Country Inn Motel, Palo Alto

ROOM GONE! After making reservations 4 ½ MONTHS in advance for a 4 night stay for the Stanford graduation weekend and CONFIRMING again 5 days before our reservation date, John (the owner) said everything was fine. At about 9 PM, Friday June 10th and 30 minutes before our arrival, we called from our car to let him know we were almost there. To our shock John fumbled around for a moment and then said there had been an emergency, our room was unavailable due to construction, he was very sorry, but our room was unavailable and wasn’t ready. No motel owner in his or her right mind would be under construction during the busiest weekend of the year. All rooms in Palo Alto under $250.00 were booked months in advance. Most hotels had no rooms left regardless of the price. Where were we supposed to go now? He suggested the Aria next door. Luckily they had a suite left because it was more expensive than the other rooms. We took it anyway and were grateful we didn’t have to sleep in the car. We’re convinced he was impatient with our late arrival and gave our room to someone else. This was beyond thoughtless, inconsiderate and poor business practice; it was cruel.