Comments on: Blocked from checking in – but charged anyway http://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/blocked-from-checking-in-but-charged-anyway/ Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's site. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kathleen http://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/blocked-from-checking-in-but-charged-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-37703 Kathleen Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:32:01 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=7920#comment-37703 If the police blockade was not created for criminal justice reasons, wouldn't the hotel and other residents of the street been notified. Shouldn't the hotel then inform its soon-to-arrive guests that access by car and with luggage would be difficult. Whatever the reason for the blocade, couldn't the hotel have organized parking for guests and had bellmen with rolling carts available to fetch luggage? Wouldn't anybody manage a hotel develop a strategy to cope with the situation other than just keeping the money? New Orleans is a big tourist town -- it just seems strange that a source of revenue like tourism would be so totally disregarded by the police or the hotel--is there more to this story? If the police blockade was not created for criminal justice reasons, wouldn’t the hotel and other residents of the street been notified. Shouldn’t the hotel then inform its soon-to-arrive guests that access by car and with luggage would be difficult.

Whatever the reason for the blocade, couldn’t the hotel have organized parking for guests and had bellmen with rolling carts available to fetch luggage? Wouldn’t anybody manage a hotel develop a strategy to cope with the situation other than just keeping the money?

New Orleans is a big tourist town — it just seems strange that a source of revenue like tourism would be so totally disregarded by the police or the hotel–is there more to this story?

]]> By: Lisa S http://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/blocked-from-checking-in-but-charged-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-22707 Lisa S Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:56:08 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=7920#comment-22707 @Bob: thanks for the information. It seems the NOPD ought to inform business affected by blockades that this is going to happen so that alternative arrangements for guests/clients can be made. @Bob: thanks for the information. It seems the NOPD ought to inform business affected by blockades that this is going to happen so that alternative arrangements for guests/clients can be made.

]]> By: Bob http://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/blocked-from-checking-in-but-charged-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-22687 Bob Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:45:42 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=7920#comment-22687 I ran into a New Orleans police blockade at a hotel in 1980. A business organization I belonged to (rather a fun bunch) had scheduled a meeting there during the run-up to Mardi Gras. When I went to check out of the meeting hotel, one of the Mardi Gras "krewes" had reserved the street to assemble a parade, so there was no traffic in or out, and the hotel wasn't running their free airport shuttle. I could have gotten a cab by carrying my luggage a few blocks, but I didn't have enough cash for it, the hotel wouldn't cash a check because I didn't have an AmEx, and this was in the era before ATMs and cabs that took credit cards. So I missed my flight home. @Lisa S: In my case, foot traffic wasn't restricted at all. That may or may not have been the case with Mr. Medina's situation. Even if he could walk to the hotel, it's also not clear to me whether he could have reasonably parked his car elsewhere and carried his luggage to the hotel. Street parking, even temporarily, isn't really an option in the French Quarter. Google Maps shows several commercial parking lots/garages within a few blocks of his hotel, but perhaps they're filled up by monthly arrangements - not being a New Orleans local, I couldn't say, but that's the case in some lots in San Francisco where I am a local. I ran into a New Orleans police blockade at a hotel in 1980. A business organization I belonged to (rather a fun bunch) had scheduled a meeting there during the run-up to Mardi Gras. When I went to check out of the meeting hotel, one of the Mardi Gras “krewes” had reserved the street to assemble a parade, so there was no traffic in or out, and the hotel wasn’t running their free airport shuttle. I could have gotten a cab by carrying my luggage a few blocks, but I didn’t have enough cash for it, the hotel wouldn’t cash a check because I didn’t have an AmEx, and this was in the era before ATMs and cabs that took credit cards. So I missed my flight home.

@Lisa S: In my case, foot traffic wasn’t restricted at all. That may or may not have been the case with Mr. Medina’s situation.

Even if he could walk to the hotel, it’s also not clear to me whether he could have reasonably parked his car elsewhere and carried his luggage to the hotel. Street parking, even temporarily, isn’t really an option in the French Quarter. Google Maps shows several commercial parking lots/garages within a few blocks of his hotel, but perhaps they’re filled up by monthly arrangements – not being a New Orleans local, I couldn’t say, but that’s the case in some lots in San Francisco where I am a local.

]]> By: Lisa S http://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/blocked-from-checking-in-but-charged-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-22680 Lisa S Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=7920#comment-22680 Just a little curious about police blockades: Did the police blockade trap all the people inside the hotel as well as prevent people from reaching the hotel? Given that we like to say America is a free country, can people's movement legally be restricted for 12 or 24 hours? I know that the government might restrict movement in the case of riots, but I haven't heard of any political uprising in New Orleans in the last couple of years. Aren't there other Holiday Inn hotels in New Orleans to which this person could have been directed while the blockade was in force? Seems like the manager and Holiday Inn could have said that while they had no control over the police department blockading the area, they could make sure that their guest was able to check into a hotel, say the Holiday Inn Express that is one block from the French Quarter. It might not have been the hotel the guest really wanted, but it would have been a very courteous, hospitable offer--and maybe they could have knocked a few dollars off the price. Of course, I don't know the ins and outs of the hotel industry, and perhaps the hotels have different owners and are in direct competition or maybe there weren't any rooms available. It just seems that neither this particular hotel nor Holiday Inn Central were very proactive when it learned a guest couldn't get to the hotel, yet the hotel was very reluctant to give up the revenue. Just a little curious about police blockades: Did the police blockade trap all the people inside the hotel as well as prevent people from reaching the hotel? Given that we like to say America is a free country, can people’s movement legally be restricted for 12 or 24 hours? I know that the government might restrict movement in the case of riots, but I haven’t heard of any political uprising in New Orleans in the last couple of years. Aren’t there other Holiday Inn hotels in New Orleans to which this person could have been directed while the blockade was in force? Seems like the manager and Holiday Inn could have said that while they had no control over the police department blockading the area, they could make sure that their guest was able to check into a hotel, say the Holiday Inn Express that is one block from the French Quarter. It might not have been the hotel the guest really wanted, but it would have been a very courteous, hospitable offer–and maybe they could have knocked a few dollars off the price. Of course, I don’t know the ins and outs of the hotel industry, and perhaps the hotels have different owners and are in direct competition or maybe there weren’t any rooms available. It just seems that neither this particular hotel nor Holiday Inn Central were very proactive when it learned a guest couldn’t get to the hotel, yet the hotel was very reluctant to give up the revenue.

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