Gearhart Ocean Inn, Gearhart

This Inn has the worst customer service I have encountered. I booked our reservations with Kathleen, who I believe owns the Inn at Seaside, about a week ahead for Saturday and Sunday night. We live about an hour and a half away in Beaverton, and had heard about the tsunami evacuations at Seaside on Thursday before our trip. We left a voicemail message at the Inn, inquiring about rescheduling our stay. Kathleen called back, leaving a message saying that she had “made it to work 30 minutes earlier than normal and that everything was fine.” This seemed odd since it was all over the news that the entire city had conducted evacuations at 7AM that morning. So we called her back, confused and still concerned about actually heading out to the coast. After a long discussion, she finally acknowledged the tsunami evacuations and said that rescheduling is an option but suggested that we call back on the day that our room was booked in case everything had settled down. She reassured us that if we were still concerned, she would reschedule us. We waited until Saturday, as suggested by Kathleen, but still did not feel comfortable enough to go to the coast as the area was still on alert. We called back to reschedule, and she refused to do so even though she had assured us just a few days prior that she would “work with us to reschedule.” When we pointed out her promise to us, we received the response “well, I’m completely booked for the next two to three months out.” When we pushed, pointing out that it was not possible for the place to be booked 2 to 3 months out considering that there were still multiple rooms available when we booked our reservation only a week ago. Kathleen finally admitted, “The only thing I have open are weekdays or a Sunday/Monday.” She was not willing to work with us at all and had not only disregarded the tsunami evacuations by the city in our initial discussion (playing down the situation as if we were overreacting), but she also lied about the true state of booked rooms at her Inn. She pretty much held out for as long as possible giving us the runaround, made it as difficult as possible to reschedule, and then refused to work with us as promised or even to refund any of our money. I understand that this was a unique circumstance, but the deceitful way that it was handled is unacceptable. I would not recommend this Inn to anyone who expects courteous and honest service.