Southwest Airlines Community

I don’t know if this will help anyone, but here is the email I sent to the Southwest Concierge following my recent two travel hotel experiences booked through them. I’ve removed hotel and airport names. No reply yet.: Unfortunately I have bad news to relate. I was really unsatisfied with my experience at your hotel, near my home Airport which I booked through you. The room was old and not upgraded at all. The bed was queen size, not king as I had booked and it was uncomfortable. There was nowhere to plug/charge phones and devices at the bedside which I really depend on when I’m traveling. I had to pull the entire queen bed out from the wall to find a tiny power cord coming up through the center floor where I could detach one of the bedside lamps to plug in! The fixtures were old. The light switch near the door did not work, so I had to find my way in the dark to a standing lamp to get light enough to see and get settled in. I usually like to leave a light on in the bathroom at night so I can see my way, however the bathroom switches were motion activated and timed to automatically turn off. There were old toothpaste drippings on the closet door near the bathroom. There were dings in paint everywhere. The nightstand lamp cords were bundled under a plastic cover which was bent out of shape. Nothing about the room warranted the extraordinarily high overnight room rate. I questioned the actual cleanliness of the room and bathroom. I had to pay $20 per day for parking during my trip- and had I known that in advance I would never have booked this hotel. Additionally, when my return flight was delayed and I called to notify the hotel that this would put me past the allotted parking time at midnight, I was initially told that my car would be towed by the time I got there. I had to haggle to get the front desk person to handle it! When I finally did arrive at the San Jose airport and called the front desk at the hotel, at first the desk person told me he would call for an Uber on my behalf. However he then changed this and told me he was going to call a cab for me and that the driver would personally call me. So I had to walk with my luggage all the way from pickup station 10 to station 1- this is a long walk late at night in the cold. The driver never called me and I waited for a long time. Finally I was called by a coordinator at the cab company who I really had trouble understanding because of his thick accent- this made him upset and rude. He asked if there were any cabs there and I told him no, the pick up station was deserted. Cabs came and I asked around and every driver from every company said that yes they were the cab my hotel had sent. But other people were asking the same questions and told the same answers, so it was a free for all. I was finally able to jump into a cab who also had another person get in with me. The driver took her to her hotel first and she had to pay him. He took me finally to my hotel, where I too had to pay him! This and the other hotel I booked through you earlier in the month, are advertising that they have free airport shuttles, but they do not. The other hotel I stayed at through Southwest Concierge advertised the same thing, and they too do not have “airport shuttles,” they call Ubers and Cabs (at least that hotel paid the drivers!)- to me, this is very deceptive and unreliable! I’m very upset about having to pay $20 per day for parking and an additional $20 for the cab for the short distance from the airport back to the hotel. I’ll never stay at another one of these hotels when I travel. To be honest, I’m undecided whether or not I can trust the Southwest Concierge to place me in safe quality airport hotels at reasonable rates with honest-to-goodness free airport shuttles and free parking.  ... View more

@Anniechadwick wrote: @TheMiddleSeat you may be right. Frustrated though because it’s not just about advertising- it’s the partnership where points are offered, etc.  If SWA chooses to so closely align with this group. they need to be accountable for how they treat their customers who are purchasing based on their trust in SWA. I disagree, I don't see it as an endorsement, but rather the best financial agreement for Southwest.  Points are offered for lots of things, including eating at my local Jack in the Box, and I don't see any responsibility on Southwest to ensure I have a good meal.   At least we agree booking.com is not a good place to book hotels.   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

Duplicate post:   https://community.southwest.com/t5/Travel-Policies/Avoid-Southwest-Hotel-booking-system/m-p/156314/highlight/true#M20831   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more