hotel FAIL

so after a long day of waking up early, driving for 4 hours, walking around the aquarium and dealing with rude children and their ruder parents, we were ready to check in to our hotel room to shower, nap, and change before our dinner reservation.  we were staying at the hyatt regency baltimore, by all definitions a lovely hotel right on the inner harbor. 

first of all, check-out is 11am.  check-in time is not until 4pm.  5 full hours for them to clean and prepare hotel rooms for incoming guests.  4pm seems like a little late for a check-in time to me.  we arrive at the hotel a little after 3pm, hoping maybe we can get in a little early.  we wait in line. and we wait. and we wait. and we wait. at about 3:30, we're told that no rooms are ready yet because they're still cleaning.  ok, that's fair.  we were early.  they went ahead and registered us and took down our cell phone number and said they would call when ready. the lobby is jam-packed with other people waiting {we should have taken this as a bad sign when we walked in} as well as a massive family reunion.  we find a teeny corner of a couch to sit and wait on.  15 minutes go by and the beau is getting restless.  i suggest we move to the hotel bar.  this calms the beau down until he finds out his beer is 8 bucks. 

at this point, it's 4:15.  still no phone call.  the beau goes downstairs to investigate.  he returns a few minutes later looking angry.  still no rooms ready and no idea when any will be and there were other people there before us.  when did hotels become first-come, first-serve? isn't that the point of a reservation?  so we have now been at the hotel for over an hour.  it's 15 minutes past check-in time.  and we have an early dinner reservation.  we're realizing that there is zero chance of a shower and nap before dinner and this makes neither of us very happy.  another 15 minutes. no phone call.  so now i start to get angry.  and start calling other hotels.  bingo! the hampton inn has one non-smoking king size bed room left and they're willing to give it to us for a steal.  i tell the sweet gal on the phone i will call her right back.

at this point it is 10 til 5.  that's right...almost 2 hours at the hotel.  no hotel room.  even though it's almost an hour past check-in time and the beau made reservations two weeks ago. we decide we are going back downstairs and they are either going to give us room keys or we are going to do everything we can to get our money back and head over to the hampton inn.  so we get in line and we wait...and we wait...and we wait.  and we overhear one of the gals working at the front desk say that they've double-booked some of the rooms.  not sure how that happens.  we finally get up to the desk to a gal who hasn't seen us yet.  we tell her our situation.  she smiles, asks our name, and hands us two room keys. and validates our parking. finally. someone who is competent.

our room is lovely.  big, comfy bed, pretty bathroom with large all-glass shower and yummy smelling bath products, etc.  unfortunately by the time we get to our room, we're already 10 minutes late for our dinner reservation. so no time to make use of the shower or bed.  awesome. 

and then when we tried to check out the next morning, all of the express check-out kiosks were broken. back in line we go.  and end up being late for breakfast with his family.  hyatt regency baltimore FAIL.

moral of the story? if you can actually get to your room, it will be quite nice.  but we were in agreement that for what the beau paid, we should have been able to get into our room anytime after check-in time.  it should have been a lot easier to check out.  and the ranch dressing that came with the midnight room service buffalo wings could have been a lot better.