Our Groupon Nightmare,
Very long story but,
I was required to pay an additional 14% fee above and beyond my Groupon purchase when reserving a date. To make matters worse, I had only one choice of weekend available.
We arrived at 11:20 pm to check in. The complex was overly quiet and looked abandoned as if nobody was staying there.
Desk person "Colin" informed us that only one room was available for us even though our confirmation was for a different, much more desirable room (201).
We journeyed up to room 336 (back of the building) and was surprised to be greeted by a room that stunk of smoke the moment that we opened the door. After less than a minute my date was congested due to her smoke allergy and therefore we ventured back down to the front desk.
Once there, Colin, again reinforced to us that "this is all that we have for you..."
After a few minutes of us politely asking to speak to a manager he mysteriously was able to locate another vacant room. This was room 129.
We arrived in room 129, which was the last room at the end of the complex. Very cold and not at all inviting. No sooner did we close the door we were alarmed by the disturbing noise of the underground parkade security door opening directly below us. The only thing that I have heard that parallels this sound is sitting directly above the landing gear in an airplane when it is being activated.
Rather than call down, we made another trip down to Colin at the front desk.
Again, he insisted this time, " this is the only room left this weekend, you better take it. "
We looked at the time realizing that it was now 12:15 am (55 minutes) after first arriving.
Again, I politely asked to speak to a manager. At this stage, Colin phones "David" who echoed the same message as we had been told before. " This is the only room left this weekend, you better take it... "
Upon further discussion of wanting our money back, David asked to speak to Colin on the phone.
As they were speaking on the phone, my date pointed out to me a mouse running on the floor behind the front desk counter. I pointed this out to Colin, who proceeded to deny the obvious mouse that was there.
I again asked to be reimbursed for the cost of my prepaid stay and was denied.
All of a sudden, Colin announces that he found another room. Room 214.
We go up to room 214 and find red ants on the floor in the kitchen. I immediately walk into the bedroom and draw the sheets back to find 3 red ants running to safety in the bed sheets.
It is now 12:55 am (95 minutes after arriving) and we still do not have a room to stay in for the weekend.
When we arrive back down at the front desk Colin is waiting with the phone and immediately gives me the phone to speak with David.
I explain to him that we are very dissatisfied with the appalling service, completely inappropriate and unhygienic property and demand a full refund.
David then comes back to me with an offer to upgrade into a 2 bedroom unit for $ 171 more because our "Groupon" deal was not enough.
In the end, exhausted and frustrated, we left the complex early the next morning as we had no other option at 1:20 am but to stay for the night. (2 hours after we arrived)
I left the whole experience completely embarrassed in front of my date, utterly lied to by both of the resorts staff and completely soured by the whole experience. To make matters worse, we were now forced to find and pay for another accommodation for our stay as they refused our request to refund our money.
My recommendation is that Groupon “black list” this vendor. I recommend this due to the very poor level of service and unacceptable offering for the product.
Room Tip: Stay somewhere else....
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
September 13, 2012
Thank you for taking the time to write your lengly review, it is sadens us to hear that your expectations were not met, we do try to pride ourselves on exceeding our guests experiences.
ResortQuest sincerely apologies that you felt the rooms that you were given we're not to your satisfaction, we however are a property management company and in turn all our units are privately owned, this can cause a problem with our guest as all our units are not the same style or decor. Some owners choose to invest in their unit and some don't, but Unfortunatly as we do not own the units we can't not make that desicion.
I can assure you that if we were not fully booked, we would have done everything in our power to accommodate you in the best room we could find, we do however try to be fair to our guests and our owners and work on a first come, first served rotaion basis of our units. Along with most of Whistler The Aspens is a fragmented building and in turn we do not manage all of the units, so it may not look full, but it is for us and the units we manage.
With regards to the 14% you were asked to pay on top of your groupon price,, that Unfortunatly is pretty standard with any service that you buy on groupn, but I do understand that it still may be frustrating.
ResortQuest do hope that you will some day come back and enjoy Whistler, even if it is not with us.
Warmest Regards
Emma Sanderson
Guest Servicd Manager
ResortQuest Whistler
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.