A few weeks ago, Marjorie and I decided to go away for a weekend to cap off some vacation time. We wanted to go back to Camden, ME and try and do it inexpensively. She found a place called Bay View Aerie on HomeAway:
Looks promising! Despite the weekly rate, inexplicably shown in Canadian dollars, the nightly was only USD $99. I booked it, and received both confirmation from HomeAway and CanadaStays that my reservation had been received:
On their suggestion, I call Linda to confirm everything. Her computer is down so she can’t look anything up but suggests I call HomeAway to make sure it’s confirmed, as she’s been having problems with CanadaStays. Presumably, they are the listing agent on her behalf. I call HomeAway and am assured that my reservation is set and they have my payment and all is well.
A couple days later, I get an email saying my booking request was denied:
Well, that’s unfortunate. And this is where I step outside the “protections” of these reservation sites and assume all the risk.
I call Linda and she complains about CanadaStays and not knowing why they are having so many problems. It seems like a pretty simple process to me–take money, put people on a calendar, mark it unavailable–right? Ultimately, she tells me that she has me on her calendar. She told me “as far as I’m concerned, you’re here for that weekend.” So really, this is a tale about someone who did a terrible job managing their property and I was the one that had to deal with it.
Earlier today, the day before we’re set to head up there, Linda calls me to let me know that “somehow” she double booked until Saturday. Other people reserved a few days this week, until Saturday, via a different booking website. They paid and arrived. Linda says she’s going to try to figure it out and leads me to believe they would stay elsewhere for the final night and would call me back.
Upon calling back, she informs me that they are there until Saturday and how upset and sorry she is. I calmly rush her off the phone since all I can think about is finding a new place for at least a night. I’m back to square one, a day before a weekend trip in the peak season to a seaside destination. Most of the options by now are sold out, too far, or really expensive.
But there is a happy ending to all this. I was able to find the only room (for twice the price) at a nearby B&B. I would rather pay more elsewhere than give her my business.
In the end, this is a cautionary tale about making arrangements “off the books” in this day and age. Whatever the problem is, this property has no business being listed on HomeAway right now. I say that as the person that just got dumped because someone took reservations elsewhere and didn’t honor mine. I will certainly think twice about using HomeAway in the future.
