Friday, July 4, 2008

Fun with Hotel Employees

We had an eventful day yesterday. We ended our visit with the Schrock's in Lawrence (It was nice to have a couple of home cooked meals) and headed towards Denver. We then stopped in Junction City, KS to meet Ann's friend Mandy for lunch. It was good to see her as she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and Ann and her had not seen each other for several years. Needless to say there was a lot of catching up to do and all of a sudden it was 6:30 PM and we had not ventured more then two hours from Lawrence. Unfortunately we had to move on (I think to the relief of Mandy's husband that was patiently awaiting her arrival at home) and head towards Denver. As per tradition with our trip we did not have a hotel reservation or any clue where we were going to stop. My goal was to drive as far as possible as safe as possible (all the while fumbling with the GPS to see where the next town with hotels was). After passing town after town and getting closer and closer to Denver I finally said to myself that I was feeling pretty peppy for that time of night and that we were going for it.

The next step was to find a hotel in the Denver metro area. As a good safe driver I pulled up the browser on my phone and saw that there was a Courtyard for 89.00 near the airport. Then in another safe driving practice picked up the GPS and programmed it into the GPS. Luckily the hotel was 10 miles outside of the city in the right direction so we shaved some time off the long drive. This is where the fun begins.

Ann and I pull up to the Courtyard by Marriott at 12:15 AM mountain time (2:15 AM for people on the east coast) and I tell Ann to stay in the car while I check in. I go up to the counter and this is what ensues:

Guy at Courtyard (GaC): Hello, Are you checking in?
Kevin (K): I am hoping to check in. I don't have a reservation.
GaC: Well all we have are king size beds.
K: Well shucks, My wife and I usually don't like really big and comfortable beds but we will have to make due...
GaC: Well our rate tonight is $159....
K: (smoke starts fuming out of my ears) Your website says its 89 for the night.
GaC: Well I'm not sure about that.
K: I can show you on my phone.
GaC: Let me try to log into the computer... um... um
K: Here it says 89.
GaC: Ohhhh yeah.. here it is... 89... I can honor that for you...
K: Thanks... (smiling as muttering obscenities to myself).. Have a good night...

So we got the room and rested and will be meeting Marta and her husband for lunch and then taking in fireworks and a baseball game a Coors Field tonight. It should be fun and I'll check back in soon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So as a traffic engineer I suppose you haven't had a chance to read all of those studies about cell phones and driving LOL.Just Kidding! I know you are a good driver and very thrifty too! No hotel clerk is going to pull a fast one on you. Glad you two have friends along the way. I hope your trip is as enjoyable as it sounds. Have a great 4th of July and keep those blogs coming.