New York City: Crowne Plaza Times Square (October 2011)

My spouse and I (tried to) stay at the Crowne Plaza Times Square for one weekend night in early October 2011. We remitted the 25,000 Priority Club points for a free night stay. When we attempted to check into the hotel, we were asked for the usual information and then asked to wait while a manager was contacted. Because check-in doesn’t normally require a manager, it tipped us off that something was wrong. The manager told us that one part of the hotel had been damaged in recent heavy rains (which was true; we live in within a 1.5-hour drive of the area and have been received a much-higher-than-usual rainfall over a short period of time) and was unsuitable for occupancy. He said that they were moving us to another hotel. (This was my first “hotel bump” ever!) We were concerned about which hotel they might move us to, but we need not have worried. The alternate property was a step above the Crowne Plaza Times Square – we were moved to the InterContinental Times Square. The InterContinental is only about five blocks away from the Crowne Plaza; we would have booked that property originally, however, it would have “cost” us 30,000 Priority Club points per night, and we didn’t have the extra 5,000 needed to “upgrade” to their top-of-the-line brand. We were also told that the Crowne Plaza would arrange for a taxi to take us to the InterContinental, and we were asked if we wanted to have some complimentary drink coupons to use while we waited in the hotel bar for our letter to be prepared that would bump us to the other hotel. We accepted the drink coupons, and enjoyed the bar at the Crowne Plaza for a brief while. The bar was extremely lively on a Saturday night between 5:00 and 6:00 pm, which made for an interesting place to wait. Drinks are pricey but comparable to other hotel bars in the city. It took the front desk manager quite a long time to prepare our letter; he had made it sound as if it would take only minutes (causing us to debate whether we even wanted to accept the drink coupons), but it was closer to one hour by the time the letter was ready and we could depart. And so much for the taxi that they had arranged – they gave us a $10 bill and sent us on our way. It probably wouldn’t have been too difficult to hail a taxi in the nicely covered/protected porte-cochère if it hadn’t been raining so heavily; but because it was, there were no cabs to be found, despite the best efforts of the friendly doorman. We pocketed the money and walked the few blocks to the InterContinental. We met another couple who was in our same predicament, but we also saw guests who were checking into the hotel, so I’m not sure how the hotel decided who was walked to the other property and who held reservations that were honored as reserved. All-in-all, I think the Crowne Plaza handled things admirably, and we were barely inconvenienced at all. The only comment we have is that it would have been nice to receive a telephone call (even on the day of) telling us of the change so that we didn’t have to trek to the hotel only to be told that we would have to trek back to where we just came from. But I guess they can’t really do that; hotels probably count on a certain number of no-shows, and if guests found out that they had been bumped to a higher-category property, perhaps they would show up. The miles that we remitted for the stay were redeposited into our Priority Club account, and we received a free night at a better property, so how could we complain? Admirably handled a problem.