TH
The Harmons
Sep 27, 2026
Reservation canceled without a call, followed by poor front desk service
My family reserved four rooms at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Rochester Hills for the weekend. My room was booked separately, and I had a confirmation. When I arrived around 8:30 p.m. after traveling all day, the front desk employee greeted me with, “I’m sorry, I have some bad news for you.” He said the hotel was fully booked and had no room for me that night.
I was told there had been an issue with my credit card and that I had been re-booked at a sister property 13 miles away instead. I still don’t know what caused the card issue. When I asked why no one had called me before canceling my room, the employee said, “I don’t know, they should have.” I asked him to call the general manager. After speaking with her, he told me she would talk to me the next day. As I tried to understand what had happened, he pointed his finger at my face and yelled that it was my fault because I “did not pay” my credit card.
I made other arrangements that night, then stayed at the hotel for the following three nights with the rest of my family. I had decided to just leave it be and chalk it up to a bad day for everyone, until one morning around 6:30 am, I went to get coffee for my elderly mother. There was no cream available, and the kitchen was locked. I called for help at the front desk but received no answer. When I peeked around the corner, I found the desk employee sound asleep. She told me to knock on the kitchen door, but no one answered there either. I returned to the desk, called out again, and found her sound asleep a second time. When I said “excuse me,” she woke up, became agitated, and yelled that I was not permitted behind the desk. I explained that I was only trying to get her attention so I could ask for cream. She then went on to point at an imaginary line where the entry way is to the front desk and said, “I was forbidden beyond that line”. At this point another employee appeared, she asked him to get it, saying she was busy (clearly she was busy).
I understand that a credit card problem may need to be resolved before a room can be held. What I cannot understand is canceling a confirmed room without attempting to contact the guest, leaving them to find out on arrival, and then treating them this way when they ask for help. Both front desk encounters made an already frustrating stay much worse.