My parents live in Silverdale, Washington and they paid for my fiancee and I to come up to see them for my dad's 50th birthday. The hotel seemed pretty nice and I was pleased with the few services I used - Until the day of our departure.
Silverdale is a little over an hour from Seattle-Tacoma airport. We were taking a Monday morning red-eye back to Oakland which took off at 6:45, so we arranged and paid for a shuttle to pick us up at 4:25 to take us to the airport. We set the alarm clock for 3:15 and decided to get some sleep so I wouldn't be too tired to drive.
My fiancee woke up at 5:08 in pitch black because the power had gone out. Our shuttle had come and gone without us, and there was no chance to make our flight. We panicked a bit and tried to contact my mother and brother but they did not answer their phones. We decided to drive back to their house to wake them up and figure out what to do. I have never missed or been late for a flight before, as I do not travel much so I was very afraid of what this would cost me.
We went down to the front desk and checked out. A man who I believe was the night manager was there with another clerk. We asked the clerk to check us out, and I asked the manager what he thought a taxi to the airport would cost. He said about eighty bucks. I mentioned that the power had gone off and we missed our shuttle and he made a strange face which I took for a wince and disappeared into the back office. I didn't think anything of it at the time, as I figured it was a power outage, no one's fault.
My dad got up and gave us a ride to the airport, luckily he had time before work. We were able to catch the next flight southwest offered, which was at 8:45. Just as we were about to board our plane, which we had to do as standby, and the last two seats on a full flight by the way, instead of being one of the first people on and able to get a decent seat, my mother called me to let me know that her friend Emily, who was also staying at the hotel, had been awake when the power went off. She had asked the front desk if they knew what happened, and they told her it was a PLANNED outage that they had SCHEDULED for that morning to do some maintenance work.
Needless to say, if they had let us know there was an outage planned we would not have set the alarm through the clock radio, instead we would have used our cell phones or found some other way to wake up at 3 in the morning. This is gross negligence on the part of the Silverdale Beach Hotel, and the manager knew DAMN well it was the hotels fault we missed our shuttle, yet decided to try to avoid blame by not mentioning the fact they KNEW our power would be shut off.
The hotel cost us $42 for two shuttle tickets, non-refundable, $4 for bridge tolls my dad paid out of his own pocket, 30 bucks or so for the gas he used getting us to the airport and getting him back, and of course an un-measurable amount for our time and stress that they caused.
The manager should have apologized immediately, called us a taxi, and paid for our trip as soon as we mentioned what had happened.instead I had to wake my dad up early the day after his 50th birthday in panic and fear to drive us to the airport before work. I doubt he was able to make it back in time for work so the hotel endangered his job through their negligence.
We brought a good bit of business to this hotel for my dad's birthday, taking up at least 5 rooms for the weekend, and this is how they treat their guests. Please do not stay at this hotel, this is inexcusable for any business in the hospitality industry.
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