My Bangkok Hotel Offers Compromise

[Lucky]

So I had a nice hotel booked in Bangkok on Priceline. Because these are not cancelable, I bought the insurance Priceline offers, only to find it does not cover cancellations due to airline mechanical problems causing the flight itself to be canceled.

I called Priceline, and although she was eager to call and cancel the reservation for me, (no doubt because then Priceline gets to keep all of the money) she also told me that the hotel could, at its choice, rebook my reservation for the new dates and I would not lose the money. She emphasized that his was the hotel's discretion.

When I spoke with the hotel, they at first were eager to rebook me, except now the last night of the new stay would be unavailable as they were booked, and the King room they had reserved for me would not be available for the last 3 nights if I stayed. It would be a twin. She then started to claim that Priceline would not let them rebook me after all.

SO, hours later, I get an email offering from the hotel to let me keep the last two nights of my prepaid stay, no longer a King but a twin, and I would then forfeit the first three nights I had paid for. One who has traveled to Bangkok knows the first night is often a check-in at 2 a.m., giving you about ten hours in the hotel.

The hotel then said that additional deposits and penalties had yet to be determined, but I would be notified of them. So, my 5 night stay is reduced to 34 hours, with penalties yet to come.

I also bought Trip coverage on Delta. All of my expenses for the delay, including the hotel, would be covered, except that Delta's insurer limited the amount to $500. The hotel alone is over $600.

So, right now I am back at home, writing this at the exact moment I should be landing in Bangkok. My temptation is to just stay here, although I am rebooked out for Monday.

[Guest Hoover42]

Sorry to hear about your botched trip, Lucky. I hope you still go anyway. It would be a shame to throw away the entire vacation baby with the hotel bathwater.

For my last three trips to Europe (2009, 2007, and 2006), I didn't make hotel reservations at all, I just bought tickets for my RT flight and then found a hotel once I got to where I was going. It never took more than a few hours after landing to find a good hotel at a decent rate.

Never having been to Asia, I can't say whether that strategy would work there--perhaps it's too risky, or not allowed by some visas--but it's something to think about.

[Lucky]

Thanks, Hoover. In going to Thailand, it's best to have a hotel on arrival as the planes from the US get in very late, such as midnight. After customs and the taxi, it's about 2 am when you arrive in the city. Even then the Holiday Inn Silom once told me my room was not ready! It should have been ready at 3 pm the previous day.

[lookin]

Sorry to hear of all the turbulence before you even got off the ground. Especially the insurers. I'd be tempted to ask them for a copy of their disclosure policy on exclusions so you can forward it to the state insurance commissioner. Maybe they'll send you a check instead.

As to the delay itself, it may well be for the best. You may cross paths with someone you'd have missed otherwise. The weather may be nicer. Your original king-size bed may have had bugs. Often these things happen for a reason, or so I've come to believe.

A few months ago, a friend of mine was walking to his watering hole, along his usual route, when he came upon a huge tree lying across the sidewalk. It had fallen two minutes before. He was running a bit late that morning and, had he been on time, he'd never have arrived at all.

I hope you will look back on this experience in a few days and smile as a new friend welcomes you as his first client and soothes you with sweet-scented oil everywhere that needs it.

[Lucky]

I hope that boy's dick gets harder each minute he massages me! The bf has been ill, so it is good that I was here to look after him. This evening he is recovering, just in time for my Monday departure. No word yet from the hotel.

You are no doubt right. Things happen for a reason. I may have completely different experiences. Also, the kid in the row next to me on the canceled flight was a screamer. On the next flight, I am in an aisle seat in an exit row. So there's improvement already.