If you determine your hotel is a dump... what to do?

As another said, I too do plenty of research before booking. I also assume the room being shown in the web page is their best room. That by and large the rooms will be smaller which does not matter that much to me as long as the room itself is clean. Most time spent in the room will be sleeping and cleaning up. I'm not there to lay around. Helpfull couteous clerks are wonderful. I try to avoid places that only accept cash but sometimes cannot be avoided. It is interesting when you research a place and one review says it was great then another says it was awful? Could the good review be the owner sneaking that in? Guess you just have to find a place with more than 4 reviews and go with the majority. Or put your trust in Steve!

Never be afraid to ask. We booked 2 nights in Seville at a hotel in Rick's book. The hotel and room were fine (even looked exactly like the pictures on the website), but we were given a room directly above a restaurant with outside seating, and the noise was incredible - all night (even with good earplugs). They had no other room they could give us. In the morning, we said we couldn't take it. They refunded us for both nights and apologized. I'm sure we weren't the first to complain about the noise. We ended up staying an a pretty dumpy place the next night, it was not particularly clean, but it was nice and quiet.

Well, as you said,, even if you don't pay in advance, every hotel I have been to still has your cc info,, they ask for it when you check in as a security . I haven't had a problem yet, but I figure that most hotels have a cancellation policy that would apply,, so if the policy is 2 days notice,, and you have booked for 4,, you would still have to pay for two days,, and that assumes you let them know just after check in that you will be leaving 2 days early. Of course if you have paid up front,, most of those rates stipulate they are non refundable,, so you are just out of luck. I think the best thing to do is really really do your homework,, I mean I google my hotel name and read the reviews on EVERY site i find it on,, tripadvisor.com of course,, but even booking sites like Venere etc post reader reviews. A hotel would have to have bed bugs for me to be totally shocked at what I found on arrival,, so really I think unless one has done no research one is unlikely to be totally dissappointed by what they found. BTW, i always always assume rooms are smaller then shown.

This has happened to us once in Paris and once in New York City. On both occasions I was shocked and delighted by what happened. We got our money back! In both cases, we knew we were booking in budget accomodations, and did not have high expectations. In both cases, the rooms were considerly grungier than even I (with my high grunge tolerance) could take. In New York, we called down to the desk moments after checking in, said we would stay the night but would be leaving the following morning because "something personal had come up." (Yes, technically a lie. I actually do feel guilty about that one.) The next morning, we came downstairs to find that we had already been checked out and our refund was processed! I was GOBSMACKED. In Paris, we stayed the night but were unable to talk to anyone that evening. The next morning we went downstairs with our cases, said we'd been horrified to find dried blood on the bedding - which was absolutely TRUE - and would not be staying any longer. The front desk guy processed our refund on the spot. And apologized profusely. As for why we got our money back.... who knows? Maybe the places knew they were grungy and expected bail-outs? Maybe I just look like you should give me back my money? Maybe they didn't have air-tight cancellation policies and didn't want a hassle? Or maybe, in NYC and Paris, there isn't much problem filling rooms. Could that have been it? Either which way, I am clueless as to why we had the successes, but it leads me to give this advice: you are probably SOL, given cancellation policies, etc., but you should definitely give asking for a refund a try. If you have physical evidence of disgustingness, unhygenic conditions, be prepared to explain clearly and politely what you found, and why it is unacceptable. You may be in luck!

What am I doing wrong (or right). I've stayed in 36 places in Germany/Austria over the last 10 years, and, except for one place that I booked online from their website, I'm sure I've never been required to give a CC# (and I'm not sure about the last place. They're the only place I've ever stayed that does take American CCs). One other place that I stayed at now indicates on their website that if you want to pay with a credit card, use booking.com. At his place, it is cash only. And I've never stayed in a dump.

Lee, your example proves that Germany is by and large a cash society. Outside bigger hotel chains many hosts are still not set up to accept credit cards. Things are slowly changing but your experience will remain a common one for some time to come. Not a question of right or wrong, simply one about the role of credit cards in a given society.

It really is going to depend on the hotel's cancelation policy and how management determines its application to your particular situation. Ensure you understand the rate rules along with the cancel and change policies before booking. At least you'll know in advance what you might be stuck with should you encounter the situation you described. But depending on the situation, you might have some leverage to get out of even a strict cancelation policy if you argue nicely. Still, use your best resources to book what you think is an acceptable hotel first. I'm curious to understand this "urban myth" about hotels in Germany not accepting credit cards. I don't believe I've stayed in any hotel there that didn't accept credit cards. On the other hand, an elderly couple renting out an extra room in their private home most likely won't be set-up for anything but cash. Maybe that's where this comes from...who knows?

I am not sure what sort of places you folks are staying at, but I usually stay at 2 or 3 star hotels. I have never in perhaps 100+ trips to europe over a 30 year period, for business or vacation, stayed at a hotel that would not accept credit cards. I am aware of many that give a discount for paying in cash, but they all did accept cc.

"I try to avoid places that only accept cash" I always pay cash, so it doesn't bother me if that's all they take. I've found, at least in Germany, that the most economically priced accommodations only accept cash. So if you look for places that accept CCs you're going to be paying more. After all, accepting CCs, with their discounts (4% ?) is a cost of doing business and these costs are passed on to you. So is not needing a CC for deposit just a German thing? Any hotel with 2 or more stars must take credit cards, so there must be some. Or is it a small place thing? Or maybe a small place thing only in Germany? In 2007 I wanted to stay in Burghausen, but I kept getting "booked" responses. Finally, in desperation I tried nearby Altötting. They had some sort of a central booking agency that sent me a long agreement, including when I could cancel and how much it would cost (come to think of it, I might have sent my CC# to them). I reluctantly agreed. Just before the end of the "no penalty to cancel period" I found a place in Burghausen and cancelled the Altötting booking.

This has happened to me twice. The first time was in Kerriemore, Scotland. I had booked through the TI in Arbroath and when I got to the place it wasn't a hotel, but pub that rented rooms and my room was right over the beer garden. I went out for a walk and found a room at hotel where I discovered some acquaintances were staying. I went back and told them that I had found another place with friends and I was uncomfortable about the Beer Garden. They sent me on my way. I was out the deposit but that was okay. The second time was another TI rec. I was supposed to be there for two days. I knew as soon as I got there that I was going to only stay one night and they were fine with that. So no extra charge. The motel was okay, but it looked like a motel and the breakfast was dreadful so my instincts were right on the night before. Pam

If you pay or hold a room with a credit card, and they won't refund the fee, you have the option of notifying your credit card company and telling them to decline payment. Yes, they still might pay, and yes, that gets passed on to all of us but... Unfortunately, you can't do this with a debit card. You can also tell the hotel that you will post poor review on Trip Advisor and every other website, saying what happened. Some things are livable, some things are not. I go to a B&B in London where I pay on the day I leave, but pretty much everywhere else in Europe they want payment in advance, probably for this very reason! Also, as someone else wrote, just assume all rooms are smaller than they look!

I found an apartment through a room-finding service in Budapest which required that I pay for my three nights in full up front. I was promised that I had an hour to change my mind and get my money back if I didn't like the place. Looking back, I think about how stupid and naive I was to pay cash for three nights up front without first seeing the place, but the trip was spur of the moment and it was a very busy time and I felt lucky to get anything. It turned out that the apartment was well located, just off of Andrassy Ut., but was otherwise horrible. It was dirty, run down, and I just didn't feel safe - I half expected to see the guys from the movie Trainspotting (about heroine addicts) at my door:/ Anyway, I went back to the booking office and got a 100% refund. The woman did ask what the problem was, but she seemed more concerned with addressing the issue rather than challenging my complaint. Maybe I was just incredibly lucky, but I think the majority of hoteliers and booking offices are honest and want guests to be happy. (But like I said earlier, I can be pretty naive sometimes:) )

Den, last July I went to a 2-star hotel in Rome where I had a confirmed reservation. It was late at night, I was tired, but the room was unacceptable (shower stall floor was in shreds, carpet was filthy and stinking). I went back to the front desk immediately and they referred me to a sister property (3-star), which was fine. I did have a small problem since the second hotel had said the rate was the same as the first one but then charged me 5 euro more per night (not including the new taxes). My credit card company investigated (even though the promise of keeping the same rate was verbal) and refunded the 50 euro (I was there for 10 nights). You would have a stronger case by not waiting a day to bail out.