone else in case they cancel my reservation again. I'm afraid to show up and discover I have no room. I have no idea what bill they'll present me with when I check-out because their accounting department is obviously not the swiftest and I have no doubt that there will be some screw up when I go to settle my final bill.

I'm sorry, I'm ranting, but I am so discouraged by what should have been a relatively simple accounting procedure. Not to mention I'm now about $150 down because of all this crediting and debiting.

 

[paulakim]

The storm before the "calm"!

The same thing happened to us. When I called to confirm our reservations 2 weeks before our trip I was informed that 4 of our seven nights were canceled. As you could imagine I was very upset also. I hadn't canceled anything. She said that because we had a rate change during our stay the computer thought we had double booked and it was accidently canceled even though we had to put down a deposit for 2 nights. Anyway they more than made up for the mistake as we were guaranteed an upgrade to the club floor. However, I was still nervous and had nightmears that we wouldn't have a room when we got there after driving for 18 hours. When we arrived our room was ready (for 7 nights) on the club floor along with a bottle of wine, and some cookies for the kids. At check out everything went smoothly. The bill was correct (I was nervous about this also), except for a bottle of water that I hid in the closet so the kids wouldn't drink it, (they took it off the bill immediatly) and we still haven't been charged for parking and this was in Nov. I hope your stay turns out to be as nice and "calm" as ours was and you can somehow get your $150. refunded. I would try to call and speak to the hotel management and don't forget to have your confirmation letter in hand at check in.

Have a great time! paula

 

[ariel53098]

So if I were to call PBH to clarify a detail about our reservation and to request a specific area if possible, who would I ask for?
I thought Guest Services, but now I’m confused and I’d like to make sure I talk to the right people.
Thanks!

 

[damo]

So if I were to call PBH to clarify a detail about our reservation and to request a specific area if possible, who would I ask for?
I thought Guest Services, but now I’m confused and I’d like to make sure I talk to the right people.
Thanks!

Woah, this thread is 15 years old!!!! You can ask for the room controller. That is the person who assigns rooms.

 

[ariel53098]

Yeah I realized that after I asked. I didn’t think a thread that was less than 10 down on the first page would be old enough that I would need to check the date. Lesson learned!
Thanks for the info!

 

[kevdad]

Woah, this thread is 15 years old!!!! You can ask for the room controller. That is the person who assigns rooms.

And, woah, you were here 15 years ago giving advice! Bravo and thank you!

 

[macraven]

It’s rare that a 15 year old thread gets life here

But still an interesting read
And makes me feel old........as I recognized some of the poster names

 

[bumbershoot]

I didn’t think a thread that was less than 10 down on the first page would be old enough that I would need to check the date. Lesson learned!

If it was only ten down then I would guess some sort of spammer had replied to it earlier, which bumped it up for you to see it, but by the time you got to it the spam had been deleted.