Short story:
I had a very stressful situation checking in here two weekends ago. The front desk staff is very disorganized. I heard about 4 different stories from different staff members about getting into my reserved room - all before 10am, after a red-eye flight and 1.5hrs. of driving! The situation was eventually resolved, and the staff was very apologetic. Make SURE to get all reservation information confirmed in an E-MAIL - verbal confirmation with a reservation # is NOT enough!! As far as the hotel itself: it is clean, comfortable and quiet.
Long story:
I booked a room here for my friends' wedding where they had reserved a block of rooms at a discounted rate for their guests. I called a month in advance wanting to stay for 2 nights, a Fri. and Sat., but at that point, I was told I could only book Sat. (the night of the wedding) and there was only a King suite left. The hotel was very busy that particular weekend and the remainder of the rooms were taken. However, I was told that if I were to call back at the beginning of the next month, there would probably be cancellations and they would have a better idea if they could accommodate me for both nights. I decided to lock in the King suite for Sat. night and I made other arrangements at a different hotel for Fri. just in case. I called HIE back a few weeks later as they recommended and sure enough, more rooms had opened up and I was able to book for 2 nights. I confirmed that my reservation confirmation # was the same, my room rate was the same, and that my stay was now for two nights. Yes, yes, and yes. Fast forward to the week of my trip. I called the hotel again to put in an early check in request since I would be arriving in the morning. They confirmed the dates of my stay and although they couldn't guarantee an early check in on Fri., they had put a note on my account and told me I should call again on my arrival to NY to see if I would be able to check in. (can you see where this is going yet?) Fast forward to the Fri. morning of my arrival. I called at 6:30am before leaving from the airport. It would take approx. 1.5 hrs. to get from JFK out to Riverhead. To my shock (and horror), the front desk agent was completely baffled when I asked about an early check in - she told me I WAS NOT BOOKED for Friday night, just for Sat. and there was no record in their system of me having extended it! I gave her my reservation number and explained I had JUST called earlier in the week and my arrival date was confirmed! She told me to call back at 7am when the manager would be on duty. At 7am I called again, and asked the manager to confirm my reservation and early check in request - No problem (!!) - I was all set for arrival that day. As far as the early-check in, I should call back at 9am when the cleaning staff would be reporting to work. They could better tell me at that point if any rooms had been vacated. O.K....phew...major relief. At least I had my room! (especially since I had already cancelled the alternate hotel days before!) My husband and I stopped for breakfast while we waited until 9am. I called back around 9:05am. I was told immediately, "OK, someone just checked out of the King Suite - they're cleaning it now. Give us a half hour and you'll be able to get into the room." Again...cool - a light at the end of the tunnel. At that point I was thinking we'd have to settle for putting car seats back and snoozing in the parking lot. We arrived at about 9:50am and I reported to the front desk while my husband parked and brought in our bags. The woman working the front desk checked the computer and guess what? NO rooms had been vacated. I explained I JUST spoke to her colleague - what happened to the person I spoke to 45min. ago and the King Suite?? She said she had just started her shift and had no idea who I would have spoken to - followed by more typing in the computer, and attempting to contact the cleaning staff over the walkie talkie...still, nothing was available at that point. Then she said, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, let me just give you the Bridal Suite for the same rate".....more typing in the computer...."oh wait, I made a mistake - the bride and groom are checking in today" (This proved to be a funny story I later related to my friends who WERE the bride and groom in question!!) My husband and I were beyond frustrated and exhausted. Finally, one of the cleaning people responded saying that one of the King Suites was indeed empty and to give them time to clean it. We had no option but to do what we had done already that morning - wait some more. We FINALLY got into our room at 10:30am with many apologies and 4 free drink coupons. Luckily we had no other problems - you can be darn sure we used up those drink coupons! In closing, I truly hope their reservation system and inter-staff communication is significantly improved - I have never experienced such confusion and miscommunication like this in any other hotel or motel in 20 years of traveling.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
