Reservations not reliable
I am in Los Angeles for several months with of my daughter who is being treated for breast cancer. My husband back in Sacramento came to visit last weekend. Since the her apartment is small I decided to rent a room for him at the hotel about three blocks away. I called early in the week and made the reservation for Saturday night.
Wednesday morning about 1:30 there was an earthquake northeast of LA. We learned about it on the morning news the next day. Thursday afternoon the hotel called the number I had given them (my cell phone, with a Sacramento area code) and told me that, since the hotel had sustained damage to several rooms, they would not be able to honor my reservation for that Saturday. I told the person on the phone that I was just across the street and that the earthquake had no impact on this neighborhood, the pictures on the wall weren't even skewed. The gentleman on the phone (who seemed to have trouble understanding me) reiterated that there was damage and that they were trying to get it fixed "sorry", then hung up. The other hotels in the area were booked.
I walked across the street and they were facing a very angry woman. I was given to a person who appeared to be the owner who again told me that there had been damage, guests had been frightened and had "all come into the lobby, and I have been here since 2:30 this morning", and that the last several reservations had been canceled. I insisted on seeing some damage and she took me into an occupied room and showed me a hole -- not a crack -- in the window that looked like it was made by a projectile. I explained that I still did not believe her and I was very angry and planned to take some sort of action.
They called late Friday and said that they could accommodate us after all. We declined the room. We felt uncomfortable at the prospect of staying there. There are two possibilities. (1) They had a chance for a better booking and didn't particularly mind bumping us. Their ethics are somewhat flexible. They would also have been wiser to plead a plumbing emergency or something like that. (2) They were telling the truth, with damage sustained and guests frightened in a very tiny earthquake. I wouldn't want to be staying there if there was any sort of real earthquake. I should think my life would be in danger.