My gf and I made a reservation to stay here from June 5 - 7 (and then the Bar Harbor Grand the following 2 nights) about 3 week... Read More
My gf and I made a reservation to stay here from June 5 - 7 (and then the Bar Harbor Grand the following 2 nights) about 3 weeks ago. Everything was set and we were excited for our first trip to this locale! Residing in the NYC metro area, our trip was contingent on a PenAir flight from Boston to Bar Harbor airport to avoid a 10 hour drive that was simply unmanageable for us. We already knew that this airline was slated to discontinue servicing this airport on June 30 (at which point another airline would take over the route on July 1), but you can imagine my shock when I received an email from this airline late last week (June 1) informing me, at the last second, that the Department of Transportation had prematurely shut down this airline's service to Bar Harbor Airport due to critically low staff levels. Obviously, my first reaction was to call up the airline and talk about refunds or a potential reroute with a partner airline; the latter was revealed not to be an option. The next step was to call up the car reservation company and the 2 hotels I had reservations with to cancel ASAP so as to avoid any fees. I did this immediately and had no problems with Enterprise and the Bar Harbor Grand. However, when I called up the Quimby House to inform them of the news and situation - and the fact that I had been charged for 1 night the moment I made the reservation through hotels. com weeks ago, the staff employee informed me that he would have to speak to the owners but that this clearly seemed like extenuating circumstances that were completely beyond my control and that there shouldn't be any issues. I never got any phone call or email back from the owners, so I called them up on Monday, June 4, to follow up. The woman, Dani, picked up, seemed surprised that I hadn't already been contacted, and informed me that they had decided to partially refund me half the first night's stay due to the circumstances. She seemed to think that this was OK, but I disagreed and pressed the issue that the cancellation was completely out of my hands, I had done my part to inform them as soon as I found out about it, and surely other guests would be affected as well. At the very least, I even suggested a credit for 1 night with them to be used at some point in the future when I could get there - a reasonable suggestion, I thought, to try to work with them. She declined my suggestion and said that only 1 other party had been affected and that their schedule had been "adjusted" (which means nothing since, in essence, their original reservation was cancelled last second as well, just like mine! ). I ended the call disappointed. In the meanwhile, I had received an email from them requesting me contact hotels. com to cancel since they were having trouble doing so themselves (something Bar Harbor Grand didn't seem to have an issue with). I thought this a bit much to ask during my work day, but I did so as a favor to them and to hopefully have hotels. com mediate. They completely understood my situation and contacted the hotel owner, Tim, on my behalf and worked out a deal where I would be refunded the entire amount - minus $25 administrative fee - as long as I would send him the email of cancellation from the airline as verification. I thought this was a very fair arrangement - and so I called Tim to verify and he informed me that, in fact, several people had called him with the same issue (directly contradicting what his wife told me) but that he would process my refund immediately after the phone call; in return, I promised to send him the email - which I promptly did. The phone call was a very amicable one, I thought we both clearly understood the other's plight, and I was certainly under the impression that he would hold up his end of the bargain. My original plan had been to simply dispute the remaining amount that had not been refunded with my credit card company, but after the call I decided against it b/c I genuinely felt bad for the owner in that he would undoubtedly lose $$$ throughout June as a result of the premature airline cancellation. I was willing to forfeit the $25 for that reason. I found out this morning (not even through a phone call or a direct email - but from a hotels. com message) that after our phone conversation, he had chatted with his wife and she had told him that her and I had "settled" on the $53 half refund - a complete lie - and that I would NOT receive anymore money from them. I was shocked b/c I thought we had reached a very amicable and mutual resolution to an unfortunate situation. Confused, I contacted hotels. com to have them try to mediate this situation again (especially since all their phone calls are recorded and their "Notes" had annotated the deal that was reached). I was told that there was nothing they could do at the moment b/c the owner(s)' decision was final. In essence, the owner(s) had blatantly lied to me and reneged on the deal. There is an old saying that in times of adversity and misfortune, a person's true character is revealed. Well. Tim and Dani just revealed their true character by going back on their word/promise to nickel and dime me for $28. I hope it was worth it. And I do hope that all potential guests thinking about staying here read this account to know what to expect from these owners if ever they were to encounter a situation similar to mine that was completely out of their hands and that required a late cancellation. You won't get your deposit back - no matter the circumstances - and you won't even get a credit for a night's stay in the future; instead, you'll get empty promises and reneged deals. This hotel WILL choose a couple dozen dollars over your future patronage - that is essentially the business decision they made in this case. It's a shame b/c I will visit Bar Harbor later this summer at some point. and would've chosen to stay here for a couple of nights. Not anymore. Somehow, I had no such issues with the Bar Harbor Grand (a top hotel there). and, ironically, ended up paying more with Quimby House even though my original rationale for staying here a couple of nights was to save money! In the meanwhile, I will now contact my credit card company to dispute the entire unrefunded amount. as well as the Better Business Bureau to file a formal complaint against this establishment. Read Less
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