Garner Hotel Brookings by IHG — Hotel in Aurora Township

This was the worst experience we have ever had in booking a holiday! |We have been holidaying all over the world, and booked with lots of Travel Agencies, and online sites as well, but never had the problems we experienced by booking with Expedia .com.au ? |My wife wanted to go to Wallaroo for a two night stay, ( normally I use Booking.com, and never had a problem!) I tried to book with Expedia, and when I did not receive a reply email, I thought I must have not done it correctly. Over the next couple of days I kept going into their website looking for confirmation of our booking, there was nothing listed, and even under my account I could not find any details of booking, payments holidays, etc? |I contacted the hotel because we had decided to cancel, as it did not seem right? The hotel people told me that I had to go back to Expedia to make any changes, as I had booked through them? I did so, and eventually got to talk to a girl there, ( who I could hardly understand, her English was not very good) and after arguing back, and forwards, she said I had to talk to the hotel! I explained that I had already done so, and wanted to cancel, she asked me for the booking, and confirmation number, I informed her that I never had an email back from them with those details, and she said she could do nothing without them? Well, over the next few days, I kept trying to cancel, and kept trying to get back into their website, (which is very difficult to negotiate) and I had an online chat with a young man, and explained the situation to him, and he said "well that is not right at all" and I hoped I might be getting some sense from someone at last! The trouble was he asked me to do a 'screen-shot' of my payment, I don't know how to do that, and asked him how to, so when I was trying to do it, the line chat 'timed-out' and my chat was cut off? As I could not see any booking listed or payment made in my account, I presumed that I had not done it correctly until I had a text message advising me how to get into the hotel in Wallaroo? I checked my bank statement then, and saw that the hotel had drawn $421-76 out for the booking, and we did not go? I have since tried several times getting some sense from somebody at Expedia, but it is like trying to win the lottery? I contacted the hotel again, and explained the situation to them, and they said that they had an email from Expedia two days after I had booked it with all my details, email address, home address, phone number, booking number, and confirmation number, --- why did Expedia not send me an email to confirm with booking details, and confirmation number, and then I would have at least been able to cancel before I was charged??? |This was my worst ever experience in travelling for over 40 years.|Now, at 84 years of age, and living solely on the pension, I do not like the fact that I have to forgo that money because of Expedia's...

We were charged over 40% more on the base room rate than what we were told our rate would be when checking in. When the front desk staff was questioned on this, we were told there was no way that the rate we were quoted, could be correct. However, she could not find the group contract in the group book to verify either rate. She questioned the name of the person who checked us in, but I could not recall. (I assume they have employee logs they could check?) When pressed, she agreed to try contacting a manager via phone. A message was left. We were told that if they decided to do something about it, they would call us. Everyone in our party was charged the standard rate for their rooms, they also charged the bride and groom full price although they were told when originally booking that their room would be free if they did a block of rooms. The hotel was at max capacity, and when we checked in there were many people waiting to get into their rooms although it was well past standard check in time. I did some searching regarding base rates at this hotel for the upcoming weekends to see what the standard rates are. This upcoming weekend is booked, and the rates for the following weekend are similar to what we were quoted and told our rate would be upon checking in. So, I am a bit puzzled to why we were told their rates are never that low. I think they lost our file, and just used regular almost booked, high season rates to charge the rooms. The customer service was terrible. By the way, if you want to view the terms and conditions on the review form, do it prior to writing your review, as once you peruse the t&c and come back to submit the review all the info plugged in is gone, and you will need to re write the review. I almost didn't rewrite it, but thought this was important...

I am an IHG Rewards member and my company uses these services for lodging frequently. Arriving at the hotel we were greeted by a young woman that did not acknowledge or seem to care about members of hotel as the customer service was less than adequate. Upon entering the hotel room, the stench of a recently used bathroom filled the space. Pieces of hair were strewn about the toilet, shower and whirlpool tub. The trash was already filled with garbage upon arrival. We then went to the front desk to inform them of our room condition. The young woman's response was an uninterested, "sorry." As if those reasons were not enough, we attended the free breakfast in the morning. We were told it closed at 10:00am. We arrived in the breakfast area at 9:15am and every tray was empty, with the exception of a few pieces of bread and a handful of small muffins left over. We again spoke with the front desk that replied, "we start taking down breakfast at 9:30am." That's 30 minutes earlier than we were informed, as we were told 10am is when the breakfast closes. Another guest in the lobby spoke up and said, "it's [the breakfast selection] looked like this since 8:30." Meaning that the breakfast area looked that way even 45 minutes before we arrived there, and 1 1/2 hours before they told us they would stop serving breakfast.

I don't expect too much from a hotel, but I do expect that the hotel my company uses should be courteous, clean, and reliable. I expect all the things Holiday Inn Express offers to be there and available, especially when told they will be. This has been a let down and I recommend skipping the Holiday Inn Express...